Chibundu Onuzo to join LYs at library

Before we hit the stage at Westminster Reference Library on Saturday 9 February, you’ll be treated to a short reading and musical performance by the awesome Chibundu Onuzo, a 21 year-old Nigerian author and performer.

In 2012 Chibundu became Faber & Faber’s youngest ever female signing, and since then her book ‘The Spider King’s Daughter’ has gone on to widespread critical acclaim, leading to appearances on CNN and the BBC (in fact, if you click here and scroll through to 27:20, you can watch her on last Friday’s episode of The One Show).

We’re delighted to be sharing a bill with Chibundu and look forward to commemorating National Libraries Day with her and, of course, your good selves. Doors are at 7.30, Chibundu at 8 and The Lightyears at 8.30. If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, don’t delay! Follow this link to WeGotTickets.

Chris LY to appear at Brixton Book Jam

As a warm-up for our big gig at Westminster Library on National Libraries Day, I will be appearing on the bill at the next Brixton Book Jam on Monday 4 February, reading from my Lightyears novel Mockstars.

Brixton Book Jam – AKA ‘the Glastonbury of literature’ –  is an eclectic gathering of tremendous and quirky people passionate about books and the written word, this month taking place at the Hootananny pub on Effra Road. I will be joining an esteemed list of writers in a bid to slay you, literally kill you dead, with our potent droplets of verbal anthrax.

Doors are at 7pm; readings begin at 8. ENTRY IS FREE, hoorah! Full details here.

There will be books. But I can’t guarantee jam.

ps. If you can’t make this event, there are still tickets left (but not that many!) for our headline gig at Westminster Reference Library on Saturday 9 February – your chance to hear preview extracts from my Lightyears novel, and the album that accompanies it, for the first time ever in a live setting. Buy your tickets here… it’s going to be off-the-hook (or, at least, as off-the-hook as you can go in a public library… you’re probably still hanging onto the hook but, like, just with your little finger or something. Everyone with me? Good.)

Stop the press – it’s National Libraries Day…

Saturday 9 February is National Libraries Day.

But that’s not all.

It is also the date of our return to the London stage, and coincidentally your first chance to hear live readings from my new Lightyears novel as well as songs from the album that accompanies it.

So if you were looking for a way to celebrate National Libraries Day – which come on, I KNOW YOU ALL WERE – then by George I believe we have it. The Lightyears live at Westminster Reference Library, 9 February from 7.30pm. Music, words, wine and fine company, all wrapped up inside this exciting, offbeat venue right in the heart of London.

Act fast, though – tickets are selling terribly well and there’s only so much space in there (bloody Leo Tolstoy insists on filling up most of the first floor with his frankly enormous books).

Tickets on sale here at the frighteningly reasonable price of £4.50: www.wegottickets.com/thelightyears.

Click here for full gig details.

And for a wee taste of what’s to come, check out this video extract from my LYs novel Mockstars:

New free download at Project Lightyears

Lord be praised*, it’s a miracle – we’ve passed 100,000 views at www.ProjectLightyears.com… which means you lot get a juicy free download all to yourselves.

Thanks to everyone for spreading the word so ferociously since we launched – in return we’d like you, your family and everyone you’ve ever met to have a free copy of our previously unreleased Manhattan version of “Emily”, recorded in New York in a tiny studio while Chinatown buzzed around us.

Visit Project Lightyears and follow the instructions therein to nab your free track.

*The Vatican are yet to recognise this as an official miracle, which is a bit mean.

Lightyears head for the recording studio

We’re hitting the ground running in 2013, and this weekend we’ll be holing ourselves up in a recording studio in North London to lay down preview versions of the some of the songs we’ve been working on for the new album.

To track our progress, keep a close eye on The Lightyears’ Twitter feed for updates.

For a run-down of the songs we’ve got in the bank so far, click here.

…And if you’d like to hear these songs live, make sure you book your ticket for our headline show at Westminster Reference Library on Saturday 9 February.

Finally, for the nostalgic amongst you, follow this link for a list of our favourite moments of 2012.

All the best for 2013, pop fans.

Our Favourite Moments Of 2012

That’s right, people… it’s 2013. Not quite sure how that happened – we appear to be edging ever closer to the date in Back To The Future II, which doesn’t seem at all right, but there you go.

The Lightyears are looking forward to an exciting couple of months. We’re returning to the London stage on Saturday 9 February to headline at Westminster Reference Library, and before then we’ll be hitting the recording studio to lay down preview versions of some of the tracks we’ve been working on for the new album.

We’ll keep you posted on all that but, until then, feel free to avail yourself heartily of The Lightyears Favourite Moments Of 2012…

Chilling backstage with multiple Rogers
In October we larked off to Sweden to perform with Roger Daltrey from The Who and Queen drummer Roger Taylor. We spent most of the time buggering about on bikes and learned that people named Roger are always spiffing. Click here to read my Gothenburg Tour Diary.

Surprising some Cumbrian ramblers
As part of a new band initiative to get back to nature, 2012 saw us popping up in a number of al fresco gig destinations and shooting funny little acoustic videos. Here’s one of us on the banks of Lake Grasmere, shortly after we confused the absolute heck out of some local hiking types:

Nearly starting a fight with The Buzzcocks
In September, while we were on tour in France, one of my legendarily BRILLIANT jokes predictably backfired and I narrowly escaped fisticuffs with a punk legend. Read the story here.

Making acoustic music really quite sexy
Our first move in 2012 was to film and release a series of acoustic videos shot at the awesome Powder Keg Diplomacy in Clapham. These proved almost suspiciously popular in Turkey. Have a gander…

Releasing The Ultimate Lightyears Photo Album
Tired of having to recreate our precious band memories by scribing them into slates like Victorian schoolchildren, this year we decided to compile an archive of our craaaaaaziest international tour photos. Click here to take a look.

Coming perilously close to outshining Bolt at the Games
Back in the heady sporting summer of 2012, we wrote and performed an Olympic Anthem for the city of Peterborough. Here we are performing it with quite literally lots of humans.

Creating lasting world peace with our new app
A couple of months ago we made ourselves tiny enough to fit inside your phone. Apparently professional people call these apps; I call them Mini-Moving-Picture-Boxes. Click here to download your copy.

Queening it up at The Goring Jubilee
Roger Taylor’s all very well, but the shocking truth is that his band nicked their entire identity from this old rocker ALSO CALLED QUEEN. On 3 June we celebrated how many hats she has by playing a big, wet gig in Goring. It was epic.

Eclipsing the internet with Project LYs
In the summer we launched our multimedia micro-site Project Lightyears. The site proved so popular that it immediately broke Google. Don’t worry, there’s a bloke coming round to fix it.

Finishing the book that is fast becoming known as The New New Testament
I’ve been writing a book inspired by the international shenanigans of The Lightyears for some years now, and in 2012 I finished it. The spelling in it is excellent. And if you come to our gig on Saturday 9 February, you can hear me read from it. Here’s an excerpt:

Mercilessly rocking Cape Town
Cape Town welcomed us yet again with open arms at the beginning of the year, and we responded by first eating loads and loads of their delicious meat (not Tony) and then rocking their cocking socks off. Here’s a teeny tiny clip.

Happy New Year folks! And thanks to everyone who supported us in 2012 – it means a lot.

Chris, George, Tony & John
THE LIGHTYEARS