Sports Team announce highly anticipated debut album ‘Deep Down Happy’
••• Deep Down •••
Here’s the thing… Sports Team are a band of six singular characters who have been variously described as one of the most raucous, electrifying and chaotic acts in the UK.
Today Sports Team announce their debut album ‘Deep Down Happy’. The highly anticipated record, out on 3rd April, follows the acclaimed EPs, ‘Winter Nets’ and ‘Keep Walking!’ and is their first release on the legendary Island Records label.
Sports Team came up on the back of word of mouth live hype, drawing round the block queues to chaotic early gigs at The Five Bells and Moth Club before releasing any music. Recording their first EP ‘Winter Nets’ in a converted Timberyard in Hammersmith, the band have consistently set themselves apart from the acts they came up playing with, showing an intoxicating ambition, and their debut album ‘Deep Down Happy’, looks set to deliver on all bold claims, and confirm their place at the head of a group of young guitar acts.
Talking about the record charismatic frontman Alex Rice says:
“I don’t think we were conscious of doing it but the album maps the journey of moving in together in Harlesden, moving back to home towns to sleep on floors for 18 months, then coming back to London, weighing up whether being in a band with your mates, being young in London is still the best thing in the world. I think it probably is.”
It’s a week of highs and hangovers for the now Camberwell-based 6-piece, releasing their new single ‘Here’s The Thing’ following an Annie Mac Hottest Record. In the official video Alex had to master the physical demands and complex moves of a cheerleader and trained with Mana Cheerleading squad, the best in the UK. ‘Here’s The Thing’ is the first Sports Team track to also feature guitarist and principal songwriter Rob Knaggs on vocals, with the two friends and protagonists forming an unruly, and utterly charming pairing.
It’s been an extraordinary year for Sports Team, who have built a large, fiercely loyal and fervent fanbase around their electric live shows and a string of incendiary releases. Selling out Electric Ballroom, to doing the same doing the same at Kentish Town Forum in December before even releasing an album. Latest single ‘The Races’ achieved A-list at BBC 6 Music, B List at Radio 1. They’ve been defined though by an increasingly cultish fanbase spawned from online community pages, making 1000s of memes, pieces of artwork and crucially turning up wherever Sports Team play from the bands annual Margate trip (where many of the songs were written) to the living room of the group’s shared house, first in Harlesden, now Camberwell.
Sessions for ‘Deep Down Happy’ have been snuck in between huge tours at various London studios, including Konk and Livingston, with long-time collaborator Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever) once again at the production desk. Having first worked together on the anthemic ‘Kutcher’ in 2018, the debut features Reid-produced singles ‘Here It Comes Again’, ‘The Races’ and ‘Fishing’ while also featuring a re-recording of early single and live favourite ‘Camel Crew’ until now, only available on 2018’s ‘Winter Nets’.
Track listing:
- Lander
- Here It Comes Again
- Going Soft
- Camel Crew
- Long Hot Summer
- Feels Like Fun
- Here’s The Thing
- The Races
- Born Sugar
- Fishing
- Kutcher
- Stations Of The Cross
Worldwide live dates:
Mar 6th | London, UK @ 6music Festival
Mar 7th | Zurich, CH @ Radar Festival
Apr 17th | Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
Apr 18th | Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek
Apr 20th | Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
Apr 21st | Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
Apr 22nd | St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
Apr 23rd | Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Apr 24th | Winnipeg, MB @ The Garrick
Apr 26th | Edmonton, AB @ Midway
Apr 27th | Calgary, AB @ The Palace
Apr 29th | Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
Apr 30th | Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
May 1st | Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
May 2nd | Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades
May 4th | San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
May 6th | Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
May 7th | San Diego, CA @ House of Blues
May 9th | Mexico City, MX @ El Plaza Condesa
May 15th | London, UK @ Clapham Common
May 21st | Hellendoorn, NL @ Dauwpop
May 22nd | BG Den Haag, NL @ Sniester Festival
May 23rd | Derby, UK @ Bearded Theory’s Spring Gathering Festival
May 24th | Warrington, UK @ Neighbourhood Weekender
Jun 5th | Hulst, NL @ VestRock
Jun 11th | Bergen, NO @ Bergenfest
Jun 12th | Oslo, NO @ Piknik Parken
Jun 28th | Halifax, UK @ Piece Hall
Jul 3rd | Barcelona, ES @ Vida Festival
Jul 8th | Madrid, ES @ Mad Cool Festival
Jul 10th | Glasgow, UK @ TRNSMT Festival
Jul 15th | Utrecht, NL @ Ekko
Jul 16th | Utrecht, NL @ Ekko
Jul 17th | Leeuwarden, NL @ Welcome to the Village Festival
Jul 18th | De Schabs, Lichtenvoorde, NL @ Zwarte Cross Festival
Jul 19th | Nijmegen, NL @ Valkhof Festival
Aug 1st | Oxfordshire, UK @ Truck Festival
Aug 7th | Newquay, UK @ Boardmasters Festival
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