‘No one’s telling us to make it like this’: In conversation with Sports Team

By Sophie Scannell and Amèlie Peters, Music Subeditors

Having just celebrated the two year anniversary of their sophomore album Gulp!, a smiling Alex Rice and a somewhat shy looking Rob Knaggs sit down with us over zoom. Perhaps still getting back into the swing of things press-wise, having enjoyed a largely quiet period offline for the past couple of years, there is an air of excitement for the future of the band.

Eager-eyed and itching to chat all things Sports Team, the fifteen-minute brief is not nearly enough time for us to delve into the car crash of fanatical notes in front of us (Haphazardly scrawled in a scrappy notebook over a pint in the Den and Terrace a half hour before).

We whittle it down to our finalists - which span quite the range of topics, from the likes of their evolved sonic endeavours in new album Boys These Days and writing in Norway, to dressing as evil wizards and what they think the meaning of love is.

When talking music it's clear to see the passion the pair share, slightly sheepish Rob seems to come alive when regaling us with the writing process, and the constant joy beaming down the camera lens from Rice and his dimples speaks a multitude.

When entering the zoom we are greeted by a Jolly Alex on the right, coming through to us from what looks like a home study and on the left, what looks like a kitchen from the perspective of the floor. As the interview went on, we managed to get more and more of Rob in frame, luring him out with the bait that is the creation of his own music.

Especially when discussing the process behind the music, coming to life to discredit the 'light bulb moment' - 'I think the reality of the writing process is a bit more like you write 50 songs, throw away 49 and then with one of them you’re like ‘okay maybe we can do something with this’’.

The process doesn't seem to be one of instant gratification, but the slow grind seems to be enjoyable to the pair. The disgustingly cheesy line, 'it's about the journey not the destination', actually seems to be true for the group.

Sports Team saw a lightning rise to critical acclaim after their observational debut album Deep Down Happy was released back in 2020, impressively snapping up the Mercury Prize Award in what was a fairly damning year for many others in the industry.

The effects of Covid clearly made no match for the band here, but following up with album two proved more difficult than anticipated according to Rob. Wanting to be released hot on the heels of album one’s success, Gulp! was ‘meant to exist in a slightly quicker space’, according to the guitarist and songwriter.

‘It’s so boring talking about covid’, he says alongside a chuckle, ‘but because of that it meant that we had two years to sit there and think about it'. ‘In that period of time loads of different bands were coming through and blowing up, and [the label] were suddenly going 'oh maybe we could do a slightly more ‘this band’ kind of sound''.

The band seemed to have the odds stacked against them. In constant competition with new acts emerging off the back of covid, coupled with the pressure to replicate the stratospheric reception of Deep Down Happy, and the infamous feeling that the dreaded sophomore album curse was looming over them, it’s no surprise that frontman Alex retrospectively feels that himself and the others ‘didn’t get the best out of [themselves] doing that’.

There’s a clear change of tune in the pair, though, as we steer our chat to the shiny, new, and shackle-free third album set to be released in February. Alex recollects fondly the making of the new record: a scene set in Norway around February-time, now ‘working with producers we want to work with, doing it where we want to do it’.

It looks like the band have found not a new lease of life but have dug out and blown the dust off of the one that infused their earlier work and the excitable giddiness of their genesis days back at Cambridge where they got together at university. ‘No one’s telling us to make it like this’, Alex tells us with a sense of accomplishment and a smile on his face.

‘It’s a sound we want to make, and it’s fun again’, he continues, and Rob nods in agreement, knowing they’ve both got in their back pocket a piece of work that’s true to them, and, as we can hope to expect, as playful, chaotic, and strident as their previous ones.

Our mad dash from accidentally overstaying our welcome at the pub pre-interview, and the startling interruption of a cat trying to jump through the bedroom window mid-zoom, was the perfect recipe for a chaotic energy that had exuded the chat thus far.

We seized the opportunity of the atmosphere and decided to head down a slightly stranger avenue with some quick-fire questions for the pair:

Any good drunk stories?

Alex: ‘There was quite a good one where we’d all been at the pub together, and Henry (lead guitarist) had popped to the van to get guitar picks or something like that, something really small, and basically ended up locking himself in without a phone.

He hadn’t told us he’d gone either, so everyone’s kind of searching for him… we went to the van to chuck some stuff in there because we thought we weren’t gonna play, and he was in there just sort of weeping… this was like five hours later.’

If not Cambridge, where would you have gone?

Alex: ‘Just give it up, just completely would’ve clocked out and wouldn’t have pursued anything really.’

Amelie: ‘It’s Oxbridge or nothing!’

Alex: ‘Yeah, I think me and Rob have a similar sort of technique of finding a college with the easiest application to get in and then finding a slightly dodgy course… It’s hard to say where we would’ve gone, but probably Bristol to be honest. Oli (bassist) went to Bristol, and he did theology. Vaguely heading for the priesthood at one point, I think.’

What do you think the meaning of love is?

Alex: ‘I think there’s a lot of nice stuff at the moment about the various loves of your life that you have… love between friends, especially for blokes, is one that’s underestimated… the important relationships in your life are so diverse, you get different things out of every single one of them.’

What is your favourite roundabout?

Rob (without missing a beat): ‘The Shepard and Flock roundabout in Farnham. It’s Europe’s biggest residential roundabout. There’s a shop on it that sells sheds, and they always have really good banners outside and I think it went viral about 5 years ago with a banner outside that said ‘now it’s the winter we’ll discount sheds.’’

If you had to completely wipe a band/musician out of existence, who would it be?

Alex: ‘I think IDLES are just the most tragic band. I think them probably, just the absolute lowest common denominator of what music is.’

Rob: ‘I really hate Eric Clapton but that’s just more of a personal thing. I genuinely hate him.’

Does your inclusion of sax in these new records run the risk of making you guys more of a basic bitch band?

Alex and Rob (in perfect unison): ‘Yes.’

If you had to kick one member from the band, who would it be?

Alex: ‘Well I know who would be top, but it would be a close-run thing.’

Sophie: ‘You’d want to get them all out, ideally, I suppose?’

Alex: ‘Well ideally it would be ‘Alex Rice’s Acoustic Guitar Experience’ every night. That’s what I’ll get it down to eventually.’

If you had to change your aesthetic completely, what would you go for?

Rob: ‘Maybe sort of dye our hair a bit. Sometimes wear a kilt maybe.’

Alex: ‘Yeah a kilt would be good.’

*We both peer down at the kilt Amelie’s currently sporting under the table*

Alex: ‘I’d love to dress like a proper rocker, too. Like unbelievably tight leathers. I saw System of a Down in San Francisco last month, and they looked like sort of evil wizards. I thought that was cool.'

'I don’t think I could grow the facial hair for it though, sadly, but if I could do that, ‘evil wizard’ is where I’d go.’

What’s a song you’d love to cover, and make your own?

Alex: ‘You’ve probably not heard of them but there’s this band called The Golden Dregs, and they’re from Cornwall where Henry’s from and I was trying to get them to sell me one of their songs once called ‘What a Life / What a Waste’, which I felt like I could’ve made into a big song.’

And if someone else had to cover something of yours? Who would it be and what song?

Rob: ‘IDLES… doing ‘Feels Like Fun’ probably?’

Sophie: ‘An IDLES and Eric Clapton collab maybe?’

Rob: ‘I think that could be nice actually, yeah.’

Will we be seeing you at the pub after your show in November?

Alex: ‘Yeah, for sure, we’re trying to book Mother’s Ruin out.’

Rob: ‘We were asking people on Instagram what the best ale pub is in Bristol, and we got some actual serious answers from people who love ale.’

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Making a stop at Trinity Centre (and Mother’s Ruin if we’re lucky) as part of their UK tour in November, we are even more buzzing for the show having spoken to Alex and Rob.

Their live show really captures this band in its element and, having not toured in two years, this one is set to capture the infectious energy of a band itching to get back on stage. We have our wizard hats at the ready.

Are you going to listen to the new album?