All of those teasers from UK-based synthwave band GUNSHIP now make sense — the names on tombstones and the classic GUNSHIP sun being eclipsed by darkness all lead up to Dark All Day, an upcoming album that sees the band tackle horror influences from the 1980s and ’90s.
To kick things off, GUNSHIP have released the excellent new video for the title track that brings them to Santa Carla, that fictional oceanside town in Lost Boys. The mostly animated video sees the band perform the song in a fashion that takes their influences to a logical conclusion: the video and song features Tim Cappello, the sexy and engaging saxophone player from that beach-side concert in the film. “I still believe,” indeed.
Unfortunately, the decades have not been good to Santa Carla and the town’s notorious vampire problem has worsened to a great degree, the band’s press release says. No worries, though. GUNSHIP have brought the world’s most infamous vampire slayers along as their personal bodyguards.
The new video pays homage to numerous well-known vampire slayer characters, including Buffy, Blade, Seth Gecko from Dusk til Dawn, and the Frog brothers from Lost Boys. The video culminates in the “death” of GUNSHIP, and their undead resurrection, according to a press release.
“Countless horror classics were unleashed on the world during the 1980s/early ’90s and I guess, at least in parts, this record is GUNSHIP’s love letter to that incredibly creative and artistically rich period,” frontman Dan Haigh tells Vehlinggo. “On this first video it’s been an absolute joy to reference some pivotal characters from that era, but also diabolically fun to unleash them together in the same arena!”
“References and nostalgia are fun, but the real icing on the cake here was the opportunity to encourage one of the most iconic characters from that era to reprise his role some 30 years later,” Haigh continued. “Being a part of bringing more of the sexy sax man himself, Mr. Timmy Cappello, to screens via our video and collaborating with him musically is certainly one of the things I’m most proud of. He’s a true gent, and an insane talent.”
Keep an eye out for the video’s shocking ending. It’s a doozy.
About the Upcoming Dark All Day LP
GUNSHIP are Dan Haigh, Alex Westaway and Alex Gingell. Here’s some information from their camp about the upcoming album, which is now available for pre-order:
The new album Dark All Day sees the band… 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 a 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 available 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.”
Seriously…no one can touch these guys.