IN A MUSICAL ERA dominated by bands who seem to exist solely within highly specific camps - be it art rock, New York-style indie posturing or something similarly unappealing - Captain are a glorious anomaly. A rum bunch of five distinctly individual people, their music sounds quintessentially of itself. Consequently, Captain are very nearly unique, 2006's most handsome black sheep. "I've never felt particularly part of the scene," says the band's singer Rik Flynn, "whichever scene we happen to be talking about. It's not something I've ever set out to sidestep, it's just the way things are. Of course, I'm aware that this is something that can work against you, but right now, it seems to be working for us." He takes the cigarette he has been earnestly puffing away on from his mouth and blows a self-satisfied smoke ring. "And that pleases me enormously."
Captain's music is joyful, clattering, full of divergent moodswings, the jubilant crescendoes of male/female vocal sparring and, just occasionally, the trill parp of a trumpet. Above all else, as Rik Flynn will tell you himself, the band's music is, "hopeful, emotional and euphoric. Whether it's melancholy or we're singing stories about people dying of cancer, we still want to cheer everybody up."
And that they do with no little flair. Their debut album, ‘This is Hazelville’, produced by the legendary Trevor Horn (Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Grace Jones, ABC) is a triumph, a record possessing the combustible energy of Arcade Fire with the theatrical thrum of Flaming Lips and the sheer exuberance of a six year-old anticipating Christmas. You may well have already heard their debut single Frontline. Well, its bug-eyed oh-oh-OH!s are typical of the band's ability to hypnotise. This is wonderfully involving music. "I've been influenced by all manner of bands in the past," Flynn says, "but for the first time I really believe we sound only like Captain. And that's a good thing, I think."
CAPTAIN, THE COLLECTIVE, may be a relatively new creation - they formed a year ago - but its members, all in their mid-twenties, have each earned their stripes. Flynn and drummer Reuben Humphries, compatriots since school, were formerly of The Junket, a short-lived band from the late 1990s inspired, variously, by Placebo, Ride and Swervedriver. Co-singer/keyboardist Clare Szembek, much like Alison Goldfrapp before her, lent her seductive vocals to a variety of underground dance acts in the manner of the ultimate torch-song siren. Perhaps to compensate for the necessarily ethereal nature of her job, she duly took up kickboxing on the side. Guitarist Mario Athanasiou fled his native Greece after military service amid rumours - hopefully false ones - that he once shot a donkey. Athanasiou, who once auditioned for the Greek Army band but was rejected because his version of Karma Police was deemed "too alternative", was initially approached by Flynn at a party simply because the singer thought he looked like the perfect guitarist. When he subsequently found out that this stranger was indeed just that - a guitarist - Flynn could only conclude that fate had played a part. And then there is Alex Yeo, the blonde bassist who likes to claim he was once a circus musician.
Protection - we do a lot of it these days. Sun cream for our skin, sunglasses for our eyes, condoms for you know where - but do you remember to protect your hearing?
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