Holes in The Midway State: An Interview

By Melanie Chung

It’s a warm summer day as a breeze gently blows small leaves and saplings through the patio of a Toronto pub. Locals finish up their lunches, tossing bills onto the table next to me as Daenen Bramberger (drums) and Nathan Ferraro (vocals and piano) stroll in.

21-year-old Daenen and recently turned 22-year-old Nathan can easily be called old souls, writing from the heart since, let’s say the age of 11. Ok, maybe not, but it’s definitely been a lifetime for the two of them, working on songs, reworking songs, defining a friendship and bond between them. Nathan from Collingwood, and Daenen from Wasaga are best friends and founders of the piano-driven, “youthfully dramatic” The Midway State, who have recently opened for huge acts such as OneRepublic, Mika, Lifehouse, and Daughtry just to name a few.

At first glance, the two seem like opposites – Daenen, cool, calm and collected. He sits leaning back into his chair, arms crossed. His Wayfareres tucked into the collar of his shirt, a black sweatband crowning his head of blond waves – total rock star. Nathan on the other hand, all smiles, he pulls at his mound of curly hair, his brown eyes shine in the sun, hungry for life – he’s infectious, I get drawn in. Regardless, they come together harmoniously as opposites often do. But what do first impressions mean anyway?

Holes their first full-length album will be Midway’s first impression to the world, scratching the music scene surface starting July 22. Guitarist Mike Wise and bassist Mike Kirsh round out the group and though they hope to make a grand entrance, they’ve still got their feet firmly planted to the ground. “Its really hard when you put out your first record and you have high hopes as any band would, but with Holes we were true to ourselves and we didn’t try to cater our sound to what’s popular now. So while our hopes are high and we hope everyone likes it – whatever kind of success we have, that’s ok because we believe in it. We like it and we’ve already succeeded because we made it,” says Nathan.

But things haven’t always been easy for the quartet. They’ve plugged away at it since teenagers, driving across the country, booking their own gigs and playing in any venue that would have them. Which include living rooms. Their impressive resume as an opening act for hot headliners has also paid its price. Not too long ago, the band missed a few gigs after enduring a horrendous snowstorm, being trapped in their icebox of a van for 30 plus hours without food and nowhere to go (insert your bathroom jokes here). “Those were some dark days,” says Daenen.

And coming from a small-ish town in Ontario hasn’t always provided an environment to nurture those creative juices either. “Being from a smaller town, not too far from the city, but still a little more secluded and not as plugged in to what’s happening – it definitely has had an impact, you have to work harder to find new stuff,” Daenen recalls retrospectively.

Nathan unapologetically, says simply “we never gave a shit. We were never in a scene, we just always made our music the way we wanted to.” And this attitude has only given them more leeway to leave a mark and to stand out in the music scene. Their sound is refreshingly new, not lost in the rise of dance-rock, or 70’s revival, disco inspired radio friendly rock. Holes is tightly pulled together with an emotional depth and maturity one wouldn’t expect from guys just over the cusp of the U.S. legal drinking age.

But they beg to differ with me. “From our standpoint (the music) is never mature enough. We make a record and then we think it could be so much better. Then we think about our next record. From a writing standpoint I just try to be honest. But hopefully our next record will be better, whether its more mature or not,” Nathan modestly disputes.

Though Midway can’t easily be filed away into an HMV-esque category, their music draws a definite audience. Their appeal is hard to pinpoint but it’s difficult to ignore. They were awarded with the Redpipe Fan Choice Award for favourite performer at this year's NXNE and their Toronto performance, opening for OneRepublic, had bred a new pick of fans à la boy band style. After the show, the drove of fresh new fans tore down Midway posters that papered the electrical poles surrounding the Kool Haus. It says a lot about your music when anything with your name on it is suddenly worthy of becoming a souvenir, like a memento of the night where you were first introduced to a new love.

“I think (the relationship between) the artist and listener, is where you create something, someone listens to it and then they take something away from it. The listener is also creating by what they get from the music. We have no idea what that is - I just wrote what I was feeling that day, so what you take from the music, I can’t take credit for that,” Nathan says.

Though technically Holes is their first full length release, Midway has had prior releases, such as the EP, Met a Man on Top of a Hill, where some tracks make a revival on the new record. “Holes, in a way, feels like a second record, even though the world hasn’t heard the EP. It was a good stepping-stone. And we learned from (the EP), we took those experiences and applied it to Holes. And with having a wide range in the material - some of (the tracks) being much older than the others - to me personally it has a very eclectic feel to it,” says Daenen. “Sonically, Holes is different, we spent more time honing the sound, it has more diversity,” adds Nathan.

“Its lush and honest,” is how Nathan describes their sound. “There is a lot of drama in our music, but I think drama is important in music. We try not to beat around the bush. I think honesty is very dramatic. We look up to Led Zeppelin, Coldplay, Neil Young and their music is very dramatic. There are a lot of highs and lows and its emotionally rich.”

As nerve-wracking as a first release can be, Daenen and Nathan have been just enjoying and absorbing the experience with all the ups and downs that come with it. “We don’t expect anything from anyone,” Nathan admits, “we’re happy to have the chance to put out this record all over the world. We only have expectations of ourselves to keep working.”

It is clear where their focus is. They are little concerned with fame or money. They don’t write music to woo girls. “That moment where you first write a song or produce a song as a band is an amazing high and that’s what makes me so happy. And I’m always trying to recreate that feeling. And nothing in the industry really trumps that. The feeling of creation is the best part,” Nathan says, beaming. Their excitement is contagious. You can’t help but want good things to happen to these guys.