We got the lowdown on the upcoming Sports Team record all the way back in September, though as the singles continue to drop from the UK rockers’ third album, the vision for Boys These Days continues to come into shape. Their latest single “Bang Bang Bang” not only leans into the sonic aesthetic of the American Western, but bluntly addresses our second favorite national pastime in its lyrics: gun stuff.
“We toured America a lot when we were working on the third album, and you would see the AR-15 logo used on coffee bags, hats, t-shirts, bumper stickers,” the band’s Rob Knaggs shared in a press statement—an observation that just about anyone in the States would respond to by saying, “Well, yeah.” “You’d stop for petrol, and alongside the snacks and neon drinks there’d be racks with tourist souvenirs; a Mickey Mouse hat, pet rocks, some postcard of a local landmark, then an AR-15 thermos cup.”
The single was unfortunately prescient for the band late last year when they were held up at gunpoint in the Bay Area immediately before the first date of their US tour. “I think what was most shocking was how resigned to it people seemed,” Knaggs added of the harrowing experience. “You’re queuing for coffee. And then you’re trying to negotiate somebody waving a pistol around. The staff come and lock the doors, tell you to step away from the windows. You’re thinking about barricading yourself in the toilet and they’re still doing the squirty cream on the drinks.”
That shit sucks! Check out the lyric video below, and revisit our chat with the band here.
