cape town
News from The Cape…
4 February 2009
Here’s something I’ve discovered about journalists in South Africa – they’re extremely diligent. I’ve been interviewed by a few local writers over the past couple of days and every one of them had done extensive homework on the band. In fact, the guy I spoke to yesterday knew things about us I’d forgotten myself!
On the subject of press attention, iAfrica – the country’s biggest web portal with 5.7 million hits per month – has just run an article on us on the front page of their music section.
Read iAfrica’s article on the band by clicking here.
Tony made it over here against all the odds. With Heathrow at a virtual standstill, 800 flights were cancelled on Monday and only six left the runway. His plane was the sixth. Extraordinary. As a result, he joined us on the beach this morning for a game of Touch Rugby and you couldn’t wipe the grin off his face if you tried.
We’ve got a gig tonight at the Speedway 105 Cafe. This has been attracting a fair bit of press attention and will hopefully get us some reviews over the coming days. We’ve got a feature coming up in The Cape Argus on Saturday, which is great news as it’s one of Cape Town’s most widely-read daily papers.
Oh, and as for you guys back home, building snowmen and jingling all the way, I have to say that in a way it’s a shame we’ve missed London’s biggest snowstorm in 20 years. Thing is though, we’ve become so accustomed to the sun that I think the extremity of the climate would probably have killed us. The peculiar Snow-Vs-Sand dichotomy that separates our hometown from our current location was underlined for me yesterday when we passed a lamp-post in the street bearing foreign headlines. The sign, framed by a stunning blue sky and a beaming South African sun, bore three simple words: “SNOW SHUTS LONDON”.
Funny old world, eh?!
Chris Lightyear
Lightyears hit Cape Town!
30 January 2009
The day is finally here – we’ve landed in South Africa! We arrived in Cape Town only a few hours ago but I’m already hooked on the place. It’s just incredible here – stunning weather, breathtaking surroundings and really welcoming people. Danny and I are still a bit groggy from the flight having engaged in something of an alcoholic face-off last night (Danny on JD & Coke, me on London Pride) in front of a film called “The Rocker” which, well, let’s just say you needn’t bother watching. Entertaining enough when you’re 50,000 feet in the air and a bit sozzled but otherwise missable.
Anyhow, we reached SA early this morning and the tour started on a high when we picked up our hire car. We’d booked a bottom-of-the-range 4-seater “Chico” (the kind of car driven around Slough town centre by boys in big trousers who think they’re P Diddy) because it was almost frighteningly cheap – but when we rocked up at Hertz this morning, the guy told us he was out of Chicos and instead was giving us the keys to a brand-new 8-seater Volkswagen Transporter! Our ride had OFFICIALLY been pimped!
Twenty minutes later and we were cruising down the freeway in the blazing sunshine, our new song “Johannesburg” playing on the van’s proper phat sound system. I realise it’s a little conceited to listen to one’s own music but I think in this case we had an excuse!
Since we arrived we’ve already been booked for a couple more gigs over the coming days and have a meeting this evening with some media dudes who are gonna help us get some press whilst we’re here. The tour is well and truly in motion…
For now though, we’re off to the beach!
Chris Lightyear
LYs to play to thousands in Cape Town
28 January 2009
We’ve just got the finer details through about our upcoming gigs in Cape Town, South Africa – and it looks like we’ll be playing to a crowd of thousands!
We’re headlining at the after-parties for the Cape Town Tens Rugby Tournament and the organisers expect 2000+ people to turn up for the festivities.
The events are taking place at Hamilton RFC, South Africa’s oldest rugby club – situated, fittingly, in the shadow of Green Point Stadium, a brand new complex currently being built for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Full details can be found at the Cape Town Tens website.
Oh, and the team at CT Tens are very kindly putting us up in the magnificent Table Bay Hotel, which I’m personally very excited about. Table Bay Hotel is, unsurprisingly, in Table Bay – overlooked by the world-famous Table Mountain. Marvellous.
Lightyears to tour to South Africa
21 January 2009
Get ready for the latest instalment in our grand plan to conquer the world – next week we are leaving British soil for Cape Town, South Africa.
We’ve been booked to headline at the Cape Town Tens Rugby Tournament on 7 and 8 February and we’re mighty excited about it.
Click here to read the Cape Town Tens’ article on the band.
This is our first trip to SA and also represents the fourth continent ticked off our To-Do list – Europe, Asia, North America and Africa down, just South America, Australasia and Antarctica still to go. You can read up on our global adventures thus far by visiting my Tour Diary page.
We’re heading off next Thursday for a few days on the beach before the “work” side of things kicks in, so we’ll be sure to keep in touch with you guys whenever we can with news of our various adventures. Whilst we’re out there promoting our own songs we’ll be throwing some old favourites into the mix too for singalong value and so we’re taking little Johnny Owens along with us to fill in on bass duties. Even Danny Lightyear, our mohican-ed soundman, will be leaving the confines of Watlington, Oxfordshire, and beasting up Cape Town like there’s no tomorrow.
Watch this space for news from SA!
nb. LYs trivia moment – we make reference to a South African friend of ours in the first verse of Emily: “Oh, today I got a man from SA – he’s got a lot to learn and I’ve got plenty to say”. In fact we’ll be hooking up with him in Cape Town. That’s poetry for ya.
