Fightstar
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Fightstar are a rock band from London, England. In late January 2005, Charlie Simpson left the highly successful British guitar pop trio Busted, citing his marked preference for heavier rock-based music over the lighter pop music he had produced with Busted and his intention to carry on carving out a musical career, in a different genre, with his band Fightstar.
Starting Out
Fightstar formed in late 2003 after an impromptu jam session at a party in Charlie Simpson's London home. Simpson, impressed by their ability, soon asked the members to join a proper band. Soon after a few songs had been written the band recruited Bassist Dan Haigh, a schoolfriend of guitarist Alex Westaway. The name "Fightstar" was created when bassist Dan Haigh came up with the name "Evenstar" and Charlie thought of the name "A Time To Fight", these names were combined to give the name Fightstar.
Rehearsing and playing as often as Simpson's Busted schedule would allow, things quickly got more serious and it became apparent that a decision regarding the band's future had to be made. Simpson ultimately left Busted, with the group officially calling it quits in early 2005 and he looked eagerly ahead to life with Fightstar. The band soon had made a good reputation and played many festivals including the Carling Festival at Reading and Leeds.
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 was deliberately constructed so as to be too long for inclusion in the UK singles charts - Simpson's first attempt to clearly leave Busted and its teenage fanbase behind. 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 heavy criticism and ridicule from much of the British music press, because of Simpson's earlier 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 EP.
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.
Fightstar in America
While the band had initially faced harsh media attention in the UK due to Simpson's history in teen-punks Busted, they found a less critical initial reception in America. A new version of the "They Liked You Better When You Were Dead" EP was released in early 2006 through Deep Elm Records. This was a coup for the band, as the label was home to the groundbreaking The Emo Diaries compilation series, which helped the careers of acts like Jimmy Eat World, Further Seems Forever, and Planes Mistaken for Stars.
In March 2006, they were listed by Alternative Press as one of the 100 bands to watch out for in the coming year.
Grand Unification
A week before the release of their debut LP, Fightstar released their third single, "Waste A Moment" which peaked at number 29 on the UK Single Chart. It was only in the UK top 40 for one week. The video for the single was filmed in an abandoned London Underground tunnel, the same one used by "The Prodigy" for their video for "Firestarter". As with their previous videos, an edited one was played on music channels because the original one featured a zombie looking kid, which was deemed to be inappropriate to air. A week later, Fightstar released their debut full length album on the 13 March 2006 through Universal Island Records, entitled Grand Unification. produced by Colin Richardson (Machine Head, Funeral for a Friend). The album peaked at #28 in the UK charts and will be released in America in the Fall of 2006.
The album is a concept piece, referring to the Japanese anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Current Plans
New single "Hazy Eyes", backed by a cover of Funeral for a Friend's She Drove Me to Daytime TV was released in the UK on June 5 2006. The single only got to Number 47 in the UK singles chart, no doubt affected by the release of many England football songs at the same time because of the 2006 Football World Cup. The band recently played a slot at the Download Festival at Donington Park Race Track and are now preparing to play at the Carling Weekend Reading and Leeds Festivals in August. This will be followed by a UK tour in October.
They have also recently covered Metallica's Leper Messiah and Deftones' My Own Summer for Kerrang Magazine free CD giveaway's. They have also covered Deftones' Minerva acoustically.
Trivia
- The Original U.K version of the EP "They Like You Better When You Were Dead" was released as a digipack unlike the later US and Japanese releases and has 5 tracks with a "hidden" 6th Track.
- 'Paint Your Target' was used to coincide with a collection of video clips of Big Brother 7.
- Fightstar appeared on to promote the hit single 'Paint Your Target'.
- Fightstar cancelled their appearance scheduled for massive U.K. chart show Top Of The Pops, despite the fact 'Paint Your Target' reached #9 in the U.K. singles chart. Rumours say that they decided not to appear on Top Of The Pops to seem more 'hardcore'.
Members
- Charlie Simpson - Lead vocals / Backing vocals / Guitar / Keyboard
- Alex Westaway - Backing vocals / Throat / Guitar
- Dan Haigh - Bass Guitar
- Omar Abidi - Drums
Discography
EP's
| EP Cover | Date of Release | Title | Label | UK Album Chart Position | UK sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 28th February 2005 | They Liked You Better When You Were Dead | Island Records | CD - Not Chart Eligible Vinyl - #12 In Indie Charts | 7500 CD Limited Release 1000 Vinyl Limited Release |
Albums
| Album Cover | Date of Release | Title | Label | UK Album Chart Position | UK sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 13th March 2006 | Grand Unification | Island Records | 28 |
Singles
| Date | Song | UK Singles Chart | Album/EP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13th June 2005 | "Paint Your Target" | 9 | Grand Unification |
| 31 October 2005 | "Grand Unification Part 1" | 20 | Grand Unification |
| 6th March 2006 | "Waste A Moment" | 29 | Grand Unification |
| 5th June 2006 | "Hazy Eyes" | 47 | Grand Unification |
External links
- [FightStar]
- [Fightstar Online (Fansite)]
- [Fightstar Lyrics]
- [Fightstar Dot Org]
- [The Grand Unification Fansite]
- [Fightstar Interview] on Rocklouder
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