I have a small slew of Q&As that were never published (I'm very stingy, go figure). This one was with Mike Wise of the Midway State. They had a tiny hit called "Unaware"...it went big, showed up on a few episodes of the The O.C.--- the rest is history. And unlike most artists, these guys aren't the corporate kind. With the Midway State, it's all about the tunes, the message...the story.
Janet Sanders: Influences...Have a few? Any you'd like to live up to?
Mike Wise: We're pretty all over the map as a band but we all grew up on a lot of classic songwriters like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Carol King, and Peter Gabriel.
JS: Any Neil Diamond and Bob Dylan music used as a basis for your music?
MW:Well, we like a lot of old stuff like that but these days we're into a bunch of newer bands like Snow Patrol, Coldplay, Radiohead, The Killers, Elbow...the list goes on!
JS:Planning for the future?
MW:We plan to get Holes [new album] out and tour in support of it for some time to come! As for the long term future, we just hope we're lucky enough to keep doing what we're doing for years to come.
JS:In 2007 you toured the U.S and Canada, opening for some pretty amazing bands, one of my favorites being Rocco Deluca and the Burden, did Rocco give any advice to you guys?
MW:Rocco and his band were some of the nicest people we've toured with. We learned a lot from them - believing in your music and doing what feels right to you.
JS: He's an amazing guy to learn from.
MW: I know, There was a lot of mutual respect on that tour and I think we learned a lot from having that relationship with them.
JS: What was the highlight of the 2007 tour?
JS: Are you serious? I was planning on going, but skipped out.
MW: It was such a great show!
JS: Most embarrassing moment on stage?
MW: Hmmm...
JS: [Ha ha], anything ringing a bell?
MW: I can't think of anything terribly embarassing that's happened to us on stage.
JS: At least no one has fallen...
JS: At least no one has fallen...
MW: Let's hope we can avoid that in the future!
JS:The Midway State gained a lot of recognition for "Unaware". I've heard about a lot of musicians feeling the need to top past hits. Do you feel the need to top it in any way?
MW:We're fortunate for the success we've had with Unaware but we're not really concerned about topping it. We're very confident in our music and believe in ourselves so we don't really worry.
* Give a shoutout to the guys of the Midway State and take a listen @ Myspace.com/themidwaystate
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