Fireside Chat

The Go! Team

Memphis Industries, Brighton, UK

The Go! Team started out as an idea of Ian Parton in Brighton, some time around the year 2000. Fed up with the constraints of indie rock, he decided to put a cheap sampler and tape recorders to good use, creating an amalgamation of all the sounds he loved. Thus, unsuspecting skronky Sonic Youth guitars, car chase horn arrangements, double dutch chance and old school block party beats were cut together to a fast paced sound that quickly gained attention around the UK. Debuting with the album 'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' in 2004, Parton went on to form a six-piece live band to recreate the sound on stage. A collective of multi-instrumentalists fronted by the free-style happy singer Ninja, this live band became a hit on the festival circuit, helping the debut album to be nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2005, - a fact that lead to a re-release with a bunch of uncleared samples missing. Since then The Go! Team has remained both a visceral live act and a studio project that takes plenty of time to experiment and formulate their ideas. For this Fireside Chat we caught up with Parton during the final stages of their third album.