New Music
New Music
New Music: Sports Team
Meet the rising indie stars with a distinctive British take.
Ticketmaster New Music is a carefully curated selection, showcasing artists we are expecting to make waves in the live music scene. Working closely with record labels, live event promoters and talent agents, our in-house experts handpick the most exciting emerging music.
“We want to get into the minutiae of everyday life,” says Sports Team vocalist Alex Rice, “valorise it, romanticise it, play with it.” It’s the perfect introduction to recent single M5, a song based on the actual motorway linking England’s Midlands to the South West. The track follows the equally geographical Margate which captures the quirky nature of – what has become known as – Shoreditch by the sea.
Together, both tracks paint the six-piece in an intriguing light. First releasing music in January 2018, their sun-kissed early sound has – over time – been injected with a notable urgency. It’s paralleled by their high-octane live performances, brimming with the energy of their brilliantly unpolished indie rasp. Their music effortlessly tells a story driven by broad characterisation, and delving into life in modern Britain. On Kutcher, one of 2018’s standalone singles which followed their Winter Nets debut, Rice builds a palpable fury around a broken relationship, yet with his tongue firmly in his cheek.
Meeting in Cambridge and now based in London, the band’s six members stem from various corners of the United Kingdom. Their dynamic injects a unique viewpoint, in part a commentary on the state of the country whilst capturing the overt despondency of a generation. Yet their sound never takes itself too seriously, instead unfolding like a celebration of guitar driven indie-rock set against a backdrop of contemporary British life. And having already headlined London’s Scala – a milestone for many bands based in England’s capital – a legion of fans are clearly invested in Sports Team’s world.
More Essential Tracks
Much like its seaside town namesake, Margate embodies the blur of new and old, of fresh and decayed. It captures both the subdued undertones of the British summer, and its sheer joy.
Kutcher is a tongue-in-cheek snapshot of a broken relationship, filled with an equal dose of venom and humour, told in reference to turn of the century heartthrob Ashton Kutcher.
Jangly guitars meet British stalwarts – both the good and bad – in the weirdly unsettling video for early single, Beverly Rose.
For any current and future Sports Team live dates and tickets, head to Ticketmaster.co.uk.
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Photo by Lauren Maccabee