Mid-Seral is putting out a debut album, Rising Highways, full of Midwestern Americana observations and road trip vibes. Listen to take a little break from the world-focus on Minneapolis and know that these guys are fighting the good fight with us. But we all need a replenishing break to prepare for tomorrow!
Please give us a quick introduction to Mid-Seral and the band members.
As quick as I can for 6 guys and a story that developed over about the past 10 years! I (Kyle Harvison-singer/songwriter/electric guitar), met coworker Jerry Halsten (acoustic guitar) and bonded over artists like Jason Molina, Richard Buckner, Tom T. Hall, etc. Neighbor Andrew Horton dusted off the mandolin he’d learned to play back when he was doing seabird observation work in the Pacific NW (where he had some overlap with Dave McGraw, now of Sway Wild). Another coworker Greg Stern helped us up our game with his resume including recording/performing world music with the late Michael Croswell’s Metaphor plus drumming for Haitian and West African dance classes (one night even finding himself drumming with a dance troupe in Bobby McFerrin’s then Lake of the Isles home). When a gig finally came calling (first annual Sternstock at Greg’s), we needed a bassist and gave neighbor Steve Klein, a saxophonist with Yo Jimbo Jazz, a few weeks notice to learn a new instrument and stay in 4/4 time. Finally, we found the unicorn every band is seeking, a tasty pedal steel player named Curt Trisko who was influenced by some of the players we loved (e.g., Eric Heywood), has collaborated with groups far and wide (including a recent release with the Late Lights out of Stockholm), and gives back to the local community as a member of the Cedar Cultural Center board. Rising Highways is our debut EP, streaming on 2/6.
As a St Paul person, River Town appeals to me. Can you tell me what spurred you to write the song? I have lived by an ocean and that’s awesome, but I do miss the movement.
River Towns is one of those songs that started with the title and then I followed the flow from there. I grew up in Baton Rouge where the mighty Mississippi figures large in your psyche. I’ve been in Minneapolis for almost 18 years now, and I think a lot about the connectedness of these places along that river. As the song came along I realized that a lot of what I was talking about tied back to environmental themes: Midwest farms are sending pollution downriver; meanwhile down south they’re losing coastline while doubling down on petroleum production and nowhere seems truly safe from the rising waters, giving a sense you are never truly settled. This was the first original I brought to the band that really clicked and helped to define our sound, scrappy and driving with the mando and pedal steel helping to smooth things out.
Please tell me about the video for Driving. I love the old cartoon footage, and the retro feel of a futuristic space age really brings a timely feel!
Driving started, like a lot of my songs, riffing on an acoustic guitar. This old man in his truck popped in as the first line and I soon realized that he was a metaphor for big oil. I later came across Destination Earth, a now public domain petroleum industry propaganda cartoon from the 50’s, where a scout from an oppressed Martian civilization discovers American prosperity driven by cheap oil and deregulation- a perfect cartoon to recontextualize for our song. Editing of the original cartoon and overlaid animations of the band was done by our friend Maxeem (maxeem.com) who we had previously collaborated with on one of his projects after he saw me and Curt performing for a Freeborn County solstice-themed online stream. Maxeem also did the cover art for the EP.
I can’t decide if Oklahoma Hwy is bleak or romantic. I guess that’s life on the road – even if just for a road trip. How would you describe it?
Oklahoma Hwy is based on a story I heard from my dad about a special memory from his childhood. As the son of a Baptist preacher, he moved around a lot. At the time, he was living in Caney, Oklahoma where his mom was a schoolteacher. They would take long drives down to Fort Worth where his dad was in preaching school. These were dark, sparsely populated highways and also I think some tough times for the family, so certainly some bleak feeling there. The memory that stands out, however, is the wonder and surprise of suddenly seeing a single, giant red Christmas bulb hanging in the window of a little shack. He made the drive out there a few years back and I think it remains as romantic in his mind now as it did before he revisited those roads.
Please let us know where folks can connect with you or see you play live.
I’m doing a solo show at Carbone’s Minneapolis for Fulton’s “1 Mic, 1 Cable, 30 Minutes” series on Wednesday, February 18th. We’ve been pretty focused on supporting Mpls lately and have kind of lost sight of booking but hope to do some shows in support of the release soon; we invite folks to go to midseral.com and join our mailing list to stay up to date. Bucket list is to one day grace the stage of the Turf Club or 7th Street Entry, even if just as a warmup act on a slow night!
Mostly Minnesota 