Captain (band)

Captain
Origin	London, England
Genres	Alternative rock
Years active	2005–2009
Labels	EMI
Website	MySpace page
Past members
Rik Flynn Clare Szembek Mario Athanasiou Alex Yeoman Reuben Humphries

Captain were an alternative rock band from London, England, who formed in early 2005.^[1] Influenced by groups such as The Smashing Pumpkins, The Beach Boys, My Bloody Valentine and The Cure,^[2] their music has also been compared by critics to Prefab Sprout, The Beautiful South and Deacon Blue.^[1][3] The band initially signed a recording contract with At Large Records and released their debut single "Frontline" with that label in December 2005.^[3][4] Soon after, the group signed to EMI Records and achieved minor success in 2006 with their singles "Broke" and "Glorious", which reached numbers 34 and 30 on the UK Singles Chart respectively. Their Trevor Horn produced debut album, This Is Hazelville, was released on 14 August 2006 and reached number 23 on the UK Albums Chart.^[3]

On 5 May 2008, Captain released "Keep an Open Mind" as the lead single from their forthcoming second album. The single peaked at number 53 on the UK charts and garnered moderately enthusiastic reviews. However, despite having completed the recording of their second album, Distraction, and announced a tentative release date of July 2008 for it,^[5] the band were dropped by EMI and the album was shelved.

Captain split up in 2009. Following the demise of the band, singer/guitarist Rik Flynn and drummer Reuben Humphries formed a new band called More Diamonds,^[6] while bassist Alex Yeoman and keyboardist/singer Clare Szembek went on to form the group Misdirectors.^[7] Yeoman and Humphries also played with Fightstar singer Charlie Simpson on his solo projects.

The band plan to relaunch in 2012 with a new album.^{[citation needed]}

Members

• Rik Flynn - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
• Clare Szembek - vocals, keyboards, percussion
• Mario Athanasiou - lead guitar
• Alex Yeoman - bass guitar
• Reuben "Reu" Humphries - drums, piano

Discography

Main article: Captain discography

Albums

• This Is Hazelville (UK #23)
• Distraction (unreleased officially, although promo copies do exist)

Singles

• "Frontline" (released on At Large Records)
• "Broke" (UK #34)
• "Glorious" (UK #30)
• "Frontline" (UK #62)
• "Keep an Open Mind" (UK #53)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Collar, Matt. "Captain Biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/captain-p296629. Retrieved 2010-12-09. 
2. ^ "Captain bio". Clash. http://www.clashmusic.com/artists/captain. Retrieved 2010-12-11. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Mawer, Sharon. "This is Hazelvillle album review". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/this-is-hazelville-r852085/review. Retrieved 2010-12-09. 
4. ^ Glynn, Lee. "Captain - Frontline (At Large) release information". Gigwise.com. http://www.gigwise.com/reviews/tracks/11262/Captain-%E2%80%93-Frontline-At-Large-Released-051205. Retrieved 2010-12-11. 
5. ^ Siwicki, John. "Captain interview". ComfortComes. http://www.comfortcomes.com/2008/05/11/captain/. Retrieved 2010-12-09. 
6. ^ "More Diamonds Facebook page". Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/pages/More-Diamonds/159884714050725?ref=mf. Retrieved 2010-12-09. 
7. ^ "Misdirectors Myspace Page". Myspace. http://www.myspace.com/misdirectors. Retrieved 2010-12-11. 

External links

• ComfortComes interview with Captain