From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dark Star (1999-2001) were an English rock band from London whose music mixed dark psychedelica with a dub undertow and noisy effects-laden guitar.

• David Francolini (drums)
• Christian Hayes (guitar and vocals)
• Laurence O'Keefe (bass)

Christian, David, and Laurence, all former members of Levitation, formed Dark Star in 1998 and signed to the now defunct Harvest Records, the progressive rock subsidiary of EMI. Dark Star released several EPs and a debut album Twenty Twenty Sound produced by Steve Lillywhite. Their explosive live performances, usually with a stage decorated with fairy lights, attracted a dedicated following. The band's common musical influence was Public Image Limited.

Following the touring and promotion of Twenty Twenty Sound, the band entered the studio to record the follow up. Strangers And Madmen was mooted as the lead off single and received its first play on The Evening Session, hosted by Steve Lamacq. Due to a change in personnel at EMI and a general lack of interest from the label in the new material, it was agreed the two parties would part. The band split in 2001 with no official announcement, to pursue different projects. They were unable to release the already recorded second album as the rights to the music belonged to EMI. A bootleg of pre-master mixes of this album is now in circulation, entitled Zurich - it is not known where the title actually came from or whether it was the albums intended title.^{[citation needed]}

As of 2006, the band have stated that they would still like to release their second album which they hope to get back from EMI this year.^{[citation needed]}

"A fine excursion into the murkier reaches of obsession crawling from the wreckage, then. It's not always pretty and seldom comprehensible, but you have to admire a band who can yell lyrics like I am centrifugal as if they were the meaning of life. Although what it all means is anyone's guess. And they said Bickers was the mad one." — Jim Alexander (NME) on Twenty Twenty Sound

The cover art on all Darkstar releases up to I Am The Sun in 2000 was by Tom Phillips, an artist from Peckham, South London. The images he used were based on his work A Humument, an illustrative and textual reworking of an 1892 Victorian novel.

• Twenty Twenty Sound (1999)
• Zurich (Unreleased)

• Graceadelica (EP) (1998)
• I Am The Sun (EP) (1999)
• About 3am (single) (1999)
• Graceadelica (remix single) (1999)
• I Am The Sun (remix single) (2000)

• A Dark Star fan site
• Myspace Profile