HOST Release Cover Of A Flock Of Seagulls Classic "I Ran"

Contemporary dark wave project HOST, launched by Nick Holmes and Greg Mackintoshof PARADISE LOST, have released a cover of A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS classic 80's hit 'I Ran'. The track is the final song to be released from the deluxe edition of their debut albumIX, which is now available on streaming services.

Greg Mackintosh comments "It was not my idea to do this song as a cover,  I wasn’t totally convinced at first. The original, whilst being a great song, seemed a bit frothy and light to me.

When I isolated the vocal line however, I saw the tragedy in it and wanted to take  it down a darker, more dystopian path."

Stream the deluxe edition of HOST's debut album IX featuring 'I Ran' now at: https://bfan.link/host-ix.ema

Purchase IX on various formats now from: https://bfan.link/host-ix.ema

About HOST

The origins of HOST do not trace back to the 1999 PARADISE LOST album bearing the same name but instead to the West Yorkshire music clubs of the mid-to-late 1980s. WhileHolmes and Mackintosh were already certified heavy metal fanatics (“metal thrashing mad” as Holmes equates), they were equally drawn to the New Wave and Goth music scenes. The pounding rhythms, sublime melodies and undercurrent of darkness drew them in, creating immediate earworms and a desire to delve further.

Mackintosh finally put plans into motion during the pandemic for a venture that would merge his penchant for sound design with the moods and atmosphere of 1980s dance-pop and Goth. The project was originally a solo pursuit until he asked Holmes, his longtime PARADISE LOST songwriting partner, to join. 'HOST' was selected as the name as a tip of the hat to the aforementioned album that found PARADISE LOST in an unprecedented period of experimentation that eschewed their metal roots and also challenged their fanbase in ways like never before.

“We always stood by 'Host' as an album,” says Mackintosh. “This project is not totally connected to that album, but some of the ideas are extrapolated. We’re taking the basic premise and trying it out now. And, really, it was something fun and interesting for us to do. We’ve been doing PARADISE LOST for a long time and got an itch to try something different from where PL is now. I could take PL down this route again. Who knows? It may happen if we live long enough, but I thought, ‘Why not now?’ I had the time to do it.”

HOST is:
Nick Holmes - Vocals
Greg Mackintosh - Guitars, Synths & Programming

Follow HOST:
https://www.facebook.com/officialhostuk
https://www.instagram.com/officialhostuk/
https://twitter.com/officialhostuk

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS co-founder ALI SCORE teams with JENN VIX on 'You Are A Star' single

"She who laughs last laughs loudest and proudest. If you too have maladious affairs of the heart, Jenn’ll Vix it for you... disparate influences feeding in and bleeding through" ~ Music-News.com

"Vix sounds perpetually enraptured. And the Rhode Island multi-instrumentalist has reason to be. Her music--clear, simple melodies awash in echo-- from inside its swirl, her voice wafts up" ~ Rolling Stone (3.5 Stars)

"Powerful and purposeful.. kick-ass with gripping vocals" ~ Skylight Webzine

"What do you get when you take powerful vocals, a stunning stage presence, an iconic image and excellence in the songwriting department and run them through a thread connecting not one, but two, members of The Cure and a whole series of other artists from other iconic bands, including Psychedelic Furs? You get Jenn Vix" ~ The Spill Magazine

Alternative pop artist Jenn Vix is back with a new retrowave single 'You Are A Star', a collaborative track featuring Ali Score, original drummer of legendary Grammy-winning new wave - synthpop band A Flock Of Seagulls.

This release sees the legendary drummer return to music after a lengthy hiatus, putting to work the technique that helped A Flock of Seagulls become one of the most influential bands of their era, blazing the way for new wave and synthpop, becoming a Top-40 band with numerous hit songs and a Grammy to their credit, not to mention their enigmatic presence and awe-inspiring sound, which many artists continue to emulate even today.

"Well, 'You Are a Star' is a love song. It's a tribute to someone who worked as an astronomer, and an astrophysicist. The music happened very late at night, as I was sitting in front of the keyboard, practicing, and then the lyrics drifted into my mind shortly after I wrote the music.... We're all made of stardust," says Jenn Vix.

As with her latest single 'PTSD', which offers a glimpse into her personal experience with the diagnosis and life with this disorder, Vix worked with Grammy-nominated mastering engineer Chris Gehringer (Dua Lipa, Lizzo, Lady Gaga, Twenty One Pilots, St. Vincent).

Jenn Vix explains how this collaboration came to be: "When I was a kid, I moved to NYC from Miami. One of the most wonderful things about NYC at the time, was the record shops located around the city. I would spend my weekends crate digging, and finding new music. One of my friends at a shop downtown played me a single titled "Talking" by A Flock of Seagulls, that he got from the UK. I couldn't even buy it at the time because there was only one copy in the shop. I was amazed, because I'd never heard anything like it! A little while later, I saw the video for 'I Ran' on MTV and, at that moment, I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I also wanted to one day play music with the drummer of A Flock of Seagulls, and here I am now, working with him! It's a dream come true!"

"I got the conversation going with Ali through a mutual friend, who works on the band's sites and social media pages, and we took it from there. I was one of the first fans of the band here in the states! Ali is not only a brilliant and highly skilled drummer, but he's an incredibly kind and caring person. I consider him not only a collaborator, but a dear friend."

Over the years, Jenn Vix has collaborated with Reeves Gabrels (The Cure, David Bowie, Tin Machine), John Ashton (Psychedelic Furs), Andy Anderson (The Cure, Iggy Pop, Hawkwind), Danny Chavis (The Veldt), Marco Pirroni (Adam Ant, Rema Rema, The Models, Sinead O’Connor), Dirk Ivens (Absolute Body Control, The Klinik and Dive), and Rodney Anonymous (The Dead Milkmen).

Launching her musical career in Rhode Island, she cut her teeth in NYC in her teens, crossing paths with the likes of Iggy Pop, her first experience as a vocalist being with 1980s one-off band Disco Donut (with Adam Horovitz of The Beastie Boys and singer-songwriter Nicole Willis). A decade later, Vix broke out on the national scene, her self-released LP received a glowing 3.5-star review in Rolling Stone, who wrote, “Vix sounds perpetually enraptured. And the Rhode Island multi-instrumentalist has reason to be. Her music--clear, simple melodies awash in echo--is all dreaminess and shuddering, and from inside its swirl, her voice wafts up”.

As an indication of her ever-evolving approach to her craft, in recent years, Vix has been performing both as a solo artist and also as vocalist-drummer (on an electronic drum kit) in Boston-based post-punk / electronic rock duo Feeney Vix.

As of February 25, 'You Are A Star' will be available online everywhere, including Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and Amazon. You can also find Jenn Vix on TikTok.

CREDITS
Written, arranged and produced by Jenn Vix
Music, lyrics, synths, guitar and vocals by Jenn Vix
Drums by Ali Score
Recorded in Newport, RI and Ocala FL by Jenn Vix and Big Andy
Mastered by Chris Gehringer at Sterling Sound
Video by JFIVENINE Media
ISRC Code: USCGH2283750

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