Mercury Prize nominated band Sports Team have recently returned from a two-year hiatus, releasing two singles from their upcoming album.
I’m in Love (Subaru) and Condensation, released this July and September respectively, set the precedent for their third album Boys These Days, due to release on 23 May 2025.
Ahead of their UK tour which kicks off in Manchester this month, MM sat down with the band’s rhythm guitarist, vocalist and lyricist Rob Knaggs, to talk about how they are remaining true to themselves with their upcoming album.
“We’re talking about mentioning Subaru Impreza cars and Jeremy Wade and it’s kind of like, you’ve got to just draw from what’s around you and what you’re seeing,” said Knaggs.
With references to Robson Green, the races, and now the quintessential middle-class Subaru Impreza car, the Cambridge-educated band have cultivated a distinctly middle-England image that sets them apart from many alternative rock bands.
The band have been transparent about their middle-class origins from the very start and their third album appears no different.
Reminiscing on talking to the Guardian about Emma Bridgewater teapots, Knaggs laughed about how some people might think of the band. But he remained resolute about drawing from his own experiences.
“There’s definitely a sense of a pilgrimage or a journey,” said Rob.
“It starts off with Subaru, which is that sort of teenage ‘My life’s going to be brilliant and I’m going to drive this really sweet car and everyone’s going to love me, and I’ll never have to work or anything’.”
Then, the album reaches its crescendo with its final song Maybe When We’re 30, which encapsulates the sense of a quieter, more peaceful life.
“[Maybe When We’re 30] is sort of like the return to the shire in The Hobbit,” said Rob.
“Bilbo is sat there thinking this is great, just doing little hobbit things, sitting by my little hobbit fire and reading a book.”
Rob was quick to emphasise the importance of using symbols of his actual day-to-day life in his lyrics, rather than pretending to be someone else.
“I would love so much to be Irish and be like, ‘I’m influenced by Joyce and Guinness and all this great stuff’ – but I think growing up in suburbia, that’s what you’re seeing,” said Rob.
“If you’re going to be honest in your writing, you kind of have to talk about that.
“I could talk about the prairies and wide expanses of desert and how it felt growing up catching cows with lassos but it’s not going to work.
“So, we just had to work with what we had, which was sort of Robson Green and roundabouts.”
Sports Team’s third album, Boys These Days, is set for release in February and their nationwide UK tour kicks off in Manchester on 14 November.
Featured image: Sports Team by Bartek Szmigulski
