Reporter Jenn Wong talks cheerleaders and ticker tape with the U.K. indie rock band of the moment

It’s hard to describe The Go! Team without sounding like an over-eager schoolgirl–critics and audiences have been melting into puddles of joy since their debut album “Thunder, Lightning, Strike!” hurdled U.S. copyright censors and hit the street dancing in 2005. As Ninja, vocalist and MC for the U.K. band, puts it, “If the Go! Team was a color, we’d be a rainbow. Not in the gay way, but in a retro, ‘70s, funky-hippie kind of way.”

With foreign bands now making regular appearances in the capital, each surrounded by a blinding media blitz, it’s hard to distinguish between the talented, the mediocre and the just plain shouldn’t-be. But if you miss this six-piece band known for amazing live shows, you risk a lifetime of regret. Their distinctive beats and beautiful horn samples move the feet of even the most cynical, appealing to everyone from punks to easy listeners to the jaded indie set. Their music takes you back to the days when television shows had great theme songs, infused with ‘70s sunshine funk, enthusiastic, feel-good anthems, hip-hop flourishes and perfectly matched samples.

“Ian [who writes the music] just has a big collection of little samples from lots of different things: old Motown compilations, TV shows and the like,” says guitarist and drummer Sam Dook. “He treats it a bit like a puzzle; fitting all the samples together to see what works.”

It’s a catchy combination that works as well in the studio as it does live. At their live shows nothing is choreographed, everything is high energy and anything can happen. Including cheerleaders. How many cheerleaders are too many? Ninja laughs, “Can there ever be too many cheerleaders? If we could have cheerleaders, there would be so many of them that they’d spill off the stage and into the crowd, with ticker tape flying and horns blowing all around. It would be a spectacle!”

The Go! Team originally was the solo project of band leader Ian Parton but has since swelled to a healthy six piece. The extra hands on deck turn every live performance into a joyful rock ‘n’ roll pep rally. “People always seem to just go for it at our gigs--stage diving, that sort thing,” Dook says. Ninja has some advice, though, for the Chinese audience: “Party hard, don’t care, have fun, buy our album!”