Sports Team are an indie, alt-rock band comprised of lead vocalist Alex Rice, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Rob Knaggs, lead guitarist Henry Young, bassist Oli Dewdney, keyboardist Ben Mack and drummer Al Greenwood. The band, who experiment with post-punk instrumentation and jovially delivered lyrics, have over 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and two UK Top 5 albums, respectively from their 2020 release ‘Deep Down Happy’ which peaked at number 2 and their sophomore album ‘Gulp’ released in 2022 and peaked at 3.

The ‘Here’s The Thing’ band uploaded a phone recording of the altercation alongside the caption: “Just been robbed at gun point 10 minutes into the US tour. Stopped for coffee. Man runs in saying some guys are smashing into a van. Ran out to try to stop it and find masked guys ransacking the van. Start yelling and they pull out a gun. Police response was “submit an online report.” Lost a lot of personal gear, but they didn’t get the instruments so driving on to Sacramento to play tonight. They can take our Nintendo Switches but they can never take our ability to play rock songs about motorways. In all seriousness pretty shocking how resigned everyone seemed to be to it. “It happens”. 9am at some petrol station Starbucks. Wild.”

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The band’s frontman, Alex Rice recalled the experience to Sky News stating, they responded with “natural reaction, you sprint towards it and try to stop it, and immediately [one of the robbers] pulls a gun… He pulls a gun, he sort of points it at our tour manager Lauren, there’s another guy loading stuff out and a third guy in a getaway car”.

He continued: We all sprint back into the Starbucks. They’ve taken a huge amount of personal stuff and musical equipment from the middle of our van. So haven’t played a note yet, one minute in, we’ve got our stuff taken.”

Rice’s testament to the event and the band’s first-hand experience seems to prove their astonishment surrounding gun control in the US. Sports Team notified the police of the incident, who advised them to submit an online report, in a taken-aback statement Rice claimed that was the “saddest bit to see” that “people take this [gun altercations] in their stride now”.

Apart from a few missing passports and the panic of getting home to the UK in time for Christmas, Sports Team were adamant to start and complete their US tour.  They were to continue their drive to Sacramento to perform there last night.

Sports Team are currently in the US to promote their upcoming third album, ‘Boy These Days’, which is set to release February 2025. Thus far, the indie band has released two tracks from the LP including: ‘I’m In Love (Subaru)’ and ‘Condensation’. This current tour will showcase Sports Team’s artistry which has evolved from their Mercury Prize nominated debut to their upcoming and unreleased third album.

As Harry Styles can sell out 6 nights at Wembley Stadium whilst Taylor Swift can earn a whopping $2 billion in ticket sales, it is easy for music fans to believe that an artist’s touring money pot is endless. However, with increasing demands on smaller British artists to tour and break into America, the practicality of artists hosting a tour across the pond has become less and less viable.

In the post-Pandemic touring scene, monetary problems have not only been apparent for fans who have experienced an immense increase in ticket prices, but for the artists who are touring and have to encounter the increased costs of putting their show on the road, crew fees and accommodation, van hire and petrol.

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As Orla Gartland spoke to the BBC about her newly released album, Everybody Needs A Hero, which released October 4, Gartland shared an unspoken reality for many artists like herself who are touring the States for the first time.

Gartland expressed: “the amount of money I’m going to lose on that tour is eye-watering”. She revealed exactly how much: “about 40 grand”. This extraordinary amount of money will see Gartland tick off a quest on her bucket-list, her desire to complete a US tour since she was 13 posting on YouTube under ‘MusicMaaad’. Her determination to see this tour through, emerged through her growing excitement following the tour selling out. She continued: “I’ve never gigged there properly, so putting this tour on sale was a real fingers-crossed-behind-the-back moment… it was so cool when it sold out”.

Gartland will be heading to the US in early November for 13 shows, performing to thousands of fans in various cities, including: Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The ‘Why Am I Like This’ singer, experienced increased popularity after Netflix used the track in their teen drama Heartstopper. This track was streamed more than 1.4 million times America.

Despite confronting the reality of losing money during her US tour, Gartland expects the tour to be a “fun” and  “gnarly” couple of weeks.

Gartland is not the only artist to acknowledge the challenges of touring the US in recent years. English electronic band, Metronomy cancelled their US tour in 2022 due to its impending costs. Popular British rapper, Little Simz also cancelled her US tour in 2022 revealing the cost of funding the tour would leave her in financial deficit. However, more recently, indie singer-songwriter Rachel Chinouriri who released her debut What A Devastating Turn of Events this year, cancelled her appearance as a support act on Remi Wolf’s upcoming US Tour in August, stating on X: the “financial strain of touring has become too much”.  

I’ll try my best to come and see you all soon , I promise pic.twitter.com/s0fWgpqsks

— rachel (@rachelchinourir) August 20, 2024

The likelihood of independent artists touring the US with the increased boundaries of cost has evidently become a defining risk in their careers. Unless costing becomes more viable, fans can expect to see less independent artists making the decision to tour the US.