UK band Sports Team robbed at gunpoint in US

RTÉ News​

28-05-2025

The singer of a British band Sports Team who robbed at gunpoint while touring in the US has said he still thinks "America is the greatest country in the world".
The band's van was broken into by masked thieves, who pulled out a gun, when they had stopped for coffee at a Starbucks in Vallejo, California, late last year, with the group's singer saying tracks they recorded for their latest album, which was released last week, predicted the robbery.
Indie rockers Sports Team, who released their Boys These Days album last week, had personal items stolen but they did not lose any equipment.
Singer Alex Rice told PA: "It was almost like a pretty wild coincidence.
"We had a track, the album was all written and recorded, submitted well before we did that tour, but we did have this track, Bang Bang Bang on it, which we ended up putting out fairly soon after, which I guess was about this weird juxtaposition you always find in the US.
"It's got lines in it like `Mickey Mouse and AR 15' kind of thing, it's side by side, the kind of bars that we were drinking in the US, and people will show you where their friends were shot, the kind of gun holes on the walls.
"So, I think we've always found that element of gun culture in the US kind of a slightly odd element, like, I understand it, and when we go there, I think America is the greatest country in the world still, but I think it just seems such a blind spot.
"And I think some of the politicisation around it just doesn't do anyone any favours."
The band initially tried to stop the burglars, after a Starbucks worker had noticed their van being broken into, in December 2024, before the gun was pointed at them.
Rice said the robbery quickly became "politicised".
He added: "The interview requests come in, and we did a nice one with ABC, where it's like you talk about gun crime being awful, and you talk about charities involved and stuff.
"And then immediately you get a request from Fox News as well, who kind of want to politicise it, make it about (California governor) Gavin Newsom defunding the police kind of thing.
"It's how quickly kind of an event can be spun, (which) was quite interesting to us.
"So, we were going to do the Fox interview and they were going to send the Fox mobile to this town we were staying in at the time, and they cancelled it as soon as we posted about an anti-gun charity."
Rice said he and the band have yet to hear back from the police, having been asked to fill out an online form when they called 911.
He said: "We haven't heard anything back since at all, I think there was probably a bit of scrutiny on the police department in Vallejo, which I know is a kind of particularly embattled police force.
"I'm sure these aren't people who are not wanting to solve gun crimes, but I think it probably speaks to problems with funding, and the kind of pressures the police force are in, in that part of the world.
"I mean, what would they deal with if they won't deal with an armed robbery, you know?"
The band, made up of Rice, Rob Knaggs, Henry Young, Oli Dewdney, Al Greenwood, and Ben Mack, released their debut album, Deep Down Happy, in 2020, which was nominated for the Mercury Prize and went to number two in the UK charts.
Their 2022 follow-up, Gulp!, was also well received and rose to number three in the charts.
The group, who performed at Glastonbury in 2022, released their third album, Boys These Days, on 23 May.
Source: Press Association
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