Named after the quick-response crews that are sent out to car crashes to pick up stray limbs off the motorway so that they are not run over before they can be sewn back on, The Go! Team started off in Brighton around the year 2000 as a one man “band”. Originally treating music very much as a hobby, Ian Parton would come home from work and record sounds that he liked and layer them on his 4-track recorder, creating busy sound-clips, but one day he decided to pack everything up and go to Wales to record his first album. After a month of messing around with “shitty microphones” in his parent’s kitchen, and no doubt growing a beard, out popped the Mercury Music Prize-nominated album Thunder, Lightning, Strike, a title which very much summed up its frantic sound. After realising that he would never be able to perform his songs live on his own (having been offered wodges of cash by Franz Ferdinand), Ian decided to recruit a band in order to recreate his dense recordings for a live audience. The band, who are “visually and musically very different” from each other and are essentially a cobbling together of musicians from around the globe, fulfilled Ian’s dream of an anti-“indie-band”, with Ninja, a female rapper and others with passions for noise rock and electronica. These days Ian says he doesn’t really see himself as the leader of the band any more, but prefers to let the eccentric relationships between the members carry the music in whatever direction they take it, be it taking after girl-gang chants or air-raid sirens.

Citing influences anywhere from Bollywood soundtracks to Underground Hip Hop, the Go! Team sound is pretty diverse; somehow, however, the band manages to retain the same energy across all their EPs and even right into their most recent album Proof of Youth last year. I would say, perhaps with a little disappointment, that the band’s sound has not progressed one semi-quaver since its outset, but perhaps reasons behind retaining this very lo-fi sound is Ian’s dislike for the way modern music is going, with him suggesting that much of music is losing its inventiveness, with Rock churning out “Franz Ferdinand-descendents” and Hip Hop moving from the raw old school sound to today’s “buffed-up Hummer” beats.
Apart from using hoards of vintage samples clogging up their sound board to create the party-vibe of the past, the band also featured high-profile guests on some recent tracks including one of Ian’s biggest idols: Chuck-D of Public Enemy. In so doing, Ian fulfils one of his aims, namely creating an obvious overlap between traditionally “White” and “Black” music, filling the Grey area. However, on paper, this description given by Ian in no way distinguishes the band’s music from the crowds of other groups who strive to transcend musical and cultural boundaries; it is the bands explicit energy which sets them apart from the rest.

Endeavouring to create the most “violent” sound possible, a feeling which certainly comes across when seeing them live, Ian, has now threatened to make an “even noisier” album, a feat which, on hearing some of their songs, you may think impossible. But, having experienced Mr Parton’s stubborn “stick-it-to-the-critic” (copyright Andrew Spyrou) attitude, he no doubt will. Look out for a wall of sound coming your way soon.
The Go! Team play the Junction on Monday 25th February

Support Varsity

Varsity is the independent newspaper for the University of Cambridge, established in its current form in 1947. In order to maintain our editorial independence, our print newspaper and news website receives no funding from the University of Cambridge or its constituent Colleges.

We are therefore almost entirely reliant on advertising for funding and we expect to have a tough few months and years ahead.

In spite of this situation, we are going to look at inventive ways to look at serving our readership with digital content and of course in print too!

Therefore we are asking our readers, if they wish, to make a donation from as little as £1, to help with our running costs. Many thanks, we hope you can help!