The Go! Team

For the 1980s band, see The Go Team.

The Go! Team
The Go! Team playing in Stockholm, 2004
Background information
Genres	Alternative dance, indie rock, alternative hip-hop
Years active	2000—present
Labels	current Memphis Industries, Beatball, Shock, Tearbridge/Avex previous Columbia Records, Pickled Egg Records, V:Room/Stubbie, Cooperative, Sub Pop, Secret City
Website	thegoteam.co.uk
Members
Ian Parton Chi Fukami Taylor Kaori Tsuchida Jamie Bell Ninja Sam Dook
Past members
Silke Steidinger

The Go! Team are a six-piece band from Brighton, England. They combine indie rock and garage rock with a mixture of blaxploitation and Bollywood soundtracks, double dutch chants, old school hip hop and distorted guitars. Their songs are a mix of live instrumentation and samples from various sources. The band's vocals vary between performances: while live vocals are handled mostly by Ninja (with Tsuchida and Fukami-Taylor also singing some solos), vocals on record also feature sampled and guest voices.

History

Ian Parton conceived the project after wanting to create music incorporating Sonic Youth-style guitars, double dutch chants, bollywood soundtracks, old school hip hop and electro. These ideas led towards the recording of Thunder, Lightning, Strike in his parents' kitchen.

Thunder, Lightning, Strike

The Go! Team's first full-length album, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, was released in the UK and Europe on the Memphis Industries label in September 2004, to widespread critical acclaim.

Recorded at Parton's parents' house and co-produced and mixed by Ian's brother Gareth Parton at The Fortress Studios, London.

In June 2004, Ian Parton recruited a band in order to play the Accelerator Festival in Sweden after having been asked to play when no band existed. The live band is a "separate entity" to the original studio vision, as the performances became radically different from the recordings, particularly due to vocalist Ninja's freestyled vocals over what had been instrumental studio tracks. The album was very well received by the music press getting a 9/10 in the NME and an 8.7 on Pitchfork. The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2005 and Pitchfork made it the eighth best album of 2004.

The band's popularity increased with the re-issue of "Ladyflash" in the UK, resulting in national primetime airplay on radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, Xfm and the Atlanta, USA based 99X. They achieved further popularity when their song "Get It Together" from Thunder, Lightning, Strike was featured in trailers for the video game LittleBigPlanet, with the song eventually becoming identified with the game. The track "The Power is On" from Thunder, Lightning, Strike was included in "The Pitchfork 500: Our Guide to the Greatest Songs from Punk to Present". "The Power is On" was also used on the soundtrack to Drew Barrymore's directorial debut motion picture "Whip It", it was also used in the Atlanta Falcons NFL Play60 commercial. In December 2009 Thunder, Lightning, Strike was declared the album of the decade on Radio Scilly's new music show The Sound Of Confusion.

Proof of Youth

On May 13, 2007, The Go! Team announced the release of their new single and subsequent album on their website.

The single, "Grip Like a Vice", was released on 2 July 2007, and the new album, called Proof of Youth, was released on 10 September in the UK and a day later in the US. The new record continued The Go! Team’s mix of samples, live band recordings and an array of special guests, including hip-hop legend Chuck D, electro diva Solex and Bonde do Rolê ex-singer Marina Ribatski.

The second single from Proof of Youth "Doing It Right" was released on 3 September 2007 and received day time radio play from BBC Radio 1 and soundtracked the BBC's launch of the iPlayer.

A stand alone single "Milk Crisis" was released via free download on 21 July 2008. They later released a 2-disc limited edition of the record with b-sides of the album including "Milk Crisis", "Phantom Broadcast", "A Version Of Myself", and a remix of "Grip Like a Vice" by Black Affair. In 2008 The Go! Team contributed the song "Templates from Home" to Bruce Parry's Survival International charity album, Songs for Survival.

Rolling Blackouts

Main article: Rolling Blackouts

In an interview with Stereogum in August 2008, songwriter Ian Parton spoke about recording The Go! Team's third album and the direction he is going in for this project. He wants to make music that "flips fidelity within the same song, and make it flow like a song should", his idea of "schizo music".

On August 5, 2010 the band used their Facebook page to announce a collaboration with Satomi Matsuzaki of Deerhoof, entitled 'Secretary Song'.

On 28 October 2010 the tracklisting for The Go! Team's forthcoming album 'Rolling Blackouts' was officially confirmed.

The album's first single 'Buy Nothing Day' was released on 24 January 2011 in both the UK and US on 7" vinyl. The track, which features vocals by Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast, is backed with a cover version of Betty and Karen's 'I'm Not Satisfied' sung by French singer Soko.The single was A-listed for five consecutive weeks on BBC 6 Music in the UK as well as picking up 'most requested' status on Triple J Radio in Australia.

The album was released on January 31, 2011. The album received 4/5 reviews in a number of UK publications including Q magazine, Uncut, The Times and The Fly.

The second single to be released from the album was a collection of Apollo Throwdown/Voice Yr Choice remixes released as limited edition of 500 12" singles on blue vinyl issued as part of Record Store Day (16 April 2011). The full tracklisting was Apollo Throwdown (Star Slinger Remix)/ Apollo Throwdown (D/R/U/G/S Remix)/ Voice Yr Choice (The Ruby Suns Remix)/ Voice Yr Choice (TOBACCO Remix). A promo CD single of the regular version of Apollo Throwdown was released in late March followed by a 4 track digital download only EP on iTunes, released on 24 April which contained the album version, Star Slinger and DRUGS remixes and an exclusive instrumental version of the track.

Members

• Ian Parton- guitars, harmonica, piano, drums, triangle, glockenspiel.
• Sam Dook - guitars, banjo, bass, drums, tambourine.
• Chi Fukami Taylor - drums, percussion, vocals.
• Kaori Tsuchida - vocals, electric guitar, keyboards, melodica, glockenspiel, recorder, tambourine, various instruments.
• Jamie Bell - bass, piano, glockenspiel, feedback, syntheised hand claps.
• Ninja - Vocals, drums, tambourine, recorder.

Discography

The Go! Team playing at the Big Day Out in Melbourne, Australia

Albums

• Thunder, Lightning, Strike (2004) #48 UK
• Proof of Youth (2007) #21 UK, #142 US, #1 UK Indie, #75 AUSTRALIA
• Rolling Blackouts (2011) #50 UK, #162 US, #3 US Heatseekers

Singles

• "Junior Kickstart" 7", 12" and CD single (2003)
• "The Power Is On" 12" Single (2004)
• "Ladyflash" 7" and CD Single (2004) #68 UK
• "Bottle Rocket" 7" and CD Single (2005) #64 UK
• "Ladyflash" (re-issue) 7" and CD Single (2006) #26 UK
• "Grip Like a Vice" Single (2007) #57 UK
• "Doing It Right" Single (2007) #55 UK, #3 UK Indie
• "The Wrath of Marcie" Single (19 Nov 2007)
• "Milk Crisis" Single via free download (21 July 2008)
• "T.O.R.N.A.D.O." (2010)
• "Buy Nothing Day" (2010)
• "Apollo Throwdown" (16 April 2011)
• "Ready To Go Steady" (2011)
• "Rolling Blackouts" (2011)

EPs

• "Get It Together" 7" EP (2000)
• Are You Ready for More? (Australian Tour EP) (2005)
• Audio Assault Course (College Radio Sessions) (2006)

External links

• Official website
• Memphis Industries: The Go! Team – UK label-operated band website
• Official sub pop Records website – US label-operated band website
• The Go! Team on Myspace
• The Go! Team at Lollapalooza
• The Go! Team – Titanic Fandalism An Unofficial Go! Team Fansite