seoul

God bless the internet (and Gangnam Style)

Korean internet sensation PSY has just reached 1 billion views on his YouTube channel.

This is pretty astonishing, especially when you consider that neither One Direction, Nicki Minaj nor Adele have yet reached this milestone. Here you have a man who, until last summer, was known only in his native South Korea – a country hardly renowned for its pop exports – and recorded his global smash hit Gangnam Style as a bit of a joke for inclusion on his sixth studio album.

Gangnam Style is now the second most viewed video IN HISTORY – behind (you guessed it) Justin Bieber’s Baby. In honour of this, Bieber and PSY have now confirmed they will be working together on a single sometime in the future.

How wonderfully, gloriously silly.

This, I believe, is what the internet was invented for. To make ridiculous things like this happen, things that could never have occurred without our new-found global connectivity (not to mention propensity for deifying pointless weirdness on the web).

The Lightyears have played in South Korea a number of times, and we’ve developed a strange fondness for the place. To be honest I can’t remember whether or not we’ve ever been to the Gangnam district upon which the song is based, but a quick Wikipedia search tells me it has both a Kimchi and a Handbag Museum. So there you go. We’ll have to go hang out there if we ever return.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and perfect the horse-riding dance for our next gig.

Click here to see The Lightyears’ South Korean tour photos

ps. Type the letter ‘g’ into Google – you’ll find that the sixth most popular suggestion for any search beginning with this letter is ‘gangnam style’. WOW.

pps. If you’re not familiar with Gangnam Style yet, then I’d suggest you keep it that way, if only because it’ll give you something to talk about at parties when you become the last human alive who hasn’t seen it (probably sometime tomorrow).

All Killer, No Filler

I’ve got a bit of a man-crush on Brandon Flowers. He’s so rugged, and he plays the keyboards. Which is a pretty rare combination.

The Killers are making a comeback this year with a new album called “Battle Born“, and today sees the official premiere of opening single Runaways (you can have a sneaky listen here on Gigwise.com – the track’s already been leaked). What I love about this band is their strong sense of place, and identity. This song, like most of their stuff, just shouts Las Vegas.

In The Lightyears we’ve been talking a lot about sense of place in relation to our new album. In my head I want it to conjure up the image of England’s rolling countryside, because that’s where we grew up. So I guess if So Solid Crew are ‘urban’, you might call us ‘rural’. Or ‘pastoral’. Pastoral piano pop. Catchy, huh?

Incidentally, while we’re talking about The Killers, I’d like to wager that we’re the only band in the world to have played ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’ in South Korea and sung ‘I’m in Seoul but I’m not a soldier’. I know – it really is clever, isn’t it? Top-draw political satire, considering our extreme proximity to Kim Jong-il at the time. Read more in my 2008 Korean tour diary.

Archive of tour photos now online

We’ve just posted a comprehensive archive of our tour photos on The Lightyears’ Facebook page, stretching all the way back to 1996 and covering tours to the USA, South Korea, Thailand, South Africa, Istanbul and more…

Click here to visit the archive and venture into the mysterious and terrifying world of The Lightyears On Tour. Yes, that’s right – mysterious and terrifying. If you can call photos of me gawping with my thumbs up and Danny draping himself across parked cars mysterious and terrifying.

Which I think you can.

Feel free to leave disparaging comments, or perhaps the occasional ‘Like’ for the ones that take your fancy.

And if your day is still left wanting for entertainment, mosey on over to Project Lightyears and help us reach our next target – just 2,000 more views will unlock your free copy of our live acoustic cover of David Guetta’s Titanium.

South Korean tour draws to a close

A few days ago we returned from a tour in Seoul, South Korea, where we were headlining at The Queen’s Birthday Ball – the highlight of the city’s ex-pat social calendar.

This was our sixth year performing at the QBB and, as always, all the stops were pulled out for an evening of fine food, outlandish decor and wild merriment.

2011’s theme was Alice In Wonderland, which very much accounts for why Tony could be found running around Insadong at four o’clock in the morning brandishing an enormous polystyrene mushroom. Actually, having said that, there’s no excuse for behaviour of that sort. But at least now the people of Seoul know why it happened.

Ahoy there matey! It’s those pesky LYs…

On Saturday night we performed for Her Majesty’s Ambassador and six hundred esteemed guests at The Queen’s Birthday Ball in Seoul, South Korea. The theme for the evening was classic 1930s cruise ship glamour and, in honour of this, we performed our set inside an enormous scale model of  a vintage seafaring vessel, which opened up dramatically to reveal us inside.

This is definitely the most unusual stage we’ve played on. I mean, we’ve done some bizarre gigs (that crèche we headlined at in Peterborough springs immediately to mind, along with the cow shed in Belgium) but emerging from inside a cruise-liner bearing the legend “Queen Elizabeth” definitely takes the biscuit.

After the show I had a chat with the lady behind the idea and she explained she’d had many sleepless nights worrying about how the ship would turn out when it appeared on the day. She said that it had ended up being much bigger than she’d anticipated. I replied that she should thank her lucky stars – at least it didn’t come out unexpectedly tiny. They could have had a serious case of Stonehenge on their hands (for reference, see the famous scene in Spinal Tap in which a mix-up over feet and inches results in the dramatic lowering onto the stage of a model of Stonehenge so small that “it was in danger of being crushed by a dwarf”).

This happened to us once. Years ago we got our first big gig at a festival supporting The Levellers. Keen to make the most of the exposure, we had a banner made bearing our name and website address. In our innocence we decided that three-feet long by one-foot wide would be a sufficient size for the job, although when we picked up the banner from the shop and unwrapped it from its little sheath, it turned out to be only slightly larger than a pair of men’s pants. At least if we’d hung pants on the stage this could conceivably have been read as an anarchic gesture.

Note to self: in rock ‘n’ roll, bigger is always better…

Our Top 20 Moments Of 2009

Christmas Time is here again and there’s enormous excitement in the air. There’s an outside chance that Rage Against The Machine will beat the X Factor to Number One on Sunday and the weather-man says that snow’s a-coming. Things literally couldn’t be any better.

We thought we’d add to the general feeling of goodwill and festivity by recounting our favourite and most memorable experiences from the past year. Most of them – whether in London, Cape Town or the USA – involved the support of our fans and we’d like to personally thank everyone who has helped us make 2009 one of our best years yet. You guys rule.

So here, in no particular order, are The Lightyears’ Top 20 Moments Of 2009:

1. Stepping out onstage at Wembley Stadium for the first time in front of 45,000 people

2. Winning over an audience of leather-clad Norwegian bikers at the Speedway Cafe in Cape Town

3. Performing a barbershop medley of British seaside tunes in front of the British Ambassador in Seoul

4. Writing a song for a national ad campaign (“Come With Me” is released on Universal Records in January)

5. Spotting our faces in train stations and on the side of buses

6. Performing for a full-house of fans, friends and family at The Lightyears’ Christmas Party

7. Playing to a crowd of thousands on a hot summer’s evening in Union Square, Manhattan

8. Working with top producers Bacon & Quarmby (David Bowie, Finley Quaye, Sugababes) on the studio release of “Come With Me”

9. Watching South Africa’s foremost FHM model Roxy Louw stage-dive into a crowd of boogying revelers at our Cape Town Tens gig

10. Being invited back to Wembley Stadium

11. Drinking Pina Coladas by the pool at the Table Bay Hotel, Cape Town

12. Seeing ourselves on TV (click here)

13. Touring the country with Josh’s Band

14. Finding out we’ve been immortalised on canvas!

15. Spotting The Lightyears in the New York Post

16. Dressing up as intergalactic space rockstars for a Forbidden Planet tribute gig

17. Selling out our latest album London, England on the US Tour

18. Celebrating the end of the Korean Tour with a Lightyears night on the tiles

19. Appearing on the same bill as Diversity, winners of Britain’s Got Talent

20. Partying with the LYs American Fan Club in Riverton, New Jersey!

The Things We Do For The Queen

When asked to perform an a cappella, barbershop-inspired medley of classic British seaside songs, most indie-rock bands would respond in the following manner: “Are you crazy? Of course not. We are enigmatic, sexual beings. We are totemic idols for the baying masses. We want to be revered the world over for our raw, lithe magnetism. Never would we jeopardise the integrity of our reputation with such foolish and trivial japery.”  

The Lightyears, on the other hand, responded something like this: “YIPPEEEEEE!”

And so it was that, two weeks ago in Seoul, South Korea, we found ourselves performing barbershop versions of “Summer Holiday”, “Beautiful Briny Sea” and “I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside” in front of the British Ambassador and over 500 esteemed guests at The Queen’s Birthday Ball dressed in red and white striped blazers, bow ties and boaters. It was quite a spectacle. Expect it to turn up on YouTube sometime in the coming weeks and possibly threaten our entire future in the fickle arena of rock and roll.

Mind you, Chris Martin once said said that “Rock and roll is doing what you want” – and we certainly wanted to do this. It wasn’t easy, but not even the constant threat of nuclear armageddon could throw us off our course. 

Funnily enough, when we arrived home we discovered that, as is so often his habit, Ben Folds had beaten us to it on this occasion. His recent release, entitled “University A Cappella”, features many of his best-loved songs performed live by college a cappella troupes. Very interesting stuff, especially if you’re already a BF fan. Read about it here. 

And as for us, prancing about in foreign countries dressed up like a cross between Dick Van Dyke and a stick of rock, well, on that matter I have but one thing left to say… Integrity? Schmintegrity.

Sometimes you’ve just got to slap on a candy-striped boater and make like it’s 1924.

Lightyears hit South Korea

We’re heading back East this week for our fourth consecutive year headlining at The Queen’s Birthday Ball in Seoul, South Korea. 

The QBB, which takes place at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Mount Namsan, is one of the foremost nights on Seoul’s social calendar and regularly attracts over 500 guests. Last year the event raised in excess of 160 million KRW (over £80,000) for Korean charities.

As usual we’ll be taking Johnny Lightyear with us to fill in on bass duties, along with our trusty sound-engineer Danny Morriss who’ll be working his magic on the mixing desk.

Click here to read up on our 2008 adventures in South Korea’s capital.

See you when we get back! 

“The Lightyears – back by popular demand…”
THE SEOUL TIMES, SOUTH KOREA 

“The Lightyears are a bloody good band! They are excellent ambassadors for Britain…”
SIR WARWICK MORRIS, HIS MAJESTY’S AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA�

Lightyears invited back to South Korea

Following the news that we’ve been invited back to South Africa next year to headline at the international rugby Tens Tournament in Cape Town, we’ve also been asked out to South Korea this June to perform at The Queen’s Birthday Ball in Seoul. 

The QBB is an annual fund-raising venture that takes place at The Grand Hyatt Hotel and consistently raises huge amounts of money for Korean charities. The theme for the event changes every year, with past themes including the Chelsea Flower Show, Phantom Of The Opera and Harry Potter.   

This will be our fourth consecutive year performing at the QBB and we’re honoured to be invited back. Last year’s trip to Korea figured in my Top 50 Moments Of 2008 so we’re hoping to have an equally successful trip this time round!

Click here to read my Korea 2008 tour diary.

“The Lightyears – back once again by popular demand”
THE SEOUL TIMES, SOUTH KOREA

The Lightyears’ International 5-Star Hotel Breakfast Richter Scale

As you will probably be aware if you have been following our band for a while, food is incredibly important to us. We just got back from a storming tour of Cape Town, South Africa, and the many hours spent anticipating, enjoying and rating the various breakfasts on offer has prompted me to create something which I really should have dealt with a long time ago – The Lightyears’ International 5-Star Hotel Breakfast Richter Scale.

Man cannot live on chord sequences alone and when you’re out on the road it is imperative that you are adequately fed, lest your capacity to rock serious ass is threatened by low blood-sugar levels.

In short, eat your heart out Lonely Planet – this is the intrepid explorer’s real guide to eating abroad. Venues are listed in top five order, with number one representing the crème de la crème of hotel breakfasts:   

5. Somerset Palace, Seoul
The Somerset was our first experience of 5-star hotel breakfast-buffet eating and as a result will always hold a special place in our hearts. It has a simple elegance to it and is the only hotel on this list to offer live TV news during your meal. It opens early, at 6am, which is obviously of no use to us until the morning after the gig, during which we have become infamous for turning up at 6am on the dot, still suited, for a post all-nighter nosh-up before crashing into the jacuzzi and, eventually, bed. Pastries are reasonable, eggs are adequate and the bread-toasting machine is a pleasing little gadget, almost Wallace & Gromit-esque in its inventiveness. Slightly suspicious of the little sausages though. Always gotta wonder about the sausages.

4. The Laguna Beach Resort, Phuket
The Laguna scores points early on for effectively being outdoors. It rates highly on the Yoghurt Counter too for variety of flavours and from what I can remember also serves decent baked beans. Beans are often a problem when one is abroad – some hotels consider themselves too chic to serve baked beans (this is obviously ridiculous) and others go for a sort of posh bean medley containing butter beans, kidney beans, mung beans and the like, which I’m not averse to per se but which if I’m honest only over-complicates a classic breakfast staple. The Laguna also turned a blind eye to us appearing for our morning meal dressed only in matching hotel bath-robes and sunglasses, for which I believe the staff deserve a special commendation. Oh, and where else but in Phuket are you joined for breakfast by a dancing, juggling, harmonica-playing elephant? Mind you, I requested “Love Me Do” and received only a blank look in response. One-trick pony, if you ask me. 

3. The Table Bay Hotel, Cape Town
Like Thailand’s Laguna Resort, the Table Bay boasts the accolade of being one of the “500 Leading Hotels In The World”. However, it inches ahead of it’s Phuketian classmate by the skin of its teeth, thanks to a few high-class cherries on the cake that might surprise even the most discerning traveller. How imaginative, I thought, how recherché, to serve freshly roast duck in hoisin sauce for the opening dish of the day! The sushi was a pleasing touch too, although I couldn’t quite stretch to oysters. It’s one of my many travelling mantras that one should avoid eating anything that closely resembles phlegm for breakfast. Oh, and Michael Jackson, Snoop Doggy Dog, Kanye West and Jack Bauer have all dined here (although I doubt Bauer got much eating done – he was probably too busy uploading government schematics to his PDA and de-wiring suitcase nukes using only his eyelids).

2. British Airways Business Class Cabin, International Airspace
Yes, alright, this is technically not a hotel; however, I feel it warrants its place in the Top Five because we had to sleep in it and nice ladies bought us whatever we asked of them without once ticking us off for being immature and in that sense it mimicked my experience of hotels precisely. Plus I have stayed in hotels with less comfortable beds, believe me, and none of them faced the challenge of being 40,000 feet above the ground and hurtling around at 600mph. The thing about this particular breakfast experience was that, well, the attendants had furnished us with fine champagne before we’d even sniffed a soupçon of the food on offer. And a day that starts with champagne can never, ever be a bad day. What followed was a preposterously sumptuous smorgasbord of delights that included quails’ eggs, salmon roe, truffles and fillet steak. And I got to watch The Big Lebowski whilst I was eating. Everybody left happy. 

1. The Grand Hyatt Hotel, Seoul
And so we have a winner. As a hotel, The Hyatt may not have the flare of the Table Bay or the easy charm of the Laguna, but by George it steals the breakfast crown with flying colours. It has a carvery. It has pastries that will melt your face with desire. It covers every corner of the juice gamet. It boasts a view of the entire city. When we ate there we rubbed shoulders with the Dutch national football team. It has everything – and, most importantly, the Hyatt has Eggman. Eggman stands solemnly by a majestic breakfast hob, awaiting instructions, weaving his yolky magic on request as if it were the easiest thing in the world. He is a mythical figure, very much like Zeus or Agamemnon, except that Zeus couldn’t simultaneously flash-fry five immacuate omelettes whilst also scrambling a cheese, chive, pepper, bacon and egg combo to perfection. He has nothing to do with John Lennon’s eggman, who as far as I know was never employed by the Hyatt hotel chain and in any case can’t speak fifteen languages like Eggman can. He is our saviour. He is Eggman.

And so there you have it. Next time you visit one of these locations on tour you can dispense with your over-priced Rough Guide and instead simply heed my words. For it is impossible to feel sorrow when God bestows upon you a plentiful and resplendent breakfast buffet. 

Munch it down. 

Chris Lightyear

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