Following its premiere as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record in the World on her Radio 1 show, Sports Team today share the official video for their anthemic new single ‘The Races’. The video stars Alex Arnold (Poldark, Skins) and sees Sports Team take a back seat as wedding band while drama unfolds around them. It was shot over a day at Charlton House in south London and directed by Lily Rose Thomas.
Frontman Alex Rice says. “Label shills employed specifically to be yes-men couldn’t muster a compliment for this one. Only managed ‘that really is unlike anything I’ve seen any other band doing, you should be commended for that’. Had a nice day introducing our parents to a former Skins actors though.”
Recorded at Livingston Studios in London and produced by longtime collaborator Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever), ‘The Races’ is built on a driving bassline, with their trademark swagger in full focus. Lyrically it continues to play with middle english characters recognisable from the band’s back catalogue, this time delving into dodgy politics and misguided patriotism. The band also recently stopped by BBC Radio 6 to play a live session for Steve Lamacq –
Of the track’s beginnings, Rice offers: “Oli came in one morning with the opening bass idea and we’d finished the song in a morning. It was unusually easy. It’s a lot of fun to play.”
The video comes hot on the heels of their headline tours of the UK and US, as the band cap off a breakout year.
Ahead of this winter’s headline run, the band could be found supporting Pale Waves before playing their first arena shows as main support for Two Door Cinema Club and out in the US headlining their first full run across the Atlantic.
‘The Races’ is the latest track to come from the band’s as yet untitled debut album, set for release in 2020. More information on the band can be found below, with further details on the upcoming LP due soon.
