"Paint Your Target" is a song by English

post-hardcore Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term " post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad conste ...

band

Fightstar Fightstar were a British rock band from London that formed in 2003. The band is composed of lead vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Charlie Simpson, guitarist and co-vocalist Alex Westaway, bassist Dan Haigh and drummer Omar Abidi. Genera ...

. It was released on 13 June 2005 as the lead single from their debut studio album, ''

Grand Unification A Grand Unified Theory (GUT) is any model in particle physics that merges the electromagnetic, weak, and strong forces (the three gauge interactions of the Standard Model) into a single force at high energies. Although this unified force ha ...

'' (2006). It charted at number nine in the United Kingdom. To 'paint your target' is a military expression which refers to identifying and marking a target so that it can be attacked by other forces. There are also two recorded versions of "Paint Your Target". One, recorded by

Chris Sheldon Chris Sheldon (born 25 September 1962) is an English record producer, particularly of rock music based in London, England. He has produced or mixed records for the Foo Fighters, Garbage, Big Country, Feeder, Therapy?, Biffy Clyro, Oceansize, Pi ...

, was released as a single and appeared on both of the music videos. The other, recorded by

Colin Richardson Colin Richardson is a British record producer, mixer and recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound source ...

, appears on ''

''.

Music video

There are two videos for this song: the first was banned by

Emap Ascential (formerly EMAP) was a British-headquartered global company, specialising in events, intelligence and advisory services for the marketing and financial technology industries. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was ac ...

TV who objected to scenes of violence in the video. The video, shot by the band's bassist

Dan Haigh Dan Haigh (born 5 December 1980) is an English musician, film director, video game designer, writer and visual effects artist. He is best known as co-founder of synthwave band Gunship and as the bass player in the English rock band Fightsta ...

, features children playing cowboys and indians and pretending to shoot each other. Bullets were added digitally in

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

, making the pretend violence look real. A second video, also shot by Haigh, was released in its place, but the original was later posted online to the band's website and ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''. The second version depicts the band in a room playing the song.

Track listings

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2005 songs 2005 singles Fightstar songs Island Records singles Songs written by Alex Westaway Songs written by Charlie Simpson