Interview: Lights - 17/04/2009

Chris managed to sit down with Valerie Poxleiter, more commonly known under to pseudonym of 'Lights,' before her appearance at this years Give It A Name festival, at London's Brixton Academy.

How have you been enjoying your time in the UK so far?
It's the best! We had high expectations of coming to the UK, there's so much good music that comes out of here, we just hear so much about it. When I came here last, I never really go to explore, as it was only for about 24 hours. So we came, with these high expectations, and it really just blew us away. Our sound guy is from over here, and he's showing us where to go, and where the good times are. People here are just so down for a good time, and love music, the crowds are fantastic, I think people here just appreciate music.

What has been your best show?
There's different ones which have been amazing for different reasons. Manchester was awesome, and Birmingham last night was awesome. It was a really small space, and really ridiculously hot, and the stage was really low. But, the energy there was amazing, people were getting so into it. Everywhere has been so different!

You have released your self-titled EP, what plans do you have for a full length release?
It's gonna come out in the last week of August. Four [tracks] are gonna go on from the EP, and eight new ones. I'm just working on the artwork right now. I'm still staying in the same kind of comicy vain, just a little bit darker. I can't wait for it, it's gonna be awesome!

Do you know when you'll release the artwork?
Probably with the album. I probably won't put out anything before then, but I'm going to start to infiltrate it into all my sites, so that the ideas and the colour schemes, and the styles will all come out before the artwork. It's just going to be really good!

You were supposed to be featured on The Maine's 'New Holiday' EP, but replaced by Eisley. What happened there?
Well, it was gonna be a Christmas song together, and we were in talks about doing it. But, there was some kind of foreign miscommunication where it was posted that we already were going to do it, and i hadn't even heard about it! People were commenting me on myspace saying, 'I heard you're going to be on The Maine's album' and i was like , 'I've never heard that! Is that true?' Then I found out that it was kinda going to happen. I've never really done much for Christmas, so it didn't really mean that much to me. I want to be part of things that i feel passionate about. I love The Maine, and I think they're fantastic, but i dont't really have a lot of history with Christmas, so I didn't feel right about doing it.

You featured on Silverstein's new album [A Shipwreck In The Sand]. How did that come about?
Yeah, I've been a Silverstein fan for a while, since I was pretty young. And over the the years living in Toronto, i ended up meeting Billy, who became a friend of mine. Their album was coming out and he wanted me to be on it, so I ended up meeting the rest of them, the song was fantastic, they showed me the part they wanted me on, and it was just awesome! It really reminded me of 'When Broken Is Easily Fixed,' and I think it turned out really good!

There are lots of female fronted bands getting exposure at the moment, such as Hey Monday, VersaEmerge, and now yourself. How does it feel to be a part of this?
I think it's fantastic! You often get a situation like the Warped Tour where is 99% guys. To me, that really needs to be about 50/50.

What dates are you playing on this years tour?
Yeah, I'll be playing the first month. I was going to do the whole lot, but it clashes with my album coming out. There's places I want to be, and places I need to go, so only the first month really. Everything in moderation! I did a couple of dates last year, but it was insanely brutal, and that was only a couple of days. Warped is a grind, but it's definitely an initiation.

You won 'New Artist of the Year' award at this year's Juno's! A fantastic achievement for someone at such a young age!
It's insane! Plus, I only have an EP out, which is really weird and cool!

Your coming back to the UK for the Great Escape festival in Brighton. Do you have anything else planned for this country?
I'm going to be doing a show in London on either end of the Great Escape, and I'm sure I'll be back here after the Album comes out. I have plans to be in Germany for a festival, so, I'm going to be back here in Europe lots!

What else can we expect from Lights in 2009?
A lot of touring, and a full length Album. I'm also working with [Tom Cocker] Marvel Comics to make a little series of short films, that incorporate my music, but it's kind of a Sci-Fi theme. I've developed a character, and it's going to be fantastic. It should be out in a couple of months!

Chris Powers