Dance/pop sextet The Go! Team has found a new home at Columbia Records. On Sept. 27, the U.K.-based ensemble will release “Thunder, Lightning, Strike,” its first record on a major U.S. label. The Columbia version will feature two additional songs and new vocal arrangements for “Bottle Rocket,” the latest U.K. single from the set. In the territory, the album was originally released last year by Memphis Industries.
The Go! Team’s breakthrough performance earlier this year at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, fueled media buzz and respectable sales of “Thunder, Lightning, Strike,” despite the import price tag. A fall tour is already confirmed to support the U.S. version, beginning Oct. 14 in Houston.
According to the band, “Thunder, Lightning, Strike” could not have been released in the United States in its original form due to sample clearance issues. “The album has been so underground,” guitarist/drummer/harmonica player and founder Ian Parton tells Billboard.com of the overlooked problem. “The record will be identical as much as it can. The production will still be as dirty.”
The new version will feature “a B-side that was only available in England called ‘Hold Yr Terror Close,'” Parton hints. Other possibilities for the new tracks include “We Won’t Be Defeated” and an untitled track that were both christened at the recent Intonation Music Festival in Chicago.
“I don’t know how but we’ve never featured a title for it.” Parton explains of the nameless song. “We always ask the audience to think of one and email it to us. [But] we get emails with horrible names, like ‘The Go! Team Theme.'”
Other possible suggestions for the elusive tracks include “We Listen Every Day” and “The Ice Storm,” which are tracks from the group’s four previously released EPs but are not featured on the U.K. full-length.
Here are the Go! Team’s tour dates:
Oct. 14: Houston (Engine Room)
Oct. 15: Dallas (Trees)
Oct. 16: Austin, Texas (Emo’s)
Oct. 18: Phoenix (Clubhouse)
Oct. 19: San Diego (Casbah)
Oct. 20: Los Angeles (El Rey Theatre)
Oct. 23: San Francisco (Fillmore)
Oct. 24: Portland, Ore. (Wonder Ballroom)
Oct. 25: Seattle (Showbox)
Oct. 28: Minneapolis (First Avenue)
Oct. 29: Chicago (Metro)
Oct. 30: Toronto (Phoenix Theatre)
Oct. 31: Montreal (La Tulipe)
Nov. 1: Boston (Paradise)
Nov. 2: New York (Webster Hall)
