Neil Leyton has just announced the release of his newest single (I Got A Call From) Michael Maker out December 12th on Shame Destroyer Records. The new single follows Leyton’s tradition of crafting sing-along pop anthems with garage-rock-grit. Leyton’s roots in the North American and Scandinavian underground rock scenes informs the stripped down recording style on the recording. With roomy drums, redlined guitars and hot vocals, the single calls to mind Leyton’s influences: Hanoi Rocks, Dogs d’Amour, The Chamber Strings, and of course The Makers.
Regarding the theme of the new single, Leyton explained, “I was driving in Lisbon listening to some Chamber Strings with Kevin Junior, who my Finnish friend Mikko Jokela turned me onto. Then I switched to a Makers album I had not heard in a while: Strangest Parade. I was thinking, what if Michael Maker called the late Kevin Junior… what would he say? So many songs on Strangest Parade ring true today, all the misery in the world. I wonder if he even knew the Chamber Strings though, he might dial the wrong number up in heaven and not reach Kevin… he might somehow dial back in time and get me instead, on my old Toronto phone number at the Peyton Layne, on the couch listening to The Makers’ Rock Star God… and so the entire song, (I got a call from ) Michael Maker just came to me like that. As soon as I got home I sat down with my old Levin acoustic from 1950, that I bought from Stevie Klasson in Stockholm, and demoed the song in one take, one sitting. Recorded it at Canoa Studios with Johnny Sousa, the Lusitanian Ghosts’ drummer, as well as Nelson Canoa on the Hammond. My daughter Violet sang backing vocals! I suppose you could describe it as a pseudo-telepathic time-traveling reverie imbued with my usual humanist hope for the future. Oh, and here’s to hoping that The Makers make another record! Long overdue.”
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