Latest news with #AlexRice
The Independent
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
How a rock band's gunpoint robbery quickly became politicised
Sports Team, a British indie rock band, were robbed at gunpoint in Vallejo, California, while touring the U.S. in December 2024. Masked thieves broke into their van while they stopped at a Starbucks, stealing personal items after pointing a gun at them. Lead singer Alex Rice said the band had a song on their new album, Boys These Days LP, called "Bang Bang Bang" that eerily predicted the incident. Rice expressed his belief that "America is the greatest country in the world" but finds the gun culture a "blind spot". He said the incident quickly became politicised when media outlets like Fox News sought to connect it to debates around defunding the police. UK band robbed at gunpoint on US tour say 'America is the greatest country in the world'
RTÉ News
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
UK band Sports Team robbed at gunpoint in US
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 More music news, reviews and interviews here
The Sun
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
We've always wanted to be a big band, but we stay the right side of the fine line between cool and sad, says Sports Team
THERE is always a political angle to Sports Team's songs but it is delivered with energy and humour. With their third album Boys These Days, the six-piece set out to make something that was all that — and more — delivering a satirical take on everything from social media to our obsession with nostalgia. 3 Sometimes it's a critique, at other times it feels more like an endorsement. 'It's not Modern Life Is Rubbish, it's more like modern life is OK,' says rhythm guitarist and vocalist Rob Knaggs, name-checking Blur's 1993 album. Singer Alex Rice adds: 'Three albums in, we're finally at a point where we have the confidence to make the record we want to make. It's maximalist and hedonistic — a big sound that's in your face. We've been inspired by people like Bryan Ferry, Prefab Sprout and Joe Jackson.' It's a busy morning when I meet Rice and Knaggs at their North London HQ — a hybrid of their management company and record label. Libertines frontman Carl Barat pops in for a meeting, promo plans are being thrown around for upcoming releases, and in the middle of it all Rice is proudly showing off photos of his newborn daughter, just a few weeks old. 'It's organised chaos and that's how we like it,' says Rice, settling into the sofa, ready to chat. Out of control 'We actually had more time with this album,' explains Knaggs, after the first two records by the band — which also comprises lead guitarist Henry Young, bassist Oli Dewdney, drummer Al Greenwood and keyboardist Ben Mack — were made amid non-stop touring. Knaggs jokes: 'We could have hit that old, bloated, egotistical stage and thought, 'Do you know what? Maybe I'll make Tubular Bells now'. 'With the first records, we were constantly playing live. Nobody knew who we were, and we had to win over cold crowds. 'But with this third one, it's different, we're not the 22-year-old kids we were when we started. Iconic 70s rock band announces lineup change as frontman quits and replacement is revealed 'Our lives have changed, our music taste has changed, and you don't want to end up a parody of yourself. You want to make music you genuinely love. Otherwise, what's the point of doing this? 'We've always said we want to be a really big band, and it's a fine line between very cool and very sad, and you want to pull the right side of that.' The album is a journey through all the events, all these other things that come into your life Rice With that in mind, Knaggs says: 'At the start, because of our band name, we'd be asked to do silly sports-theme ideas. 'Hey, we've got a photoshoot idea. We are going to dress you as pins from ten-pin bowling, and we will bowl a ball at you down the lane.' No thanks!' Rice adds: 'The album is a journey through all the events, all these other things that come into your life.' Boys These Days kicks off with the catchy sexy sax song I'm In Love (Subaru). Knaggs says: 'It was fun to do songs with an '80s palette, with really corny saxophones — so yes there is a saxophone on there. 'And Subaru was the most '80s song we'd written. It was us consciously trying to write a Prefab Sprout song. And then it spiralled out of control from that point.' "Humour is a key ingredient in Sports Team's songs, and the title track Boys These Days is no exception. That one is meant to be taken ambiguously,' explains Rice. 'It's about how the generation before you always think you've lost your way. 'I've always been fascinated by nostalgia culture. There's a Facebook group called Who Remembers Proper Binmen that really got us thinking about this idea.' 'It's like boomer memes. Or nostalgic phrases like Who remembers chippy teas? Who remembers playing on bombsites? And everyone nods that they remember,' says Knaggs with a laugh. Rice adds: 'Boys These Days is a phrase that whatever the side of the political spectrum you're on with gender, you take it in a different way.' There's a line in Boys These Days about 'now it's all vaping and porn ' and the topic turns to the rise in the number of students using the platform OnlyFans to fund university costs. There's a weird divide between older people who expect you to do certain things because you're in a band, like have groupies. It's weird Rice Knaggs says: 'We were actually approached by OnlyFans in the early days of the band — I think they were trying to get artists on board to give them a good image. 'I guess Kate Nash did it pretty well when she was doing bum pics to sell her tour. 'And Lily Allen makes money selling photos of her feet. I'd do hands and feet stuff on OnlyFans, if my feet weren't so grotesque!' Rice says: 'There's a weird divide between older people who expect you to do certain things because you're in a band, like have groupies. It's weird. 'We're a mixed band where there's five guys. Music is still going through that transition but music for us has always been a positive masculine space. 'Small venues are where you find a lot of community. It was for us when we were young and we are trying to create that as well.' The band — who formed while at Cambridge University — believe their privileged academic background has often been a double-edged sword. Knaggs points out other acts, including Clean Bandit and singer Rina Sawayama, went to Cambridge. He adds 'Although I was always a bit annoyed, because we'd get branded as posh, whereas Rina Sawayama would be called an academic queen.' Smiling, Rice says: 'I've always liked these fun little narratives, these beefs. Like when Liam Gallagher called Pete Doherty and Keane's Tom Chaplin 'posh lightweights' and when Kasabian joked that Tom was 'addicted to port'.' Boys These Days was made in Bergen, Norway, where Rice and Knaggs say they made the most of the different environment. Rice says: 'We loved it and worked Scandi hours, like 10am till 4pm which we'd never done before. And it was the end of January so had the heaviest of snow which was so beautiful. 'Me and Rob visited the Cold War bunkers there and walked a lot. We swam most days too. It was a great place to work.' Knaggs says: 'But the Norwegians know how to live. We saw A-ha playing at a festival. Morten Harket is still a dish. 'We were backstage and he came straight off stage, got a ski jumper on and drove straight into the mountains. He's living very well that man.' Rice says: 'We worked with [CMAT and Girl In Red] producer Matias Tellez who was experimental with the band and our way of working. 'He's so comfortable in the studio. There are no preconceptions about how music should be made. In the past we've thought everything needed to be played live, or it's not credible. 'Matias's methods were very freeing, the way he worked on the vocals and made us try things again and again. He made it spontaneous. He has a very sunny vibe and is incredibly energetic.' Knaggs adds: 'Also he doesn't come from that guitar world. We love guitar rock and are super nerds in that sense. With that comes a weird set of rules to how you record guitars, drums and bass. 'Brutal welcome' 'But Matias is happy to do whatever. He's about Scandi-Norwegian pop, which has separate rules to the UK or New York or LA music scene.' Other standout tracks on Boys These Days include Head To Space, a song about billionaires blasting off to the moon, and Moving Together, which includes a clever Coronation Street intro sample, (through copyright laws, the soap now own 20 per cent of that song). Bang Bang Bang tackles the issue of gun violence — eerily written before the band were robbed at gunpoint on the first day of their US tour in San Francisco last December. The boys had been enjoying breakfast when two masked men stormed their rental van at gunpoint, forcing tour manager Lauren Troutman to the ground and stealing thousands of pounds' worth of equipment and personal belongings. It left them shaken but determined to carry on with the tour, with Rice describing it as a 'brutal welcome to America'. He adds: 'We wrote the song months before and so the timing seemed strange. 'It went from being this song about how jarring it feels to go into bars in the US, where people would show you their guns, or gun holes in the wall, or in shops, weaponry would be next to other things, which felt odd. Then suddenly it felt a very personal song. 'What was weird though was having the media come out and to see the massively different angles on the gun argument. We were doing all these interviews and just describing what happened rather than the (pro-gun) political line that some people wanted out of us.' Shaking his head, Knaggs says: 'It happened in a petrol station, so if we had a gun, we could have had a little shootout in the petrol station. No problem.' The band began a record- store tour last night in Edinburgh before summer shows in London and Margate and festivals. Being in Sports Team is about having fun and creating a narrative about life — we've grown up a lot since we started — but it's just given us more things to write about Rice Rice says: 'We are playing Truck, Y Not, Kendall Calling and Leeds. There's a few more to be announced, and a big autumn tour. They have also been supporting Supergrass during their ongoing I Should Coco 30th anniversary tour — and will perform at their Mexico gig in September. 'We are excited. I love Supergrass. We've played with a lot of bands now and they are the people you want to be like that. They are fantastic live and the nicest people. 'I'm just looking at how touring will work now I'm a dad. Paul McCartney took his baby on tour — it's definitely doable. 'There will be a lot of time when I'm probably around way more than with a normal job. It's the balance you strike. And this year, we've taken it a bit easier than we would do normally and my partner has been great and is a great mum. 'Being in Sports Team is about having fun and creating a narrative about life — we've grown up a lot since we started — but it's just given us more things to write about.' Boys These Days is out today. SPORTS TEAM Boys These Days ★★★★☆ 3
Business Wire
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Pixee Raises $15M to Automate Code Security to Meet the Velocity of GenAI-Enabled Developers
BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pixee, the creator of innovative solutions that empower security teams to match the productivity of AI-powered development, announced today that it has raised $15M in seed funding. The round was led by Decibel and Wing VC, with participation from TEDCO, PrimeSet and strategic investors, including early GitHub engineer Zach Holman, HackerOne Founder and CTO Alex Rice, Oracle SVP of Cloud Operations Brian Chess, and more. The new capital will accelerate Pixee's product development and expansion of the go-to-market team, enabling the company to scale adoption among enterprises and capture the growing demand for its AI-powered solution. Early enterprise customers have seen substantial benefits from adopting Pixee, including recapturing 91% of developer remediation time and cutting security triage time by 74%. Automated code fixes achieve an impressive 76% merge rate. Pixee is the first enterprise-grade tool that uses agentic AI for context and logic alongside deterministic techniques, delivering both intelligent vulnerability triage and accurate, trusted fixes. It integrates directly into developer workflows, including GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure DevOps, creating pull requests with ready-to-accept code. Purpose-built for security-conscious enterprises, the on-premises deployment option keeps customers' sensitive data, intellectual property, and source code fully under the customer's control. This eliminates the risk of data leaks or exposure to unregulated AI tools, ensuring strong trust, security, and protection. 'Developers are more prolific today than ever before, especially those leveraging the latest genAI tools like Cursor, Claude Code & GitHub Co-pilot,' said Surag Patel, co-founder and CEO of Pixee. 'It's time application security teams are empowered with a platform that enables them to 10X their team and keep pace with their counterparts. By focusing on capabilities like automated, production-ready code fixes directly into developer workflows and automating expert automated triage for security, enterprises can now ship secure code at unprecedented velocity. Teams can trust that any vulnerabilities within code are being resolved faster than new ones can be introduced.' IDC projects that by 2027, 70% of corrective code fixes for application security issues will be generated by AI-assisted automated remediation tools, reducing the time to patch vulnerabilities to just days. The report also found that developers estimate spending 19% of their weekly hours on security-related tasks, often outside normal working hours. The average organization spends a whopping $28,100 per developer each year in security-related tasks. 'It's time Application Security teams have their 'Cursor' equivalent platform. Pixee is the first platform we've seen that truly changes the equation in security programs and enables them to keep up with the pace of developers. By natively weaving into the developer workflow and automating work that previously was a tax on developers and security teams, security gets done automatically. Instead of the same story of understaffed product security teams, we finally have a path to the enterprise dream,' said Dan Nguyen-Huu, Partner at Decibel. 'At the heart of Pixee is a powerful insight: genAI-fueled developer productivity and security can coexist without friction. By automating the complex tasks of resolving issues from product security scanners, Pixee allows developers and security teams to reclaim valuable time, driving innovation and delivering higher quality software, faster,' added Jake Flomenberg, Partner at Wing. Pixee was founded by industry veterans with decades of experience in security and developer enablement. Co-founder and CEO Surag Patel was the Chief Strategy Officer at Contrast Security, and held leadership roles at 41st Parameter (acquired by Experian), comScore, and InMobi. Co-founder and CTO Arshan Dabirsiaghi co-founded cybersecurity unicorn Contrast Security and is recognized as one of the world's most prominent application security experts. Together, they are building Pixee to redefine how security is managed in the development process. About Pixee, Inc. Pixee is the first enterprise-grade platform that automates the last mile of application security, from alerts to resolution. The company's technology integrates directly into developer workflows, using a combination of agentic AI and deterministic techniques to deliver trusted, automatic code fixes with an 87% merge rate. Founded by security industry veterans Surag Patel and Arshan Dabirsiaghi, Pixee is backed by Decibel, Wing VC, and strategic investors including early GitHub engineer Zach Holman and HackerOne Founder Alex Rice. For more information, visit
