blinded by light

LYs release live video of ‘Blinded By Light’

We’ve just published the first live video from our recent headline show at Westminster Reference Library, featuring brand-new LYs track ‘Blinded By Light‘.

We premiered a number of new songs at Westminster on Saturday 9 February, among them ‘Embrace Of Many‘, ‘Wait Forever‘ and ‘One Way Or The Other‘. Along with ‘Blinded By Light’ and a clutch of other tunes we’re working on in rehearsal, these songs will help to make up the next Lightyears album.

The album will be released in conjunction with my Lightyears novel, Mockstars. The novel is loosely based on my Lightyears tour diaries, and tells the story of our first ever international tour to Meribel, in the French Alps. Check out a video extract here… and watch this space for updates!

Click here to view our photo gallery from Westminster Library.

Click here to read my write-up of the gig.

Watch the video below:

Exclusive preview of new Lightyears track

As you know (because I don’t stop banging on about it), I’ve just written a book.

The book is called Mockstars and it’s The Lightyears’ origin story – a true(ish) tale of debts, mugs and rock ‘n’ roll. We have a vision for this book, and it’s never been done before… on top of publishing the novel, The Lightyears will be releasing an album of original material that accompanies the story and deals with many of the same themes (incidentally, plenty of novels have soundtracks – that’s old news – but as far as I know no band has simultaneously released its own novel and album… please correct me if I’m wrong though!).

I wrote a great deal of material for the album at the same time as writing the book. At the risk of sounding like a ponce (and possibly inadvertently using the word ‘visceral’), this was a really exciting and inspiring process for me. Sometimes I’d get writer’s block and think ‘Hmm – I need some other piece of art to inspire me’… and lo and behold, I’d trundle off and listen to one of my new demos, and my writing flow would pick right up again.

We’re currently in the process of taking the songs I’ve written, combining them with material from the rest of the band, working through it all and shaping it into an album. Mockstars makes direct references to these songs, songs which will soon, and rather excitingly, actually exist ‘in the real world’. It’s a multimedia jamboree.

The very first track I wrote for the book was called ‘Blinded By Light’. It’s a song that deals with the major themes in the novel – friendship, growing up, dealing with change and pursuing your dreams in the face of adversity. We’re still working on our full-band version of ‘Blinded By Light’ but, as a special treat (it is Friday after all), I thought I’d publish a wee clip from my original bedroom demo. This doesn’t feature any of the other Lightyears (oh, for a world where that were always the case) but you’ll get the general idea.

Enjoy… and do let us know what you think in the comments section. Thanks guys!

ps. if you haven’t had a chance yet, check out the video readings from Mockstars at Project Lightyears. I’ve embedded one below for anyone who’s feeling a bit lazy.