josh ward

A call to arms… help us hit the charts!

Today, Monday 11 January, marks the date of our first major label release – the song “Come With Me”, which we wrote for the Josh’s Band project. We’re hoping that, with your help, we’ll be able to reach the UK Top 40 Chart on Sunday.

You guys have supported us loyally for years now and we truly appreciate it – a band without a fanbase is, after all, just four blokes sat in a room eating crisps and arguing about whether or not The White Album has too many tracks on it. Both the recording and the video for “Come With Me” actually feature a number of you and so, in a sense, it’s as much your record as it is ours. Now is the time for rallying together and seeing if we can make a dent on the charts!

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE SINGLE ON iTUNES.

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE SINGLE ON AMAZON.

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE SINGLE ON PLAY.COM.

*It’s important you buy your copy by midnight on Saturday so as to maximise our chances of chart success!*

Last November, Josh’s Band toured five cities – Birmingham, Bristol, London, Edinburgh and Manchester – and the gigs were caught on camera and turned into a series of TV adverts and a music video featuring all 1,107 people who played and/or sang on the track. The shows were unlike anything we’ve ever been a part of and we’d like to thank everybody who came down for helping to create a truly unique musical experience.

You can watch the music video by clicking here or, alternatively, you can catch it on Channel 4 this Friday 15 January between 9pm and 10pm (during Celebrity Big Brother – exact timing T.B.A.).

Lightyears to appear on Channel 4

The music video for “Come With Me” – the song we wrote for the Josh’s Band project – is being screened in full this Friday evening on Channel 4 between 9pm and 10pm (during Celebrity Big Brother) to an estimated audience of 3 million people.

Watch this space for full details of timing later in the week.

If we manage to sell enough copies of the single (which is out NOW on Universal Records) we  may be able to make the UK Top 40 Chart on Sunday. It’s important that you buy your copy by midnight on Saturday to maximise first-week sales and optimise our chances of chart success!

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE SINGLE ON iTUNES.

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE SINGLE ON AMAZON.

CLICK HERE TO BUY THE SINGLE ON PLAY.COM.

Thanks, as always, for your support!

ps. You can watch the music video for “Come With Me” by clicking here.

Help us hit the Top 40

The single “Come With Me”, which we wrote at the end of last year for the Josh’s Band ad campaign, is being released on Universal Records on Monday 11 January.

If we sell enough copies, we might even make it into the Top 40. Watch this space for details of how to download your copy!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO.

The track was produced by Bacon & Quarmby (David Bowie, Ian Brown, Finley Quaye) at London’s Rak Studios and, alongside Josh’s Band – which features Chris and George from The Lightyears – includes many of the performers who joined us on the tour, not least our very own Tony Lightyear and his awesome percussion collective Drum Club.

The music video for “Come With Me” is out on Monday 4 January in anticipation of the single release. Keep an eye on this website for updates…

Kate Nash & Her Famous Rabbit

Last night we went back into the studio to finish the lead vocal track for “Come With Me“, the song we wrote for the new T-Mobile ad campaign. The record is being produced by Jonathan Quarmby, whose past work includes Finley Quaye’s seminal album Maverick A Strike.

George and I both lent our voices to the lead vocal track along with an awesome, honey-voiced female singer called Obenwa. The track is being mixed today and, in theory, the finished product will be sent to the record label tomorrow – which is, conveniently, George’s birthday! We’ve been invited back into the studio tomorrow morning to listen to the final product and have our reactions documented by the film crew… and then I suspect we shall head off to the pub for a celebratory pint or two.

Josh was full of beans when we arrived yesterday evening having spent the afternoon taking tea with Kate Nash in the studio green room. She was recording in one of Rak’s other studios and was accompanied – as, apparently, she always is – by her pet rabbit Fluffy.

That’s nothing though. When I’m famous I’m going to cart a basking shark around with me in a skip.

Just you try and stop me.

LYs starring in two TV ads – out now!

Over the past month, The Lightyears have been touring around the country with Josh’s Band as part of a series of enormous jamming sessions in five of the UK’s major cities. These gigs have been turned into two T-Mobile adverts, both of which are now airing on primetime television.

After writing the song “Come With Me” – which became the soundtrack for the campaign – Chris and George joined Josh’s core band on keytar and vocals respectively. The line-up was completed by drummer Mike Glozier who, by complete coincidence, is an old friend of Chris and George’s from their schooldays.

“Come With Me” will be released on Universal Records in January. Watch this space for news…

The Lightyears on your telly-box

So… the inaugural nationwide tour of Josh’s Band is now over. We’ve been to Birmingham, Bristol, London, Edinburgh and Manchester and played to (and with!) over 1,100 people. It’s been an incredible experience to be part of Josh’s core band and the general consensus is that all of this is merely the beginning.

Work on the track we wrote for the campaign – “Come With Me” – continues apace and it is due for release on a major record label in January. The final recording will feature hundreds of musicians and singers from all over the UK. The first advert (covering the dates in Birmingham, London and Bristol) has already hit your TV screens. The follow-up (covering Edinburgh and Manchester) is out next week.

Thanks to Josh for having us onboard and to all the fantastic performers who joined us on the tour. Josh will be making a guest appearance at our gig tomorrow night (Friday 4 December) at The Troubadour in Earls Court and it is highly likely that a mass singalong will ensue… hope to see you there!

Lightyears Christmas party – this Friday night

Your last chance to see The Lightyears live in 2009 is this Friday night (4 December) at The Troubadour in Earls Court. We’re throwing an enormous, super-shiny Christmas party to usher in the festive season and promise to lavish all kinds of delectable rock treats upon everybody present.

Tickets are selling fast so it’s advisable to buy in advance by clicking here or turn up early! Doors are at 8pm; music starts 8.15pm; LYs onstage 9.45pm. Door tickets are £6 before 9pm and £7 afterwards.

Support comes from Iain Hornal’s new act Young Squires, Neil Thomas and Shaun Russell.

We’ve also invited a few special guests down, including Josh Ward, star of the T-Mobile superband adverts. Josh will be joining us for a performance of “Come With Me“, the song we wrote for the campaign. The track is due for release on a major record label in January. Not to be missed!

Look out Manchester – Josh’s Band is a-coming…

Since I last blogged, Josh’s Band has jammed in Bristol, London and Edinburgh. We’ve played with pipers, melodised with melodica players and harmonised with hurdy-gurdyists (don’t be fooled by the elaborate alliteration – all of this is true). Plus our mates are starting to get in contact to say they’ve heard us on the radio tonight – so the word is spreading…

It’s been an awesome journey so far and is set to continue in style with an enormous gig at Manchester’s Trafford Centre this Saturday. If you live in the area, make sure you get your butt down there. You won’t regret it.

And, if you’ve managed to miss out on this poptastic jamboree entirely, fear not – you can come and see The Lightyears headline The Troubadour in Earls Court next Friday 4 December. Josh will be making a special guest appearance and no doubt an impromptu singalong will ensue…

Historically we tend to sell this venue out so it’s advisable to buy in advance (click here to purchase tickets) or arrive early. Doors at 8pm; first act 8.15pm; LYs onstage 9.45pm. Visit the GIGS page for full details. See you there!

Thank you Wembley… and hello Bristol!

Last night we played to 46,000 people at Wembley Stadium and who should turn up to join the crowd but that bloke off the telly, Josh Ward!

Seriously though, we had an awesome night and it was great to see so many LYs fans there. We took the opportunity to do a little onstage camera piece with Josh ahead of our trip to Bristol tonight – the next stop on Josh’s Band’s T-Mobile tour.

I studied at Bristol University so I have a special affection for the place… no idea where in the city we’re going to be or what we’re going to be doing but, if Birmingham was anything to go by, it should be cracking! Check out this quick clip from the first gig of the tour in Brum.

Expect more of the same from the rest of the tour dates – Bristol, London, Edinburgh and Manchester. Visit Josh’s Myspace page for details.

Click here to learn the lyrics and chords for our tour song, “Come With Me” (written by Chris and George Lightyear especially for Josh’s Band). Click here for the video tutorial.

Josh’s Band hits the road…

Well… Birmingham was awesome. Nobody knew quite what to expect from the first date on Josh’s Band’s tour but what we got was a mass singalong in the Bullring, just enough decent weather to perform outside and about 200 screaming fans! Josh, it seems, has become a minor celebrity overnight and his mere presence now sparks mass hysteria amongst his devoted groupies.

Our song, “Come With Me“, went down really well and a large proportion of the crowd had done their homework and learnt the lyrics, tune and chords (check out the video tutorial here). People were turning up with guitars, miniature drumkits, saxophones, kazoos and ukuleles and, despite the rain, British spirit endured and everybody had a whale of a time.

Next stop, Bristol – this Thursday 19 November. Details coming soon!

Now, if you’ll forgive me, I must return to Lightyears duties and go and prepare for tomorrow’s gig. Which is at Wembley Stadium. In front of 60,000 people.

Gulp.

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