The Maine Covers Justin Bieber and announces new EP set for June 24th

The Maine have announced the release of their brand new upcoming EP – Covers (Side B). This EP serves as the anticipated sequel to Covers (Side A) released in December of last year. The track listing for (Side A) is composed of 90’s pop tunes, rearranged and performed by the band. Both Mayday Parade’s Derek Sanders and The Technicolors’ Brennan Smiley leant their vocal abilities to tracks on the first EP. The decision to create the EPs was born out of The Maine’s unwavering passion for what they do as musicians. The band’s drummer Pat Kirch explains, “It is always a great learning process to see how other song writers put songs together. We always have a good time recording cover songs because of the lack of pressure. We like to use cover songs to take some chances with sounds that we normally don’t try.” This method is audible in the music, as evidenced in praise for Covers (Side A). Mitchell Hillman of the Phoenix New Times notes “it is clear that this little stopgap project is done out of just pure fun…..One of the more fascinating aspects of the song [“Steal My Sunshine”] is that The Maine emphasizes the verses far more than the chorus in their version and it’s just as catchy, just updated.”

Alongside the announcement, comes the premiere of the first single – “Love Yourself” (originally performed by Justin Bieber). The song will premiere on the band’s website Thursday April 21st at 5pm PST / 8pm EST. On the release of the song, The Maine’s vocalist John O’Callaghan states, “to beliebe or not to beliebe is not the question here because no one can deny the quality of Sir Justin’s tune. We haven’t fully converted to the church of Bieber just yet, but we decided to try our hand at covering this religious hymn.” The track listing for Covers (Side B) has not yet been announced in full but it’s clear the band looked to a more modern catalogue of songs for this set of covers. “We have not covered any current songs in a long time so we wanted to branch out and try something current,” Kirch explains.

Coinciding with the kickoff of this year’s Vans Warped Tour – of which The Maine are playing in its entirety – the release date of Covers (Side B) will set the track for digital release worldwide. Fans attending one of the festival dates this summer will have the opportunity to pick up the EP in physical form – it will be given away for free with the purchase of the band’s full length American Candy.