Liteyears

Five-piece Toronto pop band Liteyears is an ambitious group. The video for “Rhythm in the Stars” is just one of five that the band shot for its debut EP, American Towns, over the course of a single weekend. The other videos include timpani, a string quartet and a 40-piece concert orchestra. “Rhythm in the Stars” is a sprawling anthem with mature verses, but it isn’t afraid to party in the chorus. If this first single is any indication, the debut from Liteyears is going to be a good one. - CBC Music

LITEYEARS is a five-piece pop band hailing from Toronto, Ontario and is the latest project from long-time collaborative brothers Brent and Brian Wirth. After gaining a surplus of accolades with their previous band (formerly of Thought Beneath Film), which includes winning the $50,000 grand prize of Slaight Music’s coveted “It’s Your Shot” competition, working with industry heavyweights Tom Lord-Alge and Bob Ludwig on two records, completing several Canadian and North American tours, and receiving commercial radio play and video rotation on MuchLOUD for three of the band’s singles, the Wirth brothers are embarking on a new sonic path with LITEYEARS, one that features a more mature, focused, and accessible sound.

Their new 5 song EP, “American Towns”, drops today and is available on iTunes.

Alongside the EP the band is releasing videos for each track, using alternative musical arrangements and instrumentation to give listeners an example of the band’s versatility as musicians and songwriters, but also a different way they can immerse themselves in the music.

“We did all five videos in one weekend over two days, including three videos involving more than 100 additional musicians over one day. I know as a music lover I am more demanding these days: I want to see more. I want to see visuals and a bigger concept attached to a band or song. It’s like what the Smashing Pumpkins did with albums like “Melon Collie” and the “Infinite Sadness” where there was wonderful artwork and videos attached to it and just a focused artistic message. That’s one of the things we’re trying to achieve with these videos.” - BestFan

There are just five people in Toronto’s LITEYEARS, but you’d never know it from this video. “Rhythm of the Stars” will appear on the band’s new EP, American Towns, which is due August 12.

The plan is to release a video for every track on the album, each with a different arrangement and instrumentation. Over the course of a series shoots over two days, about a hundred musicians were called into duty. - A Journal Of Musical Things

Toronto based band Liteyears is set to release their 5-song EP on August 12, but they’ve given their fans a little something special while they wait.

Anyone who pre-orders the EP “American Towns” can now get their hands on the band’s new single Rhythm in the Stars instantly. Pre-order here. If you can’t get enough of the track, the band has also released the accompanying music video! - CONFRONT Magazine

Music Life Magazine is proud to share some new music with you featuring three up-and-coming Canadian artists – Liteyears, Graph and Flatrock.

First up is a five-piece band out of Toronto called Liteyears featuring Brent Wirth, Brian Wirth, Adam Slinn, Nick Haberer and Joey Muha.

Liteyears recently released the third instalment from The Zoetic Sessions called Rhythm In The Stars on which they collaborated with drummers from Impact Percussion and the results are fantastic!

Liteyears is releasing their EP American Towns on August 12, 2016 on the Slaight Music record label.

Connect with Liteyears on Facebook or at http://www.liteyearsmusic.com - Music Life Magazine

Liteyears is a five-piece pop band from Toronto including Brent and Brian Wirth, Adam Slinn, Nick Haberer, and Joey Muha. No strangers to the music scene, the boys in Liteyears certainly know how to capture the attention of their fans, with over 9,000 Facebook likes with only two singles releases off of their upcoming debut EP, American Towns. We had the chance to ask the band a few questions about their music, upcoming plans, and more in this interview.

First of all, would you like to introduce yourself to our readers who may not be familiar with you?

Hey! I’m Brent and I sing and play piano/guitar for Liteyears. We’re a pop band from Toronto and we’re a few weeks away from releasing our debut EP American Towns.

Why did you decide to stray from your rock roots to pursue a more pop influenced band?

For us, the evolution from rock to pop was an organic one. I grew up loving the power and energy that comes from a guitar plugged into a Marshall stack and cranked to 10, but, overtime, I guess I grew tired of being creatively stifled by it. When you play in a rock band, it’s easy to feel shackled to the old two guitars, bass and drums paradigm all the time. After all, Jimmy needs something to do on the drums and Johnny needs something to do on lead guitar, etc. if you catch my drift? I feel so liberated not having to follow that template these days. Every song and arrangement is a blank canvas that we can paint with any sonic palette we want; be it orchestral instrumentation, electronic sounds, loud distorted guitars or all of the above. Anything and everything is fair game and, right now, that feels really important to us creatively. We’re sick of boundaries.

You have two singles released so far from American Towns, when can we expect the full EP?

The full EP is coming out on August 12th and we’re beyond excited for everyone to finally hear it!

What was the fan reaction to “Silhouettes” and “American Towns” like?

The reaction to the first two videos we released were absolutely insane! Especially “Silhouettes”. It was the first thing we released as a band and, prior to that, we hadn’t even played a show, so it was an interesting situation. We did a good job of building up a pretty substantial audience on social media beforehand by being really enigmatic and mysterious with everyone, which meant that we actually had an audience to release material to, but we were all really nervous about what the reception to the actual music would be like. Thankfully, people seemed to really connect with that song/video and the amount of people that were sharing it and engaging with us was humbling. I think we had over 25,000 views and 7000 engagements on Facebook in the span of 24 hours or something crazy like that.

Are there any upcoming tour plans in the works?

Absolutely. We’re actually in the middle of planning a full coast-to-coast Canadian tour for October right now to support the EP and our first radio-single “Rhythm In The Stars”.

What/who are some of your musical inspirations and influences?

We all come from different musical backgrounds, so our influences are all over the map. I went to university for music composition, so things like orchestral music and film scores are really close to my heart and that inspiration definitely finds its way into our music, especially in songs like “Silhouettes” and “Zeitgeist”. I’m also probably the biggest Smashing Pumpkins fan you’ll ever meet. I love how conceptual the Pumpkins were in every facet of their art. They took everything they did (ie. music, album art, music videos, performances, interviews, promo shots, etc.) as an opportunity to make an artistic statement. That’s something we really try to embrace and tap into as a band. Beyond that, we’re collectively into alternative pop bands like Coldplay or OneRepublic that have super catchy songs with lyrical substance.

What is your writing process like?

Generally speaking, it’s all about melodies first. I spend countless hours on a piano or humming in my car hunting for melodies that resonate with me and get me excited. From that point, it becomes a jigsaw puzzle and the process becomes non-linear. Sometimes it’s about finding chord progressions/harmonies that really augment the vibe of the melody, sometimes it’s about finding the perfect groove to accompany it or, other times, even more abstractly, it’s about finding or creating sounds that feel truly new and exciting to us and that we can build an arrangement/production from.

Why did you decide to create videos for each track on the EP?

Firstly, to say that I love the venue (The Zoetic Theatre in Hamilton) we shot the videos in would be a massive understatement. So, any excuse to spend more time there, felt like a good one to me! Beyond that, the decision really stems from asking ourselves the question: how would we want to be introduced to a new band/artist? Ultimately, I think posting a SoundCloud link to one of your songs just isn’t engaging enough anymore. Furthermore, one music or performance video doesn’t necessarily serve as a proper and thorough introduction either. Shooting a series of live performance videos gave us the opportunity to show every dimension of who we are as a band as well as show the scope that we’re looking to operate on. It also gave us a chance to reinvent the songs with different arrangements and collaborate with so many of our incredibly talented friends. Every session was a very special and unique experience and I’m really glad that energy was captured so well visually.

What’s coming up next for you guys?

Our main focus right now is supporting American Towns. We have two more videos to release from “The Zoetic Sessions” for “I Feel You In My Bones” and “Zeitgeist”, which are even bigger collaborations/productions than our previous three videos if you can believe that! We also want to play live to as many audiences as we possibly can, so the Canadian tour in October will be a nice way to kick that off. Aside from that, we’re already working tirelessly on new material. We have another EP worth of songs that are in various phases of production. I’m not sure if we’ll dive into releasing another EP so soon, but I can definitely say that we’ll be following up American Towns with a single or two pretty quickly.

At Canadian Beats we like to ask a few fun questions so your fans and our readers can get to know you a bit better:

Summer festival season is in full swing; are there any festivals you’ve been to or are planning to attend this year?

I burn way too easily in the sun and I don’t think there’s a high enough SPF rating that exists yet to prevent that, so I tend to stick to indoor concerts myself. With that said, we’re playing Yoga Fest at A Mid Summer’s Dream in Hamilton, so, pending I don’t disintegrate during our set, I’ll definitely be checking the rest of that festival out.

If you were in charge of a festival, who would be on the lineup?

I’d keep things really simple. I’d have a one-act line-up. I’d just get Paul McCartney and his band to play all day and all night and rip through the entire Beatles, Wings and McCartney catalogue.

What is the most random fact you can think of?

Any piece of paper, regardless of its size, cannot be folded in half more than 7 times. Generally speaking anyways. Apparently, there are some crazy people out there setting records of 12+ times.

If you could interview someone you looked up to, who would it be and what would be your first question?

That’s a really tough question. I’d love to interview Paul McCartney. Despite all of the questions I’d want to dive into, I’d probably first ask him how he was doing to be polite!

What are some Canadian bands/artists that you would recommend to your fans?

You mean other than Liteyears haha? Hmmm…this might be a bit of a throwback response, but I think everyone should go listen to Our Lady Peace’s “Happiness…Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch” and “Spiritual Machines”. I’ve been listening to those albums again recently and they’re so incredibly good. They feel even more relevant now than they did when I first heard them growing up.

And finally, do you have anything you’d like to say to your fans?

I could sincerely write an entire dissertation on how appreciative we are of the love, support and enthusiasm that we’ve received from fans all over the world even this early on in the game. But, for now, I guess I’ll have to settle for a simple “thank you”! You guys are amazing and we can’t wait to share more music with you all! - Canadian Beats

Hailing from Hamilton, Ontario, Liteyears brings an upbeat sound to the pop-rock stage. Their debut album, American Towns, has a feel-good mood mood tied in with powerful rock tunes. With a sound similar to Hedley and Marianas Trench, these guys pour their lives into hearty, optimistic rock.

Being the astronomy geek I am, I fell in love with, “Rhythm in the Stars” – their first song of the album – in a heartbeat. Bright lyrics and strong vocals hit the spot, and the band carries the kind of beat you could imagine a crowd happily dancing to.

Their fourth song, “Silhouettes”, the token slow song, paints a bittersweet love story, bringing to life the elegance of its title.

Liteyears go off with a bang in their last song, “Zeitgeist”, with sparkling their way right onto my Spotify playlist. They carry a certain anticipation with every note, the same kind of feeling you get reading a good book. While listening, I was constantly always excited for what was next.

Their music feels like a road trip with friends; empowered and bright, even the slow parts full of energy. They go off with a bang, lighting a magical spark and leaving a lasting impression on the listener.

Liteyears know how to have a good time. Don’t miss out. - The Party Podcast

Liteyears is a pop band based in Toronto & Toronto and recently filmed their music video for ” Rhythm in the Stars” at the iconic Zoetic Theatre in Hamilton.

We welcomed them this morning to talk about their debut album “American Towns.” - CHCH

N/A - CTV Ottawa

This week’s performance in the Slaight Music series at Toronto live music hub The Cameron House featured LITEYEARS. The newly named Hamilton-based modern-rock quintet has emerged out of previous band Thought Beneath Film, the acclaimed combo that won Slaight Music’s “Its Your Shot” contest back in 2014. LITEYEARS impressed the Cameron crowd with a short but well-paced set that shows they’ve developed a more streamlined and commercially accessible sound than TBF. They’ve reportedly been spending a lot of time in the studio and it showed in their tight sound, one meshing strong percussion, keyboards, guitar and vocal harmonies. Frontman/keyboardist Brent Wirth has an expressive vocal style, and he had the confidence to pull off a new song solo. Opening number “American Towns” and a dynamic closing song stood out as being potential radio hits. We expect a buzz to build around LITEYEARS. - FYI Music News