Does anyone remember laughter? How about fun? Kicks? Being a young wiseass? Nah, me neither. Thankfully, London sextet Sports Team have not forgotten. And to prove their point, the guitar-based indie-rock upstarts play fast and loose on their infectious debut Deep Down Happy, swinging for the fences with no shortage of exuberance, cheek and jittery post-adolescent energy. Of course, it certainly doesn’t hurt that they seem to remember early XTC, based on the yelpy vocals, clanging guitars, clever lyrics and old-school new wave vibe that act as a virtual playbook for of these tracks. If they keep that up, they’ll soon find themselves laughing all the way to the bank. And keeping everybody happy to boot. How’s that for a result?
THE PRESS RELEASE: “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. Sports Team came up on the back of word of mouth live hype, drawing round the block queues to chaotic early gigs before releasing any music. 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.”
