Neil Leyton

Lisbon-born rock n roll singer/songwriter & indie label entrepreneur: Neil Leyton became familiar with the stage while living in Canada in the 1990’s, where he fronted Toronto’s glam godfathers The Conscience Pilate, after starting out on bass with psychedelic art-rockers Passion’d Flower.

He launched his solo career in 1998 with the release of the critically acclaimed “Secret Avenue” album, throwing himself simultaneously into his music as well as running Fading Ways Music, his Canadian indie label. His second album, “…from the brighter side of her Midnight Sun”, was released in the UK via the ChangesOne label in 2003 and in Canada via Scratch Distribution, harnessing critical acclaim throughout all of Fading Ways Music’s distributed territories.

In 2004 Leyton launched Fading Ways Music UK, embracing Creative Commons licenses, endorsing file-sharing and cultural freedom while most of the music industry launched reactionary lawsuits against so-called “pirates”.

“Blacklight Skies”, a compilation featuring tracks from both albums and several Leyton EPs, was released in 2005 by Fading Ways Music UK and the German label Supermusic, raising Leyton’s profile in Germany considerably, with some excellent record reviews and radio airplay.

The Betrayal of the Self, Leyton’s third self-produced album, followed the Dead Fashion Brigade EP, via FW UK and Feedback Boogie Records (Sweden). Recorded in Stockholm at Acetone studios and featuring Leyton’s new Sweden-based backing unit, The Ghosts, this album proved to be his most immediate, urgent, and politicized release thus far, captivating reviewers from Finland, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Portugal, the UK and Canada – selling units as far wide as Japan.

Leyton has recently released two home-recorded albums while working on his next opus, Elite Nylon. A 7″ vinyl record called The Point, a side project with Nicke Andersson, was also released in June 2010.