Vancouver, BC singer/songwriter Johnny Payne and his band Margarita Machine recently released their new summertime gem “All Messed Up.” Along with the new track, comes a video, featuring Johnny and his pals having a grand old time. As an added bonus, Johnny shows us his some nifty dance moves.  Arthur Murray would be proud! “All Messed Up” is now available via Light Organ Records and streaming services.

From Johnny Payne:

“The song means exactly what it says. There’s no mystery about it. It’s literal. I was all messed up one night and it made for a good story:  I went out to a club with some friends to see a band play and when the band finished my friends wanted to leave and I I didn’t. The club had a changeover at midnight; It went from music venue to all out dance club and I decided to hang around and see what all the fuss was about. I was drunk, of course, and getting more drunk. Groups of kids piled in and it quickly became a wild, sweaty dance party. I was out of place for sure but the crowd was welcoming and I kept my momentum going and my confidence up. I finished one drink after another with purpose until I had a moment of uncertainty about how deep I was in this goofy scene. But when you drink, and you’re that far along, sometimes the only thing you can do is keep going and let it all sort itself out. A good friend told me that…Anyway,  

I eventually made my way outside for some air. When I went to rejoin the party I was met with a firm hand to the chest and the bouncer informed me I was too drunk to go back in. I told him to look down at my feet; I was barefoot. Apparently I had taken my shoes off to dance at one point and left them somewhere in the bar. He let me go back in to find them but said I had to leave again right away when I did. Of course I went straight back to the dance floor and stayed another couple of hours. I don’t remember getting home that night but when I woke up the next morning I sat down at the piano and gulped out this tune. It’s nothing special. Just a drunk disco dirge in plain C. Good for dancing maybe. And Summer.”

I produced the record with Colin Cowan. We recorded it on his Tascam 388 tape machine and The Margarita Machine is the band.

Johnny Payne