New Media

Only In Philadelphia: 15 July 2010

“British Invasion: UK’s The Lightyears performing in Philly”
15 July 2010
Erica Brooke Fajge, Only In Philadelphia, USA

First, it was the Beatles – then later Oasis and Coldplay. Britain’s latest find, The Lightyears, is coming to Philadelphia this Saturday, July 17th, for a show in University City…

The Lightyears, the “hottest band in London” right now according to the London Times, is coming to Philly this weekend as part of their current American tour. They will play at the new Blockley Pourhouse venue, 38th and Chestnut Street, at 8:30 p.m.

The band won “Best Pop/Rock Act” at the Indy Awards last year. They’ve played sold out stadiums all over Europe, including a crowd of 46,000 at Wembley Stadium; they’ve been compared to Queen, Coldplay, and Keane, have appeared in (as well as writing) a TV ad for T-Mobile and were even the musical guests at Queen Elizabeth’s recent Birthday Ball.

Yet, the band is anxious to make its presence known in the states. Their latest release, “London, England,” co-produced by the renowned Hugh Padgham, who produced Genesis, Paul McCartney, and Sting, just hit the U.S. July 13th. You may have even heard tracks played on 88.5 WXPN and 103.3 WPRB.

And making themselves a household name in America won’t be hard to do, what with the band being made up of three cute guys with English accents, including a heartthrob for a lead singer, George Owens, who has already been inundated with a wealth of female fans…

In addition to the Philly concert, the trio is set to play two shows in New Jersey: Mount Holly on Friday, July 16th at 7 p.m. for an outdoor show and Asbury Park on Sunday, July 18th at 8 p.m.

www.onlyinphiladelphia.com

Dubai. Apparently not just one huge airport.

We are at Dubai airport, waiting for our connecting flight to Gatwick. I appear to have lost the rest of the band. There are rather a lot of people here, most of them sleeping. It is 4am. Technically speaking. Danny has gone to buy a shisha pipe. My eyebrows feel weird. 

I am experiencing that disarmingly euphoric jetlag hangover that you get when you fly long-haul and end up spending a string of lost hours in some distant airport waiting for a connecting flight. I have no idea whether I am still drunk or not. I have also watched too many poorly-executed rom-coms on the plane and I fear that this may have damaged my ability to interact with normal human beings. I know, I know, I only have myself to blame for that. It’s the airline food. The chemicals compromise my sense of taste. 

When we arrived in the Middle East about an hour ago, Tony informed us that he’d just received a text message from our Irish cohorts Fred The Band offering us a last-minute gig in Cork. This Friday. Could it be done? Would it in fact make more sense just to stay here and connect straight to Ireland instead of London? Perhaps not. Mustn’t submit to delirium.  

Incidentally, this is my 8th trip to Dubai and I have never once stepped outside the airport. Perhaps I am missing something. Allegedly there’s a whole city outside. Jury’s still out for me on that one.

The Korean Tour has been a resounding success, notwithstanding the fact that we once again failed to eat any dog whatsoever. Unless that funny-looking sausage on the plane wasn’t in fact veal as the menu claimed. You can never be too sure.

Chris Lightyear

Mixing with the cognoscenti

My music career has taken me to many places I never quite expected to go – South Korea, Thailand, Chalgrove Village Hall. I have to say, though, I never expected it to take me to a Civic Reception hosted by the Mayor Of Peterborough in honour of a newly-promoted football team. I mean, I bet Jagger’s never done that. Nor Richards. Richards is probably too busy falling out of trees or snorting people’s cremated remains to attend Civic Receptions.

That said, the Stones could probably learn a thing or two from playing a gig of this sort. It was pretty unique. We were performing Posh We Are on the balcony as the triumphant Peterborough United squad (fresh from their open-top bus tour of the city) appeared through the doors of the town hall to frenzied journalistic activity and a cavalcade of local dignitaries. Of course, the infamous Barry Fry (Posh’s Director Of Football) was there, and he was absolutely LOVING it. He danced. I mean, he actually boogied. Everyone else maintained an aura of august calm, but Fry didn’t care! He was singing along and waving his scarf like there was no tomorrow. What a legend. We met him afterwards too and he was most complimentary, which was a thrill for Tony who somewhat idolises the man.

We were in the middle of doing our usual thing of maintaining the steely coolness that befits rock stars (not so straightforward when you’re eating finger food at a local council meeting) when we were approached by the Mayor herself. Let me tell you now, this lady is a diamond. She complimented us heartily on our performance and asked us if we were going to carry on with music when we left school. This is not the first time this has happened. Must remember to grow some stubble.

It makes us feel very cool that we’re now mates with some of Posh’s star players, including Golden Boot winner Aaron Maclean and new England reserve keeper Joe Lewis. I know very little about football but there’s no need to let on. Plus I have my own shirt now. I’ve been accepted.

Chris Lightyear

Peterborough is, quite literally, United

At 2pm yesterday we played a gig in a day care centre to a 6ft by 6ft room of very confused-looking toddlers. This was due to a slight mix-up during our Peterborough promotional schools tour and, I have to admit, it was a bit odd. I tried explaining to them after our performance that the new Peterborough United charity single Posh We Are was now available to download from iTunes for only 79p but the blank looks we received in response suggested to me that they hadn’t yet developed into discerning music consumers. Actually, I think most of them were just concentrating on not pooping their pants. 

By contrast, at 2pm this afternoon we played a gig in a football stadium in front of over 6,000 people. None of whom had soiled themselves (presumably). How things can change in 24 hours. 

It’s been quite a week. On Monday we released a charity football single in collaboration with Peterborough United (A.K.A “The Posh”) entitled Posh We Are. Posh We Are is Peterborough’s club anthem and has been around since the early 70s, when it was written and recorded by a couple of local chaps named Brian and Tony. We’ve collaborated with a bunch of fans, some of the star players and the Voyager School choir to re-record the song in celebration of the club’s promotion to League One. All profits are going to sports charity Free Kicks and, since the website we’ve set up to help people download the single has had nearly 4,000 hits since release day, it ought to raise a decent amount (plus it’s reached Number 45 in the iTunes Plus Top 100 Chart).

Since Monday we’ve been touring Peterborough’s schools playing the song. Kids are singing it in playgrounds across the city. Local radio stations are absolutely caning the record – playing it every hour, on the hour. The Peterborough Evening Telegraph has been running articles nearly every day, encouraging people to support their local club in aid of a good cause. Peterborough is, quite literally, united. Oh, and I’ve been given my own Posh football shirt with “Chris Lightyear” written on the back. This is now the coolest thing I own. And I own a keytar.

So, the whole project climaxed today with a performance at London Road Stadium, home of the Posh. The team faced Darlington for the last match of the season and by 3pm a sell-out crowd of 15,000 had passed through the gates. We lavished a high-energy set on our first ever stadium crowd, opening with She’s The One and steamrolling through This House Will Burn, Beat Alive, Banana Republic, Great Balls Of Fire, Sleepless and Emily. We even chucked in a cover of Chelsea Dagger for good measure. I had to improvise the bass-line which, in front of 6,000 people (whilst singing lead vocals), proved to be one of the bolder moves of my career. You know, I’ll be totally honest with you – a big part of me expected to be pelted with rotten pies at some point during the set or, at the very least, inspire some derogatory terrace chants, but we actually went down really well. As Tony says, football fans not coming at you with sawn-off lead piping is in reality a really good sign. If they applaud your performance with their hands above their head, as they were by the time we hit our last few songs, it virtually means they’re ready to commit to a lifetime of loving companionship with you and put down a deposit on a romantic holiday bungalow in Newton Abbott. 

Anyhow, the pièce de résistance came after we finished Emily. At this point, as we kicked into the opening bars of Posh We Are, over 100 students from the Voyager piled onto the pitch. Cue a feisty performance of the club anthem supported by a legion of excitable teenagers and the old faithful down at the London Road end (watch the video here). The opposition’s fan were quaking in their boots (shame Peterborough eventually lost 2-0).

Back in the bowels of the stadium, as we were putting our instruments away, we were approached by the Chief Executive of the club.

“Great job boys – how do you fancy coming back to play for the Manchester United pre-season friendly in August?”

I think we fancy that very much, thank you.

Chris Lightyear 

“Good evening Leighton Buzzard!”

Tuesday 25 March, 10.15am (Voyager Recording Studio, Peterborough):
Here’s the news – we’re recording an album. We’re doing it in a state-of-the-art recording studio in a brand-new specialist arts school in Peterborough called The Voyager. It’s looking like it’ll feature 12 or 13 tracks and we have a challengingly short amount of time to record them in. George and I have set up and are ready to go, but Tony is looking a little concerned, as if there’s maybe something missing that could delay the beginning of the session. I think he must be trying to work out where some important lead or microphone is.

“Right,” he says, “I’m gonna go and investigate what Moira’s packed us for lunch.”

It is, let me reiterate, 10.15 in the morning.

******

By the end of the day we have successfully mic-ed up and sound-checked the drums, bass and guitar and have completed a take of one song – In Black Eyes. Not a bad start. The bass amp we have hired is an Ampeg 4×10 which, in case the technical term means nothing to you, is ruddy loud. Unfortunately the ceilings in this place are like the ceilings in most schools – made of plasterboard tiles – and the amp is making the entire room shake. Luckily, Tony, who has a rich history of dealing with specialized acoustic conundrums of this sort, has fixed the problem via the auspicious employment of a hard-wearing, custom-built noise-guard.

In other words, he’s stuck a cardboard box on top of it.

Sometimes it’s extraordinary what you can do with an old box and some sticky-back plastic. Just ask any Blue Peter presenter.

Saturday 29 March, 9.30am (Voyager Recording Studio, Peterborough):
It’s Day Five in the studio. For all 13 songs we have completed the drum track, bass track and a guide guitar track. Quite handsome for less than a week’s work. Just as well, really, since we now have to pack up all the gear and get to a headline show at The Wheatsheaf in Leighton Buzzard.

For those of you who haven’t been to Leighton Buzzard, well… it’s in Leighton Buzzard. It’s a funny little place but, to our surprise, it boasts an absolutely kicking live music venue. The Wheatsheaf is actually pretty well-known on the gig circuit and attracts some big names – Southside Jonny headlined here last week, for example (Tony points out that the last time he saw Southside Jonny was at Wembley Stadium, which is a little larger than The Wheatie but pretty much on a par reputation-wise, I’d say. Plus it’s much quicker getting a pint here).

We play a rocking show to a very appreciative audience, and it’s a great opportunity for us to air some of the material from the new album that we don’t often play live, such as I’m Not. After our encore we get chatting to some of the regulars and there seems to be a general consensus that they’d like us back, which is pretty cool.

Most importantly, I can tick off another lifelong rock and roll ambition from my list; namely, uttering those immortal words “Good EVENING Leighton Buzzard!”. Bruce Springsteen eat your heart out.

Chris Lightyear

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