Adam Kennedy talks with Alex Rice and Rob Knaggs from Sports Team ahead of the band’s show at the Boiler Shop in Newcastle this week.

Mercury-nominated six-piece Sports Team recently announced their hotly anticipated third album Boys These Days. The album will be released on February 28th next year via Distiller Records and Bright Antenna.

The band’s recent intimate show at Omeara in London sold out in under three minutes. Perhaps you could say this is a testament to the band’s meteoric rise. Sports Team will arrive in the North East on Wednesday night for an eagerly anticipated show at the Boiler Shop in Newcastle.

With the band’s new album set for an early 2025 unveiling, the group are looking forward to hitting the road in the build-up to the release. “I guess now it just feels like we're waiting for the tour to start. It's been so abstract for a long time. It's like November feels like a lifetime away when it's in the middle of summer, but now suddenly the tour feels close,” explains Rob. “I think the live stage, that's what we're really excited to get doing again.”

Earlier this year Sports Team released their single “I’m In Love (Subaru)”, which in turn gave the band’s fans a taste of what is to come from their forthcoming album. The band had a strong idea of how they wanted the track to sound. “I was listening to a lot of Prefab Sprout, and I guess it was a song that kind of felt like we'd been trying to do for a little bit,” explains Rob. “A lot of bands will say things like, oh, this is our new sound or the new record, and it'll be just like a new outfit change, or a new aesthetic. But I think, we all kind of felt like it was fun to mess with expectations a little bit with the first single back.”

The North-East’s own Bryan Ferry was partly the inspiration for the track and the accompanying music video.  “I think we're massive Brian Ferry fans. Sound-wise, first of all, I think we always try and capture a little bit of that, but just more kind of attitude-wise in the music. And also, it seemed like the most refreshing thing imagery-wise that we were seeing,” said Alex.

Hand-painted artwork from the Rob Knaggs features on the band's new album Boys These Days. Discussing the links between artwork and music, Rob said: “I do think the imagery and the graphics and everything else all fit together. And I think with the live shows, what Alex is much better at doing than I am, is being almost like in that same Brian Ferry way, being that character, figuring out what persona there is, and how you can kind of play with that and make the live show part of that world as well.”

The band’s recent single Condensation was inspired by the hot and sweaty live experience. “I think we've had versions of that song forever,” said Rob. “We had this one A&R who was decided that Condensation was going to be the single. And I think the version we sent back; he didn't think we had quite nailed his vision for The Killer’s style crossover hit. I remember him coming into the studio one day with the producer with this micro synth and sitting there for 40 minutes being like, oh, what about if we did this little riff? So, I think it's been this weird kind of albatross around our necks for so long. And I guess with this record, we just went in with Matthias [Tellez] in Bergen. And normally if you sit in a label meeting and say you want to do a song that sounds like something that Jools Holland would play piano on, everyone sort of turns white. You see the A&Rs looking like they're about to be sick. But I think finally on this record, they were just like, if you really want to make a honky tonk piano song, that's your career death.”

Whilst a lot of groups may tour once their new album is released, on this occasion Sports Team will be out on the road in the months leading up to the release. So, how will the show look this time around? “I think we're still going to do quite a lot of the old bits,” said Robb. “And we've got two singles out, and there'll be three singles out from the new record by the time we do the tour. So, there should be enough material. We've been going back through the EPs and the first record because it's our first UK tour in two years. So, it feels like there’s a bit of a free reign to go a bit deep for the fans.”

Sports Team will perform at the Boiler Shop in Newcastle on Wednesday 20th November. For ticket information and further details, please visit https://www.boilershop.net/.

Boys These Days by Sports Team will be released on February 28th 2025.