MIDTOWN

Pays Tribute To Elvis Costello

With “Pump It Up” Cover

Covers EP Out May 26th, 2023

We’re Too Old To Write New Songs,

So Here’s Some Old Songs We Didn’t Write

+ Performing At Adjacent Festival This Spring

Recently Featured On SPIN, Stereogum, NYLON,

Loudwire + More

Pump it up! Midtown are back with another brand new tribute from their forthcoming EP, We’re Too Old To Write New Songs, So Here’s Some Old Songs We Didn’t Write. Today, they’re paying homage to Elvis Costello with their take on “Pump It Up”, streaming now here: https://ffm.to/pumpitupmidtown.

Shares guitarist Tyler Rann:

“To this day I can still quote PCU, the underrated Jeremy Piven movie that first introduced me to ‘Pump It Up’. But my intro to Elvis Costello is from a far more impactful movie - Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I remember seeing an image of this bizarre looking person on the wall of Damone’s room - so strange and uncool (even next to Devo!) that I actually found it appealing. Shortly after, I picked up This Year’s Model at my local CD store and found that nerdy guys named Elvis could rock out and play fast and angsty enough to appeal to young teenage punk rockers living in suburban New Jersey. The crossover between pop, new wave and punk completely broadened my horizons. Elvis Costello broke down so many of my misconceptions about what music should sound (and look) like.”

“Pump It Up” is the third single from Midtown’s forthcoming EP We’re Too Old To Write New Songs, So Here’s Some Old Songs We Didn’t Write, set to be released on May 26th. The four song collection features Midtown’s take on influential songs from their past, including Pavement’s “Cut Your Hair” and Lagwagon’s “Know It All”.

So what’s the final track? Fans will just have to wait and see. Stay tuned for more at laylo.com/midtownnj, and catch Midtown this May at Adjacent Festival in Atlantic City, NJ.

About Midtown:

Midtown had such a blast playing its first shows in a near-decade that the emo-punk trailblazers decided to stick around. Fresh off last year’s sold out headlining tour – and a string of arena dates opening for old friends My Chemical Romance – Midtown presents its first new recordings in almost two decades. The Jersey-bred quartet’s surprise EP – We’re Too Old to Write New Songs So Here’s Some Old Songs We Didn’t Write – features four supercharged covers of songs seminal to Midtown’s musical DNA.

“It’s a lineage – where Midtown comes from and what shaped us as artists and people,” says vocalist-bassist Gabe Saporta. “We wanted to shine a light on our influences, and keep those influences alive.” Fans who caught old Midtown favorites like “Give It Up” and “Just Rock and Roll” on tour in late 2022 now get a fresh spin on tracks that helped make Midtown one of the most influential bands of emo and pop-punk’s turn-of-the-century explosion.

“The EP peels back the curtain– the songs would play over and over in the van,” says Midtown drummer Rob Hitt, thinking back to the band’s formative years. All four songs were also frequent warm-up tracks, songs Midtown would belt backstage to test those vocal harmonies, as recently as last year. On their reunion trek, Midtown rocked out to a sea of thousands at Chicago’s Riot Fest, to old friends and family at back-to-back sold out shows at New Jersey’s legendary Starland Ballroom, and to arenas full of MCRmy diehards.

The new EP was born in rehearsals for those shows. “Early summer, June and July, in the midst of practicing, we started talking about recording,” remembers vocalist-guitarist Heath Saraceno. “We were getting asked in interviews, Is new music coming out?,” Saporta recalls. Renewed with camaraderie and purpose, the band was initially ambivalent about being able to deliver.

Vocalist-guitarist Tyler Rann explains: “You have kids, you see the world through their eyes; you start to get older …” “and you wonder if you can get back to the place you were when you first wrote these songs,” interjects Saporta, “or if you’d even want to.” The band ultimately decided that sharing these renditions of songs that inspired them would be the best next thing.

Behind the success of 2022’s reunion and this exciting batch of songs, Midtown has found a new cadence. They’re slated to appear alongside Paramore and Blink-182 at Atlantic City, NJ’s inaugural Adjacent Festival this May, and don’t be surprised if more headlining shows appear around the holidays. Same goes for another surprise EP – perhaps with fans getting to vote on which songs get covered. Maybe a March Madness-style bracket to see what makes the cut? It’s all on the table.

“People always say you can’t go back, you can’t do it again,” says Rann, "but sometimes fate has another plan.”

Midtown Is:

Gabe Saporta – lead vocals, bass guitar

Tyler Rann – vocals, guitar

Heath Saraceno – vocals, guitars

Rob Hitt - drums

For More Information, please visit:

Website: www.midtownrock.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/midtown

Twitter: www.twitter.com/midtown

Instagram: www.instagram.com/midtownnj

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@midtownrocknj