Sports Team have shared lively new single ‘Billy’, which they describe as a “love letter to getting desperately, insanely drunk at a carpeted pub on a Tuesday night”.
The single marks the first new music from the Mercury Prize-nominated indie stars since they dropped their third album ‘Boys These Days’ last May, and followed it up with the wistful single ‘Medium Machine’.
In the track, frontman Alex Rice and co. lean into the similar infectious, soul-tinged melodies, but add new elements of grit and jagged guitars to make it one of their most lively and raucous songs since their 2020 debut album ‘Deep Down Happy’.
“It’s a love letter to getting desperately, insanely drunk at a carpeted pub on a Tuesday night,” says songwriter Rob Knaggs.
“We recorded it live at RAK studios over the first weeks of summer with Seth Evans and Adele Phillips. It felt like a return to how we made the first album. Fast, and loose and loud.”
“Fuck you billy/ Where is this going,” Rice sings, building towards the charismatic chorus. “You know your dad’s at the bar/ And he keeps calling for shots/The lights in the bathroom are whiter than heaven.”
Later this month the NME 100 alumni are set to kick off their intimate ‘DIY Alive’ UK tour, which starts with a show in Southampton on September 22, and includes shows in Newcastle, Nottingham and more, before wrapping up at London’s EartH on October 3.
Visit here for tickets.
Sports Teams’ ‘DIY Alive’ UK tour dates are:
SEPTEMBER
22 – Southampton, The Brook
23 – Oxford ,The Bullingdon
24 – Bristol, The Fleece
25 – Liverpool, Arts Club Theatre
26 – Blackpool, Bootleg Social
27 – Edinburgh, La Belle Angele
29 – Newcastle, Digital
30 – Nottingham, Metronome
OCTOBER
3 – London, EartH
Sports Team’s latest album, ‘Boys These Days’ was given a glowing four star review from NME, which read: “Sports Team flip the narrative of an increasingly stark, divided world to embrace the childlike side of human nature, staying true to that foundational principle of the band.
“Sonically, it’s a step up from the guitar-driven mayhem that characterised their roots, without just slapping some synths on top like many of their indie counterparts. In reality, they’ve never sounded closer to that wacky, eccentric live band down your local on a Friday night – and maybe that’s where their truest form lies.”
