USA

LYs to be reviewed on Princeton radio

Our latest album “London, England” is being reviewed tomorrow evening (Thursday 6 August) on Princeton radio station WPRB.

Presenter John Tobias saw us play in Burlington, New Jersey, during our last tour and will be playing tracks from the album on his show tomorrow night before putting the CD on daily rotation for the coming weeks. John’s show airs 6pm-8pm EST (11pm-1am BST).

WPRB’s broadcast range stretches from the outskirts of New York through Philadelphia PA and into Wilmington, Delaware. Local listeners can pick it up on 103.3FM whilst fans around the globe can tune in at www.WPRB.com.

VIP concert tickets released for US fans

Lightyears fans in Philadelphia can now purchase VIP tickets for our show at Milkboy Coffee on Saturday 1 August, securing guaranteed front-row seats.

The VIP tickets have just been released for sale on the Milkboy website. They cost $25. Click here to buy yours.

Regular tickets cost $12. Click here to buy yours.

Our Milkboy shows have a habit of selling out so get in there quick!

Milkboy Coffee, situated in Ardmore PA, is one of our favourite venues on the East Coast. Click here to visit the Tour Diary page and read about our previous gigs there…

Buy tickets for LYs at The Troubadour

That’s right folks, we’re back on the London scene! Tickets are now on sale for our homecoming gig at The Troubadour on Friday 24 July. 

We realise we’ve been neglecting you Londoners for a little while now, swanning off to South Africa, USA and the like and generally failing to appear onstage anywhere inside the M25. “Yes,” we’ve heard you all cry, “stadium gigs are all very well and everything but what about your loyal fans in The Big Smoke? Don’t we get a look-in?”.

Well, yes – you certainly do. Many of you will have seen us play at The Troubadour in Earls Court before and so you’ll know it to be a rocking little venue. Historically we tend to sell the place out so be sure to get in early and buy your tickets in advance! 

It’ll be a busy bill on the 24th and we’ve only been allocated a small number of advance tickets – so if you want to be sure of your place in the sun, click here to book your ticket now.

Look forward to seeing all you dudes there…!

LYs to tour East Coast USA

This summer we will be returning to America to play three states – New York City, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

On Thursday 30 July we’ll be playing the “Summer In The Square” series in Union Square, Manhattan. This will be followed on Saturday 1 August by a headline show at Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, and an afternoon performance at Burlington Amphitheatre in New Jersey on Sunday 2 August. For full details visit the GIGS page.

Whilst in the USA we are also hoping to secure a slot on WXPN radio’s legendary “Free At Noon” broadcast at the World Cafe in Philadelphia. This is an incredibly prestigious show – recent performers include Gomez, Damien Rice and Adele and the broadcast goes out to a national audience of several million people. We performed live on Matt Reilly’s WXPN show back in 2007 and so the next step up is to be part of the station’s weekly live concert. Here’s the fun though – YOU can help us secure the slot by visiting the WXPN website and requesting our track “Sleepless” for airplay on the station. Click here to visit the WXPN website and request “Sleepless”! It’ll totally rock our world if you do, we promise.

This will be our fourth visit to the USA and we’re excited to be seeing our US fans again. Click here to read my tour diary from our last Stateside visit.

Rare LYs track used on Philadelphia compilation

An extremely rare live version of Lightyears track “Inside Job” has been included on a compilation album released this week in Philadelphia, USA.

The album is called “Milkboy Live Vol. 1” and comprises eleven live tracks recorded over the last two years at the Milkboy Coffee venue in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Milkboy was one of the first venues we sold out on the East Coast and has featured in every single one of our American tours since. Click here to visit my USA tour diaries and read up on our past adventures at Milkboy.

The release also feaures The Brakes, Jim Boggia and the late Robert Hazard, the Philadelphia legend who wrote Cyndi Lauper’s hit single “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, in one of his last recorded live performances.

The Milkboy website says of The Lightyears involvement in the project: “We were glad to include these British lads. They came to us all the way from England, where they were voted best pop/rock band at the first ever UK INDY Awards in 2007. They have great elements of pop in their quirky style of rock and roll. They come complete with 3-part harmonies and a drummer that stands up to play. What’s great about this tune is that you won’t catch them playing this anywhere else. After selecting the song, we found out from the band that this is an early version of a song that went on to become something completely different. The Lightyears agreed after a listen that the tune was rocking. Thanks to the guys for giving us the exclusive track, ‘Inside Job’.”

In fact, “Inside Job” was a re-working of “We Keep The Beat Alive” from our 2005 album Mission Creep. It eventually became the track “That Was Us”, which features on our 2009 album London, England (click here to visit the LYs shop where both albums are available now priced £4 and £5 respectively).

“Milkboy Live Vol. 1” is available now for $7 (around £4.80) from the Milkboy website – click here to visit the store. You can also purchase it as a download from iTunes.

Guest Blog: How many Lightyears does it take to change a lightbulb?

During the band’s recent American Tour, New Yorker Ashley Stubblefield boldly stepped up to the task of tour-managing the boys through their many adventures. To help exorcise her trauma, she wrote a blog about her experiences…

How many Lightyears does it take to change a lightbulb?
by Ashley Stubblefield

To kick things off, let me just say that I spent several hours cleaning my flat last Sunday. Dusting, sweeping, doing dishes and picking up the piles of laundry from my floor. I seeeeeeeriously shouldn’t have bothered with that, as The Destructo-years probably didn’t even notice what a lovely clean home I let them crash in. It was an honor and a privilege (as well as a bit of a trying task) to host three of the UK’s most charming as they made their way Stateside to divide and conquer. Chaos and hilarity ensued… 

At the airport, I met the (surprisingly awake) band and we hopped in a cab to dash off and play in front of thousands at Union Square. My enquiries into the comfort of their flight were met with excited shouts of “Quail’s eggs!”, “Champagne!” and “Business Class has beds!”, all of which are hugely exciting but difficult to decipher when three people are repeatedly yelling only those phrases at you at an extreme volume. So, to calm them down, I started giving them some of the things I had brought for them to use that week.

“Ok, first off, the extra set of keys to my place – who’s the most responsible member of the band?”

Everyone points to Chris, who shrugs. I hand him the keys and a cell phone. “And here’s the phone you’ll be able to use – ”

“There’s a phone?” Chris and George look on in astonishment, whilst Tony, oblivious, is talking to the driver in the front.

“Of course! I have the number written down somewhere… let me just get out my folder for you guys – ”

“You have a folder?!?” Chris is all amazement, and George pulls out the video camera and begins to record the folder. And record me opening the folder. And record me looking at the maps I printed for them.

“And there are MAPS?” Chris, evidently, is not strong on organizing. Or paperwork. If he even keeps paperwork…

The cab however, dropped us in good time at Union Square, where they played a fab show and made billions of new fans who all wanted them to sign a copy of their new EP. You know, the one with the black CD and the black cover? I ran to the store and bought them lovely expensive silver markers to use, asking them not to lose the markers so that they could sign stuff all week. Note to self: Never hand a marker, phone, set of keys, child, elephant etc to a member of The Lightyears if you don’t want it very, very lost within an hour. I wish I were kidding. I am not.

And after the show it’s the after-party (which they refused to call anything other than the “after bobby”. I still have no idea what that means). There was a sweet acoustic set until Tony gave up drumming in favor of beer and George abandoned the guitar to talk to a model. It was a musical crowd though, and two of our cohorts jumped in on the guitar and drums. They stumped Chris with a Weezer song (“El Scorcho”) and my favorite person ever who is named Neil (aka Spitf*ya) did some aaamazing beatboxing. It was a great night and, when the jetlag finally kicked in, we headed back to my flat to crash on various couches and chairs and beds. And by that I mean my one couch, my one chair and my one bed. True New Yorkers (or so I told the boys) do not need space! We successfully slept five there that night, including our friend Alexis who’d been dragged along for the ride. I’m fairly sure every spare inch was covered by a sleeping person or a musical instrument, and Chris spent most of that first night snuggling with his keyboard.

The next day they were up bright and early and ready to explore the city. This is when I discovered that, for The Lightyears, having a good sense of direction is not a membership requirement. As we walked, the guys would inevitably just wonder in a random direction, despite the fact that they had no idea where they were going. It was like herding cats trying to get them even to the diner just a few blocks over. And whenever we got off the subway I’d have to turn around and do a quick head-count to make sure that one of them hadn’t gotten distracted by something shiny and forgotten to get off the train. In Midtown, whilst eyeing all the glitz and glamor, Tony would ask if it was time to go shopping while George would eye the closest restaurant, asking if anyone else was hungry again. It was the overpowering silence after that question that made me realize that we’d lost Chris. Most often we’d find him about half a block down, either distracted by his own hair reflecting in a shop window or reciting full scenes from Wayne’s World (in what was actually a pretty good mid-american accent) to a stranger or traffic cop. I’d gather them all together, point them in the right direction again and hope that Chris wouldn’t come across any ardent Wayne’s World fans before we reached our destination. 

Mid-week, the three misguided ducklings and Alexis and I piled into a van to drive down to Philadelphia for the band’s show at the Milkboy. As we finished loading up in NY, Chris and George came swaggering down the block in outfits that looked strangely familiar. 

Me:  “Chris, are you wearing my scarf?”

Chris, with a hairflip and a I-wish-were-as-cool-as-James-Dean glance at me: “Yeah… is that ok?”

Me: “Well, I… George, is that my jacket? …And my hat?”

George, giving me his I’m-too-adorable-to-be-in-trouble puppy-dog eyes: “We raided your closet a little, hope you don’t mind.” 

Me: “Of course I don’t… Wait! Are you wearing my mascara?”

Chris, very serious: “Actually, Ashley, I think the proper term is MANscara.”

George, pointing at me as though imparting wisdom: “Or guy-liner.”

Right.  

Once Tony had returned from the local Taco Bell with several gallons of Dr. Pepper we hopped in the van – Alexis driving, Tony navigating. After five or ten minutes in traffic, Tony leans out the window and yells: “Are you having a giraffe, mate?” at a passing driver. As the lone Americans in the group, Alexis and I would often stick together, purposefully ignoring the boys’ random slang and inside jokes. This one, however, we could not let go. Alexis plucked up the courage to ask first: “Did you just ask that guy if he’s having a giraffe?”. On cue, all three Lightyears launched into a half-hour explanation of Cockney Rhyming Slang. From what I now understand, it’s something to do with baths and disbelief and not being allowed to pronounce the “T” in mate. 

However, the miscommunication worked both ways and later Tony stopped Alexis and I mid-conversation to enquire after the meaning of “Dude, I was, like, totally pissed at her ‘cos she was being such a jackass to the bartender, but then I bailed on the convo and was like, whatev”. Roughly translated, this means “Yes, person of either gender who I am currently addressing, I was angry with her because she was behaving unkindly to the bar staff, but then I stopped speaking to her and thought to myself that it didn’t really matter”. I’m not even sure I want to know what that translates to in Brit-speak.

In the end, staying in my tiny apartment was a blast – though, as the boys were intent on underlining, it was nothing like the posh suites they stayed in in South Korea, in as much as it is quite lacking a bar, roof-top balcony and a jacuzzi. Oh, and as for the lightbulb question? It wasn’t rhetorical. It must take more than three Lightyears to change a lightbulb because none of them could actually do it. When they asked if there was anything they could do to make up for staying, I told them the one and only thing that needed to be done was fixing the light in the kitchen (I’m too short to reach and it’s been out for ages). Chris tried but couldn’t get the cover off the fixture. George faffed about for a bit and said he’d have a go later and then Tony grappled with it, also unsuccessfully, until eventually tiring of the task and settling down to read the paper. 

“It’s ok,” I told them, more amused than disappointed, “I’ll ask my super to do it.” 

Tony: “Right-o. Sorry about that old bean. Anything else we can fix? You know, so you can make the most of having three burly men around the house?”

Chris: “We could move some heavy furniture for you! Want to see my sweet guns? Go ahead, ask me which way to The Gun Show.” 

I refused. “Right,” he replied. “Then can I borrow your hairdryer?” 

At that moment, George stuck his head out of the bathroom, “Erm, Ashley? Is the handle of your faucet supposed to be broken off like this?”

Are you having a giraffe, mate?

Lightyears publish political manifesto

Tonight marks the historic final debate between American presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama – but early reports suggest that the eyes of the world’s media may instead be focussed on YouTube, where The Lightyears have just published their own unique response to the US Election Race entitled Obama Republic.

The Lightyears first performed the song at the McKibbin Lofts in Brooklyn during the New York tour in September and audience response was so overwhelming that a video shoot was immediately scheduled upon the band’s return.

The video, which is a re-working of popular LYs track Banana Republic from the album Mission Creep, features a star-studded cast including the two big cahoonas themselves along with trusty sidekicks Sarah Palin and Joe Biden.

Check out the video here and if (like many others before you) you find it moving, poignant and deeply incisive, please leave a comment. Global change starts here, friends. It’s just one mouse-click away…

Blog and pictures now online from American Tour

Last week The Lightyears returned from a week-long tour in the USA. To find out more about what the boys got up to on the East Coast, visit the BLOG page for the first instalment of Chris Lightyear’s USA Tour Diary. An album of photos has also been published in the LYs Gallery.  

The band were based in New York where they performed at the Time Out “Back To School Blowout” in Union Square, at Pianos on the Lower East Side and at the McKibbin Lofts in Brooklyn. The band also made a trip out to Philadelphia mid-way through to headline at Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. 

Keep your eyes peeled for more USA content on its way soon, including an LY-TV “New York Special” and a guest blog charting the band’s adventures from an American’s perspective.

Plans are already afoot to return to the United States within the next few months. Watch this space for updates!

Milkboy Coffee – Ardmore, PA – 17/09/08

The LYs return to their favourite venue on the East Coast – the legendary Milkboy Coffee in Ardmore. The band’s previous shows here have all sold out – so grab your tickets now while you still can! Follow ticket link below.

New Lightyears EP – out next week

At Midnight, the new 5-track EP from The Lightyears, will be released this Sunday 14 September in the USA. UK release will follow a week later.

The first opportunity for fans in the States to get their hands on At Midnight will be at the Time Out “Back To School Blowout” open-air festival in Union Square, New York, this Sunday. Following The Lightyears’ performance on the main stage at 3.30pm, At Midnight will be on sale in Virgin Megastore where the band will also be signing copies on request.

In addition, all five tracks are available online at new social networking site and music download store Amie Street. At Amie Street, the price for newly-uploaded tracks begins at zero and rises according to increasing demand (with the ultimate price being capped at 98 cents). Check out The Lightyears on Amie Street.

The EP will be released in the UK on Monday 22 September. The record features familiar tracks She’s The One and This House Will Burn along with instrumental Phoenix and new songs Brightest Star and Run. 

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