Always stay one step of Coldplay…

When it comes to Coldplay and The Lightyears, it turns out that dodgy early band names (us: “4ever”; them: “Pectoralz”), a piano-playing Chris and a hardline policy of firing any members who use hard drugs aren’t the only things we have in common.

Yesterday it was announced on MTV that the world-conquering four-piece will be releasing a comic book series to accompany their recent album Mylo Xyloto. The story will be based on the eponymous, Manga-inspired character that the band created ahead of releasing the album last year, and follows the young warrior Mylo as he fights on the front line of a war in the mysterious world of Silencia.

Thing is, chaps-out-of-Coldplay, I don’t want to start one of those Detroit rap-battle feuds by slinging mud at you (imagine that: “My degree’s better than yours, Buckland” / “Pipe down Russell, you can’t even pull off a basic home-made hummus” etc), but we nailed the comic thing years back. Anyone who’s been following us for a while will remember The Lightyears Comic Strip, a classic three-box affair in which we went all Charlie Brown Peanuts on your asses. As a special treat, here’s a wee reminder of some of our cartoon adventures:

With a comic strip in the bag, it was only inevitable that at some point we would go the whole hog and write a novel. I’m working on getting the thing published as we speak; in the meantime, check out my brand-new readings at www.ProjectLightyears.com.

Lightyears nominated for Telegraph arts award

Our 2012 Olympic project – which last week saw us performing our specially-commissioned anthem “There With You” at Peterborough’s Olympic Torch Relay concert with 600 singers and drummers – has been nominated for the Peterborough Evening Telegraph Education Awards.

Spearheaded by Moira Green, Vice Principal at Peterborough’s Voyager Academy, the project began last October when George and I spent three days holed up in his Yorkshire studio working on a track that would be suitable for a huge choir and an epic orchestral arrangement. Nine months later, joined by Tony and his army of drummers and ably assisted by orchestrator, arranger and saxophonist extraordinaire Simon Allen, we played a trilogy of Olympic concerts in Peterborough and helped to herald the arrival of the Torch in the city. Last night we learned we had received a nomination from the Evening Telegraph in the Arts category of their annual Education Awards.

Click here to read my blog on the concert experience.

Click here for a video of the second performance, shot for the BBC outside Peterborough Cathedral.

The ceremony takes place next Wednesday 18 July at the Key Theatre in Peterborough. If we were to win our category, it would earn us a place in the National Education Awards… so we’ll let you know how we get on!

All Killer, No Filler

I’ve got a bit of a man-crush on Brandon Flowers. He’s so rugged, and he plays the keyboards. Which is a pretty rare combination.

The Killers are making a comeback this year with a new album called “Battle Born“, and today sees the official premiere of opening single Runaways (you can have a sneaky listen here on Gigwise.com – the track’s already been leaked). What I love about this band is their strong sense of place, and identity. This song, like most of their stuff, just shouts Las Vegas.

In The Lightyears we’ve been talking a lot about sense of place in relation to our new album. In my head I want it to conjure up the image of England’s rolling countryside, because that’s where we grew up. So I guess if So Solid Crew are ‘urban’, you might call us ‘rural’. Or ‘pastoral’. Pastoral piano pop. Catchy, huh?

Incidentally, while we’re talking about The Killers, I’d like to wager that we’re the only band in the world to have played ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ in South Korea and sung ‘I’m in Seoul but I’m not a soldier’. I know – it really is clever, isn’t it? Top-draw political satire, considering our extreme proximity to Kim Jong-il at the time. Read more in my 2008 Korean tour diary.

Sarcasm is the lowest form of twit

Razor-tongued folk balladeer Frank Turner has raised the ire of Nicki Minaj‘s fanbase by openly criticising her on Twitter for selfish and idiotic behaviour backstage at T In The Park. Apparently, after turning up late, she demonstrated a complete lack of respect for the tech crew and then crashed onto stage in a huff only to mime the entire thing anyway.

Franky T is one of my favourite songwriters so he’d have my support anyway, but good on him for taking a stand (you can read Frank’s personal blog about the incident by clicking here). There’s no place for divas in music anymore, it’s not the 80s.

Anyway, if you’re looking for a source of endless amusement, carry out a Twitter search for @fthc and have a little sift through the backlash from Minaj’s army of seething, hormonal followers. Here are some highlights:

Harry O’Toole
@NICKIMINAJ fans are the best and there is so many shes more known better singer than @fthc

Romandelux
@fthc BITCH stfu I kno my ARTIST Nicki wasnt disrespectful until yall showed yall asses now f*ck out my mentions TRICK

And my personal favourite…

TimbabweSyed
@fthc F*K U U HAS NO TALENT NICKI HAS ALL TALENT U CANT RITE YOUR A ASSDICK

Now then. To describe these Tweeters as semi-literate would, to be frank (no pun intended), be a little insulting to the semi-literate. At least the semi-literate are halfway there. Romandelux, on the other hand (by the way, what is that – posh Italian loo-roll?), wouldn’t know what a sentence was if it punched him in the face, and there’s so much irony in the accusation ‘U CANT RITE’ that I think I might actually pass out.

Oh, and Ms Minaj, if you happen to be reading, please relinquish some of The Talent. It’s not fair to hoard all of it. The Wanted are practically starving over here.

But anyhow, all that nonsense aside… it’s amazing isn’t it, Twitter? It has this unique light-the-blue-touch-paper quality to it that’s strangely irresistible. You can cause chaos with just a few casual words slung from your smartphone, and this got me thinking – if I was going to incite Twitter riot, how would I do it? Here are some ideas.

1. @beyonce Actually Miss Knowles, I am ready for your jelly. Because I BLOODY LOVE jelly.
2. @kelis Your milkshake brought me and several other boys to the yard and, when we got there, there was not only no milkshake but we were stuck in a yard. #falseadvertising
3. @tinietempah Apparently you’ve got so many clothes that you keep them at your aunt’s house. Don’t get me wrong, I’m impressed, but I really don’t think you’ve thought this through. #underpantsemergency

I’d never really send any of them, of course. I’m far too nice. #actuallyscared

Archive of tour photos now online

We’ve just posted a comprehensive archive of our tour photos on The Lightyears’ Facebook page, stretching all the way back to 1996 and covering tours to the USA, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa, Istanbul and more…

Click here to visit the archive and venture into the mysterious and terrifying world of The Lightyears On Tour. Yes, that’s right – mysterious and terrifying. If you can call photos of me gawping with my thumbs up and Danny draping himself across parked cars mysterious and terrifying.

Which I think you can.

Feel free to leave disparaging comments, or perhaps the occasional ‘Like’ for the ones that take your fancy.

And if your day is still left wanting for entertainment, mosey on over to Project Lightyears and help us reach our next target – just 2,000 more views will unlock your free copy of our live acoustic cover of David Guetta’s Titanium.

That’s our bit done – now bring on the sport…

Yesterday afternoon I arrived back in London after our trilogy of Olympic Torch Relay concerts, exceptionally tired but incredibly proud of what everyone has achieved over the last few days.

Tuesday evening kicked off with a rendition of our Olypmic anthem “There With You” to a crowd of thousands on Peterborough Embankment (see photo on the right). We then dashed around to Peterborough Cathedral to perform for the BBC cameras while the torch itself passed by (check out a video by clicking here). Finally, we dragged ourselves out of bed at 5am yesterday to once again serenade the Olympic Torch from the Town Square, and I got a chance to chat live with DJ Paul Stainton from BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (click here and scroll through to 25mins 30secs to listen).

All in all, an incredible three days. And certainly the largest unicorn count of any gigs we’ve ever played. Thanks to the many hundreds of children and adults who spent months learning and practising the piece, and then sung their hearts out time after time. You were awesome.

Chris Lightyear

ps. The only slight dampener – other than the rain of course – was that the BBC, despite sending cameras down specifically to film us, decided against screening the performances in the end (apologies to anyone who sat in front of the telly waiting for us!) and word is we were bumped from the One Show by footage of a lost cat in a church. I was a little disappointed about this at first but, on reflection, TV companies do have to make sure they point the media spotlight on the stuff that matters. I mean, how often do the great British public get a chance to look at cats? Exactly – almost never. It’s not like you can just ‘load up YouTube’ and expect cats at the touch of a button.

The calm before the storm

We’ve got a few hours off before the soundcheck for our Olympic Torch concert, so we’ve come to Wetherspoon’s. Which is exactly what Bono did before Live Aid.

Danny is eating a massive breakfast. Everyone else in here is an alcoholic.

Anyway, here’s the latest. We’re performing ‘There With You’, our olympic song, on Peterborough Embankment at 5.35pm with an army of singers and drummers from across the city. We’ll then be hotfooting it to the cathedral, where we’ll be performing it again for the BBC cameras. As far as I’m aware, this second performance will be going out live on BBC Look East West.

Tomorrow morning, at an hour that’s already making my eyes water, we’ll be playing a stripped-back acoustic version of the song that is apparently also making some kind of appearance on (probably regional) breakfast TV. After the event, I’m hoping some of this footage will be available to view on iPlayer – we’ll keep you posted.

In the meantime, keep an eye on The Lightyears’ Twitter feed for rolling updates, photos and nuggets of devastating wisdom.

Okay then. I’m off to think of something erudite to say to Seb Coe later. So far I’ve come up with “Lordy, lordy. What a day”.

You’re right. That needs work.

Our turn with the Olympic torch…

It’s 7.15am and, I’ll be honest, I’m pretty exhausted. A week of manically preparing Project LYs for launch followed by a gig in Scotland and a frankly dangerous level of partying (on Saturday, before the gig, I ate a whole asparagus and quail’s egg salad to myself and didn’t even pause before knocking back well over a quarter of a glass of champagne) has left me with some kind of non-specific illness and a sleep-overdraft of about 400 hours.

However, no time to sit around in my pants moping because things are about to kick off on the Olympic Games front. Last year we wrote a song for the Peterborough leg of the Olympic Torch Relay and tomorrow we’ll be performing it live on the Peterborough Embankment with 800 singers and drummers from across the city. It’s just been confirmed that Seb Coe will be making an appearance; click here for more details.

As far as I’m currently aware, the performance will be going out live on telly for anyone in the Eastern region, and highlights may appear on the One Show later in the evening. The following morning (Weds 4th) we’re performing a stripped-back version of the song in the town centre and rumour has it this may get coverage on breakfast television. TV scheduling often tends to change at the last minute, of course, so stay on your toes! More to come on that throughout the week. Either way you ought to be able to catch it on iPlayer.

Have a good week folks, and keep an eye on this blog / Facebook / Twitter for updates. Also, don’t forget to visit Project Lightyears to download your free copy of our new version of This House Will Burn.

ps. somewhere in the middle of all this I need to make time to find myself a literary agent. Hmm. Could forego sleep? Either that or invent time travel. Any other suggestions, let me know.

New track unlocked at Project LYs

Thanks to you folks, we’ve now reached over 22,000 views at Project Lightyears – which means the first free gift has been unlocked. Hoorah!

Click here to visit Project LYs and download your free copy of “This House Will Burn”. We first recorded THWB for our 2009 album London, England and it’s been a favourite in our set for a while. This is a previously unreleased, slowed-down acoustic version we recently recorded at the Ritz Studios in Putney.

Whilst you’re there, don’t forget to check out our brand-new cover of Coldplay’s “Paradise” and the trilogy of readings from my upcoming Lightyears novel, Mockstars. If you like ’em, leave us a comment on YouTube or give us a shout-out on Twitter. If you do, I promise good fortune shalt be rained down upon you for evermore, and stuff.

Project Lightyears has arrived…

People of the world… Project Lightyears is upon us.

No, not a NASA space initiative, but a social-media storm aimed at spreading the word of The Lightyears to all corners of this good green Earth.

It’s all go here at LYs HQ. Work is moving on apace on our new album, which we hope to release later this year along with my Lightyears novel, Mockstars. We need your support to make this happen, and that’s what Project Lightyears is about.

Click here to visit the Project LYs mini-site and you’ll find a host of video content including live acoustic performances and brand-new novel readings.

Our message is simple – we’d like you to share these videos with as many people as you can. The more our fanbase grows, the closer we will come to making this release a reality.

Our ultimate aim is to reach 10 million views, and as the counter climbs we’ll be unlocking delicious free downloads for your listening pleasure.

To kick things off, we need just over 500 more views to unlock an unheard acoustic version of “This House Will Burn”. Click here to pay your first visit to Project Lightyears.

Thank you, as ever, for your support.

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