CHRONOLOGY
LAST UPDATED: 4 FEBRUARY 2012
CHRONOLOGY
LAST UPDATED: 4 FEBRUARY 2012
Here is a month by month
chronology that covers some key gigs, releases and events in the life and times
of The Go! Team. I hope it's a reasonably accurate potted history but if anyone has any
corrections or additional information, please get in touch.
For each update, any new or amended text will in
pink.
For further and
more specific details
of gigs, record releases, TV and radio appearances etc please check out the relevant pages of
this site. For the official Go! Team biog from Memphis Industries go
here.
The
90s
Ian
Parton works as a documentary film maker on a variety of projects for the
National Geographic and Discovery channels plus Meridian and Channel 5 Television.
Documentary subjects worked on include archaeology
('Secrets of the Bog Bodies'), sexually errant teachers (‘Sex In The Classroom’)
and the Nazis' quest to build flying saucers.
1997
AUGUST
Slot Jockey record the track 'Sister Root' for
their debut single on Double Plus Records. The band features Ian on drums, brother
(and future Go! Team producer) Gareth Parton on vocals and guitar, Paul Cooksey
on bass and Scott Cullen on guitar and vocals. The band are based in and around
London. Paul Cooksey will later share a writing credit with Ian for The Go! Team
album track 'Panther Dash'.
NOVEMBER
Slot Jockey release 'Sister
Root' on Double Plus Records. The single is a split 7" with another band Scaramanga (featuring up and coming comedian Bill Bailey) and is limited to 1000
copies. The
sleeve notes contain the phrases 'the power is on', 'feelgood by
numbers' and 'audio assault course' a good few years before they
would be used as titles by The Go! Team. NME reviews the single and prefers the
Slot Jockey side, describing it as 'a seesaw between sulky interludes and
brilliantly pissed-off sonic crankings'. The band plays a gig at the Bull and
Gate in Kentish Town which also receives a positive review in the NME.
DECEMBER
Record Collector reviews the single favourably: 'quiet bits with far away
guitars, loud bits with atomic mushroom guitars, vocals from a man with
uncomfortable trousers and a lot of bruising passion'.
1998
JANUARY
Slot Jockey play the Camden
Falcon in London as part of NME's new band 'On' night.
JULY
Slot Jockey release the track
'Eating Sushi With Me' as part of another split 7", this time with the band Ovahead on Full Strength Records and both bands play at the Bull and Gate in
London as part of a launch night for the single.
1999
Around 1999,
while working as a documentary film maker, Ian buys a sampler: "It
was something that I was doing in my spare time really - just doing stuff on my
four-track and sampler. Maybe that's why it took such a long time. I must have
started in the late 1990s, getting a sampler and fooling around and putting
stuff together and seeing if it worked".
Future Go! Team member Kaori Tsuchida spends time in London during 1999 with her
band Yumi Yumi from Japan. They play gigs in the capital in March, July and
August and get good live reviews in Melody Maker and NME amongst others.
2000
AUGUST
Ian Parton releases his first record as The Go! Team - the
'Get It Together EP' a four track 7"
on Leicester's Pickled Egg Records - a limited edition of 750 copies. The
single features four tracks - 'Get Together', 'Kill The Klansmen', 'The Ice Storm'
and 'Pocket Money Rodeo'.
Record Collector magazine gives it Single of the Month.
SEPTEMBER
John Peel plays
the track 'Get It Together' on his 27th September show.
2001
Nigel, main man at Pickled Egg Records,
recalls that around late 2001 or early 2002 Ian put together an early version of the album
that would become 'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' with some tracks not making the
final LP.
Slot Jockey release a posthumous 10 track album entitled 'Aim Lower'.
Future Teamsters Sam Dook and Kaori Tsuchida both release records with their
respective bands - Sam with the Brighton-based 100 Pets who release the album
'Easter Songs' on the Pickled Egg label and Kaori, as one half of Japanese band Yumi
Yumi who release an album entitled
'Alchemy'. Sam was also in
Brighton band 'I'm Being Good' and released records with them around this time.
2002
DECEMBER
Ian Parton/The
Go! Team sign to Memphis Industries. The label, which has been
going since 1998, is run by
brothers Matt and Ollie Jacob who also take on management duties for the band.
2003
FEBRUARY
Ian, as The Go! Team, DJs at 93 Feet East in London.
MARCH
Two Go! Team tracks,
'Junior Kickstart' and a demo version of 'Ladyflash', appear on the Memphis Industries
compilation album 'Estuary English'.
MAY
The Go! Team
release 'Junior Kickstart' on Memphis Industries. The single
is released in three formats - a CD single, an orange vinyl 12" and a one-sided 7".
The sleeve is based around the design of the t-shirts that feature in the movie
'BMX Bandits'. The singles features two other tracks, 'Feelgood By Numbers' and
'We Listen Everyday'.
JULY
The first Go! Team remix to get a commercial release appears - a reworking
of The Polyphonic Spree's 'Soldier Girl'.
2004
MAY
Photos of an early incarnation of The
Go! Team as 'a band' are taken at Ian's flat in Brighton/Hove by photographer
Greg Neate. They feature Ian and a girl named Robin Pridy, a Canadian friend of Ian's, who would sing on two early Go! Team
tracks 'Did You Feel It Too' and 'Hold Yr Terror Close'.
Memphis Industries issue a promo CD featuring three 'unmixed and unmastered'
Go! Team tracks - 'Panther Dash', 'Ladyflash' and 'Everyone's A
VIP To Someone'. Both 'Panther Dash' and 'Ladyflash' are later confirmed as demo
versions.
JULY
The Go! Team makes its live debut as a band in Malmo, Sweden on 6th July
as part of the three-date Accelerator touring festival, after
Memphis Industries secures the dates for the band. Ian reportedly recruits band members
within three weeks, through word of mouth and ads placed on the internet. The
line up is: Jamie Bell (bass), originally from Newcastle, Jamie is living in
Brighton, working as an engineering draughtsman; Chi Fukami Taylor
(drums/vocals) is from Japan and living/working in London - she meets Ian through a mutual friend; Sam Dook (drums/guitar) from
Brighton, a Pickled Egg label-mate of Ian's having released records
on the label with his
own band 100 Pets; Silke
Stiedinger
(guitar/drums/keyboard/recorder) from Germany and Ninja (real name
Nkechi Ka Egenamba)
a 22 year-old rapper/vocalist of Nigerian decent from London who, at the time,
is studying for a degree at Kingston University.
Ian :
"So it started off with me
and then I hooked up with five other people in London and Brighton. Two of them
are friends, the singer I met at an open mic night and the drummer I met at a
record shop. It was all quite random really. I didn't want the regular 'men with
guitars' band. That's what I wanted to work against - the idea that a band should
be four blokes with guitars. We're all totally different people from different
backgrounds with different musical tastes so we're the kind of people that
perhaps wouldn't normally be in a band together but are linked by The Go! Team.
I think that makes us pretty unusual. Like Ninja, the vocalist, comes from a
south London hip hop background but me and Sam are originally more from a noisy
guitar angle. That’s a pretty odd mix."
Ninja:
"I replied with an e-mail to
Ian and he sent me a CD with some songs to listen to. I thought, 'What the hell
is this?' I thought it was crazy. I had no idea what was going on. He wanted me
to write lyrics to it but I just couldn't see where my lyrics would go in. I
wrote something to it and met up with the rest of The Go! Team, because none of
us knew each other. We had to play our first gig in front of 2,000 people in
Sweden. I had no idea I was joining a band. I kept accepting calls every week to
do another show, another show, another show, because I thought the shows that
we were doing were going really well.'"
The Go! Team's third single 'The Power Is On' is released as a 12" backed with
'The Ice
Storm' (a reworked version, different to that released on the 'Get It Together'
EP) and 'Hold Yr Terror Close' which features vocals by Robin Pridy. The single gets played on a number of BBC
Radio 1 shows, (Zane Lowe in particular championing the band - he is seen on several occasions wearing a Go! Team
t-shirt) as well as airtime on BBC6 Music and XFM. It also earns the band an NME
Single of the Week runners-up spot. A press release for the single reveals that
the title of The Go! Team's debut album will be 'Bottle Rocket'(?) and is due to be
released in September.
SEPTEMBER
The Go! Team's debut album 'Thunder,
Lightning, Strike' is released. Recorded over several years, largely at Ian's
parents' house in Wales, it is essentially a solo project. The music press love
it - NME gives it a 9/10 review - and indie bloggers across the world go into
meltdown. Within two years the album will sell over 250,000 copies worldwide.
Ian spends most interviews during this period explaining his thinking behind the album and the way
it was recorded: "The aim was move away from earnest singer
songwriting and to layer and mix up all our favourite musical styles to create
something that references the past but is doing something new with it. For me, I
saw no reason why maybe noisy discordant guitars couldn't combine with maybe
blaring 'Rocky'-style trumpets. I like Shellac as much as some Jackson 5 music -
so that means you make some unusual choices."
"There is no single band that I
looked to for inspiration, it was more a bunch of things that I wanted to ram
together and hopefully make something new - all of the things I have loved for
years like 60's girl groups, Sonic Youth, car chase horns, double-dutch chants,
Bollywood. It’s all about trial
and error - remembering samples and melodies I’ve written and sticking them next
to each other until it feels like a song. When the song is locked-down I stick a
whole bunch of live instruments over the top. I have a pretty strong idea what
it should sound like, which basically involves fucking everything up -
distorting it, compressing it, slamming it to tape. The album's a pretty much
50/50 split of live and sampled stuff - so you can't tell where one ends and
the other begins. I like the way that every song is a surprise and each one is
different from the last but that the album sounds like The Go! Team - not 11
different bands".
The band plays a sold-out gig at an XFM Xposure night at the
Camden Falcon in London, with The Rakes, which is filmed and put up on XFM's website.
OCTOBER
The Go! Team play The Barfly in York with Kasabian and Hot Chip as part of
the 'MTV2/Gonzo on Tour' week with Zane Lowe. MTV records the show for broadcast
in November. Possibly around this time Ian remixes the Kasabian track 'Club
Foot' but the track remains unreleased.
NOVEMBER
Ladyflash is released as a red vinyl 7". The b-side features a remix of the
track by Hot Chip. It was confirmed that The Go! Team also remixed
a track by Hot Chip although, to date, this does not appear to have been released.
The Go! Team make their BBC Radio
1 session debut playing two tracks, 'Ladyflash' and 'Huddle Formation', live from
Maida Vale studios for the Zane Lowe show.
The band play at the legendary Paradiso Club in Amsterdam as part of the
London Calling festival and support The Dears at an Inrocks gig in Paris.
DECEMBER
The band play their first hometown gig at Po Na Na in Brighton and their
first at a major London venue, the Hammersmith Palais, supporting Doves.
'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' makes the NME's
Top 50 Albums of the Year appearing at number 36.
Many early interviews during late 2004 pick up on the band turning down
McDonald's with regard to the company using The Go! Team's music in commercials.
Ian sets the record straight in an interview given to the Diskant website in
December 2004: "...an ad
company wanted to pitch it to McDonald's for an advert but we nipped it in the
bud before they got any funny ideas. I wouldn't do it for all the money in the
world".
2005
JANUARY
The band kick off an
extensive year of touring with shows in Belgium and a return trip to Amsterdam
(this time at the Milkweg) plus a gig at the famed 100 Club in London where they
debut a new, as yet untitled, song which will become 'Titanic Vandalism'.
FEBRUARY
The band undertake a short UK tour, with label mates The Pipettes, taking in
gigs in Scotland, Wales and several major cities across the UK. They also
support LCD Soundsystem at The Astoria in London.
MARCH
The Go! Team play their first US shows kicking off at the SXSW showcase
festival in Austin, Texas followed by gigs in New York and Miami, at the Winter Music
Conference.
MAY
The band make their television debut performing
'Ladyflash' and 'The Power Is
On' on the BBC music show 'Later... with Jools Holland'.
Less than a year after their first gig, the band play their first major
venue headline show in London at the Electric Ballroom in Camden.
JUNE
The band support Basement Jaxx at
several large venues across the UK before
headlining the John Peel Stage at the Glastonbury Festival. The gig is
interrupted early on due to technical problems following
extreme weather conditions, but the band return and complete the set to a
rapturous reception. The day is recorded in a major interview feature in the
Sunday Times Magazine published the following month.
JULY
'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' is
given an Australian release on Shock Records and the band play their first gigs
there. Jamie Bell gets married at the end of the month so Simon Johns from Stereolab
stands in on bass for the Australian dates and a couple of Japanese shows in
early August. The band also play Pitchfork's Intonation Festival in Chicago
where they are joined on stage for Ladyflash by a gang of kids from a
neighbouring park who the band had spotted earlier in the day, pulling off some
dance moves. Ian:
"They were groovy,
funky little fuckers. All ages, little kids up to teenagers, getting down. So we
asked them if they wanted to get on stage for our last song, 'Ladyflash'.
Basically the kids got on stage and were dancing around. It was amazing. And
then, on the last beat, they all collapsed into a heap on the floor".
AUGUST
The band play several major
festivals across the globe including their first
visit to Japan at Fuji Rock, Pukklepop in Belgium and the Leeds/Reading festivals
in the UK.
'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' receives a Mercury Music Award nomination for Album
of the Year - other
bands nominated include Bloc Party, Coldplay, Kaiser Chiefs and M.I.A.
SEPTEMBER
The band perform a riotous 'Huddle Formation' at the Mercury Music Awards,
held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, which is shown on BBC2. Antony and
the Johnson win the award. The Go! Team also play an in-store gig the following day at
the HMV store in Oxford Street, London.
A re-recorded
version of 'Bottle Rocket' (with Ninja on vocals) is released as a single. It's
backed with 'Did You Feel It Too' on the 7" and 'We Just Won't Be Defeated'
together with a
Zane Lowe session version of 'Huddle Formation' on the CD single.
The band play
Rob da Bank's Bestival on the Isle of Wight and a clip of 'Ladyflash' is shown on
Channel 4's Bestival highlights show.
The band contribute a brand new track,
'Phantom Broadcast', to the 'Help - A Day In The Life' compilation in support of the Warchild charity.
OCTOBER
'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' is reissued in the UK and
receives a simultaneous release in the US on Sony BMG/Columbia Records. Due to sample clearance difficulties
some parts of songs have been re-recorded/recreated - a process that frustrates and
rankles Ian:
“I think if you’ve
lifted a sample wholesale and called it your song then that’s unfair but when
you sample something obscure, then mess around with it to make something fresh,
it’s a bit of a drag when you have to pay them 15%. And when you have to go
through legal departments for months on end". Two bonus tracks, 'Hold Yr Terror
Close' and 'We Just Won't Be Defeated', are added to the reissued album.
Note: Sue Busch from Sub Pop had shown some interest in releasing the album in
the States but the sample clearances proved too much of an issue and the band
and Memphis therefore went with Sony BMG/Columbia on a one-album deal. The band
would later sign to Sub Pop, in 2007, for the US release of Proof of Youth.
The band embark on
their first major tour of the US and Canada, playing a total of 14 shows and
making their US TV debut playing live on the Jimmy Kimmel Show on ABC.
A 10
minute documentary about The Go! Team, made by the band and Bob Jaroc, is
broadcast on Channel 4's '4-Play' show.
NOVEMBER
While in the US the band play live at the MTV Woodie Awards show in New York
where they are introduced on stage by actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Ninja features in the NME's Top 50 'Cool List' at number
15.
The band
record a session for XFM radio featuring 'Bottle Rocket', 'Junior Kickstart' and
'We
Just Won't Be Defeated'.
DECEMBER
Around this
time Silke
Stiedinger leaves the band and is replaced my Kaori Tsuchida. Kaori was previously one half of Japanese
band Yumi Yumi and joins The Go! Team as guitarist and backing vocalist, although
as time goes on she, like the rest of the band, will become
a multi-instrumentalist within the group.
2006
JANUARY
'Ladyflash' is
reissued as a single and some formats features a remix splice of 'Huddle
Formation' and 'Ladyflash' - entitled 'Huddle Flash' - by My Bloody Valentine main-man Kevin Shields. When
interviewed about remixing other band's
tracks Kevin Shields said: "Yeah,
it was an interesting thing to do for a while. I think the last one was The Go!
Team. And again, that was me being really selfish, because basically, there’s
something about them I think is really cool, and basically what I did was I took
two of their tracks and made it into one track. And it’s not that different, it
sounds like The Go! Team, largely. I kinda acted like I was in the band, and
y’know I was just really enjoying the process, like how they make their records,
and I just kind-of joined in. But that’s the last thing I did".
The re-recorded 'Ladyflash' earns the band an appearance on the BBC's 'Top of the
Pops' show. Only five members of the band appear in the performance (Jamie is missing) and Ninja sings live over the track.
Ninja and Kaori appear as guests on the Saturday morning Sky Sport's 'Soccer
AM' show.
The band kick off
another hectic year of touring with a return to Australia - plus a date in New
Zealand - for a series of festival appearances and also squeeze in a fantastic
eight song live radio session in the US on the 'Morning Becomes Eclectic' show on KCRW.
The session features the girl backing singers that have been playing with the
band for the latter half of 2005.
FEBRUARY
The band undertake their largest UK tour to date playing 18 dates that will
take them into early March, including three consecutive sold-out shows at KoKo in London.
By this time the band have introduced a new song, 'Doing It Right', into their set.
This tour is the last to feature the girl backing singers.
MARCH
The last date of the tour at Southampton University
and a subsequent gig in Paris are postponed due to
Ninja losing her voice. She is under doctor's orders to rest and the gigs are
quickly rearranged for May.
The band head back to the US later in the month to play some dates at this
year's SXSW (including an in-store appearance at Waterloo Records in Austin) followed
by a handful of east coast dates. To coincide, Columbia Records releases 'Audio
Assault Course', a semi-promotional CD featuring six tracks recorded for various
college radio station sessions in the US plus the Kevin Shield's 'Huddle Flash'
remix.
APRIL
The Go! Team return to the UK to support
The Flaming Lips on a short tour of
major venues including a show at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The band join
The Flaming Lips on stage in a variety of costumes for the Lips' finale each
night. Later that month they head back to the US for a few west coast dates
including a triumphant performance at the Coachella festival where legendary
bass man Mike Watt (of the Stooges and Minutemen) joins the band on stage for a
climatic 'Ladyflash'. While in the States the band play live on the CBS TV show
'The Late Show with Craig Ferguson'
performing a killer version of 'The Power Is On'. They also record a
session for US radio station NPR which includes a version of the previously
instrumental track 'The Wrath of Mikey' with vocals, which now features in the
band's live sets.
MAY
NME reports that Ian is looking to team up with Kevin Shields of My Bloody
Valentine to produce the band's second album. The article also mentions that a
new track 'Do It Right' (sic) could be released in the coming months. Note: I
understand that a version of 'Doing It Right' was recorded around this time along
with the cover of Sonic Youth's 'Bull In The Heather' but the former was never
released.
JUNE
Promo CDs of The Go! Team's cover of 'Bull In The Heather' begin to surface. The track will eventually
appear a year later on the b-side of 'Grip Like A Vice' 7" part 1. Meanwhile
Ninja has added her vocals to a new version of the Cut Chemist track 'The Audience Is Listening'
entitled 'The Audience Is Rural'.
JULY/AUGUST
July sees the band return to the US and Canada for the third time in five
months. They play a number of shows into August including several further gigs supporting The
Flaming Lips (one of which is at the legendary Red Rocks amphitheatre) plus the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago (which is recorded for an i-Tunes download album) and two
club dates supporting Sonic Youth which Ian describes
as 'a dream come true'. They return to the UK at the end of August to headline the JJB tent at the V Festival
in Chelmsford and Stafford.
OCTOBER
The Go! Team play their last gig of the year at The Dome in Brighton - a
hometown Halloween party that sees the band in suitable fancy dress. It will be
nearly six months before they play live again. In the interim, work on the
second album progresses.
2007
FEBRUARY
Badly Drawn Boy
releases a Go! Team remix of his track 'A Journey From A to B'.
MARCH
Simian Mobile Disco release the single 'It's The Beat' featuring Ninja on
vocals.
APRIL
The band play at
Mansfield Traquair in Edinburgh and debut three new songs, 'Flashlight Fight', 'Grip
Like A Vice' and 'Keys To The City' alongside a reworked version of 'The Wrath of Mikey' (soon to be renamed
'The Wrath Of Marcie')
and a slightly modified 'Doing It Right' (now minus it's drum and vocals intro).
MAY
The Go! Team's website reports that the second album is completed and will
be released on 2 September. They also confirm that the first single to be
released from it will be 'Grip Like A Vice', on 2nd July. The single
gets its radio premiere on the Radio 1 Zane Lowe Show on 14th May in his 'Hottest Record
In The World Today' slot.
The Go!
Team play some further low key shows together with the All Tomorrow's Parties weekender, curated this time around by ATP
vs. 'the fans' (The Go! Team are selected by the fans).
The band record a live performance of 'Grip Like A Vice' for Channel 4's
'Transmission' music TV show, in East London, which is broadcast on 25th May.
Kaori Tsuchida appears live with the band Now at a gig at
Barden's Bar in london on 5 May.
JUNE
The Go! Team play the Other Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, third on the
bill behind The Enemy and The Chemical Brothers. The BBC broadcast most of the
set. A few days later the band play two gigs in China - one in Beijing and the
other in Shanghai. There are only a handful of bands from outside the country
that have been invited to play there and the band's promoter makes a 10 minute
video documentary about their trip.
The title of The Go! Team's second album is revealed as 'Proof of Youth'.
JULY
The band record a number of live radio sessions throughout the month - a live session for BBC6 Music radio that features 'Grip Like A
Vice' and 'Keys To The City', a second session for XFM (before
playing a low key gig at the tiny London club Electrowerkz that evening) and a
session for The Current show on Minnesota public radio in the US, which is also
filmed. The
band also play a gig at the ICA in London as part of the i-Tunes festival - the
show is recorded and released as a live download album on i-Tunes.
Simian Mobile Disco release the album 'Attack Decay Sustain Release' which
includes two tracks featuring Ninja on vocals, the aforementioned single 'It's The Beat' and album track
'Hot Dog', for both of which she receives a writing
credit.
AUGUST
In readiness for the release of 'Proof of Youth', the band perform three
tracks from the album for Channel 4's 'The Album Chart Show'. They play 'Flashlight
Fight', 'Keys To The City' and new single 'Doing It Right' which is due for release on 3rd
September. They also record another session for the Zane Lowe Show on Radio 1.
The band play several festivals over August including a headline slot at the
Loop festival in Brighton and sets at Connect (Scotland), Get Loaded (London)
and Way Out West (Gothenburg).
SEPTEMBER
Second album 'Proof of Youth' is released on 10th September and it enters the
UK charts the following week at number 20.
The album also gets simultaneous
releases in the US (on Sub Pop), Japan (Avex), Secret City (Canada), Shock
(Australia) and V2 (Europe). The album gets universally positive reviews - a key
talking point is the international array of vocalists that appear on it
including Solex, The Rappers' Delight Club, Chuck D, Marina Ribatski from Bonde
De Role and the Double Dutch Divas as well as the three Go! Team gals
themselves. Ian explains how the
Chuck D collaboration on ’Flashlight Fight’ come about: "Chuck was really the
only person on the wish list of people to collaborate with. We fired this e-mail
off, and it was literally months before we got anything back. Eventually I got
an e-mail back with the title, ‘about the incredible rhyme animal’! I’d written
the song a few days before he replied and it was perfect for him, just kind of
stabby trumpets and things like that. He’s literally turned down hundreds of
requests every year and he was saying we had spirit and he thought it was
interesting. I’m a big fan of Public Enemy, just the way that their music seems
to be that much bigger than anyone else’s, it seems to exist on a higher plane
than most hip-hop for me. It’s like they’re fucking declaring war or something".
And on putting together the new album Ian elaborates: "In my
experience, good things don’t come out of jamming - not where I’m involved. I’m
more a grafter and a plotter. I’ve got this tight-arsed love of sampling and I’m
the one in the band that can be bothered to find all these dodgy TV samples and
sounds. I’ll hunt that shit down and look through movies, tutorial videos, old
TV shows, documentaries and library tapes to search for it. That’s what keeps us
outside of any musical genre and it’s how come The Go! Team sounds like it does.”
'Doing It Right' receives daytime BBC
Radio 1 play on the Jo Whiley Show although it's the b-side, a new track
entitled 'Milk
Crisis' that fares most favourably in the reviews with Kaori
singing on the track in Japanese.
The Go! Team return to Bestival and an
interview with Ninja, together with live footage of the band performing 'Doing It
Right', is shown as part of Channel 4's coverage of the festival. A second
Go! Team documentary is made by the band and Bob Jaroc and aired, again, on
Channel 4.
The band do an
in-store show and signing session at the HMV Oxford Street store in London the
day after the album's released. They then go on to play three consecutive sold-out shows in
London, (Electric Ballroom), Manchester (The Ritz) and Glasgow (ABC). Two new
songs, 'Fake ID' from 'Proof of Youth' and 'A Version of Myself' (a track from
the 'Grip Like a Vice' CD single) are debuted at the London gig. Towards
the end of September the band embark on an 11-date UK tour promoted by the NME
as the 'Freshers' Tour' as most venues are universities just kicking-off new
term years.
The fruits of a
collaboration between Kaori Tsuchida and Mike Watt are
released in the shape of a three track EP by their side project Funanori,
entitled 'A Tiny Twofer'. Meanwhile Ninja mentions working on solo material in
several interviews.
OCTOBER
The NME tour winds up at a packed show at The Astoria in London following which
the band jet off to the US for a 14 date tour. While in the States they return
to KCRW for a second time to play another eight track live session for the
'Morning Becomes Eclectic' show.
NOVEMBER
The band embarks on a four day tour of France with The Gossip, Jack Penate
and Cajun Dance Party. Former Pulp front man Jarvis Cocker attends the Paris
show.
'The Wrath of Marcie' is released as a limited edition (1500) 7" picture
disc.
The band record their third session for XFM - this one being broadcast
live from the radio station's Leicester Square studios in London and being notable for the
inclusion of a cover version of 'Gonna Fly Now', the theme track from the movie
'Rocky'.
DECEMBER
The band play two shows in Japan at the beginning of the month and then end 2007
and start 2008 by playing a batch of festival dates in Australia over the New Year period including
a gig on News
Year's Eve at the Falls Festival in Tasmania.
2008
JANUARY
'Thunder, Lightning, Strike' and
'Proof of Youth' get Korean releases on the Beatball label.
'Time Machine', a track by French band Rinocerose, appears on their website, with Ninja on
vocals. The track is finally released over the summer and a promo video, featuring
Ninja, is also released.
FEBRUARY
The band kick off February with a session for
the Colin Murray Show on Radio 1 which includes a live horn section - The Full Fat Horns -
providing the brass on 'Titanic Vandalism', 'Keys To The City' and 'Grip Like A
Vice'.
Later this month they play Mexico for the first time with two shows - a club gig in
Mexico City and a festival in Guadalajara. The band return to the UK for an 11-date UK tour which sees them take in
shows in a numbers of cities they've not played
before.
After much apparent pestering by Mark Ronson, Ian agrees to remix his
cover of Radiohead's 'Just'. Mark Ronson appears on MTV Cribs with a vinyl copy of
'Proof of Youth' taking pride of place at the front of his album collection.
MARCH
The Go! Team host a benefit gig at The Duke of York's cinema in Brighton to
raise money for roof repairs. The band play live and DJ while Go! Team visuals
guru Bob Jaroc shows old 35mm movie trailers and short films on the big screen.
MAY
The band play a low-key 1am hometown gig at the Brighton Concorde as part of the
'Great Escape' weekender. The nine song set includes seven tracks from 'Proof of
Youth' together with 'Huddle Formation' and 'The Power Is On'. 'Ladyflash' and
'Bottle Rocket' are (possibly for the first time) not played.
JUNE
June sees The Go! Team globetrot to virgin territory as they play shows for
the first time in Croatia, Russia, Brazil and Argentina.
Ian makes a rare appearance outside of The Go! Team when he contributes bass,
keyboards and drums to a track by Coley Park, entitled 'Thurston Moore', which
features on the band's 'Quiet Lanes' EP out this month.
JULY
'Milk Crisis', the b-side of 'Doing
It Right' is re-recorded with both English and Japanese vocals and released as a
free download through the band's website. US kids channel Cartoon Network also
features the track on station i-dents for which a promo video, featuring the
band, is
made for the channel.
Due to illness, Jamie Bell is unable to play three festival dates with the
band, Latitude and Lovebox in the UK and Les Vieilles Charrues in France. The
band recruit stand-in bass player Jose Piex who hands in a stellar performance.
Jamie returns to the band in time to play the Fuji Rock festival in Japan and
the Pentaport festival in South Korea at the end of the month.
In an interview with the LTD website Ian outlines his manifesto for future Go!
Team recordings: “I really want to push
forward with the idea of schizophrenic music and make it even more kind of cut
n’ pastey, almost as though you’re dipping channels on the radio or something so
you get really different drum sounds and really different fidelity."
AUGUST
The Go! Team return to the States for a 10-date tour that includes the
Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago (which is shown in its entirety on a webcast the
following day), the All Points West festival in New Jersey which is headlined by
Radiohead and several club shows co-headlining with CSS. The Lollapalooza show is
also released as an i-Tunes live album.
OCTOBER
A new Go! Team track appears on the Amazon/Tribe double CD put together by
Bruce Parry (of BBC's Tribe documentary series) in support of the Survival
International charity. The track is entitled 'Templates From Home' and features
sampled field recordings of the vocals of the Babongo Tribe from the Gabon. Ian and Bruce
Parry appear on the BBC Radio 4 morning news programme 'The Today Show' to
discuss the project. In an interview for the Quiet Colour website Ian confirms:
"We used
a little melody sung by a lady in the Babongo tribe - it’s a pretty surreal idea
to collaborate with someone I’ve never met and who has such a different life to
me".
Later that month the band
perform 'Keys To The City' live on the French TV channel ARTE as part of a 'Rock In
The City' gig celebrating women in music.
DECEMBER
The band round off the year with three German gigs, one of which, the Play
Winter Music festival in Berlin, is broadcast live on a webcast.
2009
APRIL
The Go! Team remix of Papercut's 'Future Primitive' is made available through Memphis Industries.
Pickled Egg Records releases an album
by the band Now named Ooodipoomn which
features Kaori Tsuchida singing and playing guitar on the track 'Hiway Code'.
Kaori had previously appeared live with the band in May 2007 at a gig at
Barden's Bar in London.
JUNE
The band play Slovenia for the first time, at the Njoki festival.
AUGUST
Stereogum publishes an interview
with Ian regarding The Go! Team's third album where he expands on the schizo
music idea: "A single song that can switch from sounding like a home demo to
'big and widescreen' or could even change from one set of instruments to another
from one minute to next - almost like tuning into the same song across different
radio stations playing different genres. I've never really heard music that
flips in fidelity within the same song, but the challenge is to make it flow
like a song should."
SEPTEMBER
The Go! Team play what is likely
to be their last gig of 2009 in front a massive and enthusiastic crowd at the
free BAM festival in Barcelona before heading home to complete work on their
third album.
NOVEMBER
Thunder, Lightning, Strike is
included in The Times' 100 Best Albums of the Decade at number 41.
DECEMBER
The Go! Team issue a tweet
confirming that two tracks from the new album have now been mixed. By the end of
the month at least seven tracks will have been finished.
The Go! Team are nominated in the
'Remixers Of The Year' category of the Music Producers Guild Awards 2010,
for the
Papercuts and Black Moth Super Rainbow remixes they did earlier in the year.
2010
JANUARY
The Go! Team play their first show
of the year at the Actual Festival, La Rioja, Spain on the 3rd January.
FEBRUARY
The band announce a date in
Belgium in April, playing at the Sonic City weekender, curated this year by the
American band Deerhoof.
MARCH
The band play Singapore for the first time with two shows at the Mosaic
Music Festival.
APRIL
The band debut a brand new song (listed as 'New Break' on the set list) at
their gig at the Deerhoof-curated Sonic City Festival in Kortrijk, Belgium
on the 17th April. They also announce a string of European Festival dates across
the summer months. Work continues on the third album.
MAY
The band debut a brand new song and play again the other new song
(previously debuted at Sonic City) at the Nuits Sonores Festival in Lyon on the
14th of May.
JUNE
Cuz - a new musical collaboration between The Go! Team's Sam Dook and Mike
Watt from The Stooges are interviewed in London for the Glass Shrimp radio show
and early mixes of several tracks are broadcast.
The band play gigs in Spain and, for the first time, Poland over the course of a
weekend. However the Polish gig is subsequently cancelled due to rain
waterlogged front of house sound desk and Sam Dook doesn't play
with the band in Spain due to illness.
JULY
The band play in Tudela, Spain and their first proper UK show in nearly two
years at the Wickerman Festival in Scotland.
AUGUST
The band play their first proper gig in England for nearly two years at the
Summer Sundae Festival in Leicester as well as two festival shows in Germany.
NME reports that the new album will be out in the new year and the band reveal
on their Facebook page that Satomi Matsuzaki from Deerhoof will be guesting on
vocals on a track entitled 'Secretary Song'.
The band announce their
first major UK club date, at Heaven in London, on 8 February 2011. News of the
band undertaking photo sessions and a video shoot comes courtesy of Ninja's page
on Twitter.
The band's website
also gets a major redesign.
SEPTEMBER
The Go! Team announce a 19 date UK tour for February 2011. The tour is their
first in the UK for three years and most dates are at small/intimate venues.
A message from the band via Twitter on the 28th September confirms that
they are 'mastering album 3 as we speak'.
The band play the Gogol Festival in Kiev, Ukraine - their first visit to the
country.
Kaori Tsuchida guests on
the album Hug by Skibunny singing on the track 'All In This Together'.
OCTOBER
The Go! Team announce full details of their third album, Rolling Blackouts,
including the full 13 song tracklisting and cover art. The album release date is
set for 31 January 2011 (1 February in the US). The line-up of contributors
includes Bethany Cosentino from Best Coast, a French female singer named
Lispector and Satomi Matsuzaki from Deerhoof amongst several others.
Album opener
T.O.R.N.A.D.O..
featuring Ninja on vocals, gets its debut airing on the Zane Lowe show on BBC
Radio 1. The track is made available as a free download.
A video for Super Triangle appears briefly on the kaiko-moo website, the company
who made the video for the two minute instrumental album track.
The band confirm that 'Buy Nothing Day' is to be released as a US-only 7"
single
backed by a cover of Betty and Karen's 'I'm Not Satisfied' featuring vocals from
a French female singer named Soko.
The band debut new material at the Fiz Festival in Zaragoza, Spain including
Secretary Song with Kaori on vocals and Chi on keyboards and typewriter!.
NOVEMBER
The Go! Team announce that they
will be playing ATP Bowlie 2 weekender, curated by Belle
and Sebastian, at Minehead in December. Kaori is unable to play the gig and the
band will therefore be recruiting a guitarist from the band Screaming Tea Party
who supported The Go! Team on their UK tour in 2008.
A teaser trailer for Rolling Blackouts appears on the internet closely followed
by a video for the track T.O.R.N.A.D.O. The track also gets positive reviews on
the Roundtable segment of Steve Lamacq's BBC6 Music show.
Ian Parton is interviewed
about the forthcoming album on Brighton's Juice 107.2 FM and The Go! Team's
cover of Betty and Karen's 'I'm Not Satisfied' receives its first play. T.O.R.N.A.D.O.
gets a good
reception on Steve Lamacq's BBC6 Music Roundtable session - all three
guests giving it positive reviews - Tim Wheeler from Ash gave it an 8,
John Herbert from Goldheart Assembly a 7 and writer Eugene Butcher a 6.
The overall score from the listeners was also a 6.
The band announce a number of German dates and one in Belgium as part of a
proposed European tour in March 2011.
DECEMBER
iTunes lists an additional track accompanying the download release of Rolling
Blackouts. The track is called 'Headache In My Heart' thought likely to be a
cover of soul band The Debonaires 1967 track of the same name.
The Go! Team play the ATP Bowlie 2 weekender on 10 December, their last gig
of the year.
Promos copies of the Rolling Blackouts CD appear on eBay as leaks of the album
start to emerge. Buy Nothing Day promo CDs also begin to circulate and the track
receives plays on the Zane Lowe Show on BBC Radio 1 and on BBC 6Music where Ian
and Ninja are interviewed by Huey Morgan of the Fun Lovin' Criminals and album
track The Running Range is given its first radio play.
The band announce a number of French dates and one in Austria.
The first glossy monthly
magazine review of Rolling Blackouts is released - Q Magazine giving it 4 stars
out of 5.
2011
JANUARY
The lead-in month to the release of Rolling Blackouts sees the band
undertake three radio session - BBC Radio 2 on the Dermot O'Leary Show (Apollo
Throwdown and Everyone's A VIP To Someone), BBC Radio 1 for Zane Lowe (Buy
Nothing Day, Voice Yr Choice and a new untitled track) and BBC 6Music for Huey
Morgan (T.O.R.N.A.D.O. and Apollo Throwdown).
The band play two gigs -
one in outdoor sub zero temperatures in Vienna and a six song instore gig at Rough Trade
East in London on the day of the release of Rolling Blackouts.
Buy Nothing Day 7" is released on 24th January and the track is A-listed on BBC
6Music for five consecutive weeks throughout the entire month, receiving plays
on every day time show.
Rolling Blackouts is released in Japan in the second week of the month with
three extra tracks and two videos.
A number of remixes of
tracks from the album surface including mixes by Ruby Suns and Tobacco (Voice Yr
Choice), Chad Valley (Buy Nothing Day) and Star Slinger (Apollo Throwdown).
The band announce that the album is to be released as a limited edition white
vinyl pressing. They also confirm dates in Spain, the US, Canada, Ireland and
Japan in the Spring.
A series of videos by James Slater for each track of the album are released in
the run up to its release.
The band put out a number of mix tape selections for various websites and Ian
and Sam appear on Brighton's Juice Radio to play some of their favourite tracks
alongside LP cuts. Ninja and Jamie appear as guests on Sky TV's Soccer AM TV
show.
The album receives overwhelmingly good reviews from the vast majority on the
printed and on-line press.
Rolling Blackouts is released on 31st January.
FEBRUARY
The band undertake a 20 date UK tour to packed/sold-out clubs and ecstatic
audiences. The band play tracks from all three LPs including a return to the
original 'chant' vocal of The Power Is On and new tracks from Rolling Blackouts
including T.O.R.N.A.D.O., Voice Yr Choice, Apollo Throwdown, The Running Range,
Yosemite Theme, Secretary Song, Ready To Go Steady and Back Like 8 Track, getting its UK debut
play at Cambridge Junction on the 9th of February.
While on tour the band recorded a session for ex-Smiths drummer Mike Joyce for
his show on EVR radio. The session was recorded on the afternoon of 19 February
and is set to be broadcast in March.
Rolling Blackouts reaches no. 50 in the UK charts and is reportedly the no. 1 selling download on Amazon in the US in its first week of release.
MARCH
The band undertake a two dates in Ireland before heading off on a sixteen
date European tour taking in shows in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy,
Spain and France, including a sold-out show in Paris. Chi receives a head
injury in a backstage accident while is Spain which requires several stiches.
The band announce a number of summer festival appearances including a show with The
Flaming Lips at the Eden Project, Cornwall planned for June, Y Not in
Derbyshire, UK, Omas Teich in Germany and major festival gigs at Benicassim
Festival in Spain and Electric Picnic and Sea Sessions in Ireland.
The band release the video for Apollo Throwdown and announce that a four track
remixes 12" of the track and Voice Yr Choice, limited to 500 copies, is to be
released as part of Record Store Day on 16 April 2011.
APRIL
The band begin the month in Spain rounding off a handful of gig which
completes their European tour. 10 days later the band undertake an eight date
tour of the US which includes one dates in Canada. Both New York gigs (the
Bowery Ballroom and Brooklyn Bowl) are sell-outs and all gigs well attended and
received. Ninja is injured during the climatic Brooklyn Bowl set closer Keys To
The City and is taken to hospital where she spends the night but is given the OK
to proceed with the tour.
While in the US the band record T.O.R.N.A.D.O. and The Power Is On for Fox TV's Fuel Channel, performing live in front of a studio audience on The Daily Habit Show.
The band's Record Store
Day Remixes 12" is released on 16 April on blue vinyl, limited to 500 copies.
Ian Parton takes over BBC 6 Music for a couple of hours on the evening of
the 24 April for the 6 Mix show playing some of his favourite records,
influences and instrumentals. While in the US he also hosts a similar show for
YNOT Radio.
The band's first remix of another artist's material, for some time, is release
in the shape of a track called Do The Hand Jive by The Voluntary Butler Scheme,
available as a download.
The band announce a number of festival dates including the legendary Truck and
Glastonbury Festivals
Following a break, the band fly to Australia at the end of the month for a tour
of festivals and clubs commencing on 30 April.
JUNE
The Go! Team announce the
forthcoming release of a 4-track download EP featuring Ready To Go Steady along
with remixes of Voice Yr Choice by The Ruby Suns and TOBACCO, plus a remix
of Buy Nothing Day by The Lost Boys.
The band play a number of festivals, including Eden Sessions at The Eden Project
with The Flaming Lips, B-Sides in Switzerland, Sea
Session in Ireland, Solidays in Paris and Glastonbury in the UK, for the third
time in six years, this time on the West Holts Stage. Some of the set is
broadcast on the BBC's interactive service. They also return to play
the Cultural Picnic Festival in Warsaw, Poland after their proposed show there
last year was postponed just before they went on, due to torrential rain.
The Running Range from Rolling Blackouts is used for the 2011 Paris Homeless World Cup TV ad,
narrated by footie legend Eric Cantona.
The band confirm several new festival dates including Hop Farm in the UK with
Prince and Pukkelpop in Belgium.
iTunes release a 15 track Go! Team Essentials download album .
Memphis Industries, the band's label, announces its 13 year birthday bash at Koko in London on 30 November featuring The Go! Team and label-mates Field Music, Dutch Uncles and Colourmusic. The gig replaces The Go! Team's proposed show at The Coronet in London on 30th September.
JULY
The Go! Team release a 4
track digital download EP on Itunes featuring Ready To Go Steady and remixes Of
Voice Yr Choice and Buy Nothing Day.
Festival dates continue with dates at Benicassim, Spain, Hop Farm, Deer Shed and
Truck in the UK as well as festivals in Guernsey, Germany and Norway. A second
Norwegian festival in Tronheim is cancelled due to a mass murder tragedy by a
gunman/bomber in the country. The band however add another three festival dares
to their Sumner schedule.
Rolling Blackouts receives odds of 50/1 with bookmakers for the Mercury Prize
but does not make the shortlist of 12 albums.
AUGUST
A pretty grim month from many
perspectives. At the start of August the Ignition festival in Newcastle, that
the band were due to play on the Saturday night along with Echo & The Bunnymen
is cancelled at the last minute due to health and safety issue at the proposed
site. Later in the month the band play the Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium just
hours before a freak storm hits the site causing stages and tents to collapse,
killing five people and injuring many more. A few days later, escalating riots
in London result in the Sony distribution centre in Enfield, North London to be
destroyed by arsonists causing the loss of stored stocks of hundreds of
independent labels including The Go! Team's label Memphis Industries.
The band played several
festivals in August including a headline set at the Y Not festival in
Derbyshire, the Highfield Festival in Germany and an appearance at the Popaganda
festival in Sweden with Arcade Fire.
SEPTEMBER
The band play its last European festival shows of the year at the Bingley
Music Live Festival in Yorkshire, playing on the traditionally free first night
of the weekend and at Electric Picnic in Ireland.
Reports of the band's
demise emerge from the Irish media following comments allegedly made by Ian and
Ninja at a press conference at the Electric Picnic festival. The band issue a
statement to say that the reports are 'way off the mark'.
Ian guests on the Jonny Trunk OST show on Resonance FM radio playing some of his
favourite tracks including movie and TV related music.
The band head off to China at the end of the month for two festival dates.
OCTOBER
The band play two festival dates
in China followed by a gig in Italy.
NOVEMBER
Promo CDs of the track Rolling
Blackouts surface but it does not receive a physical release.
It is revealed that Ian Parton has recorded and arranged the music for a track
by Japanese girl group Momoiro Clover Z entitled 'Roudou Sanka'. The track is
released in Japan as a single in late November and appears to enter the charts
at number 13 although its final/highest position is unknown.
The band play Memphis Industries 13th birthday party at Koko in London on 30 November headlining above label-mates Colourmusic, Dutch Uncles and Field Music. The gig is confirmed as the last Go! Team show for a while.
DECEMBER
Memphis Industries set up stall
on Saturday 10th of December at Spitalfields Market as part of the Independent
Label Market, a record fair for all the labels affected by the arson attack on
the Sony Distribution Centre at Enfield during the London riots in august.
Memphis founders Matt and Ollie Jacob together with Ninja from The Go! Team man
the stall for the day.
2012
JANUARY
A promo CD of an entirely instrumental version of Rolling Blackouts starts
to circulate.