Captain

Captain are an alternative rock band from London, England, who formed in early 2005. Influenced by groups such as The Smashing Pumpkins, The Beach Boys, My Bloody Valentine and The Cure, their music has also been compared by critics to Prefab Sprout, The Beautiful South and Deacon Blue. The band initially signed a recording contract with At Large Records and released their debut single "Frontline" with that label in December 2005. 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.On 5 May 2008, Captain released "Keep an Open Mind" as the lead single from their forthcoming second album. The second album, Distraction, had tentative release date of July 2008. But before it could be released, the band were dropped by EMI (along with many other acts on its roster) as a part of a restructuring plan, when the private equity firm Terrafirma purchased EMI. Captain never split up, but chose to work on other projects to keep their enthusiasm for music. Singer/guitarist Rik Flynn and drummer Reuben Humphries formed a new band called More Diamonds, while bassist Alex Yeoman and keyboardist/singer Clare Szembek went on to form the group Misdirectors.The band have discussed making a new record for some time but never had the opportunity due to many differing work commitments. The band plan to release a new album in 2012.Throughout 2012 and 2013, Captain recorded some tracks (for a third album) at Half-Ton Studios in Cambridge. In March 2014, Captain posted some videos of new songs (including a cover of The Lotus Eaters' 'The First Picture of You') on their Facebook page. Lead guitarist Mario Athanasiou died in early 2016.