British Whale is the solo alias of the singer/guitarist

Guitarist

A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...

/keyboardist

Keyboardist

A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...

 Justin Hawkins

Justin Hawkins

Justin David Hawkins is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist of The Darkness, alongside his brother, guitarist Dan Hawkins...

.

History

To date British Whale has released two singles

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

. The first, in 2005, was a cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of Sparks

Sparks (band)

Sparks is an American rock and pop band formed in Los Angeles in 1968 by brothers Ron and Russell Mael , initially under the name Halfnelson...

' 1974 UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 hit

Hit record

A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...

, "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us

This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us

"This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" is a song written by Ron Mael of the American pop group Sparks. It is the opening track on their 1974 album Kimono My House, and was the lead single from the album, reaching number two in the UK singles chart....

". British Whale's version reached #6 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. The single featured an original B-side

A-side and B-side

A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

, called "America".

In May 2006, British Whale released a second single, an unofficial World Cup

FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

 anthem entitled "England

England (song)

"England" is a song written by Justin Hawkins from The Darkness & Chas Bayfield and released by him under the name British Whale and used as the unofficial World Cup single for the England National Team in 2006...

" on download only. It features a chorus

Refrain

A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...

 of 'England's to the tune of the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 national anthem

National anthem

A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...

 as well as lyrical

Lyrics

Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...

 references to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 Prime Minister

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...

's wartime speeches. Some saw this deliberate mentioning of the war to be controversial. Hawkins told The Sun

The Sun (newspaper)

The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...

:

"The whole point of an England World Cup song is to assert our national identity and talk about the achievements of a great nation.

Why can't we commemorate all those men who gave their lives in the name of freedom in the war? And, of course, in this case — to bash The Hun? It’s a national sport."

Plans were afoot to release an album in 2006, with working titles including Pretentious, Moi? or Wurst Case Scenario. Hawkins later revealed in an interview with MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 Germany that he intended to call the album Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory. It has yet to be released.

Peripheral project

In 2006 The Darkness released a DVD single, "Girlfriend" (Atlantic Records serial number 5051011 421822 DARK06DVD), which included three audio-only bonus tracks. Amongst these was "Girlfriend" (British Whale remix), which was subsequently made available as a downloadable single. However, a number of the websites offering the download had it confused with "Freelance Hellraiser Screaming" (J Hawkins remix).

Singles

• "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
  This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us
  "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" is a song written by Ron Mael of the American pop group Sparks. It is the opening track on their 1974 album Kimono My House, and was the lead single from the album, reaching number two in the UK singles chart....
  
  " #6 UK
  UK Singles Chart
  The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
  
   (2005)
• "England
  England (song)
  "England" is a song written by Justin Hawkins from The Darkness & Chas Bayfield and released by him under the name British Whale and used as the unofficial World Cup single for the England National Team in 2006...
  
  " (2006) (Download only; did not chart in the UK)

External links

• FlamingWhopper.com, UK based fan site for The Darkness, Stone Gods, Hot Leg and British Whale (established 2005)
• JustinHawkinsRocks.co.uk, UK based fan site for Justin Hawkins and Hot Leg (established 2008)