Band of the Week: Middle Distance Runner

Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Fun Fact: Before every show, band members huddle up, put their hands together and yell “1-2-3 Professionalism!”
Why It's Worth Watching: The group's brand of eclectic indie-rock proves clever and catchy, featuring a vocalist whose male falsetto can fly with the best of them.
For Fans Of: The Strokes, Blur, Phantom Planet

Hard work doesn’t always lead to success. Hard work backed by kick ass music and high spirits deserves something, though. Ian Glinka, bassist and pseudo-manager for Middle Distance Runner, finds his weekends filled with the burning and labeling of home-made demo CDs while watching cartoons as friends drink and carry on. He has a spreadsheet filled with the names of nearly a hundred music blogs to send shout outs and albums to, in an attempt to get his band's name out there. Glinka does seemingly whatever it takes to get the album heard, once even throwing the only thing he had on him — a half eaten pack of Dentyne Ice— in with a demo because he’d read on one blogger's page that he likes being sent candy. Glinka attached a note as well: “We hope you find the album as refreshing as the gum.”

It’s an uphill battle, though. “It’s tough to get on top of the pile sometimes,” Glinka testifies. “We think we’ve got something good and feel if we can just get people to listen, there’s a chance they’ll like it. We just need to get the album in the right person’s hands.”

With two lead guitarists of vastly different yet complementary styles, a singer with a penchant for well-placed reverb and doubling, a bassist known for his wild antics during live shows, and a drummer not afraid to slam a few cowbells, Glinka’s got a point. The band’s self-produced debut album, Plane in Flames, draws influences from early, rock-heavy Radiohead, eclectic Blur-era Blur, and indie garage-rock heroes from the last five years such as The Strokes and The Hives. Indie pop tracks like “Naturally,” with its infectious clapping, and “Top of the Stairs,” the band’s best go at punk-rock, might very well find circulation on college radio in no time.

After nearly eight years of on-again, off-again activity with limited success, things are looking up for Middle Distance Runner. The talent scouts will be watching at the band’s first concert at D.C.’s The Black Cat, a highly touted club venue which, coincidentally, happens to have housed each of the four bands mentioned as influences above. These guys have worked long and hard, and they’re getting results. With a growing regional fan-base and a name that’s beginning to be heard across the country, Middle Distance Runner could be on the verge of something big.