Focus Music Notes. "Out of the Blues". Popular music through the decades

To celebrate the easing of lockdown measures, Britain’s most rambunctious band Sports Team release a special, limited edition B-sides & Rarities Vinyl, Plant Test, available only at Independent retailers in the UK. Independent retail has been at the heart of Sports Team’s output, having had the biggest vinyl sales for a debut British artist in 2020, and number 1 on official vinyl chart week of release. The six piece have also announced their rescheduled tour dates, and will bring the dizzying chaos of their live show to Manchester Academy, SWG3, Rock City, University Stylus, Whelans, SWX, and culminate at O2 Academy Brixton on 25 November 2021, for many nights to remember. See below for the full list of the “Red Hot Rock Show” dates and festival performances.  It will be the band’s first time performing songs from their debut, which battled it out with global superstar Lady Gaga for the number #1 spot in the UK charts last June. It was a chart race which broke Twitter; from fas...

Today Sports Team's debut album 'Deep Down Happy' is announced as one of the 2020 Hyundai Mercury Prize 'Albums of the Year'. The prestigious accolade celebrates and promotes the best of British music, recognising artistic achievement across a range of contemporary music genres. The shortlist was chosen by an independent judging panel and was revealed this morning on Lauren Laverne's show on BBC Radio 6 Music. The news comes after Sports Team released their critically acclaimed debut album 'Deep Down Happy' on 5 June and achieved number #2 in the Official Album Charts, which holds the highest first week sales for a debut album by a British band in four years, and is the fourth highest selling debut of 2020. The band also became the biggest seller of the week, leading on physical sales (10K), digital downloads, and scoring the biggest vinyl sales of a debut record by a British artist in 2020, with a #1 on the Official Vinyl Chart. The six piece also...

Sports Team announce their biggest UK tour to date, with the band back on the road doing what they do best next Spring and headlining O2 Academy Brixton on 29 April 2021. The tour went on general sale on Friday 26th June 9am BST. The past week has been a career defining moment for the six-piece, achieving number #2 in the Official Album Charts with critically acclaimed debut Deep Down Happy, which holds the highest first week sales for a debut album by a British band in four years. The band also became the biggest seller of the week, leading on physical sales (10K), digital downloads, and scoring the biggest vinyl sales of a debut record by a British artist in 2020, with a #1 on the Official Vinyl Chart. Sports Team also share the animated video for ‘Long Hot Summer’, the video created by animator Daniel Jamie Williams, which documents a playful journey through a kid’s dream.   Tap here to watch Long Hot Summer   Tap here to listen to ‘Deep Down Happy’ UK ...

On the 12 June Sports Team achieved the highest first week sales for a debut album by a British band in four years, with critically acclaimed debut Deep Down Happy. Sports Team enter the OCC at #2, becoming the seller of the week, leading on physical sales (10K) and having the edge on digital downloads; as Lady Gaga only just takes the top spot. Sports Team have also scored #1 on the Official Vinyl Chart. With no record stores open, and no live shows due to lockdown, the six-piece have still managed to achieve the biggest selling album of the w­­eek in Independent Retail, a mammoth feat for Britain’s next breakthrough guitar band. Blossoms were the last British band to record the highest week one sales in 2016, with Wolf Alice in 2015, Royal Blood in 2014, and the 1975 in 2013. The 12,248 sales week one, has eclipsed debuts by Shame, Idles, The Big Moon, Pale Waves and The Magic Gang. Sports Team have built an incredibly loyal, impassioned fanbase, who carried the Gaga x Spor...

On Friday, Sports Team released their debut album 'Deep Down Happy' to critical acclaim. The album has entered the OCC midweek at #1, ahead of Lady Gaga and All Time Low, with the band commenting "this shows how much community still counts for". Deep Down Happy is 6Music's Album of the Day, and Sports Team will be hosting a Twitter listening party with Tim Burgess (Charlatans) on Thursday, as well as a Reddit AMA tonight.   In the meantime, the band have dropped the lockdown Camel Crew video set in a virtual dolls house (a feeling we are all too familiar with): "We started this video idea in the studio then all got home for lockdown and started having the same dreams. That escalated into making voodoo dolls of each other. Not sure a post lockdown world will view this is a cultural high point, but here it is," says lead singer Alex Rice. Sports Team are a band of six singular characters, who have been described as one of the most raucous, electrify...

Ahead of the release of their highly anticipated debut album Deep Down Happy on 19 June, Sports Team today share new single and video for ‘Going Soft’, reminding us about the euphoric highs of live music – albeit from a screen – filmed by friends and fans over the last year of the pandemonium of life on the road.   The six-piece have built a large, fiercely loyal and fervent fanbase; coming up on the back of word of mouth live hype, drawing round the block queues to early gigs at The Five Bells and Moth Club, and celebrating a Kentish Town Forum headline at the end of last year. ‘Going Soft’ captures the essence of a band waiting to get back out there doing what they love, and what they do best. Sports Team are a band of six singular characters, who have been described as one of the most raucous, electrifying and chaotic acts in the UK. Here’s The Thing, the first single lifted from their debut album was chosen as Greg James’ Track Of The Week, following an Annie Mac Hotte...

OPEN LETTER TO FANS "In a way it seems fitting that we’re trying to release our debut in the midst of a once in a generation global pandemic. We’ve tried as hard as we can to keep everything on track. But on a lot of sound advice, and to take pressure off all the people helping us deliver the album — we’ve taken the call to reschedule the record to June 19, and live shows, until June. Playing for you lot means everything to us, and we’ll be back doing it as soon as we safely can. All tickets and pre-orders will remain valid.   Keep buying music by the artists you love; it means the world. We’re seeing out the foreseeable in a studio in the West Country, getting onto new music. If you want to write to us, we’ll try and reply to every letter we get. Address here: PROPAGATION HOUSE, EAST LODGE, NORTH TAMERTON, EX226SE   Anyway, it’s going to be hard for a bit, for music, and for everyone. Support your local scene, and look out for each other, we know you will.   ...

SPORTS TEAM WILL RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM ‘DEEP DOWN HAPPY’ ON 19 JUNE 2020 NEWS FOLLOWS OPEN LETTER TO FANS AMIDST CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC ALBUM IN-STORE TOUR RESCHEDULED FOR JU NE In a way it seems fitting that we’re trying to release our debut in the midst of a once in a generation global pandemic. We’ve tried as hard as we can to keep everything on track. But on a lot of sound advice, and to take pressure off all the people helping us deliver the album — we’ve taken the call to reschedule the record to June 19, and live shows, until June. Playing for you lot means everything to us, and we’ll be back doing it as soon as we safely can. All tickets and pre-orders will remain valid. Keep buying music by the artists you love; it means the world. We’re seeing out the foreseeable in a studio in the West Country, getting onto new music. If you want to write to us, we’ll try and reply to every letter we get. Address here: PROPAGATION HOUSE, EAST LODGE, NOR...