Mod note: this post is another installment in an ongoing series in which I tell the stories behind some of the bands that appear on this sub. This time I'm going to try something different: talking about two different bands that happen to have similar vibes. Full disclosure: neither of these are proper electronic rock bands. But they also aren't not electronic rock bands. They've got guitars. They've got synths. They've got drum machines. They've got... uh... saxophones?

Let's get into this battle of the bands!

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The 1980's...

An enormously important decade for electronic music. This was the decade when technology and music really came together in a big way. Synthesizers, samplers and drum machines were advancing by leaps and bounds. Suddenly the radio was flooded with polished, synthetic, dance-friendly pop hits by artists with dark eyeliner, popped collars, and crazy hair. Call it what you want: new wave, synth-pop, dance-pop, synth-rock... regardless, it was a musical revolution. EDM, industrial, D&B, dubstep, trap: they all trace back to this pivotal era in music.

While everybody was influenced by this era, in the 2010s a few artists began to tap into it for more direct inspiration. Then, in the middle of the decade, it happened: two different synth-rock titans on either side of the Atlantic emerged from the shadows. Both were dedicated to crafting loving, lavish homages to that retro 1980's sound, and both used that sound to tell epic sci-fi stories. From the United Kingdom came Gunship, and from the United States came Scandroid.

Both bands are awesome. But they are not exactly the same. Therefore, one of these groups must logically be more awesome than the other. Let's see if we can determine which one is the King of Cool, and which one is just some losers in leather jackets!

Gunship

Gunship released their self-titled debut album in 2015. It is chill synth-wave bliss to a fault. Each track is like some lost 80's sci-fi movie brought to life in musical form. This album was also an early showcase for Gunship's flair for snagging eye-catching collaborators. The track "Tech Noir" (a Terminator reference) features an opening narration by John Carpenter. Yes, the director of films like Halloween, Escape From New York, and The Thing.

Gunship's follow-up, 2018's "Dark All Day," includes lyrics about virtual reality and vampires. It also features wild saxophone solos by Tim Capello (you may not know the name, but he is the iconic 1980's bodybuilder/saxophonist who played for Tina Turner and appeared in the movie Lost Boys). In 2023 Gunship's third album, "Unicorn," saw them evolving their sound in a slightly more modern, dance-rock direction. John Carpenter was back on this album, and so was Tim Capello, and there were collabs with half a dozen other artists besides.

Gunship is a band obsessed with references to 80's movies, as well as video games and pop culture generally. You somehow wouldn't be surprised if they had appeared on the Ready Player One soundtrack and guess what I just tricked you THEY DID.

Now, it might be tempting to dismiss Gunship as nothing but a band pandering to 80's nostalgia. And I'm not gonna lie, occasionally some of their songs can feel that way. But they've also crafted some genuinely memorable pieces of synth-wave goodness. Underneath the shiny nostalgia-bait shell there is a cool band that has written some great songs

For a band that can seemingly pick up the phone and get literally anyone to do a guest feature on one of their songs, you would think that Gunship must be rock stars on a never-ending world tour. But actually, they don't tour at all, and they release very little information about themselves. It's not even clear (to me at least) who is in the band at various times. I mean, it is known that the core duo is Dan Haigh and Alex Westaway, formerly of Fightstar. And it appears that they have a third, guy, a drummer. At least, sometimes. But there is also an uncredited female vocalist who pops up fairly frequently. Who is she? Where in the UK is the band based? Why the long hiatus between albums? And how do they connected with all these random famous people? It's all a bit mysterious. But whatever the story, this is a band that makes very cool and unique music.

Gunship knows its true fans want physical media. They have released deluxe box sets of all three of their albums. Of course they have vinyl. But for the truly hardcore 80's faithful, they have also put out their albums on cassette tape. Perfect for playing in your retro-cool Sony Walkman. You can also find instrumental versions of all their albums, which is awesome if you need to just vibe and get some work done.

If you're looking to check Gunship out, I think their best and most consistent album is their debut. But they've got great songs on all three albums, including an amazing collaboration on "Unicorn" with electronic rockers HEALTH called "Blood for the Blood God."

Scandroid

Scandroid is the musical brainchild of Klayton (of Celldweller fame). I've already done a write-up about Klayton and Celldweller here, so I'll breeze over the biographical details. Klayton is probably best known for music that mixes hard rock, metal, industrial, and high-speed EDM. But it turns out he also has a soft spot for the sounds of the 80's, not to mention a frighteningly large synthesizer collection. In 2013 he began collaborating on a new project with another artist called Varien. The idea was to create a concept album of retro synthwave music that told a cyberpunk story set in a neon-soaked future dystopia. Although Varien soon dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, Klayton forged ahead with the project and in 2016 Scandroid released its self-titled debut.

Scandroid swiftly followed up the very next year with a second album, "Monochrome." Over the next few years they released two EPs, "The Darkness" and "The Light." These eventually morphed into an ambitious full-length album--"The Darkness and The Light"--in late 2020. Currently Scandroid is on the verge of releasing a fourth album, "Lost Horizon."

Scandroid's first three albums very much tap into the synth sounds of the 1980's, although Klayton is not afraid to throw in some electric guitars from time to time. All Scandroid songs are very much focused on telling a sweeping futuristic story about a romance (and a war) between humans and a newly-awakened race of sentient machines. How the story goes exactly isn't always clear (arguing about the details is a hobby of any true Scandroid fan) but it definitely involves AI, drones, space travel, and a floating city called Neo Tokyo.

Scandroid doesn't focus on star-studded collabs the way Gunship does. Instead, they do remixes. Every single Scandroid track gets a remix, sometimes more than one. Scandroid songs have been remixed by basically everybody. In fact, look around for a moment, you may be remixing a Scandroid track right now! Okay, maybe you aren't, but statistically it's not impossible. Anyways, some of these remixes are pretty cool. The Dance With The Dead remix of "Neo Tokyo" may be more popular than the original song itself.

Let's get physical: physical media, that is. One of Scandroid's chief creative collaborators is an artist that goes by Ninja Jo. Ninja Jo's dark, impressionistic cyberpunk art serves as the album art on the boxed sets of all three Scandroid albums released to date. You can, of course, also get those albums on vinyl. And for the true devotees of cyberpunk alternate futures, Scandroid has released all three of their albums on MiniDisc, a unique digital format pioneered by Sony that slightly predates the CD. Scandroid also releases instrumental versions of all their songs to chill out and study to.

If you want to give Scandroid a try, you definitely have to start with their debut album because it is the first chapter of the story. From there you can proceed in order, unless you want to skip directly to "The Darkness and The Light" so you can enjoy the epic guitar hero-style solos of "Phoenix," the album opener.

Comparison

Scandroid and Gunship have a lot in common. Both projects got started around the same time. Both are heavily inspired by the music of a certain era. Both are heavy on vibes. Both have a deep love of sci-fi. But they are definitely different bands in a lot of ways.

Scandroid has a definite prog rock element. Not only does Scandroid have concept albums, in many ways it is a concept band. The songs on any given album are best enjoyed together; they flow very well from one to the next, and they feel like they're telling a continuing story. Even if the specifics of that story aren't always clear, the songs make sense musically together. And like any good prog band, Scandroid likes to reach into different genres, sometimes within the same song. Despite the synth-wave aesthetics, they're not purists. They do like to rock out, though. While both bands know how to chill and just relax into the vibes, I think the average Scandroid song is probably a little heavier than the average Gunship song.

Gunship, meanwhile, is like a love letter to the 80's, especially its first two albums. They are going out of their way to reproduce certain sounds and studio techniques from that era. Each song is like a lovingly crafted homage. Gunship songs also stand on their own a bit more. You don't need to have listened to other songs to "get" a Gunship song. They do tell stories, but those stories are self-contained.

Scandroid feels like the unique vision of one guy. By contrast, Gunship feels like they are excited about collaborating with as many of their favorite artists as possible. Not that Scandroid doesn't have collabs, they absolutely do, but they tend to serve the song. Whereas it feels like Gunship is going "Holy shit we got John Carpenter what can we do with him!?" And then magic happens. Gunship also feels like they are collaborating with fans in a way. Their song "When You Grow Up Your Heart Dies" features fans voicing inspirational quotes, often lifted directly from their favorite movies. And since their song "Tech Noir" with John Carpenter was such a hit on their first album, the band brought him back for "Tech Noir Part 2" on their third album.

By the numbers

But to truly determine which band is more awesome we can't rely on so-called "opinions" or wishy-washy "vibes." Unless you think music is somehow subjective, in which case you can show yourself the door! It's over there, the one marked COMMUNISM. For those who believe in cold hard science, here is a table of OBJECTIVE MUSIC FACTS:

	Gunship	Scandroid
Based in	UK	US
Cool retro synths?	yes	yes
Electric guitars?	no	yes
Songs set in sci-fi universes?	yes	yes
Retro 80's aesthetics?	yes	yes
Saxophone solos?	yes	yes
Live tours?	no	no
# of members	2+	1
# albums released	3	3
Retro physical media	cassette tape	minidisc
Cover of 80s radio hit	"Time After Time" by Cindy Lauper	"Shout" by Tears for Fears

And the winner is...

Having assembled all these facts, I have fed them all into a powerful AI that combines ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Grok, and a pop-up chatbot on a car insurance web page! Now I will tell it to crunch the numbers and tell me, objectively, which band is the most awesome: Gunship or Scandroid.

Drumroll please, here we go... I'm hitting send... the 'processing' wheel is spinning... Wait. Do I smell smoke? Oh my god, the server is overheating! Some kind of alarm is going off. These bands were too awesome! This request is too much for the AI to handle! Oh god, the screen is going dark! Unplug everything! NOW!!!

Unfortunately, it seems my effort to objectively determine the musical quality of these bands has overloaded my server, as well as several orbital data centers. You may feel disappointed, as do I. But we should not be!

The good news is that both Gunship and Scandroids are extremely cool bands that make sci-fi-themed retro-flavored synth rock. And although they are different in many ways, the chances are high that if you like one you will also enjoy the other. So consider this a chance to discover not one but two awesome bands if you haven't already.

If you enjoyed this write-up, check out my posts about other electronic rock artists:

r/gunship

I can't quit you Gunship

Theyve been fairly quiet recently. Wonder what's coming next and when?