Fightstar
Fightstar |
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Fightstar are a four-piece Post-hardcore band from London, England. Formed in late 2003, Fightstar have since recorded and released three full length LP's, They Liked You Better When You Were Dead, Grand Unification and One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours.
History
Origins (2003 - 2004)
Fightstar formed in late 2003 after Alex Westaway and Charlie Simpson met at a party in Charlie Simpson's London home. Following an impromptu jam session, Westaway and Simpson decided to form a band. After a few songs had been written, the band recruited bassist Dan Haigh, a school friend of guitarist Alex Westaway and drummer Omar Abidi.
Fightstar's first album was heavily influenced by the author Chuck Palahniuk, with the band naming a song after him ("Palahniuk's Laughter") and including a drawing of Edward Norton's character in the film adaptation of the Palahniuk book Fight Club.
They Liked You Better When You Were Dead (2004 - 2005)
Fightstar's debut album, They Liked You Better When You Were Dead, was released on February 28 2005, following a rapid promotional tour of the UK. The release was deliberately constructed to be made ineligible for the British music charts.[citation needed] The release proved popular enough to warrant a reprinting on March 23 2005. The first track, "Palahniuk's Laughter", enjoyed heavy rotation on music video channels and spent many weeks in charts based on video and radio requests. The track was originally entitled "Out Swimming in the Flood", but was renamed after the 2004 tsunami.
Initially, the band faced criticism from much of the British music press, because of Simpson's past career. Most vocal in the early days was Kerrang! magazine; however, the magazine quickly became one of the band's biggest supporters in the media, giving strongly positive reviews to early gigs and to the album.[citation needed]
The band's first single, "Paint Your Target" was released on June 13, 2005 in the UK, peaking at #9 in the singles chart. Their second single, "Grand Unification Part 1" was released on October 31, 2005, and peaked at #20 in the UK singles chart.
A new version of the They Liked You Better When You Were Dead album was released in early 2006 through Deep Elm Records in America.
In March 2006, they were listed by the US rock magazine Alternative Press as one of the 100 bands to watch for.
Grand Unification (2005 - 2006)
Fightstar went into the studio in October 2005 to start work on their second full length offering. They re-recorded three songs from their debut album, which were 'Mono', 'Hazy Eyes', and 'Lost like tears in rain'. They also recorded a new version of the first single 'Paint your target' which had originally been produced by Chris Sheldon. Fightstar released their full-length second album on 13 March 2006 through Island Records, entitled Grand Unification. Produced and mixed by Colin Richardson (Bullet for My Valentine, Machine Head, Funeral for a Friend), the album entered the midweeks at #11 and ended up debuting at #28 in the UK charts. Grand Unification was released in America in March 2007, along with a full US tour.
Further singles to be taken from this album were "Waste a moment", "Grand Unification (part 1)" and "Hazy eyes". The band also played a slot at the Download Festival at Donington Park Race Track and also headlined the Sunday of Welsh rock music festival The Full Ponty under Biffy Clyro and Funeral for a Friend. Fightstar toured with Funeral for a Friend for three months in 2006 covering such places as Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Fightstar have also covered Metallica's "Leper Messiah" and Deftones' "My Own Summer" for Kerrang! magazine free CD giveaways during 2006. They have covered Deftones' "Minerva" acoustically, which is available on the 7" vinyl version of the "Waste A Moment" single.
The band released their second album, Grand Unification, in the US and Canada on April 17 2007. The release differs from the British and Japanese versions by including the "Hazy Eyes" B-Side and "Fight For Us" as a 14th track.
One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours (2007 - Present)
Fightstar covered Judas Priest's "Breaking The Law" Kerrang! magazine free CD giveaways during 2007
Kerrang! magazine reported that Fightstar have set up camp on a farm in Northamptonshire (Al's Barn) to begin work on the follow up to their 2006 album Grand Unification. According to Simpson, Fightstar have already written four songs for the next album. He has also said that the band is a fan of Muse and Deftones in the way they push boundaries and aim to do the same.[citation needed]
The band hit the road for an extensive tour beginning at Glasgow Barrowlands on October 8 2006 with a supporting cast that they personally hand picked,[citation needed] including The Blackout, The Receiving End of Sirens and Oceansize.
On 8 September 2006 it was reported that Charlie Simpson had "torn up his contract" with his label Island Records, after the music bosses tried to force him into returning to a pop sound for his next Fightstar album. The former Busted star has struggled to be taken seriously as a musician and he has no intention of turning back now; Simpson is even considering a complete new start in America with the band, where he hopes he can tap into the ever-growing alternative rock market. He says, "Earlier this week we decided to tear up the contract. "They wanted a pop album and we didn't. I've put so much into this band I don't want to start compromising now. We're thinking about going to America. The market for our stuff is much bigger over there."[2]
On 19 September 2006, Simpson confirmed on Fightstar's official forum that they had left Island Records. Seven of the songs were demoed and were used on the album One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours.
The band are now signed to Institute Records, a brand new imprint of Gut Records. They recorded One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours in LA with producer Matt Wallace who has also produced the likes of Faith No More, Satchel, Deftones and Sugarcult. The album was released on September 24, 2007.
On 4 April 2007, Kerrang! Radio debuted a new Fightstar song called "99", which is scheduled to be released as a free download-only single on the 23 April 2007. The music video for "99" can currently be seen on Scuzz TV. After circling Kerrang and Scuzz TV for 2 weeks, the video for "99" was finally playlisted on Kerrang TV on 4 May 2007. Fightstar have also launched a microsite for the download-only single, "99", on which you can download the single and the video for free, on 11 May 2007. [1]
The first single to be taken from the album is "We Apologise for Nothing". The video for this song was shot on location in London's West End Apollo Theatre.[citation needed]
"We Apologise for Nothing" was received well enough for it to reach number 1 in the UK independent chart.[2]
The music video for the second single, "Deathcar" was made available on the bands myspace on the 22 November 2007. Although appearing to be a low budget video, it is important to note that the version on myspace is an edited, "clean" version. After the release of the "uncut" version of the video on 28 November 2007, Charlie Simpson confirmed via a live forum chat on the band's official website that due to the last minute planning to release Deathcar a budget of only £500 was available. The band however confirmed they are "100% happy" with the shoot and enjoyed the change of making a lo-fi video. Westaway also confirmed on the live forum chat, that the band will be performing at Download 2008.
"Deathcar" went on to debut at #2 on both the UK Indie and Rock Charts.
The final single Floods made its debut at No.3 in the UK indie rock chart and had the most well received video so far for the band. The band did Radio 1 live sessions on this single campaign for Collin Murray and Dan P Carter. The single was also well received by Jo Whiley.
The band will go on a 10 date UK tour during May with support from London four piece Brigade and unsigned Essex band We Are The Ocean already confirmed. The tour will include a date at Carling Academy Islington on 29 May, and at the Leeds Slam Dunk Festival on 25 May
The latest single from "One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours", titled "I Am The Message" was released on the 16 June 2008 as a double A side single with the other side being the bands cover of "Waiting For Superman" which they recorded for the Colin Murray Show on Radio 1.
On the 11th August, the band will release a B-side album called "Alternate Endings".
At the Download rock festival of 2008, Fightstar told press they would be returning to the studio in August to start recording their next album due for mid 2009 and that they already have at least 4 songs demoed.
Fightstar have recorded a cover of "Fear Of The Dark" for an Iron Maiden cover CD featuring Various Artists which will be given away with the July 16th issue of Kerrang! magazine.
Record labels
UK
- Island Records|Sandwich/Butty Leg: 2003 - September 2006
- Institute Records via Gut Records: February 2007 - present
US
- Deep Elm Records: January 2006 - March 2007
- Trustkill Records: March 2007 - present
Discography
- They Liked You Better When You Were Dead (2005)
- Grand Unification (2006)
- One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours (2007)
- Alternate Endings (2008)
References
- ^ a b "Fightstar - Allmusic". www.allmusic.com.
- ^ "Fightstar ditch Island Records". www.contactmusic.com.
- Fightstar to tour with You Me at Six September 7 at musicscoop.net