Captain (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Origin London, United Kingdom
Years active 2004–present
Genres Alternative rock
Labels EMI
Members Rik Flynn
Clare Szembek
Mario Athanasiou
Alex Yeoman
Reuben Humphries
Website(s) Official website

Captain were formed in London in late 2004. They perform a range of alternative rock songs, getting their musical influences from The Carpenters, Burt Bacharach, The Smashing Pumpkins and The Beach Boys. They are currently signed to EMI records and BMG Publishing.

Captain began with a chance meeting between Rik and Mario at a party in Cambridge where they found they shared a passion for music. from this point they started to write ideas for songs and put on club nights in cambridge. it was from this point that they met via a mutual friend Clare. Several musicians came and went including Luke, Buggsy and Neil before Alex (Bass) and Reuben (drums) all fitted together to create Captain.

The band are London based but Mario is from Athens, Greece, Rik was born in London but has lived in many places including South Africa, Reuben is from Corby, Clare from Devon and Alex from Swindon.

Reuben and Rik were in two previous bands together Kid Blue and cult band The_Junket signed to Deceptive records releasing The Stamina mini album, Lux Safari album on Lime Street records and and recorded a third unreleased album. [1]. Reuben then joined Island band Cherry Falls between The Junket and Captain.

The band were in the studio from Jan 06 to march recording the album at Sarm Studios London and worked with producer Trevor Horn, to create their debut album This Is Hazelville, which was released on August 14, 2006.

Contents

[edit] Official Biography

CAPTAIN IN A MUSICAL ERA dominated by bands who seem to exist solely within highly specific camps - be it art rock, New York-style indie posturing or something similarly unappealing - Captain are a glorious anomaly. A rum bunch of five distinctly individual people, their music sounds quintessentially of itself. Consequently, Captain are very nearly unique, 2006's most handsome black sheep. "I've never felt particularly part of the scene," says the band's singer Rik Flynn, "whichever scene we happen to be talking about. It's not something I've ever set out to sidestep, it's just the way things are. Of course, I'm aware that this is something that can work against you, but right now, it seems to be working for us." He takes the cigarette he has been earnestly puffing away on from his mouth and blows a self-satisfied smoke ring. "And that pleases me enormously."

Captain's music is joyful, clattering, full of divergent mood swings and jubilant crescendos of male/female vocal sparring. Above all else, as Rik Flynn will tell you himself, the band's music is, "hopeful, emotional and euphoric. Whether it's melancholy or we're singing stories about people dying of cancer, we still want to cheer everybody up." And that they do with no little flair. Their debut album, ‘This is Hazelville’, produced by the legendary Trevor Horn (Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Belle & Sebastian) is a triumph, a record possessing the combustible energy of Arcade Fire with the theatrical thrum of Flaming Lips and the sheer exuberance of a six year-old anticipating Christmas. You may well have already heard their debut single ‘Frontline’. Well, its bug-eyed oh-oh-OH!s are typical of the band's ability to hypnotise. This is wonderfully involving music.

"I've been influenced by all manner of bands in the past," Flynn says, "but for the first time I really believe we sound only like Captain. And that's a good thing, I think." CAPTAIN, THE COLLECTIVE, may be a relatively new creation - they formed a year ago - but its members, all in their mid-twenties, have each earned their stripes. Flynn and drummer Reu Humphries, compatriots since school, were formerly of The Junket, a short-lived band from the late 1990s inspired, variously, by Placebo, Ride and Swervedriver. Co-singer/keyboardist Clare Szembek, much like Alison Goldfrapp before her, lent her seductive vocals to a variety of underground dance acts in the manner of the ultimate torch-song siren. Perhaps to compensate for the necessarily ethereal nature of her job, she duly took up kickboxing on the side. Guitarist Mario Athanasiou fled his native Greece after military service amid rumours - hopefully false ones - that he once shot a donkey. Athanasiou, who once auditioned for the Greek Army band but was rejected because his version of ‘Karma Police’ was deemed "too alternative", was initially approached by Flynn at a party simply because the singer thought he looked like the perfect guitarist. When he subsequently found out that this stranger was indeed just that - a guitarist - Flynn could only conclude that fate had played a part. And then there is Alex Yeoman, the blonde bassist who likes to claim he was once a circus musician. "It's true - unfortunately," he says, grinning. "Initially, I'd started out working with some of the people from Gomez on a side project that came to nothing. I felt a bit disillusioned after that, and so I joined the house band on a cruise ship around the Mediterranean. We'd play waltzes and foxtrots for the elderly passengers for months on end. And from there, I joined a Danish circus. While I played, dogs did handstands."

As back-stories go, theirs is more interesting than most, right?

FROM SUCH INAUSPICIOUS BEGINNINGS, then, Captain came together in and around Cambridge. Flynn, who writes songs the way he smokes cigarettes (compulsively) was furiously writing material, and one of his many demos landed them a major record label offer as early as December 2004. But the singer deemed the band not quite ready. He'd shot his load, as it were, with The Junket once before; this time, he was going to do things properly.

"I knew exactly what I wanted with Captain," he says. "I wanted male/female singers, I wanted drama, I wanted it all to be just right. And, with a little effort, that's precisely what I got." A buzz built gradually from there, and after an incendiary performance at last year's In The City conference, Captain were sought-after by every A&R in the capital. They signed to EMI and, shortly afterwards, Steve Lamacq playlisted ‘Frontline’ and invited the band to record a session. And then, in the winter, they entered the studio to record their debut album with, of all people, Trevor Horn. "Well, we don't sound like anybody else," says Flynn, "and we don't particularly want to. We tried to think who would be the most unlikely, but brilliant, producer we could possibly work with, and that's how we came up with Trevor."

Drummer Reu, who is a big fan of all things 1980s and, bless him, Nik Kershaw, considers Horn, "a living legend. He's brought the most fantastic things out of us. The album is sounding amazing." It is indeed. ‘This is Hazelville’ is a great big canvas heavily daubed in sonic drama, some heavenly harmonies, and a gleeful refusal to follow your usual verse/chorus/verse song structure. Sandwiched between slow-burning ‘Hazelville’, which opens the album in full epic and gloriously cinematic style, and album closer ‘Accidie’ – Captain’s dramatic and cacophonous live favourite – are songs so immediate and accessible, you’ll struggle to get them out of your head. ‘Frontline’ is a beautifully constructed romantic pop anthem, ‘This Heart Keeps Beating for Me’ is equal parts euphoric and deeply sinister, while ‘East West’ details relationship indiscretion with both pinpoint accuracy and a Wurlitzer-like melody. And future singles ‘Broke’ and ‘Glorious’ already sound like anthems for this summer’s festivals.

If musically they sound like no one else, then visually, too, they make for a motley bunch, their individual fashion statements way outside the remit of most stylists. Rik Flynn, for example, dresses like an OAP.

"I'm drawn to a certain old world elegance, it's true," he says, smoothing down his camel-coloured coat and self-consciously rearranging the tilt of his Arthur Daley hat. "I'm influenced entirely by my granddad. He always looked so right somehow, and I've been trying to emulate that ever since." The man'll never be seen dead in a parka, then.

AFTER MANY FALSE STARTS, and the occasional handstanding dog, Captain are underway, finally on the cusp of something good, perhaps even something great. They know this themselves, as their furious work rate attests.

"We're always writing, we never stop creating," Flynn says. "I suppose we could always just sit around for a bit, but right now I'd much rather concentrate on the music. There’s a momentum to us, and I'm not going to let that flag. I want us to be headlining Glastonbury before long; I want us to sell 3 million records." Beside him, Reu Humphries grins: "I thought you wanted us to sell just one million?" "My confidence is soaring," comes the reply. "Three million at the very least." Oh, and one more thing: the name Captain comes from Rik Flynn's childhood dog, a delightful black labrador puppy. "Delightful? He was a fucking lunatic, that dog, totally hyperactive. My parents had to give him away." Captain, the dog, saw his time out chasing balls on a nearby golf course. Captain, the band, are chasing bigger things.


[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

This Is Hazelville
14th August 2006
EMI
#23 UK

[edit] Singles

[edit] Promo and all releases

Pre signing there are a number of cds that went to record labels with the following demos

[edit] Demo Cd's

  • "Build A Life"
  • "Western High"
  • "East West"
  • "Kennedy"
  • "Frontline"
  • "This Heart Keeps Beating For Me"
  • "Glorious"
  • "Broke"
  • "Earache"
  • "Why Wait"

[edit] Frontline At Large version

  • "Frontline 2 track promo cd" (At Large) FUGCDDJO11 CAT NO 00946 341830 2 4
  • "Frontline white label 7" 1 of 99 made !! (At Large) FUGODJ011
  • "Frontline 2 track commercial cd" (At Large) FUGCD011 CAT NO 00946 341832 2 2
  • "Frontline 2 Track commercial blue sparkle 7" (At Large) FUGO011 CAT NO 00946 341 8327 7

[edit] Broke

  • "Broke 1 track cdr" (emi) UK NO CAT
  • "Broke 2 track promo cd" inc instrumental CDEMDJ 689 00946 359698 2 5
  • "Broke white label 7" 1 of 99 EM689
  • "Broke cd wallet" for download
  • "Broke cd" 2 track commercial cd including "Why Wait" cdem689 CAT NO 00946 359 759 2 5
  • "Broke gatefold vinyl 7" (1)" commercial 7" including "Kennedy" EM 689 CAT NO 00946 359 6987 0
  • "Broke vinyl 7" (2)" commercial 7" 2 including "Falling down the stairs EMX689 CAT NO 00946 363 1967 4

[edit] Glorious

  • "Glorious 1 track cdr" (emi) NO CAT NO
  • "Glorious 2 track cdr" (emi) inc album version NO CAT NO
  • "Glorious 3 track promo cd" inc instrumental CDEMDJ 700 CAT NO 00946 369 382 2 6
  • "Glorious white label 7" CAT NO EM 700
  • "Glorious Radio Slave 12" white label 12 EM DJ 700
  • "Glorious GOLD box with cd" for downloads NO CAT NO
  • "Glorious international 3 track promo cd" with cat code starting DPRO
  • "Glorious Download cd" given away with box NO CAT NO
  • "Glorious 2 track cd" commercial cd1 includes "Spring Park Hotel" CDEM 700 CAT NO 00946 3700942 0
  • "Glorious 4 track maxi cd" commercial cd2 includes "An Evening Light, Radioslave mix and video" CDEMS 700 CAT NO 00946 370 0940 6
  • "Glorious gatefold 7" vinyl (1) EM 700 CAT NO 00946 370 094 7 5
  • "Glorious 5" VINYL test pressing no info?

[edit] This Is Hazelville

  • "This is Hazelville cdr" album (EMI) no cat no
  • "This is Hazelville cdr" encoded album (rare)
  • "This Is Hazelville Box set album promo" UK CAT NO 00946 363764 2 4
  • "This Is Hazelville card sleeve promo" album UK CAT NO 00946 365269 2 8
  • "This Is Hazelville Tawian release cd" With Obi Strip UK CAT NO 0094637085028
  • "This Is Hazelville cd uk release (EMI) 00946370 8502
  • "This Is Hazelville double gatefold vinyl ltd 2000 (EMI) UK CAT NO 00946 365 2691 1
  • "This Is Hazelville double gatefold vinyl TEST PRESSING/ACCITATE (no info)
  • "Captain Compilation" BMG Publishing cd given away to 500 at Edinburgh festival album + 8 instrumentals

[edit] Frontline

  • "Frontline 2 track promo cd" inc instrumental CDEMDJX 708 CAT NO 00946 376 139 2 4
  • "Fronltine 3 track promo cd" inc edit (wll be rare as not circulated) CDEMDJ 708 CAT NO 00946 375 508 2 3
  • "Frontline 7" White Label EM708
  • "Frontline DFA 12" white label very rare 12EMDJ 708
  • "Frontline Cd:" includes Clear Cut CDEM 708 CAT NO 00946 380 3072 0
  • "Frontline gatefold 7inch (1)" includes Evolutions EM 708 CAT NO 00946 375 508 7 8
  • "Frontline 7" (2)" includes These Words EMX 708 CAT NO 00946 381 183 7 4
  • "Frontline DFA Remix 12" 500 made 12 EM 708

[edit] compilations

  • "In The city 2005 cd"
  • "Camden Crawl 2006 cd" (Frontline)
  • "Bands 06 cd" (Broke) (emi)
  • "Ibiza Rocks 2006 cd" (inc Broke)

[edit] non Album tracks

  • "Kennedy" Produced by Rob Kirwan (re- recorded bass and drums and mix)
  • "Why Wait" Produced by Rob Kirwan b-side "Broke"
  • "Falling Down The Stairs" Produced by Rob Kirwan b-side "Broke"
  • "Spring Park Hotel" recorded by Tim Weidner b-side "Glorious"
  • "An Evening Light" recorded by Tim Weidner b-side "Glorious"
  • "Positivity" recorded by Tim Weidner b-side "Glorious"
  • "Evolutions" recorded by Captain engineered by Ian b-side "Frontline"
  • "Clear Cut" recorded by Captain engineered by Ian b-side "Frontline"
  • "These Words" Unfaded version recorded by Captain engineered by Ian b-side "Frontline"
  • "Wax Live at Bush Hall" Produced by JJ Stereo mixed by Paddy free Myspace download
  • "Accdie Live at Bush Hall" Produced by JJ Stereo mixed by Paddy free Myspace download
  • "Frontline" Produced by Rob Kirwan (released on At Large Recordings)
  • "This Heart Keeps Beating For Me" Produced by Rob Kirwan (released on At Large Recordings)
  • "Broke Demo" Produced by Rob Kirwan i-Tunes download
  • "Broke Instrumental" Produced By Trevor Horn from the Broke Promo cd
  • "Glorious Radioslave Remix" remixed by Radioslave (Matt Edwards) b-side Glorious (cd 2)
  • "Glorious Cut And Shut version" Produced by Captain i-Tunes download
  • "Glorious live at Bush Hall" Produced by Paul for JJ Stereo I tunes download
  • "Glorious Demo" Produced by Rob Kirwan recorded at Rockfield Studios version 2 I tunes download
  • "Glorious Edit" Produced By Trevor Horn from the Glorious Promo cd and i-Tunes
  • "Glorious Instrumental" Produced By Trevor Horn from the Glorious Promo cd
  • "Frontline DFA Remix" Frontline 12" remixed by the DFA
  • "Frontline Demo" Produced by Rob Kirwan i-Tunes download
  • "Frontline Cut And Shut version" Produced by Captain i-Tunes download
  • "Frontline Instrumental" Produced By Trevor Horn from the Frontline Promo cd

[edit] Unreleased

  • "Keep An Open Mind" Produced By Trevor Horn Unreleased
  • "Keep An Open Mind" Produced By Ben Hillier Unreleased
  • "Frontline DFA Remix instrumental" Frontline 12" remixed by the DFA Unreleased
  • "Frontline Edit" rare un-issued 3 track promo cd
  • ""These Words" faded version recorded by Captain engineered by Ian unreleased
  • "Glorious" 50 Eddies Remix Unreleased

[edit] External links

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