Im Grunde hatte Charlie Simpson mit seiner neuen Band Fightstar schon verloren, bevor er überhaupt erst anfing, mit ihr Musik zu machen. Dem Anschein nach zumindest. Überall ist er „der Typ, der bei Busted gesungen hat,“ einer geistig ziemlich dürftig ausfallenden, britischen Punk-Band jenseits von Gut und Böse. Irgendwann kam der Punkt in seinem Leben, an dem er nach einer Busted-Show dort saß und klammheimlich beschloss, die Band von jetzt auf gleich zu verlassen, da dieser bisherige Weg seiner Meinung nach der total falsche war. Er verließ eine Band, die im Wembley-Stadion Headliner-Shows spielte und gründete zusammen mit Alex Westway Fightstar. Gute Wahl, wie wir finden.
Mit "They Liked You Better When You Were Dead" wurde bereits eine EP veröffentlicht, die in den Staaten über das Indie Deep Elm erschien. Man mochte kaum glauben, dass sich hinter dieser Band eben genau der Charlie Simpson verbarg, denn dieser hat mit Fightstar eine ganz imposante musikalische Wendung vollbringen können. Fightstar haben sich zum Ziel gemacht, die ganz großen Momente des Lebens musikalisch einzufangen. Dabei machen sie sich eine Intensität zu Eigen, die man dieser Tage nicht oft findet, vielleicht sogar vergeblich sucht. Musikalisch könnte man die Band um Simpson grob der Sparte Indierock zuordnen. Beschritt man mit dem direkten Vorgänger "One Day Son, This Will All Be Yours" an mancher Stelle eher Deftones-alike Pfade, so geht es auf "Be Human" schon weit gesitteter zu, weniger spannend jedoch keinesfalls. Wir befragten Fightstar-Sänger und -Gitarrist Alex Westaway zur Entstehung des neuen Albums "Be Human":

SJM: First of all: Could you please shortly introduce yourself and your band Fightstar to our readers? If you would have to say what your band and especially the philosophy behind your band is all about – how would that description be like?

Alex Westaway / Fightstar: Hey Sweetjanemusic readers! This is Al from the band Fightstar. Our sound is a spiced sausage melting pot of influences that each of us in the band bring to the table. Ranging from Pantera, Machinehead, Deftones through to Explosions in the Sky, Mono, Mogui, M83 to Eliot Smith.... and everything in between. I like to think of our music as being honest rock music.

SJM: Your debut record "They Liked You Better When You Were Dead" has officially been released by Deep Elm Records over here, the follow-ups haven't been officially released at all over here. Fightstar never was the kind of band that was about to branch out or become popular – so, could you please tell us your explanation why Fightstar always was kind of an underground-band with an underground-ethic?

Alex Westaway / Fightstar: It has been down to poor luck with our previous labels as to the reason why the last two records were not released over there. They were unwilling to license the record for the amount of money that was being offered. Out of our control and very frustrating. Which is why we are happy to be in control of it this time and get the latest record out through Cooking Vinyl.

SJM: Let's just shortly deal with the promotion of "Be Human". I know promotion is quite easy when you have promoters or a label or a budget that makes it easy to promote your band and your album. As for "Be Human" – would you say it's harder to spread the name of your band throughout the scene? I know that in the UK, Fightstar are by far more popular than they are over here in Germany…

Alex Westaway / Fightstar: Money definitely helps in a promotional campaign. The main thing for us now in Germany is to try and get a tour over there. We managed to play Rock am Ring and Rock am Park at the beginning of the summer which was a great start.

SJM: Which directly leads me to my next question: What does it mean to you when your records are released outside the UK? Is it kinda like a bonus? Is the UK like a "target market" for you guys?

Alex Westaway / Fightstar: It is definitely a bonus for us to get it released outside of the UK.

SJM: I would say that musically "Be Human" is by far more complex as "One Day Son…" was. It reminds me of your debut "They Liked You Better…". It seems you had the chance to experiment a bit with different sounds, layers and especially voice sounds. Was it a conscious decision to create a record of, well, let's say, epic proportions?

Alex Westaway / Fightstar: We always strive for new sounds and with this record being made with our own money gave us that little extra freedom to experiment. One thing that we always wanted to do was to record a full orchestra. Having only a shoe string budget it was a tough thing to achieve but with a few favors here and there we managed to pull it off. Film music is one of our big inspirations and so we really wanted to use the orchestra and choir in a real cinematic way.

SJM: I'd like to know what you as a band think about file sharing. As for now, you might somehow profit from people who download your songs illegally, because it's exactly these people that spread the word about Fightstar. But perhaps in one or two years, you and your future label depends on this money in order to promote your band and your record. What do you personally think about file sharing?

Alex Westaway / Fightstar: I think that file sharing is the main cause of the dwindling record sales across the world. Bands and lables are really struggling at the moment to find a solution that will fill the void in revenue that file sharing has created. I think that it effects the smaller bands the most, as they are having to rely solely on touring and merchandise for their income. On the upside the touring market is still pretty healthy.

SJM: Let's have a look into the past: When entering the basement at first in order to practice with your new found band Fightstar – did you know in which direction you would head musically? Or was "They Liked You Better…" just the way it all turned out to be? Or in short: Did you have a clear vision?

Alex Westaway / Fightstar: They liked you better... were the first songs we wrote together. That is what happened when we started playing together. We had no visions or restrictions. The fact that we all have the same brains for music really helped it be a natural process.

SJM: When you were writing the songs for your new record "Be Human" - did you have certain issues you specifically wanted to address? How did you go about writing your songs?

Alex Westaway / Fightstar: Be Human is definatly the most positive record yet. That is purely because of our situations. We feel a bit more settled in life i think. Some of the songs will spawn individually and worked on on our home computers, then bought to the rehursal space for everyone to have their input. Other songs will spawn from jamming a riff together as a band.

SJM: What do you want to achieve with your new release "Be Human"? What´s your aim as a band? What hopes do you connect with the release of "Be Human"?

Alex Westaway / Fightstar: Our hope is for the band to be as successful as it can be to enable us to keep on making albums.

SJM: Will there ever be a chance to see you performing live here in Germany? What is your experience like touring here in Germany?

Alex Westaway / Fightstar: It is on the cards and we will do as much as we can to make it happen. As i said we have only managed to play Rock am Ring/Park in Germany until now, which was an amazing experience for us.

(Dennis Grenzel)