In Defense of Ska Ep 81: Chas Palmer-Williams (Lightyear)

In Defense of Ska

In the late '90s, a new ska-punk scene was bubbling up in the UK that would last until the mid-2000s. This scene would be defined by groups like Capdown, Sonic Boom Six, Adequate Seven, Five Knuckle and the record label Household Name Records. One of the earliest groups to form in this scene was a band from Derby called Lightyear--and they were the craziest groups from this scene.

Defined by copious on (and off) stage nudity, Morris dancing, pantomime horses and never-ending pranks and shenanigans, Lightyear took cathartic songs ska-punk songs about depression, drug addiction and domestic abuse and created a wild stage production that always left the audience confused and elated.

On today's episode, we speak with Lightyear's lead singer (and lead instigator) Chas Palmer-Williams. He tells us how getting bullied as a child led to him getting naked as often as possible. He gives us the low-down on a popular hobby, "puppetry of the penis," and he waxes nostalgic about his days at the Victoria Inn.

Chas also lists about the US bands that Lightyear tormented (Mustard Plug, Link 80, Slow Gherkin, and Laura Stevenson to name a few), he talks about the Household Records documentary he started (And the problems he's faced), we learn about his new business Hawkr, and most importantly, he tells us the full Ice-T story, one that involves a pantomime horse crashing Body Count's set at Reading Festival where "Ice-T was not amused."

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon!

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music.

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024.

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023.

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

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