Continuing the 30 Year celebrations of Neil Leyton’s career in music, Shame Destroyer records announces the re-issue of a newly remastered “Fires of the Heart” single, with “Candle Dance” and “Sad” as the double B-sides.
These three songs were released in 1998 as the very last The Conscience Pilate single, after Edward Pond’s departure, when Leyton was already the sole TCP founder left in the line-up. “It didn’t make sense to continue using the TCP name without Pondy”, explains Leyton.
By the time the video for “Fires of the Heart” was shot, featuring Leyton and Mary Brisebois, TCP was no more and the single was considered a Neil Leyton release, with a new mix ending up on Leyton’s first solo album “Down Secret Avenue with the Last Lovers” (1999).
Leyton comments further: “Fires of the Heart” as well as the two additional songs that make up this single were recorded by Norm Barker at Studio 92 – the best sounding recordings I ever made there with Norm. The band was Stacey Straye on guitar, Kevin Taylor on drums and Pascal King on the bass. Edward had left The Conscience Pilate and someone suggested this kid Pascal, from Montreal, to come in on bass to continue TCP but it just didn’t work out. I recall us pulling over on the side of the motorway on the way back from a gig in London… I knew it was time to end things as The Conscience Pilate, so we invited Edward back into the fold for one last proper TCP show at the Rivoli and then I went solo. By the time we shot the video for “Fires” Stacey had quit – over some margaritas at Tequila Flats – and only Kev stuck around for a few gigs once my first solo album, “Secret Avenue”, came out… but that’s another story!”
“Fires of the Heart” will be out March 26th on all streaming platforms. Follow this link to pre-save / follow Neil Leyton.