Before you know anything else about Sports Team, know this (pilfered wholesale from their Wiki):
“Sports Team are an English indie rock band, who met whilst studying at Cambridge University. According to The Guardian, their songs “romanticise Middle England” and idiosyncrasies like Wetherspoons, flip phones, the M5, and fishing.”
If you read this and feel the need to choke back bile before you’ve even heard so much as the first iota of music produced by Alex, Oli, Al, Rob, Ben and Henry, you’re not alone (because that is what I had to do).
Posh boys slumming it with a bit of English indie rock while they wait for daddy to pop his clogs and bequeath them, I don’t know, Devon or something.
Choke the bile back though. Let’s give them a chance eh? Opener ‘Lander’ is a bit bangy and crashy with frontman Alex Rice barking on about municipal gardens and hoovers that cost £4.99. ‘Here It Comes Again’ sounds like Sultans of Ping. ‘Going Soft’ sounds a bit like The Blue Aeroplanes. ‘Camel Crew’ is a bit New FADs.
These boys have their indie rock bona fides down pat.
“I’m not sure what I’m waiting for and I’m not sure that I care,” he sings on Shed 7 soundalike ‘Long Hot Summer’. You and me both mate. ‘Feels Like Fun’ sounds like The Vaccines (another band of posh boys who always look like they’re taking time out from the golf course) and it occurs to me that Sports Team will be massive and I’ll end up hearing all these songs for the rest of my life.
If you think hey I like Sultans of Ping / Blue Aeroplanes / New FADs / Vaccines / Shed 7, I suggest you listen to ‘Here’s The Thing’. If that doesn’t leave you wanting to punch yourself unconscious, maybe just maybe Sports Team will be your next best thing. I’m going to take the chip on my shoulder into the sunlight and daydream about Sleaford Mods leading a revolution in which Sports Team are driven, lemming-like, off a cliff.
Words by Pete Wild
Picky Bastards 
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