When Ted Leo, drummer Chris Wilson and bassist Dave Lerner first arrived to Long View Farms Studios in Massachusetts last fall to record Living With the Living, a gaudy homage tacked to the wall immediately caught their eye.

“We knew Bad Brains recorded Eye Against Eye there, and the Stones did some demos and lived there for awhile,” Wilson says, “but such luminaries as Creed and the J.Geils Band also recorded there. There were platinum Creed records hanging on the wall.”

No matter. If there’s anyone on Earth who could exorcise any lingering effects of a musical faux pas like Creed, it’s the New Jersey rude boy and the Pharmacists. He made freaking Kelli Clarkson cool for crying out loud.

For their first release on Touch and Go, they also brought in Brendan Canty, Fugazi drummer and brother of ex-Ted Leo collaborator James Canty to produce a record almost three years in the making.

A couple of factors led to the late arrival of Living With the Living (released March 20), the band’s relentless touring schedule, and the ruin of their old label, Lookout!, which lost its biggest breadwinners when Green Day and Operation Ivy rescinded its masters in 2006, forcing the label to halt new releases.

But the hiatus gave the prolific Leo extra time to write – a limited edition five song EP, Mo Living, was also released in addition to Living’s 15-tracks, and Leo demoed 10 more songs that didn’t make either recording – and Canty’s collaborative influence is surely felt.

“Brendan definitely rode my ass,” said Wilson of his fellow drummer. “He made sure I was playing my best and I really appreciate that. On every other record I’ve done, I’ve regretted some things. And there’s nothing about this one I regret.”

The result is perhaps Leo’s most complete, expansive, and certainly the most diverse yet. While elements of ska, folk, dub and soul have always been intrinsic to Leo’s brand of mod-punk, a few songs on Living fall squarely in those categories. “The Unwanted Things” is reggae, and “A Bottle of Buckie” is a straight-up Irish drinking song reminiscent of the Pogues.

And the follow-up track to “The Unwanted Things,” “Lost Brigade” gives Wilson his “first real chance to rip off Bonham,” he said. “It’s my favorite to play live.”

Leo’s trademark vocal quavering, the dizzying work on his Gibson ES-335 and his heady and political lyrics are still present on Living, but it seems they are a bit tamped down this time around. Overall, the songs are lyrically a bit more personal than political.

Leo came up in the late 80’s hardcore scene with his bands Citizen’s Arrest and Animal Crackers, but it was the politically-charged Chisel that Leo founded and fronted that made him somewhat of an indie icon. His 2001 release The Tyranny of Distance, his first with the Pharmacists, garnered Leo comparisons to Billy Bragg, Elvis Costello and Paul Weller. The following record, Hearts of Oak, was ranked by SPIN as the No. 14 record of the year in 2003. Shake the Sheets, produced by Chris Shaw, followed in 2004.

The band is hitting the road in support of the new record, which debuted at No. 12 on the CMJ charts, March 28 in Wilson’s adopted hometown of Philadelphia. Love of Diagrams is opening all U.S dates.

“It’s a departure from of how we usually write, record and hit the fucking road,” Wilson said. “It will be nice for people to get a chance to know the new songs. This is the first time we’ve got to sit and stew and see how things shake out.”