Biography
Dublin's alternative rock quartet Sprints assembled in 2019 and fused post-punk with garage punk to produce an urgent yet vulnerable sound that stays technically exacting. The band frequently pivots between contrasting atmospheres—brooding passages giving way to exhilarating surges, or discordant textures yielding to melodic lines—while drawing on the quiet/loud approach familiar from 1990s grunge acts such as Hole. Following several singles and EPs that drew widespread notice, their candid and cathartic first album, Letter to Self, arrived in January 2024 and reached the Top 20 in both the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Karla Chubb absorbed the music of Guns N' Roses during her formative years; the intense audience devotion captured on Live: Era '87-'93 prompted her to envision a life in music. After a close friend moved to Canada, Chubb channeled the separation into her first songwriting efforts. She later joined guitarist Colm O'Reilly and drummer Jack Callan in an indie folk group. Exposure to a performance by London's Savages encouraged the trio to raise the volume inside their modest rehearsal room in the Dublin suburb of Coolock. Bassist Sam McCann joined in 2019, locking in both the lineup and the group's eventual direction.
Sprints issued their self-released debut single, the three-minute burst "Kissing Practice," in 2020, which prompted Nice Swan Records—the label home to Silverbacks and Sports Team—to sign the band. Their opening release for the imprint was the bass-driven "The Cheek" in July, yet the tracks for their first EP, Manifesto, had already been captured with Girl Band's Daniel Fox shortly before Ireland entered its early 2020 COVID-19 lockdown; the EP surfaced in March 2021. A second EP, A Modern Job, followed in March 2022, just before the band played high-profile U.S. shows at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. City Slang became their new label home in January 2023, with "Literary Mind" appearing the next month. June's "Adore Adore Adore" received support that year through sets at the United Kingdom's Truck Festival, Germany's Reeperbahn Festival, and headline concerts in London and Dublin. November brought "Shadow of a Doubt," which aligned with a New York performance and a slot at Iceland Airwaves. All three 2023 singles were included on Letter to Self, which Fox again helped finish and which reached stores early the following year.
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Karla Chubb absorbed the music of Guns N' Roses during her formative years; the intense audience devotion captured on Live: Era '87-'93 prompted her to envision a life in music. After a close friend moved to Canada, Chubb channeled the separation into her first songwriting efforts. She later joined guitarist Colm O'Reilly and drummer Jack Callan in an indie folk group. Exposure to a performance by London's Savages encouraged the trio to raise the volume inside their modest rehearsal room in the Dublin suburb of Coolock. Bassist Sam McCann joined in 2019, locking in both the lineup and the group's eventual direction.
Sprints issued their self-released debut single, the three-minute burst "Kissing Practice," in 2020, which prompted Nice Swan Records—the label home to Silverbacks and Sports Team—to sign the band. Their opening release for the imprint was the bass-driven "The Cheek" in July, yet the tracks for their first EP, Manifesto, had already been captured with Girl Band's Daniel Fox shortly before Ireland entered its early 2020 COVID-19 lockdown; the EP surfaced in March 2021. A second EP, A Modern Job, followed in March 2022, just before the band played high-profile U.S. shows at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. City Slang became their new label home in January 2023, with "Literary Mind" appearing the next month. June's "Adore Adore Adore" received support that year through sets at the United Kingdom's Truck Festival, Germany's Reeperbahn Festival, and headline concerts in London and Dublin. November brought "Shadow of a Doubt," which aligned with a New York performance and a slot at Iceland Airwaves. All three 2023 singles were included on Letter to Self, which Fox again helped finish and which reached stores early the following year.
Albums
Singles
