The Go! Team interview with Ian Parton
By Evan Mauser

The Go! Team tour has already swept through Boston, and the band has taken their bursting energies to Europe, but there are still many people here who have yet to discover this musical breath of fresh air.  Which, as Ian Parton from the Go! Team explains, is perfectly fine with him.  With the recent release of their revised Thunder, Lightning, Strike album in the U.S., the six member outfit from England would be just as happy to keep a low profile. 

The album released in America is not the disc the group originally wanted to release.  Due to the strict sampling laws in England, the Go! Team had to clear nearly the whole album when they wished to release it internationally.  Unfortunately, some samples were not able to be cleared so the group had to revisit the album, “which was a bit of a downer” since Ian believed that the group “should’ve been moving on” instead of tinkering with what was already finished.

However, Ian confides that the revisions “could’ve been worse, [as the changes were] not as painful” as they could’ve been, since only a few songs had clips removed or replaced.  With the complications regarding their debut album now out of the way, Ian is glad that the group can follow up on “ideas we have [and] make them real” for upcoming projects.

What one will notice on Thunder, Lightning, Strike is that there are no male vocals.  Ian mentions that it’s a “rule of the band:  no male vocals.”  He believes that the “double dutchy,” 60’s feel of the record needed a variety of voices to compliment its bouncy rhythms, and thought those voices needed to be female because they are of “more interest, [and successfully portray] a change of the mood.”  The female theme carries through to the Go! Team’s members, as three of the six members on tour are women. 

Ian also mentioned at the time that he was very excited to be traveling through America on their first real American tour.  Though they had stopped by for a few dates earlier, including a show in New York City, the Go! Team hadn’t had a real chance to see some of the big cities.  However, though Ian was “conscious of our underground status” he felt that the group was still “spoiled in most places,” given their popularity amongst indie music fans.  Regardless of their success, Ian mentions that the Go! Team is “not seeking to break America” as they are “not that ambitious.”  He even goes on to say that he is somewhat “scared of the mainstream [and] happy to be on the fringes” of the music scene.  Still, given the amount of people who showed up at their Boston show at the Paradise, Ian and the Go! Team may have to get used to the idea that more and more music fans are shifting their gaze in the group’s direction.

- 11/13/05