Gunship new album out 5 October 2018
Album release: ‘Dark All Day’ by Gunship
Release date: 5 October 2018
More info: Band website
Today, synthwave pioneers Gunship return with the announcement of a brand new 13-track album titled ‘Dark All Day’ and unveil an epic new anime/live-action video for the title track. The new record is now available for pre-order and will be released on 5th October 2018.
In true Gunship fashion, the band have dusted off the VHS - both video and track are a tribute to the cult 1987 film ‘The Lost Boys’ and feature one of the film's stars Mr. Timmy Cappello - the sexy sax man himself. Timmy provides a blistering performance on the track and also appears in the video, which sees him reprise his original role from ‘The Lost Boys’ some 30 years later.
Tim Cappello: "Gunship's track 'Dark All Day' is one of the funkiest tracks I've ever played on. The groove is brooding and dark but there's so much passion & power to it, it moves so well, I couldn't stop dancing while I was playing on it. And going doubletime during the choruses, pure genius. The guest singer, Indiana, has so much personality, her voice is so perfect for this, I think she's AMAZING! It was so much fun to reprise my role in The Lost Boys, 30 years later, I kinda felt like a kid again, the hips are holding up :D."
The video and track also features UK singer/songwriter Indiana on vocals, best known for her chart topping song ‘Solo Dancing’ and album ‘No Romeo’.
Watch the video for 'Dark All Day' here
Conceptually, the new video sees Gunship return to The Lost Boys’ fictional town of ‘Santa Carla’ in order to play a show. Unfortunately the years have not been kind to Santa Carla and the town’s infamous vampire infestation has worsened considerably. It's all going to OK though - GUNSHIP have brought the world's most notorious vampire slayers along for the ride as their personal bodyguards…
The new video pays homage to numerous well known vampire slayer characters, including Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Blade, Seth Gecko from ‘Dusk til Dawn’, and the Frog brothers from the original film. The video culminates in the ‘death’ of Gunship, and their undead resurrection.
The album artwork also suggests a progression. The new cover art shows the previous album’s sun-design now ominously eclipsed. This signifies the beginning of the ‘Dark All Day’ era, a musical expansion of the band’s sound which sees them exploring darker and more cinematic material in tandem with a renewed focus on the killer hooks and pop sensibility Gunship are known for. Countless horror classics were unleashed on the world during the 1980s; this is Gunship’s love letter to that incredibly creative and artistically rich period.
The video is created in Japanese anime style by ‘Angry Metal Studios’ but, significantly, it switches to live action for the finale - this is the first time that Gunship have revealed themselves, having never appeared in any of their previous videos.
Gunship are well-known for their impressive collaborations with previous material featuring the likes of John Carpenter (director/composer), Lee Hardcastle (The ABC’s of Death, [Adult Swim], 20th Century Fox), Charlie Simpson, Lou Hayter (New Young Pony Club), Martin Grech, Stella Le Page, Miami Nights 1984, Make Up And Vanity Set, Carpenter Brut and more.
The new album 'Dark All Day' sees the band expand on this by collaborating with the likes of tattoo artist, model, musician, author, entrepreneur, and television personality Kat Von D, who provides a seething and haunting vocal collaboration on track 'Black Blood Red Kiss'. Elsewhere on the album, 'When You Grow Up Your Heart Dies' features an innovative segment in which fans submitted recordings of themselves giving uplifting statements, led by self-proclaimed ‘King of the Nerds’ Wil Wheaton (The Big Bang Theory, Star Trek, Stand By Me…).
Similarly, the band channel their love for all things cyberpunk on the track ‘Woken Furies’ which is a tribute to and features voice-over from renowned science fiction author Richard K. Morgan (Altered Carbon). In addition, 'Art3mis & Parzival’ is written in tribute to the book 'Ready Player One', which was recently brought to the screen by Steven Spielberg. The genuine 8-bit pixel art video for ‘Art3mis & Parzival’ was released in April, garnering effusive praise from no less than the author of ‘Ready Player One’ himself Ernest Cline, who described it as “Badass”.
Popular UK artist Una Healy (The Saturdays) also contributes vocals on the album.
'Dark All Day' is availble for pre-order now. The album contains 13 tracks and is available in a deluxe limited edition 180g double-gatefold 45 rpm vinyl set with special lenticular cover, as well as in a brand new Special Edition ‘16-Bit Box Set’ which includes signed CD and a plethora of new GUNSHIP goodies.
Upon pre-ordering the album listeners will receive two instant downloads ‘Dark All Day’, and ‘Art3mis & Parzival’.
GUNSHIP is Dan Haigh, Alex Westaway and Alex Gingell. Gunship’s sound is created with vintage analogue synthesizers and other retro electronic gear from the 1980s. Driven and inspired by nostalgia for a bygone era, Gunship harness this retro approach to birth something fresh and new. Their sound is sonically diverse - blending sweeping fluorescent synth lines with fever pitched and adrenalizing electric bass arpeggios.
Dan Haigh from Gunship describes their sound as “a neon soaked, late night, sonic getaway drive, dripping with luscious analogue synthesizers, cinematic vocals and cyberpunk values, exploding from the front cover of a dusty plastic VHS case which has lain forgotten since 1984.”
Previous praise for Gunship
“… the perfect coalescence of everything I and the rest of our editorial team love: retrofuturism, ’80s references, synthy jams, and way more.” – Nerdist
“…a gleaming synth behemoth that wouldn’t sound out of place soundtracking a medley of all your favourite Eighties sci-fi films.” – Evening Standard
“Gunship Release One Of The Coolest Music Videos Ever” – Bloody Disgusting
“British band GUNSHIP have made the most innovative, awesome music video ever” – Zoo Magazine