News
LYs offer fans free money! No catch!
19 January 2009
Our new album London, England is now available to buy from our online shop, priced £5 (click here to visit the shop page and buy your copy) – but for those craving the digital option, the album will become available to download from iTunes, Napster, eMusic and various other online outlets in the coming weeks. In the meantime, outside of www.TheLightyears.com the album will be available exclusively from independent download store and social networking site Amie Street.
If you’re not already an account holder at Amie Street, then boy do we have a treat for you – $5 (that’s £3.38) of free store credit, no questions asked, for Lightyears fans (courtesy of Amie Street and Fanbridge)*.
That’s right, we’re just chucking money around as if it were confetti (which it may as well be in the current economic climate).
Click here to join Amie Street and receive $5 of free store credit.
For all those unfamiliar with the Amie Street system, newly uploaded tracks start free and increase in price as demand for them rises. A little bit like Wall Street. Only without all the back-stabbing and Armani suits.
* don’t worry – you don’t have to be based in the USA to use the site!
New Lightyears album out now
19 January 2009
Morning pop fans! Welcome to Monday 19 January – a day that shall hereafter be remembered for unleashing the furious might of our new album London, England upon the world.
The album is now available from our online shop, priced £5.
For those craving the digital option, London, England will become available to download from iTunes, Napster, eMusic and various other online outlets in the coming weeks. In the meantime, outside of www.TheLightyears.com the album will be available exclusively from independent download store and social networking site Amie Street.
New album reviewed live on Irish radio
16 January 2009
Our new album’s being reviewed today on Phantom 105.2 FM in Dublin.
State Magazine’s Phil Udell will being discussing his thoughts on London, England live in the studio with “Front Row” presenter Sinead Ni Mhordha at around 1pm.
Listeners outside Ireland can tune in at Phantom’s website – click here to visit www.Phantom.ie.
“London, England” photoshoot online in Gallery
15 January 2009
Head on over to the LYs gallery to check out a set of previously unseen photos taken last year in the studio during the recording of our new album London, England.
The photos were taken of the band, by the band, at the Voyager School in Peterborough during March and April 2008. The Voyager boasts a fully kitted out, state-of-the-art recording studio and we became the first professional band to use its facilities since the school’s launch in late 2007.
You’ll notice me doing my best impression of a World War Two fighter pilot and George and Tony struggling in vain to look important and as if they really know what all those little knobs do. Yeah, like anybody even knows that.
n.b. whilst we’re on this subject, if you ever hear Tony talking about “KTL ratios” with regard to their significance in the recording process, don’t be sucked in. It stands for “Knob To Light” ratio and he MADE IT UP to confuse innocent bystanders. The scamp.
New Lightyears album out on 19 January
8 January 2009
Happy New Year folks! We’re very excited to kick off 2009 by announcing the official release of our new album London, England on Monday 19 January.
It’s been a long time in the making and we’re really proud of the results. Here’s the track-listing – a mixture of familiar LYs tracks and a couple of wild-cards…
1. Firefly
2. She’s The One
3. Sleepless
4. Emily
5. This House Will Burn
6. I’m Not
7. Filmstar
8. In Black Eyes
9. That Was Us
10. England
Tracks 3 and 4 were produced by the legendary Hugh Padgham, the man behind Phil Collins‘ “In The Air Tonight” and “Every Breath You Take” by The Police, amongst a ton of other massive hits. A splendid chap and a world-class producer to boot. The rest of the album was recorded in the state-of-the-art studio at Peterborough’s Voyager School, who gifted us a fortnight of free studio time as a thank you for time we spent at the school working as artists-in-residence.
The album will be available via download, or as a good ol’-fashioned compact disc, from The Lightyears’ online shop.
Lightyears complete new album “London, England”
23 December 2008
It’s been nine months since we first set foot in the Voyager Studio to begin work on our second full-length album – and as 2008 draws to a close, we can now announce that the record is finished!
The ten-track album is called London, England and features familiar tracks “This House Will Burn”, “Filmstar” and “She’s The One” along with lesser-heard material such as “England”, “I’m Not” and “Firefly”. We’re also very excited to reveal that it will include the tracks we recorded last year with Hugh Padgham, “Sleepless” and “Emily”. Hugh has worked with countless great artists such as Sting & The Police, Genesis, Paul McCartney and David Bowie, won four Grammys and sold over 50 million records – so we’re incredibly honoured to have his work on our album.
We’re really proud of the record and can’t wait for you guys to hear it. London, England will be released in the New Year – watch this space for updates!
Lightyears at Goring Unplugged – this Friday
10 December 2008
The Lightyears are playing their last gig of 2008 this Friday 12 December at Goring Unplugged, Oxfordshire’s foremost acoustic night.
Also appearing at GU’s Christmas Party are Ben Scriven, Jon Fletcher and up-and-coming singer-songwriter Lisa Winship. Expect festive hi-jinx and an acoustic jamboree of sonic pleasures.
The LYs will be taking pre-orders for their forthcoming album “London, England” as well as selling copies of recent EP “At Midnight”.
Doors at 7.30pm; entry £3. GU has a habit of selling out so turn up early to avoid disappointment! Oh, and remember to bring your own drink – or you could even mull wine on the streets and spread boozy Christmas cheer to the townsfolk.
Lightyears Tour Diary published in national press
10 November 2008
One of Chris Lightyear’s tour diaries has been published in national music magazine State. The article is taken from Chris’ tales of daring and disaster in the Alps in 2006, when The Lightyears undertook a 14-date tour of French ski resort Meribel.
State is Ireland’s foremost free music monthly. The entire November issue can be read online at www.State.ie and you’ll find Chris’ contribution on page 8. Expect harrowing stories of midnight projectile vomiting and scaling blizzard-battered mountains in an ageing Vauxhall Omega.
The Lightyears also achieved front page coverage on the State website this month for their contribution to the 2008 US Presidential Election – the biting, satirical uber-work Obama Republic. Think 2001: A Space Odyssey – but with more plastic wrestlers.
Lightyears publish political manifesto
15 October 2008
Tonight marks the historic final debate between American presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama – but early reports suggest that the eyes of the world’s media may instead be focussed on YouTube, where The Lightyears have just published their own unique response to the US Election Race entitled Obama Republic.
The Lightyears first performed the song at the McKibbin Lofts in Brooklyn during the New York tour in September and audience response was so overwhelming that a video shoot was immediately scheduled upon the band’s return.
The video, which is a re-working of popular LYs track Banana Republic from the album Mission Creep, features a star-studded cast including the two big cahoonas themselves along with trusty sidekicks Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.
Check out the video here and if (like many others before you) you find it moving, poignant and deeply incisive, please leave a comment. Global change starts here, friends. It’s just one mouse-click away…
Blog and pictures now online from American Tour
29 September 2008
Last week The Lightyears returned from a week-long tour in the USA. To find out more about what the boys got up to on the East Coast, visit the BLOG page for the first instalment of Chris Lightyear’s USA Tour Diary. An album of photos has also been published in the LYs Gallery.
The band were based in New York where they performed at the Time Out “Back To School Blowout” in Union Square, at Pianos on the Lower East Side and at the McKibbin Lofts in Brooklyn. The band also made a trip out to Philadelphia mid-way through to headline at Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
Keep your eyes peeled for more USA content on its way soon, including an LY-TV “New York Special” and a guest blog charting the band’s adventures from an American’s perspective.
Plans are already afoot to return to the United States within the next few months. Watch this space for updates!
