David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels

The Henry Clay People w/ Mike Watt and the Missingmen, Thee Mighty Angels, and Ready the Jet @ Spaceland

Thee Mighty Angels (fronted by Mighty Lemon Drops guitarist and Los Angeles-based producer Dave Newton and featuring members of The Little Ones and Kissing Tigers) set a high bar, showing the rest of Silverlake just how you’re supposed to play britpop. I’m pretty sure they played a lot of covers that His Bloggership doesn’t recognize (Was that Wah! Heat’s “Seven Minutes to Midnight”? Holy shit.) so I’ll just leave it at a surface reaction: the basslines were lovely, Brian Reyes’ organ parts added a nice twist on familiar britpop formulas, and Dave Newton’s musical intellect transforms into a monster of stage presence when he’s torn-away from the mixing board and armed with a guitar.

If Thee Mighty Angels played more shows we’d all be the better for it. - Classical Geek Theatre

The Henry Clay People w/ Mike Watt and the Missingmen, Thee Mighty Angels, and Ready the Jet @ Spaceland

Thee Mighty Angels (fronted by Mighty Lemon Drops guitarist and Los Angeles-based producer Dave Newton and featuring members of The Little Ones and Kissing Tigers) set a high bar, showing the rest of Silverlake just how you’re supposed to play britpop. I’m pretty sure they played a lot of covers that His Bloggership doesn’t recognize (Was that Wah! Heat’s “Seven Minutes to Midnight”? Holy shit.) so I’ll just leave it at a surface reaction: the basslines were lovely, Brian Reyes’ organ parts added a nice twist on familiar britpop formulas, and Dave Newton’s musical intellect transforms into a monster of stage presence when he’s torn-away from the mixing board and armed with a guitar.

If Thee Mighty Angels played more shows we’d all be the better for it. - Classical Geek Theatre

Free MP3: David Newton (Mighty Lemon Drops) & Thee Mighty Angels, ‘In Love and War’
July 30, 2012 7:30 am

Former Mighty Lemon Drops guitarist David Newton debuted his new band David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels last fall with the five-track Paint the Town EP, and now the group is at work on a full-length album — which we can preview here via the brand-new track “In Love and War,” available below as a free download for the next two weeks.

On the band’s Facebook page, Newton — who also payed with The Blue Aeroplanes following the split of The Mighty Lemon Drops — writes: “Just finished up a new song for the album. I had a dream that I wrote a song with the Pet Shop Boys called ‘In Love And War’… this is my interpretation of what I remember it sounding like :-)”

Check it out: - Sliceing Up Eyeballs

Free MP3: David Newton (Mighty Lemon Drops) & Thee Mighty Angels, ‘In Love and War’
July 30, 2012 7:30 am

Former Mighty Lemon Drops guitarist David Newton debuted his new band David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels last fall with the five-track Paint the Town EP, and now the group is at work on a full-length album — which we can preview here via the brand-new track “In Love and War,” available below as a free download for the next two weeks.

On the band’s Facebook page, Newton — who also payed with The Blue Aeroplanes following the split of The Mighty Lemon Drops — writes: “Just finished up a new song for the album. I had a dream that I wrote a song with the Pet Shop Boys called ‘In Love And War’… this is my interpretation of what I remember it sounding like :-)”

Check it out: - Sliceing Up Eyeballs

David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels | Paint the Town EP (s/r)
Written by Laura Hamlett
Friday, 02 December 2011 16:27

The Mighty Lemon Drops guitarist David Newton and Thee Mighty Angels here provide a near-perfect five-song release.

What is it with ’80s icons coming back at the top of the game? This year, it was Duran Duran with All You Need Is Now; last year, the new ones from Underworld, Nitzer Ebb, and Gang of Four ranked high on my playlist. Now we have The Mighty Lemon Drops guitarist David Newton and Thee Mighty Angels with a near-perfect five-song release.

Newton opens the disc with the title track, a shimmering mix of indie rock with ’80s influences (of course). His voice is strong and recognizable, the music inviting and addictive. “Bittersweet” keeps the guitars a-janglin’; the fact that Newton wrote and recorded the EP in California (where he currently lives) is apparent in the song’s catchy rays of sunshine.

“Everything Is Just So” could be by no one butNewton. Again, it’s fresh and retro; it’s also more reminiscent of the Drops than anything else on the EP. Next up, “This Time” just makes me happy. For some reason, I think of Christmas music: It’s jangly and upbeat, giving off a glow not unlike holiday lights. On “My First Band,”Newton takes a look back at what propelled him onto the charts, detailing the group’s creation, success…and disappointment. But never mind. Despite the highs and lows of The Mighty Lemon Drops’ career, here David Newton demonstrates that he’s never lost the fire. No matter the decade, his musical talent is undisputable.

Since the breakup of The Mighty Lemon Drops in the 1990s, Newton has kept busy producing and engineering a host of artists, among them The Little Ones, Everybody Was in the French Resistance, and The Hush Now. Whether you’re a fan of the Drops or new to Newton’s sound, this EP by a longtime legend is sure to occupy a prime spot on your iPod. Highly recommended. A | Laura Hamlett

RIYL: Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys, The Futureheads, the peppier side of The Cure - Playback Stl

December 02, 2011
Interview: Dave Newton & Thee Mighty Angels
by Joe Fielder

Former member of English pop group The Mighty Lemon Drops, Dave Newton has spent the last few years producing albums for a wide range of LA-based bands from unconventional acts like The Happy Hollows and Death to Anders to popsters and danceables like The Little Ones and The Blood Arm.

The results have been pretty fantastic.

Recently, he's come back to making his own music with new group Dave Newton & The Mighty Angels, so we asked him to give us background into each song off the recently-released album.

Here he is in his own words (w/ the songs to stream).

"Paint The Town"

This is probably my favorite song I have written in a long time, probably since “Laughter” period Mighty Lemon Drops. (I know, that's a long time ha ha !). I wanted the song to evoke a kind of Smiths-y poetic reflection of a night-out on the provincial town, maybe even somewhere like Wolverhampton where I grew up. (By the way try running a Google Image Search on “Wolverhampton at night”… Oh, man!) The main riff is a total New Order homage (take from the best I say!) and the solo is a definite nods to Altered Images (I am a shameless plagiarist!). I also love gang/group chanting/backing vocals, and nobody (not including my boys The Little Ones of course) does that better than British Sea Power, another of my faves and a definite influence!

"Bittersweet"
This was one of the first songs I put together last year. The Mighty Lemon Drops as a band was a little unorthodox in that Paul our singer didn't write, it was myself (& initially bassist & co-founder Tony on the first two albums) that wrote the songs. I hadn't really done anything of my own musically since the last Lemon Drops album in 1992, concentrating on making other folks records (and having a great time of course) and I kind of used the fact that I didn't have a vocalist as a bit of a crutch.

Now I am no hippy, but I did sort of have a life changing experience a little while back (I had a mild stroke in April 2010, which I have pretty much fully recovered from) and all these songs just started “appearing” I guess after that ! (crazy eh ?!) I had asked Nick Amoroso to come & play drums on a few song ideas I had, and I knocked this song out the night before… It's working title was actually “C86 Jam” ha ha ! At the time, I was recording Sarah Negahdari's solo record (Pisces) and asked her if she would sing on it ! She did and she also made a great video for the song too ! Then Chuck P played it on his KCRW show and it felt like that scene out of “That Thing You Do.” Ha ha… It really did feel good to have created something of my own again!!
"Everything Is Just So"

I LOVE mid-period Jesus & Mary Chain ! I know everyone is all about “Psychocandy” (which I love too) but my fave JAMC tune is probably “April Skies”, & I was thinking of the feel of that song when I put this ditty together. I am also a sucker for any recording that has a tremelo-guitar in-time with the song (classic example “How Soon Is Now” by The Smiths), so that's in here too ! I don't think it takes too many chords to make a song effective. I remember years back I was recording a band who shall remain nameless (they were part of that I.P.O / Poptopia scene) and all their songs had sixty-five chord changes before the first chorus yet amounted to nothing (to my ears at least!)!

Anyway they were talking about how they had gone to see Jason Faulkener & how he had to open for this “awful” band called Mercury Rev (who I loved!) and that M.R.'s opening song “had the SAME two chords all the way through … ugh” etc … & I realized that they were probably referring to the incredible “Holes” from “Deserters Songs”, to my ears a beautiful, incredible song that proves that you can evoke more with two chords than you can with twenty... there certainly is no accounting for taste sometimes. Ha ha.

"This Time"

The missus and I have a little get-away place out in the desert near Joshua Tree (and by no small coincidence minutes from the famed Pappy & Harriet's saloon/venue). It is small but it has amazing views, and I have a little recording set-up there. (I have recorded bits for The Blood Arm, Kissing Tigers and Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now out there!) This track was pretty much conceived and recorded one weekend in the desert. On the intro I use my Sitar-Guitar which I found at a guitar show in Pomona I went to with Joey from the Henry Clay People. Short but (bitter) sweet! My mate Keith (from Twinstar) said he thinks this song sounds like The Clientele … which is amazing as I have barely heard them!

"My First Band"

My other personal fave of the bunch ! It's quite liberating yet at the same time it feels odd for me to be writing lyrics from a first-person narrative perspective: most of the Lemon Drops lyrics were purposely kept shrouded in a sea of vague-ness… actually looking back some of the lyrics - Radio Free Silverlake

December 02, 2011
Interview: Dave Newton & Thee Mighty Angels
by Joe Fielder

Former member of English pop group The Mighty Lemon Drops, Dave Newton has spent the last few years producing albums for a wide range of LA-based bands from unconventional acts like The Happy Hollows and Death to Anders to popsters and danceables like The Little Ones and The Blood Arm.

The results have been pretty fantastic.

Recently, he's come back to making his own music with new group Dave Newton & The Mighty Angels, so we asked him to give us background into each song off the recently-released album.

Here he is in his own words (w/ the songs to stream).

"Paint The Town"

This is probably my favorite song I have written in a long time, probably since “Laughter” period Mighty Lemon Drops. (I know, that's a long time ha ha !). I wanted the song to evoke a kind of Smiths-y poetic reflection of a night-out on the provincial town, maybe even somewhere like Wolverhampton where I grew up. (By the way try running a Google Image Search on “Wolverhampton at night”… Oh, man!) The main riff is a total New Order homage (take from the best I say!) and the solo is a definite nods to Altered Images (I am a shameless plagiarist!). I also love gang/group chanting/backing vocals, and nobody (not including my boys The Little Ones of course) does that better than British Sea Power, another of my faves and a definite influence!

"Bittersweet"
This was one of the first songs I put together last year. The Mighty Lemon Drops as a band was a little unorthodox in that Paul our singer didn't write, it was myself (& initially bassist & co-founder Tony on the first two albums) that wrote the songs. I hadn't really done anything of my own musically since the last Lemon Drops album in 1992, concentrating on making other folks records (and having a great time of course) and I kind of used the fact that I didn't have a vocalist as a bit of a crutch.

Now I am no hippy, but I did sort of have a life changing experience a little while back (I had a mild stroke in April 2010, which I have pretty much fully recovered from) and all these songs just started “appearing” I guess after that ! (crazy eh ?!) I had asked Nick Amoroso to come & play drums on a few song ideas I had, and I knocked this song out the night before… It's working title was actually “C86 Jam” ha ha ! At the time, I was recording Sarah Negahdari's solo record (Pisces) and asked her if she would sing on it ! She did and she also made a great video for the song too ! Then Chuck P played it on his KCRW show and it felt like that scene out of “That Thing You Do.” Ha ha… It really did feel good to have created something of my own again!!
"Everything Is Just So"

I LOVE mid-period Jesus & Mary Chain ! I know everyone is all about “Psychocandy” (which I love too) but my fave JAMC tune is probably “April Skies”, & I was thinking of the feel of that song when I put this ditty together. I am also a sucker for any recording that has a tremelo-guitar in-time with the song (classic example “How Soon Is Now” by The Smiths), so that's in here too ! I don't think it takes too many chords to make a song effective. I remember years back I was recording a band who shall remain nameless (they were part of that I.P.O / Poptopia scene) and all their songs had sixty-five chord changes before the first chorus yet amounted to nothing (to my ears at least!)!

Anyway they were talking about how they had gone to see Jason Faulkener & how he had to open for this “awful” band called Mercury Rev (who I loved!) and that M.R.'s opening song “had the SAME two chords all the way through … ugh” etc … & I realized that they were probably referring to the incredible “Holes” from “Deserters Songs”, to my ears a beautiful, incredible song that proves that you can evoke more with two chords than you can with twenty... there certainly is no accounting for taste sometimes. Ha ha.

"This Time"

The missus and I have a little get-away place out in the desert near Joshua Tree (and by no small coincidence minutes from the famed Pappy & Harriet's saloon/venue). It is small but it has amazing views, and I have a little recording set-up there. (I have recorded bits for The Blood Arm, Kissing Tigers and Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now out there!) This track was pretty much conceived and recorded one weekend in the desert. On the intro I use my Sitar-Guitar which I found at a guitar show in Pomona I went to with Joey from the Henry Clay People. Short but (bitter) sweet! My mate Keith (from Twinstar) said he thinks this song sounds like The Clientele … which is amazing as I have barely heard them!

"My First Band"

My other personal fave of the bunch ! It's quite liberating yet at the same time it feels odd for me to be writing lyrics from a first-person narrative perspective: most of the Lemon Drops lyrics were purposely kept shrouded in a sea of vague-ness… actually looking back some of the lyrics - Radio Free Silverlake

Premiere: David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels, ‘Paint the Town’
by kevin on October 31, 2011

As guitarist and songwriter for the U.K. quartet the Mighty Lemon Drops (1985-92), David Newton fashioned buoyant melodies out of spry chord progressions and jangling riffs for a band largely remembered for being part of the C86 movement. He married an American girl and settled in southern California in 1995, setting aside songwriting and performing (save some sideman gigs) in favor of producing — out of Newton’s garage studio in Burbank came music from the likes of the Little Ones, the Soft Pack, the Henry Clay People, Eddie Argos’ project Everybody Was In The French Resistance … Now, the Happy Hollows and the Blood Arm, among many others. But now after almost two decades Newton has scratched his songwriting itch. His first EP as David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels, a one-man venture (except for guest vocals by the Happy Hollows’ Sarah Negahdari on “Bittersweet”), will come out in November. Fans who still matriculate to the stalwarts on the Brit Box (or swoon over today’s indie-pop sensations) will find a lot to like here: hooks, sanguine melodies and even a brief attack of nostalgia (“My First Band”). Proof that there’s not only gas left in Newton’s tank, but the engine’s still purring.

||| Download: “Paint the Town” - Buzz Bands LA

Premiere: David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels, ‘Paint the Town’
by kevin on October 31, 2011

As guitarist and songwriter for the U.K. quartet the Mighty Lemon Drops (1985-92), David Newton fashioned buoyant melodies out of spry chord progressions and jangling riffs for a band largely remembered for being part of the C86 movement. He married an American girl and settled in southern California in 1995, setting aside songwriting and performing (save some sideman gigs) in favor of producing — out of Newton’s garage studio in Burbank came music from the likes of the Little Ones, the Soft Pack, the Henry Clay People, Eddie Argos’ project Everybody Was In The French Resistance … Now, the Happy Hollows and the Blood Arm, among many others. But now after almost two decades Newton has scratched his songwriting itch. His first EP as David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels, a one-man venture (except for guest vocals by the Happy Hollows’ Sarah Negahdari on “Bittersweet”), will come out in November. Fans who still matriculate to the stalwarts on the Brit Box (or swoon over today’s indie-pop sensations) will find a lot to like here: hooks, sanguine melodies and even a brief attack of nostalgia (“My First Band”). Proof that there’s not only gas left in Newton’s tank, but the engine’s still purring.

||| Download: “Paint the Town” - Buzz Bands LA

David Newton and Thee Mighty Angels
Paint the Town EP
Independent

The last time David Newton was playing under the "mighty" banner, the mighty in question were C86 legends The Mighty Lemon Drops. Arming himself with Thee Mighty Angels this time around, the former MLD guitarist breaks almost twenty-years of recorded silence with his new EP Paint The Town.

And it sounds like no time has passed at all. An invigorating five-song dispatch that finds Newton stepping up to the mike for the first time, it's hard to believe that he could keep songs this good in the holster for two decades. The infectious title track is propelled by a bass line that would make Peter Hook proud and its chorus makes it one of the catchiest songs of the year. "Bittersweet," however, may be even catchier. An upbeat meditation on the passing of time that's punctuated by pitch perfect call and response vocals while Newton counts down the seasons, "Bittersweet" is a blast of pop that gets more done in two-and-a-half minutes than most bands do in their entire careers.

Newton sounds positively gleeful and he commandeers every number with a musical alacrity that's nothing short of masterful. Check out, "Everything Is Just So" which packs more pop muscle than any song in recent memory; "This Time" rolls into a big jangly love-fest and the ruminative "My First Band" is a geinus indie rock re-reading of "Summer Of '69." Newton checks in ten years later than Bryan Adams, looking back to 1979 and his guitar wielding fourteen year-old self, recalling, "it was pure, it was perfect, it was poignant." The song cascades into a soaring orchard of pop harmony that won't leave your head for days.

David Newton is back, my friends. We needed him.

Caught In The Carousel talks to David Newton about Paint The Town:

Caught In The Carousel: Can you talk about how long this EP was germinating?

David Newton: To be honest I hadn't really done anything totally of my own since the last The Mighty Lemon Drops album Ricochet in 1992 (a U.S. only album that, umm, not many people bought, ha ha!). I did play with Blue Aeroplanes for a little while after that but when I moved here in 1995 most of the music-related work I did was on other folks' records, producing/engineering etc, though I did collaborate/play in a few friends' bands (Twinstar/Fonda/Straight To Video and not forgetting The C86 All Stars!). It has always been a little awkward for me being a writer but not really fancying myself as a lead singer/frontman, and I'll give credit to Paul in the 'Drops because even though he didn't write, he was the frontman I was never going to be. Basically just over a year ago (by no small coincidence, following a bit of a health scare!) I started getting all these song ideas and I just thought "sod it" let's have a bash myself rather than having to rely on other people, which has been quite liberating, really. I always thought I should wait till I was 47 to finish up where the Lemon Drops left off...

CITC: And after you did give it a bash, did the results surprise you—did you think, "I should have been doing this years ago!"?

DN: Y'know, it did surprise me really! I had zero expectations, other than I wanted to see if I would be able to do it. I played it to some friends who were quite surprised, too. I wasn't planning on releasing it initially—I was kinda bullied into it (ha, ha!), and I know it sounds corny but I have already achieved more than what I planned so anything here-on is a bonus.

CITC: Can we assume that the fire has been ignited and more songs are on the way?

DN: Yes. I am SOOOO happy at the reaction / reception I have already got to my little project, so I am planning on working towards making a full-length next year. Then maybe getting a band together and playing a few shows and then see what occurs. It's great having no real agenda...I intend to just go with the flow, and if people like it and want more or want to see gigs or whatever, I will roll along with it.

(http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/paint-the-town-ep/id484264482?ls=1)

—Alex Green
- Caught In The Carousel

David Newton and Thee Mighty Angels
Paint the Town EP
Independent

The last time David Newton was playing under the "mighty" banner, the mighty in question were C86 legends The Mighty Lemon Drops. Arming himself with Thee Mighty Angels this time around, the former MLD guitarist breaks almost twenty-years of recorded silence with his new EP Paint The Town.

And it sounds like no time has passed at all. An invigorating five-song dispatch that finds Newton stepping up to the mike for the first time, it's hard to believe that he could keep songs this good in the holster for two decades. The infectious title track is propelled by a bass line that would make Peter Hook proud and its chorus makes it one of the catchiest songs of the year. "Bittersweet," however, may be even catchier. An upbeat meditation on the passing of time that's punctuated by pitch perfect call and response vocals while Newton counts down the seasons, "Bittersweet" is a blast of pop that gets more done in two-and-a-half minutes than most bands do in their entire careers.

Newton sounds positively gleeful and he commandeers every number with a musical alacrity that's nothing short of masterful. Check out, "Everything Is Just So" which packs more pop muscle than any song in recent memory; "This Time" rolls into a big jangly love-fest and the ruminative "My First Band" is a geinus indie rock re-reading of "Summer Of '69." Newton checks in ten years later than Bryan Adams, looking back to 1979 and his guitar wielding fourteen year-old self, recalling, "it was pure, it was perfect, it was poignant." The song cascades into a soaring orchard of pop harmony that won't leave your head for days.

David Newton is back, my friends. We needed him.

Caught In The Carousel talks to David Newton about Paint The Town:

Caught In The Carousel: Can you talk about how long this EP was germinating?

David Newton: To be honest I hadn't really done anything totally of my own since the last The Mighty Lemon Drops album Ricochet in 1992 (a U.S. only album that, umm, not many people bought, ha ha!). I did play with Blue Aeroplanes for a little while after that but when I moved here in 1995 most of the music-related work I did was on other folks' records, producing/engineering etc, though I did collaborate/play in a few friends' bands (Twinstar/Fonda/Straight To Video and not forgetting The C86 All Stars!). It has always been a little awkward for me being a writer but not really fancying myself as a lead singer/frontman, and I'll give credit to Paul in the 'Drops because even though he didn't write, he was the frontman I was never going to be. Basically just over a year ago (by no small coincidence, following a bit of a health scare!) I started getting all these song ideas and I just thought "sod it" let's have a bash myself rather than having to rely on other people, which has been quite liberating, really. I always thought I should wait till I was 47 to finish up where the Lemon Drops left off...

CITC: And after you did give it a bash, did the results surprise you—did you think, "I should have been doing this years ago!"?

DN: Y'know, it did surprise me really! I had zero expectations, other than I wanted to see if I would be able to do it. I played it to some friends who were quite surprised, too. I wasn't planning on releasing it initially—I was kinda bullied into it (ha, ha!), and I know it sounds corny but I have already achieved more than what I planned so anything here-on is a bonus.

CITC: Can we assume that the fire has been ignited and more songs are on the way?

DN: Yes. I am SOOOO happy at the reaction / reception I have already got to my little project, so I am planning on working towards making a full-length next year. Then maybe getting a band together and playing a few shows and then see what occurs. It's great having no real agenda...I intend to just go with the flow, and if people like it and want more or want to see gigs or whatever, I will roll along with it.

(http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/paint-the-town-ep/id484264482?ls=1)

—Alex Green
- Caught In The Carousel

Wednesday, January 18, 2012
David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels: Paint The Town EP
David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels
Paint The Town EP
Self-Released [2011]

Fire Note Says: David Newton returns to the music scene with his solid and melodic bursting Paint The Town EP!

Album Review:
If you really know your music than I expect that you might already know David Newton as the guitarist in the Wolverhampton, England band The Mighty Lemon Drops. Their heyday was in the late eighties, early nineties before they broke up as David then played briefly with The Blue Aeroplanes.

Catching up, Newton has been located in Los Angeles since 1995 and converted his garage into a recording studio where he has produced and engineered countless records that include The Little Ones, The Henry Clay People and The Soft Pack to just name a few.

Paint The Town is actually Newton's first solo work and to no surprise was self-produced, performed and recorded in California over the last year. What I like about the Paint The Town EP is that David embraces the sound he knows well and cranks out 5 tracks of modern melodic pop that build on the post-punk he did so well with The Mighty Lemon Drops.

All five songs are big and bursting with memorable choruses that instantly engage the listener and will have you singing along with ease. Paint The Town is a solid 15 minutes of everything going right for David Newton and showcases his veteran status that is entrenched with the current musical scene. Newton is planning a full length album here in 2012 and based on the strength of this outing - we can't wait to hear it!

Key Tracks: "Paint The Town", "Bittersweet", "My First Band"

Bands With Similar Fire:
John P. Strohm
Mike Viola
Tommy Keene

David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels Website
David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels Facebook

-Reviewed by Christopher Anthony
- The Fire Note

Wednesday, January 18, 2012
David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels: Paint The Town EP
David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels
Paint The Town EP
Self-Released [2011]

Fire Note Says: David Newton returns to the music scene with his solid and melodic bursting Paint The Town EP!

Album Review:
If you really know your music than I expect that you might already know David Newton as the guitarist in the Wolverhampton, England band The Mighty Lemon Drops. Their heyday was in the late eighties, early nineties before they broke up as David then played briefly with The Blue Aeroplanes.

Catching up, Newton has been located in Los Angeles since 1995 and converted his garage into a recording studio where he has produced and engineered countless records that include The Little Ones, The Henry Clay People and The Soft Pack to just name a few.

Paint The Town is actually Newton's first solo work and to no surprise was self-produced, performed and recorded in California over the last year. What I like about the Paint The Town EP is that David embraces the sound he knows well and cranks out 5 tracks of modern melodic pop that build on the post-punk he did so well with The Mighty Lemon Drops.

All five songs are big and bursting with memorable choruses that instantly engage the listener and will have you singing along with ease. Paint The Town is a solid 15 minutes of everything going right for David Newton and showcases his veteran status that is entrenched with the current musical scene. Newton is planning a full length album here in 2012 and based on the strength of this outing - we can't wait to hear it!

Key Tracks: "Paint The Town", "Bittersweet", "My First Band"

Bands With Similar Fire:
John P. Strohm
Mike Viola
Tommy Keene

David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels Website
David Newton & Thee Mighty Angels Facebook

-Reviewed by Christopher Anthony
- The Fire Note