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Do you know how special Middle Distance Runner is to us?
Back in the day when we were just a crappy looking point-and-shoot blog (like-waaaaay last year) they were the first band ever to send us their CD “Plane in Flames” (it made us feel very special, I think I actually walked around showing the envelope to people for a few days).
And even better, it was a good CD, and we loved it from the first clap.
Since then we’ve been there for each other. They played 930 club, we were there. We relaunched, they took a recording break and played our party (if you haven’t seen them do “Sabotage,” well, you possibly have not lived) and then some.
So, when we found out they have a new EP out (which they are releasing this Saturday at the Cat), we had to

a. be the first ones to stream it (it is not out till Novemeber 6th, so enjoy this exclusive for all its exclusive exclusiveness)
b. snatch them in between fall tour dates, make them wear suits, and put them in a small room with a dog, some medals, and a jar of peanut butter.
and because they survived the photoshoot:
c. even allow them to run their all important hot dog reviews all week

Boys, animals, food and some of the most crowd pleasing indie pop in DC and beyond…
What is not to love?

Listen. Look. Enjoy.

The Sun and Earth
We knew we needed to start the EP with something super deep but also something you can shake your ass to, so we started by reading Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time”. That guy’s really smart, yeah, but he can also party. After we discussed the book, we realized we had no idea what we were talking about.
So we called Topper Shutt. He checked his Super Doppler and he told us that when the Sun is farther from the Earth, it’s hotter. I said “yeah, let’s throw a salsa beat on that, Topper”, and he said “yeah, mon”. We jammed for like 4 hours and hit record, and now we’ve got this great jam sesh over which I’ve freestyled an extended metaphor about the Sun and Earth and love and loss.

Monochrome Boys
Just now, as I typed the title of this song out, I realized we should have spelled it “Boyz”. Oh well.
Anyhoo, this song started off being about video games, but then I changed it to be about music and hepsters and how the two don’t always mix well. It’s probably a big overreaction to my inability to get my hair the way I want it, but as a song, it’s pretty good. Anyway, I’m sorry for lashing out.
Hey check out that distorted acoustic! Who even does that?!

With Swords
This is another metaphor about how we’re useless to women, except this time, we called up Peter Jackson for advice. I said “Pete, what would be a badass metaphor to use for this song?”
He said “Stiv, cimpir it to slishing a dimmin with a sode!”
I said “Just email it to me. I can’t understand a fucking thing you’re saying.”
Suddenly, he emailed me. It said “Steve, compare it to slashing a demon with a sword.”
Almost instantaneously, I emailed back “LOL, thanx Pete, LYLAS!! ;)”
Then, the rest of the band played upbeat pop music while I freestlyed about demon slashing. It was/is awesome.

Up in a Tree
This is a song we reworked from Plane in Flames, our first LP. It has a bunch of loopy circus sounds at the beginning, sort of like a Syd Barrett thing. Think “Bike” from Relics. Then there’s a string swell and the beat kicks in. Maybe all this money is going to our heads…
The song is about a girl that was a bitch to me a long time ago, but for legal reasons, I must insist that I NEVER looked in anyone’s bedroom from a tree. That’d be weird, right?

Naturally
We’ve reworked this old favorite to make it even clappier, happier, catchier, and . . . blatchier. Ehh.
We got a bunch of friends to stand around and clap and sing on it, but they’re not ASCAP members so technically, we don’t owe them shit. I also took out the lyric about growing up in Jersey because, let’s be honest, it didn’t really fit. That’s why I put it in “Man of the People”.

Man of the People
Faster! Tighter! Rawer! Heavier! Wilder! Billy! Who directed “Footloose”! Starring! Kevin Bacon!
This song sounds like wet jeans that show EVERYTHING.

all photos: joel didriksen kingpinphoto
styling: morgan hungerford pandahead

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