Sports Team reflect on gun culture in America on new single ‘Bang Bang Bang’

Sports Team have released their new single ‘Bang Bang Bang’ which reflects on gun culture in America. Check it out below.

• READ MORE: Sports Team: “We’ve got to the point where we’re just inevitable”

Produced by Matais Tellez (Girl In Red, CMAT, Gracie Abrams), ‘Bang Bang Bang’ opens with a western guitar riff and howl. At the same time, frontman Alex Rice sings: “And little Jimmy gets B’s in Maths /anf two shots in the head / Washington gets dinner dates and fancy IPAs / and Newton still gets robocalls / From the NRA,” contemplating gun culture in the U.S. from an outsider’s perspective.

Directed and produced by Sports Team themselves, the track’s accompanying visualiser sees clips of a man wearing a red t-shirt and jeans dancing mixed in with clips of the Cambridge six-piece hanging around a white studio.

Check it out below.

The track has since taken on a deeper and darker meaning for the band as what was originally created to be an outsider’s perspective of gun culture in America now hits closer to home after the band themselves were recently robbed at gunpoint on the first date of their US tour. 

Sports Team shared a video on their Instagram account of a group of armed men breaking into the group’s sprinter van while at a coffee shop on December 3 2024. “Just been robbed at gunpoint 10 minutes into the US tour. Stopped for coffee. Man runs in saying some guys are smashing into a van. Ran out to try to stop it and find masked guys ransacking the van. Start yelling and they pull out a gun. Police response was ‘submit an online report.’ Lost a lot of personal gear, but they didn’t get the instruments so driving on to Sacramento to play tonight,” began the caption of the video.

It continued: “They can take our Nintendo Switches but they can never take our ability to play rock songs about motorways. In all seriousness pretty shocking how resigned everyone seemed to be to it. “It happens”. 9am at some petrol station Starbucks. Wild.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sports Team (@sportsteam)

Speaking about ‘Bang Bang Bang’ in a press release, guitarist Rob Knaggs shared that the inspiration for the song’s lyrics came from touring America and seeing how the AR-15 logo would be plastered over things like coffee bags, hats and other tourist souvenirs.

“There was a story I saw about NRA robocalls after the Newtown shooting, and it’s horrific. The immediate PR damage control machine. Then you go and drink in bars. Particularly in smaller towns, and people would hear the accent and ask you about guns. Bring them out and want you to hold them, or look at them. And it just seems like another weird part of the weird culture clash that touring America sometimes feels like,” he explained.

He continued: “When I was writing the song I was a bit worried about how we would put it out. It’s not something that’s in your garden and you sort of think, however deeply you empathise with a problem, when it’s directly affecting other people you’re a bit nervous about clumsily trampling through it.”

Knaggs also discussed the incident that happened to Sports Team while going for coffee. “Imagining something like that happening and you always think it’ll feel dramatic. I think what was shocking was how blasé people were. You’re queuing for coffee. And then you’re trying to negotiate somebody waving a pistol around,” he began.

“The staff come and lock the doors, tell you to step away from the windows. You’re trying to barricade yourself in the toilet and they’re still doing the squirty cream on the drinks,” he continued. “Anyway now it all feels a bit ridiculous. You’re debating not putting the song out on the album, because it suddenly seems like some ridiculous stunt. Like it’s embarrassing.

“Everybody is so kind. Strangers offering help. Some local mom has seen it on cable news and messages offering any help, or somewhere safe to wait and figure things out, and ultimately, you’re fine.”

‘Bang Bang Bang’ marks the third offering from the band’s forthcoming LP ‘Boys These Days’ which is set for release on May 12 via Distiller Records/Bright Antenna (you can pre-save it here).  It follows the previously released ‘Condensation’ and lead single ‘I’m In Love (Subaru)’.

In other news, Sports Team are set to serve as opening support for Supergrass during their Live At The Piece Hall gig in Halifax on August 16.

The post Sports Team reflect on gun culture in America on new single ‘Bang Bang Bang’ appeared first on NME.