Neil Leyton has just announced the release of his newest single “Singerman” out NOW on Shame Destroyer Records. The new single follows Leyton’s tradition of crafting sing-along pop anthems with garage-rock-grit. Following the release of the “Michael Maker” and “Praia Verde Eldorado” singles recorded at Canoa Studios in Portugal, Portuguese-Canadian rock n roll singer-songwriter Neil Leyton brings us “Singerman”: an ode to his good friend from NYC Robert Singerman.
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 MC5, The Makers. “Singerman” is a fast-paced rock n roll stomp featuring Leyton on vocals and bass, assisted on guitar by Pete Marquis (from Porto, Portugal, lead singer and guitarist from Sirius Voltage, also ex-Silky, a band that Leyton produced in Toronto back in the early 00’s), on drums by Lusitanian Ghosts’ João “Johnny” Sousa, and on the Hammond organ and piano by none other than Nelson Canoa himself, engineer, mixer and producer at Canoa Studios in Portugal.
Regarding the inspiration for the new single, Leyton explained, “Over the last 30 years I think I’ve written an over-abundance of songs about myself, or based on my emotions, relationships and other self-centered topics. But I always had fun writing about other people, like chronicling the biography of Baader-Meinhof’s Ingrid Schubert or the more recent fictional phone call from Michael Maker. This time I wanted to send a shout out to a great friend and life-long rock n roller, Robert Singerman, who I met at MIDEM and helped us out at CMW back in 2012. He used to be the manager for The Fleshtones from NYC and is just an amazing person – he deserves a song!”
Leyton is a prolific songwriter as well as wearing many hats within the music industry “These days I try and find time to juggle running my label and publishing company, European projects, plus having proper family time as well as still singing and writing songs with Lusitanian Ghosts, the recently re-formed The Conscience Pilate, and once in a while releasing a solo single as well. Life is too short not to!” The single is available on one of Leyton’s new labels, Shame Destroyer, home of Passion d’Flower, Devin Stoneham, Vaslav and Dutnoff. The motto for the label is “release everything”.
Neil Layton Photo Credit: Katja Ruge