The Go! Team Are Ready ToStrike

Thu 15th Dec, 2005 in Features

The Go! Team are a six piece outfit from the UK, and their 2005 debut album Thunder Lightning Strike is being heralded as one of the best albums of the year. In even better news, The Go! Team have been announced as one of the many international acts for the 2006 Big Days Out. Bass player Jamie Bell spoke to FasterLouder from his home in Brighton about the album, and what he plans to do while in Australia.

This won’t be the first time in Australia for The Go! Team, because they toured here earlier this year. However, it will be Bell’s first trip down under. “Yeah, I missed the last trip because I was getting married at the time.” But Bell says he’s been clued in on what to do while in Australia. “I want to do all the touristy things. I’ve been told I have to sample kangaroo meat, and I wouldn’t mind seeing some live kangaroos as well. I’d also like to visit the outback, you guys seem to have a lot of that down there.”

The Go! Team album Thunder Lightning Strike is mish-mash of various styles and influences, however the involvement of the band members was actually minimal. “The whole album was written and recorded by Ian (Parton, band leader). He wrote the whole album and he continues to write all the new stuff. Whether or not we’ll get involved in the future is anyone’s guess, but it’s unlikely. I’m sure we’ll help out in some way, but if we all started writing, it would probably be pretty awful.”

So how did the rest of the band members get involved? “Ian just started recruiting people, handing out cds, asking people if they could play certain parts. He gave me a CD of the album, asked me if I could learn to play the bass parts, so I did.” What, no sheet music, or classical notation? “Nope, just the CD. I figured out most of it, but there where some parts where I just went ‘What’s going on here?’. I’d think I had it figured out, and then go to Ian, and I would be way off.”

One of the major skills of the band is that most of the members are skilled at multiple instruments. This means that between each song, a lot of instrument swapping takes place. But according to Bell, it doesn’t affect the flow of the show. “We change pretty much constantly, which is probably pretty interesting for the people watching. But at the same time, we’ve got pretty practiced at it, we’re pros. I mean its just a case of taking one guitar off and putting another one on. Noone’s ever said it affects the flow; we’ve had no complaints.”

Bell also says the live show is quite different from the record. “We could never totally recreate the record. There’s bits and pieces in there which we’ve made up, so that we’ve all got something to do. Ninja (who provides the rap/hip-hop for the group) has had to write a few of her own little bits, because there’ll be entire tracks where she’s not doing anything. “

“Plus, for the live show, we have two drum kits on stage. They’ll be going at the same time, to give us two beats. We’re not really aiming for a dancey feel, its just that it’s a very drummy kind of music. I personally love having two drumkits on stage. The record was very drummy because Ian was originally a drummer, and it shows. Its all about making the shows as chaotic as possible.

On a recent US tour with Australian band The Grates, The Go! Team were reportedly on a much nicer bus than The Grates, and I asked Bell about that. “Yeah well, I think their major complaint was their bus didn’t have a toilet laughs. There’s a few more of us, so we kinda had a bigger bus, but they would ride up there with us every now and again.”

“It was great to play with them again, The Go! Team had toured with them in Australia, so it was cool to tour the US with someone we already knew, and someone who could fit on any stage we visited. Sometimes its difficult to organise a support band, so it was great to get someone we knew. Plus they’re playing the Big Day Out as well, so we’ll get to hang out with them again.”

And although he wasn’t sure of dates and venues, Bell confirmed that the group will be playing sideshows while in Australia. “I’m not sure if it’s been made official yet, but we should be playing a couple of shows. I think we’ll be playing one in Sydney, but nothing has been announced yet.”

And the future for the Go! Team? “I think we need to stop touring. After the BDO, we’ll be doing a decent sized UK tour, and then one more US tour. Then we’re going to stop touring, that will be the end of the touring for this album. It’s been out for a year and a bit, so it’s about time something new came out. Once this touring is done, we’ll have to make Ian write some new stuff.” And that’s something everyone can look forward to.

Catch The Go! Team live at The Big Days Out 2006, around the country:

Sunday January 22 – Gold Coast
Thursday January 26 – Sydney
Sunday January 29 – Melbourne
Friday February 3 – Adelaide
Sunday February 5 – Perth