To your gun and take up your aim
Cause one day son this will all be yours
I'm sorry for this mess
Fightstar are a British alternative rock/post-hardcore band, formed by Charlie Simpson (from Busted) on vocals and guitar, Alex Westaway on lead guitar and vocals, bassist Dan Haigh (both later from Gunship), and drummer Omar Abidi.
The band originated while Charlie was still on Busted, when he met Alex Westaway and Omar Abidi at a party and connected over music after a jam session between them. After forming the band they hired Dan Haigh, Alex's high school friend to bass. They would rehearse as Charlie's schedule would allow until he later quit Busted, as at the time he was feeling creatively limited by the pop sound that they had.
The band's first release was a six-track EP titled They Liked You Better When You Were Dead in early 2005, to positive reception after initial skepticism from the press due to Charlie's background with Busted. The song "Palahniuk’s Laughter" itself was a moderate success, thanks to its video rotation in the music video channels.
The band released three albums afterwards; Grand Unification in 2006, One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours in 2007 and Be Human in 2009, as well the B-Side compilation Alternative Endings in 2008, helping them gain a small following in the British rock scene The band would on hiatus in 2010, with Charlie focusing on his solo material and Alex and Dan starting the Synthwave project Gunship. They would reunite in 2014 to record their fourth album Behind the Devil's Back, released in 2015, before going on a second hiatus, with Charlie later returning to Busted and Alex and Dan focusing on Gunship.
In 22 March 2024, the band reunited to play an one-off show in the Wembley Arena.
Discography
- They Liked You Better When You Were Dead (2005, EP)note
- Grand Unification (2006)
- One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours (2007)
- Alternate Endings (2008, B-Side compilation)
- Be Human (2009)
- Behind the Devil's Back (2015)
"Just rewrite these tropes upon my grave"
- Album Title Drop: "One Day Son", in which a line from the song says the full title of the album, One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours.
- Album Intro Track: "To Sleep" from Grand Unification.
- Bookends: Grand Unification starts with "To Sleep" and ends with "Wake Up".
- Concept Album: Grand Unification, which according to Simpson and Westaway, is about two people experiencing their final days before the end of the world, with its inspiration being the well known anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is alluded in a few songs.
- Cover Version: The band has released quite a few covers over the years, being relegated as outtakes and b-sides, with half of them being included in their outtakes compilation Alternative Endings. Examples include: "Battlefield" by Jordin Sparks, "Minerva" by Deftones, "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap, "In Between Days" by The Cure, "Breaking the Law" by Judas Priest, "These Days" by Jackson Browne, "Waitin' for a Superman" by The Flaming Lips and "Vincent" by Don McLean.
- Epic Rocking: "Mono", which clocks out at 6:24. "Follow Me Into the Darkness" is borderline territory, clocking in at 5:44, and it's their only other song to go past the five minute mark.
- Subverted initially however with "Amethyst" due to "Hazy Eyes" being a Hidden Track attached to it.
- Ethereal Choir: Used in the final chorus of "War Machine" and the bridge of "The English Way".
- Fading into the Next Song: On occasion the band will deploy sound effects to transition from a song to another. Examples include:
- Grand Unification: "Waste a Moment" → "Sleep Well Tonight"; "Paint Your Targets" → "Build an Army"; "Here Again (Last Conversation)" → "Lost Like Tears in Rain".
- One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours: "One Day Son" → "Deathcar"; "Amaze Us" → "H.I.P. (Enough)";
- Be Human: "Mercury Summer" → "Give Me the Sky" ; "War Machine" → "A City on Fire" (on the Deluxe version)
- "Titan" → "Sink With the Snakes", bordering on being Siamese Twin Songs.
- Genre Mashup: The band incorporates elements from post-hardcore, heavy metal, progressive rock and emo. Be Human adds strings and Behind the Devil's Back adds synth layers that were carried over from Westaway and Haigh's synthwave project Gunship, giving that album a much more expansive sound.
- Heavy Mithril: With multiple references to Neon Genesis Evangelion in their work, it isn't surprising they'd fall into this. This is evidenced in songs like "Shinji Ikari", "NERV/SEELE", "Unfamiliar Ceilings" and in "Lost Like Tears In Rain." In fact it's frequently commented that the cover art for their debut album is very similar to the ruins found in the aforementioned series.
- Hidden Track: On the early EP version of They Liked You Better When You Were Dead, "Hazy Eyes" is a hidden track that follows up right after "Amethyst".
- Longest Song Goes Last: "Follow Me into the Darkness" from Be Human, which clocks out at 5:44.
- Metal Scream: Although Charlie tends to use his clean vocals, the screams will be present on the songs in some way or another, especially in the much heavier tracks. "Deathcar" and "Damocles" for instance are notable for being songs that have a more extensive use of the screaming vocals.
- Mood Whiplash: After "One Day Son", a small instrumental noise starts with effects of birds playing in the background, which fades right to "Deathcar". As that song starts we hear a sound of a person breathing after taking their face out of the water and then it immediately jumps into Charlie deploying his Metal Scream accompanied by a heavy track right at the start of the song.
- Punny Name: The H.I.P. from "H.I.P. (Enough)" stands to "Human Instrumentality Project", which in itself it's another nod to Neon Genesis Evangelion.
- Shout-Out: As mentioned above, the band used to add a lot of references to Neon Genesis Evangelion in their music. There's also the title for "Tannhäuser Gate", which is meant to be pretty much a nod to Blade Runner.
- "Chemical Blood" namedrops Ghost in the Shell in the second verse.
- "Palahniuk's Laughter" was inspired by the movie Fight Club and the song itself is named after the author of the original novel, Chuck Palahniuk.
- The song "Mono" was named as a tribute to the Japanese band of the same name.
- Soprano and Gravel: Musician Rachel Haden contributes to guest vocals in the songs "You & I" and "Unfamiliar Ceilings" from One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours to contrast with Charlie's raspy vocals.
- The occasional Vocal Tag Team of Charlie and Alex can lead to this as well due to the former's raspy voice and the latter's softer tone pretty much standing out.
- Spiritual Antithesis: To Busted, as Fightstar features a much heavier sound than Charlie's other band and they contain much darker, surreal and occasionally political lyrics. In turn, Gunship, Alex and Dan's synthwave project is this to Fightstar.
- Spoken Word in Music: "Grand Unification Pt. II" features narration by computer scientist Larry Smarr.
- Step Up to the Microphone: Alex takes the lead vocals in "Give Me the Sky", "Tonight Me Burn" from Be Human and "More Human Than Human" from Behind the Devil's Back.
- Surprisingly Gentle Song: The drum machine-led closer "Unfamiliar Ceilings" from One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours, which contrasts with their heavier sound.
- Both "Grand Unification Pt. II" and "Follow Me Into the Darkness" subvert this, being very Lighter and Softer in the beginning and having a heavy rock breakdown by the end.
- Title Track: The two parts of "Grand Unification" and "Behind the Devil's Back". Subverted with One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours, with its track being shortened to "One Day Son".
- Vocal Tag Team: Occasionally Alex will take the role of co-vocalist along with Charlie in a few songs, such as "We Apologise for Nothing", not dissimilar to how the vocal duties were handled in Busted.
- War Is Hell: The theme of "One Day Son", which laments how the war will affect future generations.
- Can we dive
The fire drifts on the waves
Can you see it now
Can you see it now
It's our ghost town
