Going on a tour for Nathan Ferraro, the lead singer of the band The Midway State, is like camp on wheels. “Packing a suitcase for a month at a time, leaving your home, friends and family, camp is a great adventure,” says Ferraro.
The Midway State—best known for the song “Never Again”—is a Toronto-based rock band whose use of vocals and the piano create a unique sound. Songwriters, they have been nominated for two Juno awards and completed a Canada-wide tour just before the new year.
When attending Camp Olympia at age fifteen Nathan Ferraro brought his guitar along and was strongly encouraged by the camp’s director—Greg Rogers—to pursue this talent. On the final days of camp Ferraro played in front of everyone at the camp a song he had written. “It was an exciting opportunity to play in front of a bunch of people. Camp is not like real life, it is an escape.”
Fellow band members Mike Wise and Mike Kirsh also attended camp as youth but also became camp counsellors when they were older, working together at Camp Walden. For Kirsh, the stresses of school were removed and there was a lot of music at camp, “There were guys better than me, guys worse than me. I would play with everybody for hours and learned tons from Wise.” Camp is also where Wise learned his guitar skills, looking up to the older better guitar players during his many years at Camp Walden. Wise explains, “My camp was very musically inclined and I gained all kinds of great playing experience with other aspiring musicians.”
Enjoying different people and seeing the value in each person was how Wise learned how to get along with others. “A big part of being a professional musician is knowing how to be effective in a group.”
For each of the band members, the relationships formed at camp have endured. “A few of my best friends are from Camp Walden,” says Kirsh. “We see each other every week and our shared experiences and relationships are still there. Pretty cool.”
Finding the self-confidence needed to go on tour and play music in front of thousands is easily learned at camp. “You learn to do things on your own,” says Ferraro. “You can stand up on your own. You can survive on your own. Sometimes [as a teenager] you forget you are your own person.” For Ferraro, camp every summer was something to look forward to; a clean slate every year and a chance to meet great people.
[...] Ferrero, the lead singer from the band The Midway State, has been touched by Greg’s desire to help. When Ferraro was a participant in the Olympia [...]