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Photo: Lauren Maccabee

Indie alt-rock band Sports Team has been making waves since the release of their debut record Deep Down Happy. So finally, after hitting the road, making new music, and bringing it to a larger audience than ever, the band has released their long-awaited sophomore album Gulp!.

Gulp! opens with the previously-released single "The Game," which retains elements found in the London-based band's debut but keeps it fresh with tighter production. The album carries listeners through an existential body of work that questions what it means to live in a complicated society and live a fulfilling life. Indie as a genre is finally at its height again as the 2020s are underway, and Sports Team is blazing that trail. They know what works for them and their loyal fans, showing that as long as they work together and stay passionate and true to who they are, their journey has no limits.

Ones To Watch was able to catch up with the band's down-to-earth lead singer Alex Rice and chat with him about the creation of the album, what it means to have a fulfilling life, and, most importantly, American fast food.

Ones To Watch: When the band started making Gulp!, was there a concept in mind that encompasses all of the ideas and feelings the album touches, or was it more of an organic process where you just wrote and things came together?

Alex Rice: I think it's never that conscious of how you do lyrics and make music. It's kind of all feel. You never sit down, at least for us anyway, to make a concept record. So I think the first album was quite specific with experiences from growing up. You could record and you could write it a bit more and say, "Okay, we want to bring this out," but I don't think that I can really pretend we're doing that anymore. I've been in a band for the last five years or something, so you are living this very surreal experience where you're so disconnected from a normal way of living. But I think if you had to draw it together, thematically, I think what we're always trying to do is find a way of being happy. We're in our mid-twenties, and I feel like many people our age, it's like a sense of striving, and you have this path potentially mapped out for you. "This is what you should do. This is what fulfillment means." It's sort of a nuclear family, or it's like getting a particular kind of job, and it's buying a house. For us, it was always like the band was, in a way, a project to find out how you can live differently and how can you live well and find fulfillment in a kind of alternative way of living. I think a lot of the album's about that and about grappling with that element of it and living together. So "Cool It Kid" is "living with you is making me sick" because we all live together in this big house in London. Or the song "Dig" was about making terrible decisions every night, and so when you're deep in the ground, you dig. I think you don't want to get too high-minded about it, but being in a band full stop feels like a commune or something like that. How can you find this way of living differently and trying to find a way of fulfilling yourself by going around the world together as a group of mates and then kind of grappling with the fact that, like, is this brilliant? Or have we just made this hell for ourselves?

I really fell in love with the track "The Game," especially after seeing y'all play it live. Has your songwriting process evolved as the band has evolved, or do you feel like you're in a place where you have a great tried and true method that works for you?

I think we've always written for live. That's how we built our name in the UK. It's not like we're this kind of huge viral streaming band,  a TikTok band, or anything like that. Like fuck loads of people turn up to the show every time. They want to come and see a theater and a circus, you know how that ends up being. So I think it was all a bit broken up the first time. So sort of written in between live shows with a track here and there, but I think we've been conscious of that element of it on this one too. Something about "The Game" is that it's made for live, and you build these sort of mosh aspects into it. I don't think I can deconstruct it because it was written at a time when people couldn't play live, and I think there's a lot of that. But the writing process, I think the biggest thing probably is just obviously when it comes to the US, we play in little bars and stuff because we're trying to build a career out there. In the UK, you are playing to like 5000 people every night and trying to learn how to do that big stage. So I think, like, sonically, how it's developed, I just try to feel comfortable on a big stage, adding concert trumpets and making the sound feel fuller. And a lot of the themes are also kind of less specific, and they're trying to tap into some sort of a universal human experience. So I think if we wanted to get anything out of this out album, it's feeling comfortable when you're playing the main stages stuff, rather than trying to do this kind of scrappy pub show in a little tent.

I can hear the mosh element you're talking about on songs like "R Entertainment" and "Unstuck"! In my opinion, I think the record, compared to your debut album, feels tighter and more put together but still has that Sports Team spirit that fans fell in love with.

Thank you! [laughs] Well, I hope so. I think it is that sort of thing of trying to grapple with a bigger stage. We listen to a lot of Bryan Ferry, who's a really big hero of ours for this album. We haven't tried to change that much. I feel like a second album for a band; we feel so lucky that it's kind of got to the stage it has, and you have some kind of innate appeal between you. But everyone's in a band now, you know? And we got so lucky to break through to any extent. So I don't think you ever want to change that much about what you're doing. If we ever want to be this band and be like, "Ah, the second album. We experimented so much with industrial house or nu-metal stuff," I think it'll just be as boring. I think we're always really constant. You're in the entertainment business, so you're trying to entertain people, especially in a live format. People might have been members in the past of sports teams or trade unions or working men's clubs, whatever it was, and live music is still that kind of weird bastion where people feel like they're part of something bigger than what they are, which I think is pretty amazing. So it's definitely a sort of live-geared album, but I think also it's nice because I feel like we're releasing in quite a different context for this one. It feels like bands that we've grown up playing with — Wet Leg supported us at Brixton, for example, and then we did that show in December with Been Stellar. It feels like it was a very postpunk climate when we first released in the UK, and it was a lot about posturing trying to create this sort of cool image. But firstly, it's always kind of just been about... if you don't come away feeling better about yourself after you go and see us live, then what's the point? Who's gonna buy a ticket to that? Now it feels like that's become quite mainstream. There are a lot of joyous things. Like, we've got really dark lyrics. Like they are about having a death wish, and things like that, and about how you're always making the wrong decisions. But we're trying to do it n a cathartic way, and in a way that when you come together as a group, and you see it live, you're like, "Okay, we can confront all these anxieties as a group of people rather than as an individual."

There's something about acknowledging your negative emotions with a group of people at a show that makes the loneliness feel less lonely. It's therapeutic for a lot of people.

For sure! I think a lot of the album's about being in a band full stop. And it's sort of our attempt to navigate all those anxieties we also felt. Like, how do you grow up well and have a fulfilling life? So I guess it's sort of that confrontation of, "Okay, well, now we're doing it," because we can't pretend we're like living normal lives and not been a professional band for five years or whatever. So sort of look at, "Okay, have we made this happen for ourselves, or have we actually made a hell?" And I also think the lyrics reflect that we're always on the fence about it. You never quite know if you built the dream or not.

How did the band handle any creative roadblocks when it came to the creation of Gulp!?

Rob, our guitarist, also writes most of the songs. I should say that, I mean we disagree like, constantly. I think everyone thinks it's like in the movie Bohemian Rhapsody where Brian May comes in and he's like, "What about this, guys?" and then the band is like, "Sweet beat man, like incredible." It's definitely not like that. It's very much like people sit in a corner and sulk when they just get in and want it to go differently, and it doesn't. So it's pretty democratic. But yeah, loads, loads, and loads of moments like that. I think it's, it's quite a sort of tense environment being in the studio.

You mentioned that Byran Ferry was a big inspiration for the album. How does his influence manifest itself on the record? 

I think a prime example would be on "The Drop," where we brought in the trumpets. It is very similar, Bryan Ferry-influenced, and like how you would do it on a festival main stage kind of thing. Like, you want to HEAR trumpets.

Were there any other artists that also influenced the creation of the album?

There's always a spirit of this guy called John Otway. I think his whole outlook on the music industry probably influenced us quite a lot. He's actually in the "The Game" music video. He's the old guy in that. You can look into his Wikipedia, but he did a lot of very crazy stuff in the UK. Nick Lowe, as well. Like we really love him. There's a label called Stiff Records in the UK. We would listen to a few bands from there because they're brilliant, but even bands from the pub rock scene in Australia, where bands like Amyl and The Sniffers and The Chats are coming out of, it just seems fun. Like the kind of music where it's like, come out for the night, take the next day off work, and let's have it, you know? I feel like they're influenced by a band called The Dudes, and I feel like they're standing on the shoulders of giants because music out of New Zealand and Australia has been unbelievable for so long. Like, Dave Dobbyn, we really love. He's got this song called "Slice of Heaven," and everything's incredible. PHIL. Yeah, we just really love that scene so much.

Is there any one music moment on the record that has really stuck with or resonated with you?

I think the line in "The Drop" kind of comes up because it's got a big chorus. I don't know. Everyone in the UK is trying to write football terrace-style songs that you can chant along to. "The Drop" has this trumpet line it goes, [imitates trumpet riff], and you can see yourself chanting that. But the first line is like, "Katie died waiting for the right time to retire," which sums it up for me. It's a joyous, celebratory song that actually is entirely about the angst of people trying to find a fulfilling life and never really feeling like it, and then you're suddenly retired and it's all gone. So the first line of that I really love. "Getting Better" as well. I think it's got a lot of lines like, "What's a burning bush on a burning planet," which I think sort of sums up the way people kind of just feel overwhelmed at the world at the moment. To quite a large extent, it's tough to engage with any one issue because there's just so much available to you. "R Entertainment," too, is kind of about that. It's about the endless scroll or whatever it is. Like, you're going through stuff, and you've got serious news bound up in constant references and everything is so meta. Those songs, I think, are kind of the point of the album.

That's a profound lyric, "So what's a burning bush on a burning planet?"

Precisely, even like religious references or the ultimate, things that are supposed to be most grand, and even they feel like they're just kind of washed into everything else, you know? So you can't really find power or meaning anywhere.

You mentioned before that you were able to get John Otway in your music video for "The Game." How did that cameo come about, and what was it like meeting him?

I mean, we just paid him. [laughs] I don't think he's in high demand. He's just kind of like a cult figure for us. Like he's not a star or anything like that, I mean to us, he is. We're all massive fans, and everyone at the label was talking about all these incredible names, and we just said, "We want John Otway."

Some dream fulfillment right there.

Yeah, that's the thing! Like if you're at a major label, I think you just got to use it to fulfill dreams that you have, personally. Like, who am I most likely to go for a pint with? John Otway. I mean, he's fantastic. He's got a song called "Really Free," and there were loads of songs there that were just so punk. So he got signed as this punk icon, and everyone felt like he was going to be the next big thing, and obviously, it kind of fell away, but I think we love those slight underdog stories, and that's what appealed to us.

The band is heading off on tour to support the album and will traverse North America, the UK, and Europe. So the most important question I have for you is, and I will slightly judge you for your answer, what is your favorite road trip snack?

You got the best snacks in the US by a mile! What's the name of the weird, cured meat sticks you have?

Do you mean Slim Jims?

Yes! The Slim Jims are amazing. We also really love In-N-Out. Rob, our guitarist, is really obsessive about it because I guess there are memes and TikToks about the big American fast food brands. So obviously, we don't have any of them here, so stuff like the In-N-Out Burger is exciting. [laughs] It's a weird thing because we're pretty healthy people who like to run every day and stuff like that, but then you just get to the US, and it seems like the most glamorous thing you can do to go to In-N-Out or Wendy's. It's got this weird meme appeal to it.

Is there any stop on the tour you haven't been to that you're most excited about?

Canada will be really exciting! That'll be incredible. Ollie's girlfriend is from Toronto, so I think she's gonna show us around there, but our favorite place to go is San Francisco. Like we just really, really love it there. There's good walking, and I feel like it's such an excellent outdoorsy culture on that coast because where we all grew up in the UK is quite like the countryside. Like it's all green fields and stuff like that, and you go up hills every day. I think now that we all live in London, we all miss that quite a lot because you don't get to just roam around. We love Glasgow too. Oh, and Zeiger. That's the greatest drinking city in the world!

Sports Team's Gulp! is available now.

SPORTS TEAM LIVE

October 3 /// New York, NY /// Mercury Lounge

October 6 /// Santa Ana, CA /// Observatory

October 7 /// Los Angeles, CA /// The Echo

October 8 /// San Francisco, CA /// Bottom Of The Hill

October 11 /// Leeds, UK /// O2 Academy

October 12 /// Glasgow, UK /// Barrowlands Ballroom

October 13 /// Birmingham, UK /// O2 Academy

October 14 /// Manchester, UK /// Manchester Academy

October 16 /// Nottingham, UK /// Rock City

October 17 /// Southampton, UK /// O2 Guildhall

October 19 /// Bristol, UK /// O2 Academy

October 20 /// Norwich, UK /// UEA

October 21 /// London, UK /// The Roundhouse

October 24 /// Belfast, Ireland /// Limelight 2

October 25 /// Dublin, Ireland /// The Academy

November 4 /// Zurich, Switzerland /// Exil

November 6 /// Vienna, Austria /// Chelsea

November 9 /// Berlin, Germany /// Privatclub

November 13 /// Stockholm, Sweden /// Debaser Hornstulls Strand

November 14 /// Oslo, Norway /// Parkteatret Scene

November 16 /// Hamburg, Germany /// Molotow

November 17 /// Köln, Germany /// Helios 37

November 21 /// Parisa, France /// La Boule Noire