Captain are an alternative rock band from London, England, who formed in early 2005. Influenced by groups such as The Smashing Pumpkins, The Beach Boys, My Bloody Valentine and The Cure, their music has also been compared by critics to Prefab Sprout, The Beautiful South and Deacon Blue. The band initially signed a recording contract with At Large Records and released their debut single "Frontline" with that label in December 2005. Soon after, the group signed to EMI Records and achieved minor success in 2006 with their singles "Broke" and "Glorious", which reached numbers 34 and 30 on the UK Singles Chart respectively. Their Trevor Horn produced debut album, This Is Hazelville, was released on 14 August 2006 and reached number 23 on the UK Albums Chart.

On 5 May 2008, Captain released "Keep an Open Mind" as the lead single from their forthcoming second album. The second album, Distraction, had tentative release date of July 2008. But before it could be released, the band were dropped by EMI (along with many other acts on its roster) as a part of a restructuring plan, when the private equity firm Terrafirma purchased EMI.