{"id":148917,"date":"2011-10-21T19:49:08","date_gmt":"2011-10-21T19:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socancom100stg.wpenginepowered.com\/from-riches-to-rags-and-back-again\/"},"modified":"2011-10-21T19:49:08","modified_gmt":"2011-10-21T19:49:08","slug":"from-riches-to-rags-and-back-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/from-riches-to-rags-and-back-again\/","title":{"rendered":"From riches to rags and back again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Les traductions pour les articles avant l\u2019automne 2013 ne sont pas disponibles pour le moment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nathan Ferraro doesn\u2019t seem the least bit bitter \u2013 which is surprising, given everything he\u2019s been through. In fact, the affable, afro-haired frontman exudes all the serenity of a Buddhist monk, as he sits in a Toronto caf\u00e9 and calmly recounts the rise, fall and rise again of his band, The Midway State.
\nFerraro and his bandmates were teenagers from Collingwood, Ont., a small ski resort town two hours north of Toronto, when they became the subject of an intense bidding war from 13 record labels. After being flown around the world, getting wined and dined by industry executives, they eventually signed a deal with the legendary Jimmy Iovine\u2019s Interscope label. The record company was excited about the band\u2019s emo-rock sound and touted the prolific young Ferraro as a gifted pop songwriter.<\/p>\n

Then the bloom fell off the rose. Despite a video recorded with then-rising star and labelmate Lady Gaga, The Midway State became victims of the A&R shuffle: the man who had championed the band was gone and the group became the proverbial football, kicked around from one label person to the next. Although the group had recorded a promising debut album, Interscope never released it. Next came a two-year battle to terminate the contract and win back their recorded masters. \u201cThe whole process really put Nathan and the boys through the wringer,\u201d recalls Midway State manager Mathieu Drouin.

\u201cI started writing songs when I was 14 and had over 500 by the time I was 18,\u00a0\u00bb says Ferraro. \u00ab\u00a0I liked the feeling \u2013 I could walk down the hall in school knowing I had that up my sleeve.\u201d<\/div>\n

There was, however, a silver lining. The association with Interscope got the band on several high-profile tours throughout North America and Europe, opening for the likes of Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab for Cutie. Meanwhile, the band\u2019s debut album, Holes<\/em>, was released in Canada through EMI and made a significant impact. Produced by Gavin Brown (Billy Talent, Three Days Grace), it earned the band a pair of MuchMusic Video Awards and two Juno Award nominations: Pop Album of the Year for the group and Songwriter of the Year for Ferraro and his compositions \u201cUnaware,\u201d \u201cChange for You\u201d and \u201cNever Again,\u201d the group\u2019s gold-selling single.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat meant a lot to me,\u201d admits Ferraro, also a singer, guitarist and pianist. \u201cI\u2019d written those songs in my parents\u2019 basement when I was 17, so it was a really nice affirmation.\u201d He adds: \u201cI started writing songs when I was 14 and had over 500 by the time I was 18. I liked the feeling \u2013 I could walk down the hall in school knowing I had that up my sleeve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Confidence also came from performing at a young age. Before he finished high school, Ferraro\u2019s father bought him a van so that he and his teenage bandmates could tour during the summer months. They logged thousands of miles across Canada, playing everywhere from bars and community centres to fans\u2019 living rooms.<\/p>\n

Drawing on all its past experience, good and bad, The Midway State is embarking on the next chapter of its already well-established career. Armed with a strong new album, Paris or India, Ferraro and the band \u2013 guitarist Mike Wise, bassist Mike Kirsh and drummer Daenen Bramberger \u2013 are touring widely across Canada this fall. The album, produced by Thomas \u201cTawgs\u201d Salter (Lights), is a mature step forward for the group, featuring a mix of commercial songs like \u201cAtlantic,\u201d a sweeping, Coldplay-style epic, as well as such adventurous numbers as the driving indie-rocker \u201cFire!\u201d and the haunting, dream-like \u201cHartley Salters Kite.\u201d<\/p>\n

For The Midway State, maturity is a direct result of their personal and collective growth. \u201cWe\u2019ve already put in our 10,000 hours,\u201d Ferraro says with a laugh, citing Malcolm Gladwell\u2019s bestselling book, Outliers<\/em>, and its theory about diligence being the prerequisite to success. \u201cIn fact, we\u2019re probably up to about 25,000 hours now. But there\u2019s still plenty more to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

In particular Ferraro, who co-wrote with Salter and Simon Wilcox for Paris or India, is focusing on the craft of songwriting and lyrics in particular. \u201cI\u2019ve been reading a lot of poetry by e.e. cummings and studying the writing of Peter Gabriel and Bono,\u201d he says. \u201cLike all the best songwriters, including Leonard Cohen and Neil Young, they\u2019ve found ways to do more with less. That\u2019s why their songs stand up over time. There\u2019s so much depth and so many layers, yet their words are very concise.\u201d
\nFerraro\u2019s songs, thoughtful and reflective, often express a yearning and wisdom well beyond his years. For manager Drouin, this is the quality about Ferraro that impresses him the most. \u201cWith everything he’s been through, he could\u2019ve easily gone off the rails, given up or become extremely jaded,\u201d he says. \u201cInstead, he took all that experience and channeled it into a really positive place.\u201d<\/p>\n

FYI<\/strong>
\nPublisher: Remedy Music Publishing
\nDiscography: Met a Man on Top of the Hill (EP, 2007), Holes (2008), Paris or India (2011)
\nMember since: Nathan Ferraro (2004), Mike Wise (2008), Daenen Bramberger (2008)
\nVisit themidwaystate.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nathan Ferraro and The Midway State take it all in stride and keep going no matter what<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":111188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-non-categorise"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uat.socan.com\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}