It began with Bon Jovi.

"We started writing because we wanted to be Bon Jovi," remembers Chris Russell. He was also into Metallica and Pantera at the time. His new school friend George Owens preferred Chris De Burgh. But, when they first met, they both agreed that the song 'Always' was "it" ? or whatever 13 year-old boys said in Surrey, England circa 1994.

"When you're that age you find an idol and you just try to copy them," reasons Russell, who, with Owens, now fronts The Lightyears. "So our first song was kind of homage to 'Always'."

They've come a long way in the 15 years since ? rounded out by drummer Tony Lyons and George's brother John on bass, the band's piano and guitar sound has more in common with Keane, Coldplay and The Killers than 'Bed Of Roses'.

"We've been making fairly mainstream rock pop music for quite a while now," explains Russell who's seen the band tour the USA, South Korea, Thailand and mainland Europe in the past six years.

"The last album we released around Christmas, called 'London, England', had a pop rock face and certainly the singles on it are very poppy, catchy kind of songs," continues the pianist, songwriter and backing vocalist.

But he sees another change coming. And, considering they're currently in South Africa for a series of shows, it's quite apt the new direction comes in a song called 'Johannesburg'.

"Musically it's still a pop song but it's got a slightly different kind of feel to it," explains Russell. "Our housemate in London, who originally comes from Cape Town, says it had something that seems quite authentically South African about it."

And it appears to be hitting the right notes with locals.

"We've been here a few days and played a couple of small gigs and seem to be getting a very good reaction. People are really connecting to it in a way I could never have predicted."

He also couldn't have predicted that, after watching a BBC documentary, he'd write a song about two young Zimbabwean refugees making their way to Jozi.

"The songs I wrote before were more introspective kinds of songs where you're reflecting on the way you feel about particular small things whereas 'Johannesburg' flips that on its head a little bit."

"The thing about inspiration is it can kind of creep up on you," he says of the track sparked by a moving story he caught on TV.

"These two brothers, in their early teens, told the story of how their parents had both been murdered. They obviously had no idea of where to turn but heard people say: 'If you manage to get to Johannesburg then you may be able to get food and shelter.'

"And because they had no other choice, they just started walking," Russell continues. "It's a pretty harrowing thing to have to do and they'd been attacked and mugged along the way but they'd eventually made it to the outskirts of Johannesburg.

"You have no idea what became of them eventually but the fact that they'd made it there resonated with me," he says.

"It's the kind of experience I could never hope to understand myself but there was something very simple and universal about the story."

That story ? presented with strummed acoustic guitars and a surprisingly uplifting chorus ? is sure to get an airing when The Lightyears perform at the Cape Town Tens rugby tournament this week.

Ironically, Russell isn't much of a rugby fan ("I know very little about rugby. Next to nothing, if I'm honest," he confesses on the band's blog). But he's not letting that bother him.

"I'm hoping to fit in nevertheless. We've played a couple of shows like this before ? we played some in England for rugby teams so we'll probably be able to hold our own.

"Either way I've got a feeling it's going to be quite a good party," he laughs.

"We'll just see if we can keep up with them in the drinking stakes. Whether that will happen remains to be seen."

TIME-OUT QUESTIONS

What song do you wish you'd written?

'From Me To You' by The Beatles. It's just the perfect pop song ? so lean, the chord changes, everything about it is so brilliantly done. The thing is though with The Beatles everything they did was so on the money, it appears to be simple but in fact isn't.

What's the most embarrassing album in your collection?

I have the new Madonna album on my iPod but only because I was asked to review it once by a magazine. I don't actually listen to it but it is on my iPod and I do get stick for it.

What's been the band's strangest experience?

A few years ago before we'd done much international touring, we were up in the French alps and we toured around the ski resorts and played at the pubs and bars but we were basically quite unprepared for being on a mountain.

So we were driving around in this battered old estate car which was fine for the first couple of weeks because the weather was OK at the end of the season. But one day a huge blizzard hit and we didn't have snow chains for the car, we didn't have enough clothes to stay warm, and the car broke down on the side of the mountain and we were basically sat there for a couple of hours while it calmed down.

But we learnt our lesson from that. As the boy scouts say, you should be prepared.

> Catch The Lightyears on Wednesday 4 February at Speedway 105 Cafe, and at the Cape Town Tens After-Party on Saturday 7 February and Sunday 8 February.