Timing couldn’t have been better for LITEYEARS
THE FOUR MEMBERS of LITEYEARS were on the verge of calling it quits when they got the call from “The Launch.”
“We were actually in the middle of a conversation about deciding whether we were going to end the project,” says Brent Wirth, lead singer and keyboard player for the Hamilton pop-rock band. “It was about two days later, that we were offered to be on ‘The Launch.’
“It was crazy good timing, fate in a lot ways, being dragged back into the fray of music.”
Although LITEYEARS has been together for a little more than two years, its members are relative veterans of the local music scene.
Brent, 27, and his guitarist brother Brian Wirth, 32, are both graduates of Orchard Park Secondary in Stoney Creek. About eight years ago, the Wirth brothers formed the band Thought Beneath Film, releasing a full length album “Cartographers” in 2014, gaining airtime on campus radio and performing extensively throughout Ontario.
Last year, the brothers decided to regroup with a more ambitious sound, “light years” away from Thought Beneath Film. Bassist Nick Haberer, 27, of Niagara Falls, joined them along with Port Dover drummer Joey Muha, 25, who had extensive experience playing with heavy metal bands such as Threat Signal and Jungle Rot, as well as producing a series of eclectic YouTube videos that have garnered millions of views.
They called the new band LITEYEARS and produced an EP called “American Towns.” The new music was well received, but never reached the mainstream success the group was trying to gain.
“We made a lot of ground with it, especially from an international standpoint,” Brent said about “American Towns.” “We reached a lot of people. Unfortunately the reality in 2017 is that when you reach a lot of people and you’re getting a bunch of streams on Spotify, producing videos, people communicating with you on social media, it doesn’t mean that you can afford to keep doing it.”
The band is hoping its appearance on the Jan. 17 episode of “The Launch” will give it new life and new followers.
“We pride ourselves on being an original band,” Brent says. “We’re all very much into production and writing, so it was a special occasion for us to showcase our original music on that kind of platform.”
“We pride ourselves on being an original band.” BRENT WIRTH LEAD SINGER, LITEYEARS