Midway State Abandon John Mayer's Ship

03/12/09 1:38pm

The Midway State have chosen the Juno Awards over John Mayer.

The Toronto band were apparently invited by Jennifer Aniston's on-again/off-again squeeze to join him and other musical guests to perform on the four-day Mayercraft Carrier 2 cruise from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico from March 27 to 31, but opted to spend that time in Vancouver for the Juno Awards and its extracurricular activities.

The Midway State's Holes debut is nominated for a best pop album Juno, while singer (and CHARTattack special correspondent) Nathan Ferraro is up for a songwriting trophy.

"As much as I like the idea of sunning myself on the Lido deck next to John Mayer in his man-kini, it's really important to us to be at The Junos," says Ferraro. "Since releasing our record up here in July, we have been so amazed by the support that we have received from everyone in Canada.

"We all feel so lucky and blessed, and the fact that we were nominated for two Junos really blew me away. Maybe John will call me at home tomorrow to set something else up."

Mayer will be accompanied on the cruise by 2008 Juno nominee Justin Nozuka, O.A.R., Guster, Jessie Baylin, David Ryan Harris, DJ Logic, Matt Hires, James Hunter, Brendan James, Erin McCarley, Pictures And Sound, Martin Sexton, Ryan Shaw and Stars Go Dim. There are less than 100 cabins left if you want to set sail with these characters, but the Barenaked Ladies' recent Ships & Dip V cruise looked like it would have been a lot more fun.

The Midway State's "Never Again" single was certified gold for selling 5,000 copies in Canada, while its accompanying video topped the MuchMusic countdown for two weeks. The quartet's second single, "Change For You," (which Simple Plan said is a definite hit) is out now.

The Midway State are up for favourite pop group, website and video at Saturday's Independent Music Awards and will play the awards show at Toronto's Fairmont Royal York hotel. Here are all of their performance dates:

March 12 Barrie, ON @ The Mansion
March 13 Toronto, ON @ MuchMusic (Much On Demand)
March 14 Toronto, ON @ Fairmont Royal York Hotel (Independent Music Awards)
March 16 Winnipeg, MB @ The Park Theatre And Movie Cafe
March 18 Saskatoon, SK @ Louis' Pub
March 19 Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room
March 20 Fort St. John, BC @ The Lido Theatre
March 21 Lethbridge, AB @ The Roadhouse
March 24 Calgary, AB @ The Marquee Room
March 25 Kamloops, BC @ The Blue Grotto
March 27 Vancouver, BC @ The Media Club (JunoFest)
March 28 Vancouver, BC @ Granville Street Stage (JunoFest)
April 16 London, ON @ Call The Office
April 17 Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club
April 20 Peterborough, ON @ The Montreal House
June 20 Toronto, ON @ Downsview Park (Edgefest)