Fightstar
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| Fightstar | |
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 Fightstar 2008 Tour - Norwich
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| Background information | |
| Origin | London, UK |
| Genre(s) | Emo[1] Post-hardcore[1] Alternative rock[2] |
| Years active | 2003 - present |
| Label(s) | Search And Destroy (UK) Trustkill Records (USA) |
| Website | Official website |
| Members | |
| Charlie Simpson Alex Westaway Dan Haigh Omar Abidi |
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Fightstar are a four-piece rock band from London, England. Formed in late 2003, Fightstar have since recorded and released an EP, They Liked You Better When You Were Dead, two full-length albums, Grand Unification and One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours, as well as a b-side compilation album Alternate Endings.
The band signed to Search And Destroy Records in September 2008, and are currently completing work on their third full length album due out in early 2009.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Origins (2003 - 2004)
Fightstar formed in late 2003 after Alex Westaway and Charlie Simpson met at a party in 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 EP 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.
[edit] They Liked You Better When You Were Dead EP (2004 - 2005)
Fightstar's debut EP, They Liked You Better When You Were Dead, was released on February 28, 2005, following a rapid promotional tour of the UK. 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.
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 They Liked You Better When You Were Dead 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.
[edit] Grand Unification (2005 - 2006)
Fightstar went into the studio in October 2005 to start work on their first full length offering. They re-recorded three songs from their debut EP, 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 first full-length 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 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 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.
[edit] One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours & Alternate Endings (2007 - 2008)
Kerrang! magazine reported that Fightstar set up camp on a farm in Northamptonshire (Al's Barn) to begin work on the follow up to their 2006 album Grand Unification.
The band hit the road for an extensive tour beginning at Glasgow Barrowlands on October 8, 2006 with a supporting cast 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."[3]
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 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 was released as a free download-only single on 23 April 2007. The music video for "99" can be seen on Scuzz TV. The video for "99" was playlisted on Kerrang TV on 4 May 2007. Fightstar launched a microsite for the download-only single, "99", on 11 May 2007.[4]
The second single to be taken from the album was "We Apologise for Nothing".
"We Apologise for Nothing" reached number 1 in the UK independent chart.[4]
The music video for the third single, "Deathcar" was made available on the bands myspace on 22 November 2007. Although appearing to be a low budget video, 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.
"Deathcar" went on to debut at #2 on both the UK Indie and Rock Charts.
The fourth 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 went 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 included 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 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. This was the band's first single to be added to the Radio 1 playlist.
On 11 August, the band released a B-side album called Alternate Endings.
[edit] Be Human (2008 - Present)
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 early 2009 and that they already have at least 4 songs demoed.
Fightstar recorded a cover of "Fear of the Dark" for an Iron Maiden cover CD called Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden, featuring various artists, which was given away with the July 16 issue of Kerrang! magazine.
They headlined the Rocksound Cave stage on the Saturday at Guilfest, and headlined Greenbelt festival's Mainstage, in 2008.[5]
Fightstar have premiered the video for their new single 'The English Way' which is due to be released on November 3rd with an album to follow. It is already being played on Kerrang! and Scuzz T.V. stations and Kerrang's Youtube page. The video is also now number 1 on the MTV2 top 10. [6]
The album will be released through Search & Destroy Records and the band are co-producing the record along with Carl Bown.
The band are supporting Feeder for the first part of their UK tour, starting on 21st October 2008.
Fightstar confirmed at their single launch at the Proud Galleries in Camden that their third album will be released on the first week of March.
The single "The English Way" was released on 3rd November 2008 and reached number 62 in the UK charts, their first single to reach the top 75 since 2007's "We Apologise for Nothing".
In recent interviews, the band have commented that the new record will be 'quite different' from their previous releases. Charlie Simpson stated they wanted to experiment with more of a 'rock opera' sound including full strings and choir. However he also pointed out that although it may be different, it will remain Fightstar and still include their trademark dark and heavy elements.[7]
Drummer Jason Bowld has recently filled in for drummer Omar Abidi on their UK tour, while he recovers from a broken wrist. Omar is expected to return to touring with the band early next year. [8] Due to Omar's hand injury, singer Charlie Simpson has filled in to play drums on a few of the tracks for the new record.
The new album is believed to be titled 'Be Human'. [9]
[edit] Record labels
[edit] UK
- Island Records|Sandwich Leg: 2003 - September 2006
- Institute Records via Gut Records: February 2007 - September 2008
- Search and Destroy via PIAS Records: September 2008 - Present
[edit] US
- Deep Elm Records: January 2006 - March 2007
- Trustkill Records: March 2007 - Present
[edit] 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)
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Fightstar - Allmusic". www.allmusic.com.
- ^ "Fightstar - Rockdetector". www.rockdetector.com.
- ^ "Fightstar ditch Island Records". www.contactmusic.com.
- ^ a b [1]
- ^ "Photographs of Fightstar from Greenbelt Festival". www.flickr.com/photos/greenbelt.
- ^ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=iVwTtUn8jzk&feature=related
- ^ http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/celebrity_interviews/Fightstar-59073.html
- ^ http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfi4mMkyB2U
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/user/Fightstarmusic
