Who We Are
13Lights Bio
A bit of our back story Originally saw the light of day in 2007, rising from the ashes of Parkastylo. Singer/songwriter Nick Phelps gathered a group of like-minded musicians to continue what had been started in the previous incarnation. James Elliot, Andy Carey, Steve Kenyon and Johnny Morrison joined up and 13 Lights were on the move.
Over 2 years the guys played many gigs around West Yorks, but by early 2009 the idea had run it's course and Nick was again looking for the next project.
A chance meeting with Tim Hardcastle ,and one thing led to another.... 13 Lights ( take 2) started up. James Elliot came back to the fold, and Ross Grimley was recruited on Bass. A strange mix of musical styles and an age range of nearly 30 years, from 18 to 47, from Metal to indie, via punk, the outlook for the line-up looked doubtful to put it mildly.
However, for a short while it worked fantastically, even reaching the lower reaches of Leeds Festival in 2010, when the lads played the newly inaugurated "Leeds Fest Fringe". Alas it ran out of steam, and the lads went their own ways. Fast forward to 2019 and 13 Lights ( take 3) started treading the boards with an energetic....for their advancing ages...... set of well known covers with an odd original cunningly worked into the mix. Nick again at the front, Tim at the back on the dustbin lids, Paul "Wing Commander" Gibby Gibson on Bass, and Andy "I need more effects pedals" Todd on Guitar. With a view to helping cover Andy's lack of pedals, a 2nd guitarist was needed.
Mick "Tong garden cente" Rigby survived the rigorous selection process.... he had a guitar, 2 hands and knew 4 chords... and was in. Then covid happened. Sadly Andy had to step aside, to return to his hometown of Scunthorpe to care for his mom.
Back to square 1, but cometh the hour, cometh the man. Our saviour was the well known long suffering Leeds United fan Mick Head, from that throbbing metropolis of Goole.
Again, all things come to an end, and Mick moved on to pastures new , with our love and thanks. As a wise man once said “ the end of a chapter, not the end of the book”.
So, no guitarist.... for all of 2 days !! No sooner had the call of “ guitar hero wanted” gone out , than Graham Lees showed up. A long standing mate of Tims, going WAY back in time to the early 00's and a few combos , Gra is a talented multi-instrumentalist, so expect bagpipes, dulcimers and all manner of weirdness. Like any good story, some ups, some downs, but a definite forward momentum.
