In the Arkells’ current bio, the Hamilton quintet lists some of the bands it’s been psyched to share a stage with, including ones “we love and never thought we would get to play with—Metric, Pearl Jam, Girl Talk, Tokyo Police Club, Them Crooked Vultures, Wintersleep, and the Starland Vocal Band.”

If you noticed something slightly off about that statement, it’s because the Arkells hadn’t even been born when the Starland Vocal Band scored a huge hit in ’76 with its playful ode to midday nookie, “Afternoon Delight”. Turns out that phony bit of Arkells history was planted for humorous effect by Nick Dika, who plays bass for the band when he’s not busy pulling listeners’ legs.

If the members of the Arkells had been around when “Afternoon Delight” ruled the airwaves, though, they might have happily hummed along to its ultra-poppy soft-rock strains. Their new album, Michigan Left, is about as poppy and upbeat as jangly guitar rock gets these days.

“It’s definitely influenced by some pop albums that we’ve listened to in the last few years,” offers lead singer Max Kerman, calling from a southern Ontario roadway, jokester Dika at the wheel. “I mean, there’s records like Phoenix’s last one, which is really energetic and well-crafted, and Spoon. We were also listening to bands from the ’70s like Fleetwood Mac and Hall & Oates. At the time, maybe people didn’t look at these bands too critically, but when years pass you kind of see that they were making very substantial music.”

To help conjure a Fleetwood Mac-style vibe on Michigan Left’s closing number, “Agent Zero”, the Arkells called in Canuck roots-rock diva Kathleen Edwards. She recorded some vocals with the band at the Bathouse Recording Studio, a facility on the shores of Lake Ontario that’s owned by the Tragically Hip.

“It’s a great place,” raves Kerman. “You can live on the second floor, and you record on the first floor, so you just kinda wake up, make some breakfast, and start makin’ music. And one day the Hip had to finish one of their songs, so Gord Downie was laying down a vocal track and Gord Sinclair was in the control room giving instructions. It was really cool to see.”

The Arkells’ appreciation of Kingston’s favourite sons is evident in Michigan Left’s bouncy new video-single, “Kiss Cam”, which opens with the line: “This campfire won’t last forever, the Hip have only wrote so many songs.”

“They’re an influence in the same way that Joel Plaskett or the Constantines are, in that they’re a great Canadian rock band,” says Kerman. “That specific reference is about sitting around a campfire and playing songs on an acoustic guitar, and I think if you’re anybody of our age and you go camping in the summer or you go to someone’s cottage, there’s a good chance that the Hip are gonna be part of the playlist.”

The Arkells play the Commodore Ballroom next Friday (November 11).