Sports Team have announced they are being forced to push back the release of second album ‘Gulp!’ due to “production delays”

The follow-up to 2020’s ‘Deep Down Happy’ was due to be released this month (July 22) but will now come a month later, on August 26.

Sharing the news on Instagram, Sports Team wrote: “In less cool and fun news we’re having to move the album back a month due to production delays. Now gonna be out August 26. Alex moving into the millennium dome to tweak the mixes. Culture the real winner.”

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And taking to Twitter, vocalist Alex Rice joked about a chart battle with Julia Jacklin, who’s also set to release her new album ‘Pre Pleasure’ on August 26.

Sports Team v/s Julia Jacklin- the battle of poets

— Alex Rice (@alexrice4ever) July 11, 2022

‘Gulp!’ was announced back in March and so far, Sports Team have released three tracks from the record – ‘R Entertainment’, ‘The Game’ and ‘Cool It Kid’.

Talking to NME about what the band want to achieve with ‘Gulp!’, Rice said: “Just big live shows. I feel like COVID really knocked back live music, and it’s the most important thing in the world; it sounds cliche to say it, but live music is where people draw their community from. It is really important that people can go out to shows: it’s about trying not to make it too expensive so that young people can afford [tickets]. I don’t care about chart positions, radio play or what some journalist at The Times says about us. I just want to see people in a room.”

It comes after Sports Team told NME that their second album ​”sounds joyful.”

Speaking backstage at Reading Festival 2021, Rice said: “It’s music to be happy too and I think it’ll be entertaining when you see it as well. It’s just full of choruses. People talk about landfill indie getting a terrible rep but that’s what we used to see here [at Reading Festival] and lose our minds to when we were fifteen-years-old. A chorus still works.”

Following a string of US dates, Sports Team are set to bring their ‘Friendship Tour‘ to the UK and the Republic Of Ireland this October. Check out dates below and grab tickets here.

OCTOBER
11 – Leeds, O2 Academy Leeds
12 – Glasgow, Barrowland Ballroom
13 – Birmingham, O2 Academy Birmingham
14 – Manchester, Manchester Academy
16 – Nottingham, Rock City
17 – Southampton, O2 Guildhall Southampton
19 – Bristol, O2 Academy Bristol
20 – Norwich, Nick Rayns LCR, UEA
21 – London, Roundhouse
24 – Belfast, Limelight 2
25 – Dublin, Academy