Gary Mitchell Layton (a.k.a Mitchell) is a touring guitarist from New Jersey and a graduate of the guitar program at Musician’s Institute in Los Angeles, California. He specializes in rock and metal genres but is also skilled in blues, country, pop, punk, hardcore, and alternative music. Mitchell has been playing guitar in bands for over a decade and was the lead guitar player in a variety of different settings. 
 
Currently, Mitchell plays lead guitar in the Philly indie-rock / post-punk group Church Girls. He's toured all over the US, UK, and EU with them, and has helped them write and record several studio albums for label release. He's also played on several in-studio recording sessions for platforms like Audiotree and Paste Magazine. 
 
Previously, he's worked on original material and videos with pop artist Rivkah Hope, and has done session work for singer-songwriter Michael James. In 2018 Mitchell composed original music for video and performed with the Untamed Project.











 

After graduating from Musician's institute in 2017, Mitchell immediately started touring professionally in Hail Sagan. That summer, they completed a short run with Eyes Set to Kill, a month-long U.S tour as a support act for Mushroomhead, and a headlining show at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas. He played for hundreds of fans, handled stage crew responsibilities like loading and unloading gear, selling merchandise, staging lighting props, and talking on air with KLAQ in El Paso, Texas.