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Gunship | |
|---|---|
| Origin | United Kingdom |
| Genres | Synthwave |
| Years active | 2014–present |
| Labels | Horsie in the Hedge |
| Members | Alex Westaway Dan Haigh Alex Gingell |
| Website | gunshipmusic |
Gunship is a British synthwave band formed in 2014 by Dan Haigh and Alex Westaway; they were later joined by drummer Alex Gingell. [1]
After Westaway and Haigh's other musical act, Fightstar, went on hiatus in 2010, the pair decided to focus on other musical ventures, including forming Gunship, eventually joined by Gingell. Their debut release, self-titled Gunship, was released in 2015 to positive reviews. Their follow up, Dark All Day, was released on 5 October 2018.
In 2019, Gunship appeared in the documentary film The Rise of the Synths, which explored the origins and growth of the Synthwave genre. Westaway, Haigh and Gingell appeared alongside various other composers from the scene, including John Carpenter, who also starred in and narrated the film.
In May 2021, tattoo artist and model Kat Von D collaborated with Haigh on her debut album, Love Made Me Do It. [2]
On 10 July 2023 the band announced their third studio album titled Unicorn. The album was released on 29 September 2023. [3]
As well as more traditional music videos, Gunship have experimented with a range of artistic approaches, including stop-motion, claymation, 8-bit, and AI-generated (among others). Often these videos include influences from, or elements of, video games and 80s culture.
Gunship has a large collection of synthesizers, including the Juno 106, DSI Prophet 12, DSI Prophet 6, MOOG Minimoog, MOOG Mother 32, and various Oberheim units. [4]
"The Video Game Champion" is a collaboration with the guitarist Thomas McRocklin, while "Ghost" is a collaboration with Melbourne synthwave duo Power Glove. The single "Monster in Paradise" features saxophonist Tim Cappello and vocals from Milkie Way, lead singer of Wargasm. A full list of collaborators on each album follows.
The first Gunship album featured collaborations with: [4]
The second Gunship album featured collaborations with:
The third Gunship album featured collaborations with:
Studio albums
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [7] | UK Dance [7] | UK Indie [7] | FIN [8] | GER [9] | SCO [7] [10] | US [11] | US Dance [12] | US Heat [13] | US Indie [14] | ||
| Gunship | 2015 | — | 30 [15] | 40 [16] | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Dark All Day | 2018 | 34 | 1 [17] | 6 [18] | — | — | 19 | 184 | 4 | 1 | 8 |
| Unicorn | 2023 | 26 | — | — | 49 | 36 | 16 | — | — | — | — |
Non-album collaborations
Additional releases
Gunship have remixed the following tracks for other artists:
The following artists have remixed Gunship songs:
Charles Robert Simpson is an English singer, songwriter, and musician from Suffolk. He is a member of the BRIT Award winning pop-punk band Busted and he is also lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist in the post-hardcore band Fightstar. AllMusic has noted that Simpson is "perhaps the only pop star to make the convincing transition from fresh-faced boy bander to authentic hard rock frontman". Simpson is a multi-instrumentalist, playing guitar, bass, keyboard, piano and drums.
Fightstar are a British rock band from London that formed in 2003. The band is composed of lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Charlie Simpson, guitarist and co-vocalist Alex Westaway, bassist Dan Haigh and drummer Omar Abidi. Generally considered a post-hardcore band as a whole, Fightstar are known to incorporate metal, alternative rock and other genres into their sound. Their 2005 debut EP, They Liked You Better When You Were Dead, was released in 2005 and was a critical success.
They Liked You Better When You Were Dead is the debut EP by English rock band Fightstar, released on 28 February 2005 through Sandwich Leg Records. The release proved a critical success, in spite of the cynics' initial expectations of the band. It has been said that the EP helped "present Fightstar as a British rival to the East Coast alternative rock scene". Alex Westaway, the band's lead guitarist and co-lyricist drew the artwork based on Edward Norton for the inlay of the booklet, as the record was inspired by author Chuck Palahniuk and the film adaptation Fight Club.
Grand Unification is the debut studio album by British post-hardcore band Fightstar, released on 13 March 2006 through Island Records. Based upon the Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise, Grand Unification was produced by Colin Richardson and is considered a concept album. The artwork, drawn digitally by Daniel Conway, portrays scenes similar to that of the ruined cities in Evangelion. It is also thought to believe the cover has taken influence from the song "Grand Unification Part 2" as the lyric "hold my hand until the waves come" and the cover features two persons holding hands waiting for what appears to be a flood. The lyrics are themed around social commentary at the end of the world, while the album's title refers to the Human Instrumentality Project.
Dan Haigh is an English musician, film director, video game designer, writer and visual effects artist. He is best known as co-founder of synthwave band Gunship and as the bass player in the English rock band Fightstar.
Tim Cappello, also credited as Timmy Cappello, is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and vocalist. He is primarily known for his saxophone work supporting Tina Turner in the 1980s and 90s, as well as for his musical performance in the 1987 vampire film The Lost Boys.
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Be Human is the third studio album by English alternative rock band Fightstar, released on 20 April 2009 through independent label Search and Destroy Records, itself distributed by PIAS Recordings. The album was recorded between August and December 2008 in Chesterfield and London, with the band co-producing alongside Laruso guitarist Carl Bown. Additional recording took place Air Studios with string composer Audrey Riley. Unlike their first two studio releases, Daniel Conway did not contribute to the album's artwork, instead the band approached Ryohei Hase who digitally painted the cover art.
Alex Westaway is an English musician. He is the lead vocalist of Gunship and co-vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Fightstar alongside Charlie Simpson, Omar Abidi and Dan Haigh.
"A City on Fire" is a song by English post-hardcore band Fightstar, released 20 December 2009, on Search and Destroy Records as a digital download only.
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Synthwave is an electronic music microgenre that is based predominantly on the music associated with action, science-fiction, and horror film soundtracks of the 1980s. Other influences are drawn from the decade's art and video games. Synthwave musicians often espouse nostalgia for 1980s culture and attempt to capture the era's atmosphere and celebrate it.
Tom Andersson, known professionally as Waveshaper, is a Swedish electronic musician specialising in synthwave. Inspired by artists like Jean-Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk and Daft Punk, as well as 80s movie soundtracks, his music is retrofuturistic and is composed with a variety of hardware synthesizers, including the ARP 2600, Roland Jupiter-4, and Korg MS-20. He released his debut album Tracks To The Future on the label Lunar Boogie in 2013, and the EP Sounds That Kill on Telefuture Records in 2014. In 2015, he released the four-track vinyl record Solar Drifter on the Swedish synthwave label Rad Rush Records.
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Simulakrum Lab is an Italian synthwave/retrowave music project created by composer and sound designer Paolo Prevosto.
The Midnight is an American synthwave band composed of Atlanta-based singer-songwriter Tyler Lyle and Los Angeles–based Danish producer, songwriter, and singer Tim McEwan.
Nina Boldt, known mononymously and professionally as NINA is a German singer-songwriter based in London and Berlin. Her music is a fusion of pop, new wave, and electronic music. She released her debut album Sleepwalking in 2018 and her follow-up album Synthian in 2020. Her third major release Control was released as an EP via Lakeshore Records and features samples from Cliff Martinez's film score for Drive, which began a mainstream modern revival of the cliche 1980s music, art, and graphics scene.
"Dance Macabre" is a song by Swedish rock band Ghost. It was their second single off of their fourth studio album Prequelle. It topped the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart for two weeks in February 2019.
The Rise of the Synths is a 2019 documentary film written and directed by Iván Castell and narrated by filmmaker and composer John Carpenter. The film explores the origins and growth of the electronic music genre known as synthwave, charting its rise in popularity from the underground online music scene to its recent mainstream exposure, following use in retro-themed soundtracks, notably the 2011 film Drive and more recently, the television series Stranger Things.
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