If you caught #PMJtour in Houston and Dallas these past couple of days, you already know about the incredible Maiya Sykes. If you have tickets to our upcoming dates, well…I don’t want to give anything away, but to say her voice is powerful is an understatement. I first heard Maiya sing as a guest performer during our “Postmodern Nights” residency at Hyde Sunset; she performed the PMJ version of “Creep” that we first recorded with Karen Marie and stunned the entire room. Immediately, I reached out to invite her to join us on tour.
It’s no surprise that Maiya’s parent are both musicians – her mother actually sang backup for Earth Wind & Fire. She’s been singing professionally from a very young age, and if you look closely, you might just catch a glimpse of a young Maiya in the music video for Tina Turner’s “We Don’t Need Another Hero.” Additionally, Maiya is one of the most educated members of our cast; while I was busy dropping out of grad school, she was a triple major at Yale.
Hearing Maiya sing live is a total experience; her voice just fills the room, and you can instantly tell that this is a singer that lives and breathes music. She’s a perfect example of pure vocal talent; the kind that needs no auto tune or “studio magic” to stun the listener. Luckily, before hitting the road, she had enough time to stop by and record a new PMJ tune that will be coming out in the next couple of weeks. I don’t want to leak the name of the song we covered, but I will say that it is a current top 10 Billboard hit, and she may have just recorded the definitive version of it.
Check out her take on Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” which we recorded on one of our off days during our US tour earlier this year –
Download / Order “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” from our ‘Swipe Right For Vintage’ album:
Here's some of our upcoming #PMJtour dates - tix are here.
Dec 5 - Austin, TX; ACL Live at the Moody Theatre
Dec 6 - San Antonio, TX; Charline McCombs Empire Theatre
Dec 8 - Mesa, AZ; Mesa Arts Center
Dec 9 - San Diego, CA; House of Blues
Dec 10 - Sacramento, CA; Crest Theatre
Dec 11 - Los Angeles, CA; Microsoft Theater (formerly Nokia Theatre)
Dec 12 - San Francisco, CA; Warfield Theatre
Dec 13 - San Francisco, CA; Warfield Theatre
Dec 14 - Portland, OR; Crystal Ballroom
Dec 15 - Seattle, WA; Showbox Sodo
Dec 16 - Boise, ID; Knitting Factory
Dec 18 - Denver, CO; Paramount Theatre
Dec 19 - Aspen, CO; Wheeler Opera House
-Scott
@scottbradlee