Member Spotlight: Team Spirit
credit: jbtvmusic.com
Starting out as the side project of the former Passion Pit synth-player Ayad Al Adhamy, the Brooklyn-based four-piece Team Spirit is rapidly gaining admiration.
The band, which was named as one of the Rolling Stone magazine’s bands to watch, is made up of former Passion Pit member, Ayad Al Adhamy on vocals and guitar, Kieren Smith also on guitar, Dan De Lara on bass and Alex Russek on drums.
Team Spirit grew out of frontman Adhamy’s desire to start playing the guitar again. Venturing away from the synth-based pop of Passion Pit, he first experimented making rock music under the band Team Spirit in 2012. After receiving a string of positive reviews for the band’s music, the side project became a permanent one and led Adhamy to leave Passion Pit and focus full time on Team Spirit.
Often described as playing garage-rock, with music featuring loud-fast guitars and wailing vocals, the band instead prefer to describe their music under the genre ‘power-pop’. Team Spirit’s influences include a multitude of rock legends, including Metallica, Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, the Rolling Stones and the Replacements.
The band’s rock influences can be heard in their debut album ‘Killing Time’ released in 2014. Described by music website All Music as ‘all rock, no filler’, the album pertains to the band’s power-pop genre – fast-paced rock with no break.
Alongside touring with bands such as Motion City Soundtrack, Peace, The Joy Formidable and Surfer Blood, the band’s track ‘Teenage Heart’ has also recently been licensed by Tracks & Fields for McDonald’s new Czech Republic advert.
Listen to Team Spirit’s track ‘Jesus, He’s Alright!’ here:
