The Middle Ground

Nashville indie rock band the Middle Ground will self-release their second album, titled Start Again, on December 2. Today, the band has teamed with Substream to share a video for the album’s ear worm of a lead single, “Never Needed Me.”

The visuals are simple in nature, with a very pleasing aesthetic as the band performs the catchy, danceable track while being doused in colorful lights and occasionally interacting with similarly colored sands of some sort. Check it out below and let us know what you think.

“This is one of the first tracks we finished for the new album,” says lead vocalist Joe Neary. “At the surface, it’s an energetic, catchy tune, but for those who choose to dive deeper, there is a message we are proud of in the lyrics themselves.” Touching on the accompanying visuals, Neary continues, “With the video we wanted to try and capture the energy we feel when playing the song live. It’s a song we’ve closed our shows with, so adding all the colors and making it more of a performance was what we felt would show how much this song means to us. This is the first piece of much more to come and we hope you enjoy it!”

The single, “Never Needed Me,” will be officially available on November 11.

Upcoming shows:
December 16 in Milwaukee at The Upper Level G-Daddy’s BBC
January 7 in Nashville at Mercy Lounge - Substream Magazine

Around this time last summer, Milwaukee-based pop rock band The Middle Ground were performing on the KNE New Music Stage at Summerfest, their first gig on the grounds of Henry Maier Festival Park. For a band that has played at venues both big and small and won the WAMI for Best New Artist last year, this was a particularly big deal. Playing Summerfest is one of the highlights of being part of Milwaukee’s growing music scene, says singer/guitarist Joe Neary.

“I think playing in Milwaukee in general, there’s such a cool melting pot of ideas musically,” Neary says. “The more and more you play with other bands, the more you’re like, ‘Oh, that’s really cool what they’re doing and I’d love to try to incorporate that in what we do.’”

And so they did.

The Middle Ground started out as the aptly named The Joe Neary Band. During this time, they had a much more acoustic tone, in the same vibe as Andy Grammer, a musician who struck a chord with Neary to start writing songs and follow a similar path.

As The Joe Neary Band, Neary and the others took a DIY approach and set up a small studio to record their first full-length album titled, From Love, To Loss, To Living, an album that was written as Neary was struggling with a breakup.

“For me, the reason I picked up a guitar or anything was just like I was going through a rough breakup, so I taught myself how to play guitar as a creative outlet and it ended up turning into an album-worth of songs that people really enjoyed,” Neary says.

With a small home studio, they had total creative control over their sound. Instead of having only three hours to knock out an entire song, they instead opted to spend three hours on a single idea, trying to perfect the song in its entirety.

At this point, Neary didn’t want to continue to take sole credit for the work they’ve been doing together, so he said it was time for a name change. After all, Neary says, everyone had an equal part in writing and creating. The group—which includes drummer Chris Halbauer, bassist Jordan Burmeister and lead guitarist Brandon Mathieus—settled on The Middle Ground.

With a name change came a new sound. For their second effort, a five-song, self-titled EP, they fine-tuned their pop sound. “It’s more mature,” Neary says of their new output, “It’s more evolved.”

Neary says writing the EP was a cathartic experience.

“The EP is all about stuff people deal with day to day, figuring out purpose and place and trying to make it a relatable message that comes across in a cool way that people don’t normally think of,” Neary says. “It’s cool to write about personal experiences, to see people connect with it and talk to you about it afterwards.” - Shepherd Express

MILWAUKEE (WITI) — The Middle Ground emerged on the Milwaukee music scene in late 2012 as The Joe Neary Band — and quickly became a crowd favorite. The band is proud of its DIY approach — the members record everything on their own. The band performed in Studio A on Thursday, November 6th.

(Embedded videos) - Fox6 Studio A

Whimsical chamber pop sextet PHOX, sister-fronted rock group Vic and Gab and Dairy State supergroup Volcano Choir claimed the top prizes at the 34th annual Wisconsin Area Music Industry Awards Sunday night in Appleton.

Their victories were hardly surprising. PHOX — winner of artist of the year, as well as alternative rock/rock artist of the year — has been on a roll since 2013, playing Lollapalooza, opening for the Lumineers at the iTunes Festival in London, touring with Blitzen Trapper and signing a deal with Partisan Records, which will release its self-titled full-length debut in June.

Vic and Gab, like PHOX, was selected as one of 10 Wisconsin Bands to Watch by the Journal Sentinel for 2014, after becoming a fan favorite among WYMS-FM (88.9) listeners and netting some national attention from Paste, Spin and other music publications. The band won song of the year for "Let You Down" and pop rock artist of the year.

Volcano Choir — a collaboration between Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and past and present members of Milwaukee-based avant-garde group Collections of Colonies of Bees — played "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and has toured the world following last fall's release of its critically acclaimed album "Repave," which won album of the year at the WAMIs Sunday.

The Wisconsin Area Music Industry, a volunteer organization dedicated to promoting music in the state, also inducted jazz singer Janet Planet, saxophonist Warren Wiegratz and the late jazz bandleader Woody Herman into the WAMI Hall of Fame.

And the winners are:

■Artist of the year: PHOX

■Album of the year: "Repave," Volcano Choir

■Song of the year: "Let You Down," Vic and Gab

■Female vocalist: Lyndsay Evans (Sexy Ester)

■Male vocalist: Cory Chisel (Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons)

■New artist: Joe Neary Band

■Singer/songwriter: Nora Collins

■Rising Star: Bad Habitz

■Alternative rock/rock artist: PHOX

■Pop rock artist: Vic and Gab

■Folk/Celtic artist: Blessed Feathers

■Bluegrass/Americana artist: Hugh Bob and the Hustle

■Blues artist: Altered Five

■Christian/gospel artist: Lightswitch

■Country artist: Grand Union

■Cover artist: Half Empty

■Hard rock/metal artist: Conniption

■Hip-hop/rap artist: Pizzle

■R&B/soul artist: The People Brothers Band

■World/reggae/ska/Latin artist: Unity the Band

■Jazz Artist: Nineteen Thirteen

■Polka Artist: Steve Meisner

■Club DJ/Dance/electronic artist: Antics

■Horn/big band: Extra Crispy Brass Band

■Tribute band: Separate Ways

■Bass player: Conway Powell (Carlos Adames Group, John Frye Band, Tomcat Joe)

■Drummer: Andrew Klaus (Shaker and the Egg)

■Guitarist: Dean Arndt (Metal Men)

■Keyboard player: Danny Moore (Rev Raven & the Chain Smoking Altar Boys, Danny Moore & the Boogie Woogie Flu)

■Reeds/brass player: Kevin Klemme (trumpet — Extra Crispy Brass Band, Herman Astro, Tweed Funk)

■Strings player: Janet Schiff (cello — Nineteen Thirteen)

■Producer: Marc Golde (Rock Garden Studio)

■Recording studio: Rock Garden Studio

■People's Choice Awards (Northeast): band — Adams Way; venue — JJ Maloney's; radio station — WAPL-FM (105.7); music teacher — Mark Budwit

■People's Choice Awards (Southeast): band — Georgia Overdrive; venue — Summer Sounds (Cedarburg); radio station — WYMS-FM (88.9); music teacher — Derek Machan

■People's Choice Awards (Southwest): band — The Pat Watters Band; venue — Taste of Madison; radio station — WCOW-FM (97.1); music teacher — combined with Southeast because of low voting totals

■WAMI Hall of Fame inductees: Woody Herman, Janet Planet, Warren Wiegratz - TAP Milwaukee