Our Christmas at Ascot

There’s only one guy who had a busier December than we did, and he’s got magic powers. Which I think we can all agree gives him an unfair advantage.

Yep, we spent the lion’s share of the festive period at Ascot Racecourse, where we had the pleasure of providing the entertainment for their run of Christmas parties. Here are the highlights:

Thanks to everyone at Ascot for looking after us (the chicken pies were AMAZING), and all the best for 2015!

Chris Lightyear

Mockstars: out now!

Our Lightyears novel Mockstars is now available to buy for your Kindle, smartphone, tablet or computer.

Follow your preferred links to get your grubby hands on the goods:

 

 

AMAZON KINDLE UK
AMAZON KINDLE USA
KOBO
NOOK USA

The iBooks links for both UK and USA will be available soon, along with Nook UK.

If you enjoy the book, please don’t hesitate to tell people about it, follow Mockstars on Twitter or indeed paint yourself blue and climb to the top of the Shard yelling “IT’S BETTER THAN THE RUDDY BIBLE, BITCHES”.

Whatever suits.

* * * * * *

Here’s what Amazon readers are saying so far:

“The most British rock and roll story you could possibly get … Too many jokes for one read, the drummer is one to watch.”

“Like Dickens, a novel overflowing with eccentric characters and delightfully comic moments … A delicious read for anyone who has ever dreamed of starting a band.”

“The new Bridget Jones brought to life in a male, aspiring rock star from the Home Counties.”

Watch the Mockstars book trailer

Today we released the book trailer for our upcoming Lightyears novel, Mockstars.

Feast your eyes on this bad-boy:

Loosely inspired by Chris Lightyear’s international tour diaries for the band, Mockstars tells the story of how The Lightyears got together. You might call it the band’s “creation myth”, if you were being churlish.

Mockstars is released as an eBook on 25 June 2014 by Red Button Publishing. Find out more at www.MockstarsTheNovel.com.

Last week the band went into the studio to record brand-new live tracks for an audio-enhanced version of the book. These tracks included Blinded By Light, Embrace Of Many and Wait Forever. Mockstars: The Enhanced Edition is planned for release later this year. Watch this space for updates.

Finally, and most importantly…

“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story…” (Tony, Lightyears drummer)

Revealed: cover image for “Mockstars”

Check it out, people: the brand-new cover image for our Lightyears novel, Mockstars.

She’s a beaut, right?! Inked by the fair hand of George Lightyear, with consultation from myself and the book’s publishers Red Button, the cover image provides a wee insight into the ups and downs of the Mockstars story, which was inspired by Chris LY’s international tour diaries for the band.

Oh, and a point of trivia: these photos were taken backstage at Wembley Stadium (la-dee-dah).

The eBook will hit your kindles and eReaders this summer – so keep your eyes and ears peeled for news on publication dates. You can find out more about the novel at the Mockstars website.

Mockstars: Four boys. One band. No chance.

LYs to headline Goring & Streatley Festival

We’ve been booked to headline at the first ever Goring & Streatley Festival this summer, and will be topping the bill in two consecutive performances at Goring Village Hall on Saturday 5 July.

Due to demand, the festival organisers are planning two separate shows – the first 7-9pm, the second 9.30-11.30pm. Tickets are available from the Swan Hotel (cash, credit or debit cards) or from the portable Ticket Booth in the village. If you’re not local and wish to obtain tickets online, click here.

Further details are available on our GIGS page.

The festival, which is presenting a wide variety of music, comedy and arts over a ten-day period, was inspired by the success of the village’s Royal Jubilee event in June 2012, at which we also headlined.

We’re looking forward to returning to our roots for another homecoming show! In the meantime, here’s a video taken from the crowd of our Hey Jude encore at the Jubilee:

LYs novel to be published this summer

We’re very excited to announce that our Lightyears novel, Mockstars, will be published in summer 2014 by Red Button Publishing.

Mockstars is an uplifting comedy about friendship and chasing the rock ‘n’ roll dream, inspired by pianist Chris Lightyear’s international tour diaries for the band. The project has a musical angle too, and The Lightyears will be releasing brand-new original material to directly accompany the book. Over time, two versions of the book will be made available – first, a straight eBook, and shortly after that, an enhanced eBook featuring music excerpts embedded within the text.

To find out more, visit www.MockstarsTheNovel.com.

You can also read up on the project on the Red Button website.

Release dates will be announced in due course – keep a close eye on the website for regular news.

…In the meantime, if you’re looking for a fix, here’s a video extract from the novel:

Lightyears to headline Twyfest 2014

On Saturday 31 May we’ll be headlining the first ever Twyfest, supported by a host of excellent acts including Pressgang, WOB and Tony Lightyear’s solo project, Rushkeeper.

Almost half the tickets have already been sold, so don’t delay in getting yours here.

Twyfest – based near Reading, Berkshire – is in its first year and will be presenting a packed programme of music, comedy and drama over a ten-day period. We’ll be headlining the Blues & Rock Event, kicking off at 2pm.

The bill is bursting with top quality acts such as the inimitable WOB (who might as well have taught Frank Turner everything he knows), the wonderful Pressgang (a much-loved folk-rock act in their last ever UK appearance), and Tony’s ‘other’ band Rushkeeper, whose set we plan to sabotage with custard pies who are also spiffing. Find out more here.

 

 

Lightyears appear on video soundtrack

The Lightyears have been used to soundtrack a brand-new promotional video by positive body image campaign group Body Gossip.

Our collaboration with the wondrous folks over at Body Gossip has been going on for some years now, and in fact we’ve provided the soundtrack for many previous BG videos including “This One’s For You” and “What are we protecting our children from?“.

The campaign’s new video “What Is Body Gossip?” explains the background to the campaign and chronicles its achievements thus far. The soundtrack is “Sing”, a song we recorded with The Voyager School Choir in Peterborough a few years back. Watch the video in full below.

Our Favourite Moments Of 2013

In January there was some talk at Lightyears HQ about going all out to make 2013 the year we finally knocked Coldplay off their perch as the World’s Most Celebrated Polite Rock Band. However, in the end we got distracted by eating hot dogs on the banks of the Hudson River and playing bookish gigs in dimly-lit libraries, and perhaps this was for the best.

Wherever it was in the world, if you were part of our 2013 we thank you as always for your support. And here, in no particular order, are Our Ten Favourite Moments Of The Year:

Headlining Westminster Library
This year I completed my debut novel, Mockstars, a tale of debts, mugs and rock ‘n’ roll inspired by my international tour diaries for The Lightyears. In February, for the first time ever, we unleashed extracts from the book – along with some of the music that accompanies it – at a packed-out Westminster Library.

Eating free hot dogs in Astoria Park
At the tail end of the summer, we embarked on what turned out to be our favourite ever American tour. After the opening show at New York’s Astoria Park, the resident hot-dog salesman bounded over to us with a big bag of delicious free food as a thank-you for all the business we’d brought him. What followed was the most incredible hot dog I have ever eaten.

Signing with our new managers, R&R
The Lightyears are an independent band – operating without the investment of a record label – and we fund our creative endeavours by performing at private parties and corporate events. As Spring kicked in, we were delighted to sign a management deal with the excellent R&R Agency (AKA Rachel Gretton and Amy Long), with whom we intend to very soon take over the world. Get a taste of the action with our new showreel below:

Gigging in an 800 year-old Italian castle
We’ve played a bizarre range of venues in our time, from cow sheds in Belgium to that crèche in Peterborough. In 2013 we added a thirteenth-century Italian Renaissance castle to that list. Because we are simply that rock ‘n’ roll.

Hitting 100,000 views with ‘Titanium’
By now many of you will be familiar with our acoustic cover of David Guetta’s smash hit ‘Titanium’. This winter the video surpassed 100,000 views on YouTube which, you’ll be relieved to hear, means we can now all afford diamond-encrusted yachts and hover-shoes.

Signing with a top literary agent
Since I finished my Lightyears novel Mockstars I’ve been seeking the right agent to help me propel the book towards publication. In October I was signed up by leading literary agent Ed Wilson at Johnson & Alcock – find out more at www.MockstarsTheNovel.com.

Joining Ronnie Wood on Whole World Band
We recently joined Rolling Stones’ guitarist Ronnie Wood on a brand-new music app called Whole World Band, which enables users to digitally ‘jam‘ with other musicians. Whole World Band made us their Featured Artist just before Christmas – find out more in the video below:

Returning to Brightlingsea Festival
Brightlingsea Festival in Essex is one of Britain’s best-loved small festivals, and we were delighted to be invited back there in August to perform to a capacity crowd and a perfectly blue sky. A memorable close to an eventful summer.

Performing at a Formula One party
As the year drew to a close, the Formula One team Sahara Force India invited us to perform at their Christmas party at Silverstone. Festive chaos ensued.

Playing a sell-out run in the USA
During our whirlwind tour of New York and Philadelphia in August, we were lucky enough to sell out every venue and play to some wonderfully warm and appreciative audiences. If you were there, thank you! You made our summer.

Happy New Year to one and all! x

Chris Lightyear

Jam with the LYs on Whole World Band

The Lightyears have been selected to feature alongside Ronnie Wood from the Rolling Stones in a new and innovative music app called Whole World Band, which allows musicians to digitally ‘jam’ together over the internet.

The app, which launched this month, takes video ‘seed’ tracks by artists and invites users to layer their own recordings over the top. An e-Jam, if you will. And to get things moving, Whole World Band are giving €8 of credit to the first 5,000 users to download the app to their mobile device.

Pop over to www.WholeWorldBand.com now to take a look. Because come on – we know how many of you have “Jam With The Lightyears” on your bucket list (right next to swimming with dolphins, and licking Zac Efron).

Confused? Fear not – here’s an explanatory video from the WWB folks themselves:

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