Cleveland, Ohio’s Light Years recently celebrated the release of their acoustic EP, Lite Years, a reimagining of three songs from their 2015 full-length, I’ll See You When I See You alongside a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City.” Giving the band a chance to revisit some of their favorite songs from their last release, Lite Years shows listeners a different, more stripped down side to Light Years. With the EP out now, anything is possible for Light Years.
Interview by Shannon Shumaker
You guys just released your new acoustic EP, Lite Years – what was your favorite part about working on this EP?
Doing some acoustic versions of our songs is always fun because you get the chance to present them in a new light and get to experiment with new ideas. Getting to introduce new ideas into an old song was probably my favorite part.
Lite Years features acoustic renditions of three of your songs from I’ll See You When I See You, plus a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City.” What made you want to cover this song?
I think “Atlantic City” is one of the greatest songs of all time. The original is basically just The Boss, his guitar and a harmonica. So we thought it might be cool to add a more full band vibe to it. Hopefully Bruce wouldn’t be too mad at us taking liberties with his song.
What was your favorite song to rework or revisit for the EP?
“Let You Down” was my favorite because we changed it up so much. Our “electric” version is an upbeat power-poppy song, and we tried to go the opposite direction on the acoustic version. Stripped it down and added some strings and I approached the vocals a little more gentle. I think it turned out great.
Sometimes, looking back on your old work can be daunting, so when you’re reworking songs for something like an acoustic EP, do you ever find yourself wishing you would have done something differently the first time around or glad that you have the chance to revisit it?
Yes and no. Sometimes I hear something and I think “oh that would have been cool”, but with our last record I feel really proud of those songs and wouldn’t change much.
When you’re going back to these songs released a year ago, how did you go about choosing which ones you wanted to feature on the EP?
We messed around with a few different songs from our last record, and the ones we ended up choosing really felt good to play acoustic and translated really well i think.
With Lite Years out now and the year winding down, do you have any plans to hit the road soon?
Always trying to tour and play live. We will be back on the road very soon
What’s next for Light Years?
We never look too far in the future because thats not punk, but as of right now we have no plans of stopping touring and writing music so stay tuned!
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you! Hope everyone gets a chance to check out “Lite Years”
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