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.).

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…

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!

]]> http://www.thelightyears.com/wordpress/?feed=rss2&p=818 2 http://www.thelightyears.com/wordpress/?p=739 http://www.thelightyears.com/wordpress/?p=739#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 09:57:49 +0000 ChrisLightyear http://www.thelightyears.com/wordpress/?p=739

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.

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…

One perennial truth of being in the studio is that you spend 10% of your time making records and 90% of your time hanging about. It’s vitally important that, during this 90% majority period, you have armed yourself with some quality reading material to divert your attention once the banter starts wearing thin and everybody has grown tired of quoting scenes from Spinal Tap at each other. Yesterday, Tony had picked up a copy of The Guardian and soon enough a vitriolic slating of Josh’s supergroup project, penned by the infamous pessimist Charlie Brooker, was doing the rounds (read it here). Unsurprisingly, Charlie ain’t a fan of Josh’s Band. However, he is very funny and, if you’re gonna be mocked, it may as well be entertaining.

It was quite a bizarre experience to be reading somebody’s skewed interpretation of a project whilst simultaneously living through the markedly different reality. Funny thing is, if I were in Charlie’s position, I might well think exactly the same thing. It’s a set-up. Josh is an actor. The band are all session musicians. But he isn’t, and we’re not. Of course, T-Mobile set the whole thing in motion and it clearly helps to have the support of a production company when you’re organising large events, but I can personally testify that the grassroots movement that Brooker is so suspicious of has genuinely happened.

Clearly, many of the people who attended the gigs on our recent tour came for the TV cameras and the chance of 15 minutes of fame; however, crucially, they stayed for the music. Nobody freezes their knackers off in Edinburgh for five straight hours under fire from basically horizontal rain unless they’re actually enjoying themselves.

As for the music itself, Josh asked us to come into the studio a few weeks back to write a song for the project and the resultant session produced the track “Come With Me”, which has gone on to soundtrack the entire campaign. Charlie wrote in his article that the lyrics were clearly “penned by some dickshoe at Saatchi & Saatchi” and so, in the interest of setting the record straight, I ought to point out that George (Lightyears guitarist and the man behind the lyrics in question) does not and has never worked for Saatchi.

On the other hand, between you and me… he is a bit of a dickshoe.

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!

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!

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!

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.

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.

This tour, on the other hand, begins in Birmingham.

But you gotta start somewhere, eh?!

Tomorrow morning at 11am, Josh’s Band (featuring Chris and George Lightyear) will be premiering at the Birmingham Bullring in an attempt to get the good people of the UK singing the song we wrote last week in a studio in St John’s Wood. It’s called “Come With Me” and it’s invitingly simple to play and sing (click here for lyrics and chords; click here for recording and sheet music).

If you possess even just a modicum of musical talent or inclination, come join us and you could end up starring in a T-Mobile advert. It’s going to be exactly like the video for “All You Need Is Love”… except, you know, in a shopping centre.

Visit Josh’s Myspace page to find out more.

This may sound like an episode of Heartbeat but in fact Charlotte painted the above picture, along with a second one featured below, as part of her recent GCSE Art project.

If you’ve painted a picture of The Lightyears, or have perhaps built a shrine to the band in your front room complete with inflatable mannikins and potato print murals, please do send it in and we’ll publish it on the website.

The track is called “Come With Me” and a basic recording can be heard here. The idea is that, over time, loads of musicians and singers will add their voices and instruments to the track to create a joyous, ramshackle, ’superband’ sound.

Click here to read the lyrics and learn the chords (it’s very straighforward!).

The other development from the past week is that George and I, along with the superb Mike Glozier on drums, have been recruited for Josh’s core band. The band will be touring around the country over the coming month and teaching “Come With Me” to as many people as possible. Visit Josh’s Myspace for details.

Where the project will go from there, only time will tell…

Visit the BLOG page to read about our experiences so far.

*This song is being released on Universal Records on January 11 2010. Watch this space for more information on how to download your copy! In the meantime, check out the music video here*

(Russell, Owens, Ward, Glozier)

I pack my case in the night
You tell me I’ll be alright
I call up all of my friends
I hold my breath, count of ten, then you

Come to me, we go together and you
Stay with me, we stay together and you
Come with me, we go together and we
Run

First light and we’re on our way
I say all I have to say
You stand with all of my friends
I run and run and run and run and then you

Come to me, we go together and you
Stay with me, we stay together and you
Come with me, we go together and we
Run

Come with me
Stay with me
Come with me
Stay with me

Come to me, we go together and you
Stay with me, we stay together and you
Come with me, we go together and we
Run

Chord Sequence (repeated throughout):

One bar of A followed by half a bar of D and half a bar of E
|  A   A   A   A  |  D   D   E   E  |