Their record label, Memphis Industries, describes the Go! Team, originally as "lodged somewhere in the previously undiscovered zone where Sonic Youth meets the Jackson 5". The Go! Team is an international six-piece band from Bristol, in the UK. The band is split 50/50 male and female, with the vocals led by the charismatic Ninja, and the band itself led by Ian Parton on guitar and "fucked-up harmonica". Second guitar is played by Sam Dook, Jamie Bell on bass, Chi on drums, and multi-instrumentalist Silke adding further flavour to the Go! Team's eclectic sound.
The Go! Team released their debut album, "Thunder, Lightning Strike!" in 2004 to critical acclaim. Their sound is certainly eclectic, high energy guitar meets hip-hop, electronica, with a definite Seventies nostalgia. The band leader, Ian Parton, who nominally writes all the music, says that they wanted the Go! Team to be more than just another guitar band, and in search of something more exciting they utilise the hip-hop background of energetic lead singer, Ninja,t to move away from the musical norm.
In an interview with the BBC, Ian Parton recalls how he "didn't know whether to laugh or cry" when McDonalds approached the Go! Team about the possibility of using a piece of their music in one of their adverts. Parton says "I felt that they had interpreted the happiness in the music as commercial sounding...I was disappointed because we had deliberately fucked up elements of the music to distance ourselves from things like CD:UK" (Ian Parton interview with Jim Butler for the BBC, September 4, 2004, http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A2989588).
Live, the Go! Team certainly don't disappoint, giving out even more energy and enthusiasm in their live performances than on the album (which is quite a feat). And with several new songs already written, hopefully we won't be waiting long for another shot of Go! Team adrenaline in the not too distant future.
SOURCES:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A2989588
http://www.memphis-industries.com/