Ted Leo, Brendan Canty of Fugazi, Michael Hampton of Faith and Fake Names and Sohrab Habibion of Edsel and Obits have teamed up as The Foreign Correspondent to pay tribute to power pop pioneer Michel Pagliaro. Leo, Canty, Hampton and Habibion collaborated on covers of Pagliaro’s “Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy” and “We’re Dancin'” from an early side project called Second Helping.

Speaking on the release, John Pastore of Outer Battery Records offered, “It’s going to be an amazing series of releases. Dave (Sweetapple) and I are both huge fans of Michel Pagliaro and we’ve been trying for years to reissue his first album from 1971 but with no luck. So, we started to wonder if we should record a couple of covers of our favorite songs, put it out, and hopefully catch his attention.”

The 7 inch features both covers of “Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy” and “We’re Dancin’” and will be released on April 5 in four different vinyl pressings.

Leo’s punk band Chisel had reunited for the first time in over 26 years in mid-February of 2023. Chisel’s reunion performance was part of Numero Group’s 20th anniversary celebration in Los Angeles, California. They played alongside Codeine, The Hated, Ida and more. The band’s last show was in 1997. Leo was also included on the lineup for Lookout Records’ live stream concert back in 2021 with Common Rider and members of The Avengers and The Mr. T Experience.

Photo Credit: Sania Parekh