So, we all know that pretty posh boy, Charlie from Busted went on to form Fightstar which he believed to be a far better reflection of his music and capabilities than the powder puff boy band that he became a teenage girls dream in. He is also a fan of the might Ipswich Town Football Club and ploughed some of his boy band amassed fortune into the football club when it needed it most, so I am reluctant to be too harsh about Mr Simpson.
I admit, I haven’t actually heard much of Fightstar as I find myself turning over when they come on Kerrang! Maybe that is my narrow minded attitude, but it just seems so wrong that the boy who lived across the road from a colleague of mine and who sang of girls from the future who he met when he jumped time is screaming into a microphone and trying to be a hard rock musician now.
Charlie’s inspiration for
Deathcar followed watching a news report on the human organ market in China where organs are taken from prisoners on death row who are executed in vans and their organs harvested for accident victims. The story was heard at the same time as Charlie discovered an ex-girlfriend had found someone new and the singer merged the 2 stories into the lyrics of
Deathcar.
It is certainly easy to dismiss Fightstar as a band, not least because of Charlie Simpson’s past musical dalliances. However, this is a half decent single. Fightstar may be a band that appeals to a younger audience and Charlie may never rid himself of his Busted tag, but the influences of bands such as Deftones and Machine Head should not go unnoticed. Fightstar can produce brutish riffs and Charlie’s voice has gone from powder-pop to a much more powerful metal sound and it is still developing, yet with tracks such as
Shinji Ikari, Simpson proves that he can still whisper lyrics beautifully.
Fightstar are still finding their way in the cutthroat world of rock music. They are still young and finding their way and their sound, but they are getting there and their obvious commitment to music without relying on previous successes is admirable. This is a band who are happy to work, sweat and improve to find their place in a saturated market.
Deathcar was released on 3rd December and can be heard together with other tracks from the band at
www.myspace.com/fightstar
The video for the track can be seen at
