![]() ![]() People expressed shock at the gentler sounds of LC, stunned at the perceived shift in Dev’s focus. Before Lightspeed Champion, Dev played with scream-o punk band Test Icicles. The Guardian recently called him “a freaky beacon of off-kilter creativity.” It’s an apt description. The songs address age-old material, namely the angst of love and loneliness, in a way that’s fresh, that lends itself to reckless singalongs.īut Falling off the Lavender Bridge, twelve tracks with Smiths-evoking titles like “Let the Bitches Die” and “Everyone I Know Is Listening to Crunk,” is but one side of Dev Hynes. In the most well-known line of LC’s most well-known track, “Galaxy of the Lost,” Dev sings, “Guzzle down, my neck will burn as we kiss and I’m sick in your mouth” (a make-out risk for anyone with ulcers, anxiety issues, or both). The lyrical weirdness of the music reminded me of New York City antifolk-specifically, Toby Goodshank. I first heard Dev on David Garland’s WNYC program “Spinning on Air.” After buying the Galaxy of the Lost EP, a few weeks later I picked up the full-length release, Falling off the Lavender Bridge, released early this year. I figured it was probably posturing, but he’s nothing but sincere when he says “it baffles me beyond anything.” Which, in turn, baffles me. ![]() They’ll probably do Conan.” People had told me that Hynes doesn’t understand why people like his music. “To me it’s like, Weezer has a new single. “I never ever ever ever in my life thought I’d play Conan O’Brien,” Dev tells me. Lately, they’ve been playing to thousands at festivals like Evolution and Glastonbury. Tonight’s odd crowd might have something to do with the band’s appearance on Conan O’Brien the previous night, and the rapid rise in their popularity in general. I can easily picture some of the bullies stumbling against the Bowery stage as characters in Dev’s story. The four guys pound onto me, kicks, punches, spitting…They give me the works…When it was all done, my glasses were disintegrated…and I was a wreck.” “How did I end up looking at the sky? Oh. On his July 25 blog post at, Hynes tells a story of being beaten by his former schoolmates. This is off-the-wall, often acoustic indie-folk-pop, and Dev Hynes, 22, with his Coke-bottle glasses and the aforementioned hat (furry with ear flaps-think Siberian woodsman), is neither jock nor typical rock star. Lightspeed Champion isn’t a bar band, or a mainstream rock band, and it’s even a stretch to call them “college rock,” though maybe that’s because I haven’t been a college student for a long time. Rowdy crowds aren’t that unusual-they’re often a hazard of live performances. “Dev, I looooove you,” he slurs the entire night, dousing me now and again with Budweiser. But I’ve got my own drunken lout to contend with, a self-proclaimed “guy from Jersey” who’s three times the size of the ejected whippersnapper. Eventually, security guards drag the lad away. I see Jen and Luke again they’re attempting to fend off a shit-faced twentysomething pipsqueak wearing a wee backpack and tube socks. Whereas the Maxwell’s audience was energetic and engaged, at Bowery it’s outright rowdy. Two nights later, the much larger Bowery Ballroom is also jammed, but with a very different crowd. They clearly love playing music together, and a sense of joy and abandon permeates the packed space. The band delivers a giddy hour-long set, the four musicians grinning at one another throughout. ![]() Tonight is my first time seeing Lightspeed Champion it’s their first major U.S. I sum up their comments in my notebook: “Loves Star Wars. The two of them, who say they’re friendly with the band, give me some pointers about Dev. When I tell them I’ll be interviewing the band’s driving force, Dev Hynes, in a couple of days, Jen raises her eyebrows. I’ve just met Jen, 22, and her husband Luke, 27, as we’re waiting for June’s Lightspeed Champion show to start at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. Whatever you do, don’t ask him about the hat,” she says. ![]()
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