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Lightyear is a seven-piece British
ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially Horn (instrument), horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones ...
band formed in
Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...
, England, in 1997. They were part of a UK music scene that mixed ska punk with other genres including funk, indie-rock and hip-hop. The band signed to
Household Name Records Household Name Records is a DIY punk rock record label, based in London, UK founded in 1996. It has been home to notable artists including Capdown, Howards Alias, Lightyear, and Adequate Seven. Biography Household Name Records was started in ...
in 2001, and released two full-length albums before splitting in 2003. Since 2006 the band have had a number of reunions.


Biography

The band formed in 1997, with their first gig in their hometown of Derby in 1998. Lightyear released their debut album ''Call of the Weasel Clan'' in October 2001. In 2002 they appeared at the
Carling Weekend The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festi ...
Festivals with
Sick of It All Sick of It All is an American hardcore punk band formed in 1986 in Queens, New York City. The band's lineup consists of brothers Lou and Pete Koller on lead vocals and guitars respectively, Armand Majidi on drums, and Craig Setari on bass. Sic ...
and
Alkaline Trio Alkaline Trio is an American punk rock band from Chicago. The band's current members are Matt Skiba (guitar, vocals), Dan Andriano (bass, vocals), and Atom Willard (drums). Founded in late 1996 by Skiba, bassist Rob Doran, and drummer Glenn Por ...
. The band are known for their feel good vibes and exuberant mosh-pits. Lightyear began work on their second album ''Chris Gentlemens Hairdresser and Railway Bookshop'' in April 2003 with producer Dave Chang, having already decided to split up after recording the album and touring twice more; once in support of the album, followed by a farewell tour. The album was released in July 2003, accompanied by a tour with
Captain Everything! Captain Everything! were a British punk band from Watford, England. Formed in 1998, the band play high tempo pop-punk, which was branded "Bubblegum Thrash". Renowned for their heavy touring schedule, they have played all over the UK and Europe, ...
and Jerry-built. They played what was supposed to be their last show on 26 September 2003 at the Assembly Rooms in Derby, supported by Evil Macaroni, Captain Everything! and
Adequate Seven Adequate Seven were a Welsh band who blended music styles such as hip hop, hardcore, punk, and funk. They formed in 2000 and split in December 2006. History Adequate Seven formed in November 2000 and played their first gig only four weeks lat ...
.


Post split

On 9 May 2006, DJ Mike Davies announced on the Radio 1 Lock Up Show that Lightyear would be reforming for a fortnight long tour around the UK, finishing in Derby. Originally dubbed the "Twelve Days of Chaos" tour, it was renamed the "Lightyear ...Would Like to Apologise in Advance" tour, as more promoters took interest. Davies invite them to play a set on his Radio 1 Lock Up stage at the Carling Weekend Festivals at Reading and Leeds. The band split up on stage for the second time on 26 August 2006 at the Carling Weekend Festival at
Bramham Park Bramham Park is a Grade I listed 18th-century country house in Bramham, between Leeds and Wetherby, in West Yorkshire, England. The house, constructed of magnesian limestone ashlar with stone slate roofs in a classical style, is built to a l ...
,
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
. Shortly afterwards, Lightyear performed a final 'friends & family only' gig at The Victoria Inn, Derby. Subsequent one-off shows took place in Derby at the Assembly Rooms (November 2007) and The Venue (October 2009). In March 2012, it was announced across social networking sites that Lightyear were going to reform for a six-show mini-tour, sponsored by ''Big Cheese'' magazine. In the same year
Banquet Records Banquet Records is a record shop in Kingston upon Thames, Greater London. Formerly part of the Beggars Banquet Records retail chain, it became fully independent in 2002. It stocks a broad range of music on both vinyl and CD. The establishment ...
reissued both albums on vinyl. They returned again 2015 to play several shows, including the
Slam Dunk Festival Slam Dunk Records or Slam Dunk Music is a British independent record label, promoter and concert organising company, founded in Leeds, England, in 2007. Some notable signees include You Me at Six and Decade. The label evolved from "Slam Dunk", ...
in Leeds. In May 2017, Lightyear an announced on Facebook that they would be reforming. The band stated that this time it's a 'proper reunion' not just for a one-off tour and there will be new material. They toured in October and started a crowdfunding campaign to make a documentary about the band and the UK scene it is part of.


Touring

The band have been on tour with
Capdown Capdown is an English punk rock band from Milton Keynes. Originally known as Soap, their songs have political themes as alluded to by their name, which is a portmanteau of Capitalist Downfall. Mixing ska, punk, hardcore, dub, drum and bass, a ...
,
Mad Caddies The Mad Caddies (or the Caddies) is an American ska punk band from Solvang, California. The band formed in 1995 and has released seven full-length albums, one live album, and two EPs. The Mad Caddies sound has influences from broad ranging g ...
, Goldfinger,
Slow Gherkin Slow Gherkin is an American ska punk band from Santa Cruz, California, United States. Slow Gherkin was formed in 1993 by teenagers AJ Marquez, Zack "ZK" Kent, Phil Boutelle, and James Rickman. They released their first album, ''Double Happines ...
, 311,
Mustard Plug Mustard Plug is an American ska punk band from Grand Rapids, Michigan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, consisting of Dave Kirchgessner (vocals), Brandon Jenison (trumpet), Jim Hofer (trombone), Nate Cohn (drums), Colin Clive (guitar/vocals), Mark Petz ...
,
Big D and the Kids Table Big D and the Kids Table is a ska punk band formed in October 1995 in Boston, Massachusetts, when its members converged in college. Their first release was on their own Fork in Hand Records label, but have since teamed with Springman Records a ...
,
Save Ferris Save Ferris is an American ska punk band formed circa 1995 in Orange County, California, United States. Their name is a reference to the 1986 film ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off''. In 1995, the band began to perform underground venues in Southern C ...
,
Nerf Herder Nerf Herder is an American rock band from Santa Barbara, California, formed in 1994 by Parry Gripp (vocals, guitar), Charlie Dennis (bass) and Steve Sherlock (drums). They describe themselves as a " geek rock" band, and are known for simple ...
, The Peacocks,
Link 80 Link 80 was an American punk rock/ska punk band from San Francisco's East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay, United States. Band history Link 80 started in the summer 1993 in the East Bay (California), East Bay of California. In the beginn ...
and
Suicide Machines The Suicide Machines are an American ska punk band formed in March 1991 in Detroit, Michigan. During the course of their career, the band has released seven full-length albums on the labels Hollywood Records, Side One Dummy Records and Fat Wre ...
. They also played at 'Holidays in the Sun' for two years running (alongside The Business,
The Exploited The Exploited are a Scottish punk rock band from Edinburgh, formed in 1978 by Stevie Ross and Terry Buchan, with Buchan soon replaced by his brother Wattie Buchan. They signed to Secret Records in March 1981,
and more).


Influence

''
Drowned in Sound'' listed them as one of the important bands that made up the UK underground's
ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially Horn (instrument), horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones ...
scene. The publication noted that ''Chris Gentlemens Hairdresser and Railway Book Shop'' transcended the scene to appeal to a wider audience.


Members

* Ben Ashton –
tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...
,
baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...
, additional vocals * Richard 'Bars' Barling – bass and backing vocals * Neil 'Nelb' Cowie – guitar, additional vocals * Neil Draycott –
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
, trumpet and vocals (also a member of Cotton Weary) * Jim Harrison – drums * Chas Palmer-Williams – vocals (also a member of Cotton Weary) * Kraig Winterbottom – trumpet, additional vocals * Mark Wood – trumpet, additional vocals


Guest musicians

* Dan Sanfey – vocals (member of Five Knuckle) * Kassim Basma – vocals (member of
Adequate Seven Adequate Seven were a Welsh band who blended music styles such as hip hop, hardcore, punk, and funk. They formed in 2000 and split in December 2006. History Adequate Seven formed in November 2000 and played their first gig only four weeks lat ...
) * Tom Pinder –
trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...
(member of Adequate Seven) * Joey Malibu & Coke –
scratching Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and Turntablism, turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a phonograph, turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to ...
* Lewis Froy – vocals – (member of
Captain Everything! Captain Everything! were a British punk band from Watford, England. Formed in 1998, the band play high tempo pop-punk, which was branded "Bubblegum Thrash". Renowned for their heavy touring schedule, they have played all over the UK and Europe, ...
) * Jon Whitehouse – vocals (member of Captain Everything!)


Discography

As well as two albums Lightyear also released a split EP with friends Evil Macaroni, a 'demo', and contributed to several international
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
compilation CDs.


Albums

* ''Call of the Weasel Clan'' (Household Name Records, 2001) (vinyl re-release Banquet Records, 2012) * ''Chris Gentlemens Hairdresser and Railway Book Shop'' (Household Name Records, 2003) (vinyl re-release Banquet Records, 2012)


EPs

* ''Lightyear Vs. Evil Macaroni'' (Positive Outlook, 2000)


Singles

* "Just Another Demonstration" (self-released, 2000)


Music videos

* "A Pack of Dogs" (2001)


Other projects

Draycott and Palmer-Williams played together in another band called Cotton Weary. In 2009, Palmer-Williams started a solo folk project under his own name, releasing an EP (''We Showed Them, Didn't We'') in 2010 and a full-length album (''American Smile, British Teeth'') in 2015.


References


External links


Lightyear profile on Household Name Records website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lightyear Third-wave ska groups Underground punk scene in the United Kingdom English ska musical groups Musical groups from Derby Ska punk musical groups