Sitting on the sofa of their north London management offices a few days out from the release of third album Boys These Days, Sports Team’s drummer Al Greenwood is showing us the hefty bruise slowly making its presence known on her leg — the result not of a particularly aggressive night behind the kit, but of being repeatedly, voluntarily pelted with paintballs by fans.
Having reached the top three with both of their previous records, 2020’s Mercury-nominated debut Deep Down Happy and 2022’s Gulp!, the stunt was a gleefully ridiculous and very on-brand means of hawking more album pre-sales: buy five records and take your shot at a band member. “I thought it was gonna be quite Marina Abramovic, some critique and comment on the music industry, but it just felt very painful and debasing,” Greenwood deadpans. Guitarist Rob Knaggs cheerfully pipes up: “I guess that’s the critique and comment!”
