LYs to headline at Jamey’s House Of Music

Chiefly in the interest of consuming as many Philly Cheesesteaks as possible while in the States, we have added a Philadelphia date to our 2013 American Tour – Jamey’s House Of Music on Overbrook Avenue, “Philadelphia’s coolest intimate venue”.

Jamey’s looks like a truly unique little place, combining – rather unusually – a ‘living room’ feel with state-of-the-art facilities. Seating just sixty, the House Of Music has been described variously as a “house concert on steroids”, “the ultimate man-cave” and “the music mansion”. This from the venue’s website:

“There is never a so-so evening here. It’s a warm and welcoming place to share in some of the most wonderful eclectic music of every style and genre found anywhere, make new friends, enjoy really good Chinese food (BYO welcome) expertly prepared by hostess and chef, Suyun Reilly, and meet stellar musicians one on one.”

I know – sounds bloody lovely, doesn’t it?! We can’t wait. And if you’re coming, expect an intimate, one-off show mixing novel reading with live music and, more than likely, a few unusual numbers thrown in. Support from the inimitable Jon Clifton.

Our Friday night date at Jamey’s also means that our 2013 American tour has gone from dual-state to tri-state, which while making the whole thing sound rather grander than it actually is does provide increased opportunity for phrases of the “Good evening New JERsey! [or equivalent state]” sort. Which is of course the main reason to go on tour in the first place (other than the sandwiches).

For details of all our USA tour dates, visit the GIGS page. Here’s the basic rundown:

Thursday 15 August: Astoria Park, New York (FREE SHOW!)
Friday 16 August: Jamey’s House Of Music, Philadelphia PA (BUY TICKETS)
Saturday 17 August: Circle Of Friends, Riverton NJ (BUY TICKETS)
Sunday 18 August: Burlington Amphitheatre, Westampton NJ (FREE SHOW!)

Our Top 5 Glastonbury Festival Memories

It’s Glasto week, children, but I’m not going. Boo-hoo.

I couldn’t get tickets, and Mr Eavis’ invitation for The Lightyears to bump the Stones off their headline slot must have got lost in the post, because we’re not playing this year either.

However, to mark the occasion I thought I’d run down my list of The Lightyears’ Top Five Glastonbury Festival Memories. And if you’re going this year, can I recommend the warm cider? It’s ruddy brilliant.

Blagging our first Glasto gig on the festival bandstand

Back in 2005 we were desperate to play the world’s greatest festival, but didn’t have any leads. So we squeezed a busking drum, acoustic guitar and battery-powered keyboard into our luggage and wandered around the site sporadically busking until someone gave us a gig – on the Glastonbury Festival bandstand.

Headlining the Green Fuse Stage after 400 gin and tonics

Soon graduating from the bandstand, we were booked for a Saturday night set on the Green Fuse Stage that started at around half past twelve. Assuming nobody would be there we drank steadily all day, neglecting to realise that since we were coming on after Coldplay finished on the main stage, 150,000 people would be stumbling about pissed, looking for entertainment. We arrived at Green Fuse somewhat worse-for-wear to find the marquee absolutely rammed full of people, which was a bit of a shock. After desperately sobering up, however, we proceeded to deliver a rambunctious set of enthusiastic acoustic ditties that seemed to go down rather well. (Something really gross happened at this gig, but Tony would kill me if I published it on the web. I will happily tell anyone in person though, because it’s really bloody funny.)

Driving overnight from the studio to the stage

In 2007 we drove to Glastonbury at 3am in the morning after finishing in the studio with Sting’s producer, Hugh Padgham. Hugh simply couldn’t understand why anyone would do this, which I think is fair enough. We smashed up the underside of our car on the way down, and had to sleep in the boot that night – only for 45 minutes though, because we didn’t arrive until 7am and were opening the bill at the Small World Stage just a couple of hours later. Whisky was involved.

Watching the sunset to the sound of Leonard Cohen

Glastonbury 2008 was a truly wonderful weekend in which we played two gigs and saw some absolutely belting performances (Crowded House and John Mayer deserve special mention). The weekend ended with the sun setting over the Stone Circle while the strains of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah floated across Worthy Farm. Absolutely magical. Read the full story here.

Disguising a festival hangover live on BBC Radio

We got home from Glasto at around 4.30am on Monday morning, and took immediately to our beds. Just a few hours later I was woken by my phone, and when I answered I was told I was live on BBC Radio Berkshire – who had apparently called to ask how our weekend had been. I was a little dazed, but managed to shift effortlessly into anecdote mode: “Well,” I replied, as enigmatically as possible. “It goes a little something like this…”.

Enjoy the festival, folks!

The LYs & The Riverton Circle Of Friends

The Lightyears grew up in a quiet village on the Oxfordshire/Berkshire border called Goring-on-Thames. The band has spent most of its professional life in London, but I reckon we’ll always think of Goring as ‘where we come from’. That’s right – Eminem has the mean streets of Detroit, Oasis have a violent father on a Manchester council estate, and we have the bake sales and organic butchers of Goring-on-Thames. You do the math.

Back in 2006, on our first American tour, The Lightyears’ tour bus (nb. not actually a bus) rolled into a quiet New Jersey community called Riverton, a small and exceptionally pretty town on the Delaware River with grand old post-colonial houses, an incredible community spirit and just about the warmest and most welcoming people in the world. People actually leave their doors unlocked there. In short, it’s about as close to an American equivalent of Goring as it’s possible to be and, inevitably, soon established itself as The Lightyears’ second home.

When we’re on tour in the States if we’re not in New York we generally base ourselves in Riverton, where like the weary travellers we are we’re always offered a place to stay and a veritable mountain of delicious all-American food. I have eaten corn-on-the-cob there that would make grown men weep – it’s a very special place.

The Riverton Circle Of Friends Concert Series

This year we are very lucky to be headlining at Riverton’s legendary Circle Of Friends concert series on Saturday 17 August. COF was set up in 2009 by music lovers in the area to bring artists direct to the people, and since then they’ve held many amazing events in a number of truly unusual venues including a pump house, the workshop of a yacht builder (the band played with two large unfinished sailboats behind them), a yoga studio and a tattoo parlour (that’s “parlor” to all you American folks). The COF website puts it like this:

Circle of Friends brings musicians and music lovers together, organizing and promoting house concerts to create homey, intimate performances… Every event offers live music, good conversation and a chance to meet new friends.

We can’t wait… it should be a really special show. Tickets are available now (click here to buy yours) in a rather nifty two-tier system – $10 for a basic ticket (which supports us), and $19 for a sustaining ticket (which supports Circle Of Friends as well). This show will be unique on our 2013 tour, with its intimate atmosphere, acoustic set-up and idyllic location, so make sure you don’t miss out. There will definitely be exclusive readings from my novel, and I expect the band will throw in a few curveballs on the set front.

Since 2007, we have had our very own Lightyears plaque in Riverton, erected by the legendary Maureen on her famous front porch to commemorate the time we performed there for the town’s annual Treasure Day. Bowie may have his blue plaque off Regent Street, and Keith Moon his commemoration above the old Marquee Club in Soho, but we’re pretty happy with our wooden tribute on Maureen’s Porch in Riverton, New Jersey. And every now and again it calls us home.

Chris Lightyear

Buy tickets for The Lightyears at Circle Of Friends (Saturday 17 August)

Lightyears to play Willow Festival 2013

We’ve been booked to play one of the Main Stages at Willow Festival 2013 in Peterborough on Sunday 14 July. Visit the GIGS page for full details.

We’ll be onstage at 7.30pm, although exactly which stage that will be is currently a secret. Even from us. We are hoping they don’t stick us behind the Portaloos. That was really quite embarrassing at Download.

Willow is one of the UK’s best indie music festivals, and attracted in excess of 50,000 visitors in 2012. My brother recently asked me if the dwarf from the film ‘Willow’ (respected tiny actor Billy Barty) would be present, and I replied that no, he would not, because he is dead.

The Lightyears actually have a long and illustrious history with the city of Peterborough, having released a charity single with the football club in 2008 and an Olympic anthem with a huge community choir last year. Click on the links for more:

– The Lightyears release a single with Peterborough Football Club
– The Lightyears perform Olympic anthem ‘There With You’ with 600 singers and drummers

We’ll be playing lots of our new material at the Willow Festival gig, and look forward to premiering it on a big festival stage. Our set will definitely include this one, Wait Forever, which in the video below we are performing next to a massive lake in Cumbria. For some reason.

The Lightyears join Spotify

In case you were wondering when we were going to get off our bums and embrace the future of music, it’s finally happened – The Lightyears are now on Spotify.

This means you can stream our 2009 album London, England in full, for free, by clicking here (you can do that here too but it’s nice to have options). This is great because it means you don’t have to bother buying the record off iTunes, which saves you £7.90 and also stops us spending all the money – as we inevitably would – on crack, bitches, automatic weapons and hummus.

If you don’t know what Spotify is, what on earth are you doing on a computer? Sorry, I jest – Spotify is a digital music service you can set up on your computer, smartphone or tablet that gives you access to a truly enormous database of songs. Premium members (£9.99 a month) can enjoy music without the adverts, which I’d personally highly recommend – most of us are premium members in The Lightyears, and it’s absolutely tremendous. We can listen to our own music for near-enough free, which is excellent news because otherwise we’d only go spending all the cash on crack, bitches etc (see above).

London, England features two tracks from million-selling producer Hugh Padgham (Sting, Paul McCartney, Elton John), as well as LYs favourites This House Will Burn and England.

Details of The Lightyears’ American tour 2013

We’re very excited to confirm that we’re returning to our spiritual home this summer and heading stateside for a series of American tour dates in mid-August.

The tour will be kicking off with a headline set at New York’s Astoria Park on Thursday 15 August, and concluding with a show at Burlington Amphitheatre in  New Jersey on Sunday 18th. Both gigs are free to attend. We will also be headlining an intimate acoustic show at Riverton Circle Of Friends on Friday 16th, and tickets are on sale now – click here to buy yours!

You can find full details on the GIGS page.

As many of you will know, we have been playing in America for years now and have always had an absolute blast. The audiences, venues and – most importantly – the FOOD are consistently amazing, and we can’t wait to get stuck in once again (yes, I am talking about sandwiches here). Japes and larks on previous LYs US tours have included blagging our way into British Airways business class, playing two gigs in two continents in under twenty hours, and a cripplingly cheesy foot-long hoagie that rendered George useless for the best part of a day.

For a recap of what to expect on our American tours, check out some of these tasty links:

– Chris Lightyear’s 2010 USA tour diary
– The Lightyears’ USA tour photo album