meet mid june: LA’s newest indie heartbreakers

meet mid june: LA’s newest indie heartbreakers

There’s something fitting about meeting mid june on the Sunset Strip — a place where heartbreak, reinvention, and loud guitars have always lived side by side. At a small table outside the Coffee Bean near The Whisky, Cole Sage and Nico Diaz talk the way their music sounds: honest, unfiltered, and emotionally charged in a way that feels both raw and strangely comforting.

mid june is a band born from a breakup, built on a friendship, and shaped by two musicians who found each other at exactly the right moment. Their debut EP, let you go, is a four‑song dive into grief, healing, and the strange beauty of saying goodbye — but it’s also the start of something bigger.

Over iced coffees and the hum of Sunset traffic, Cole and Nico open up about their creative chemistry, their winding paths into music, and the future they’re building together — one song, one late‑night writing session, and soon, one live show at a time.

Okay, we’re here with mid june. First of all, introduce yourselves and tell me what you do in the band.
Cole: My name is Cole Sage, and I do rhythm guitar and vocals.

Nico: My name is Nico. I play lead guitar. Lately I’ve also been doing some drums, and we both kind of bounce around on bass — mainly him, he’s the bass guy. It’s a little bit of a collaboration; we’re all over the place, but it’s been great.

You just released a new EP called let you go. What was the emotional or creative spark behind it?
Cole: Early May, I went through a breakup, and pretty much immediately after, I started writing. I’d already been thinking about starting a band project around that time, so it was kind of the perfect storm — grief, the five stages of grief, all of that. I just wanted an emotional outlet. It was really therapeutic.

Let’s talk about the four songs on the EP. We’ll start with the first one — “in this song.” Give me a little background on that one.
Cole: That was written right when we decided to go no‑contact. I feel like in every relationship you go through that “I wish I would’ve said this” or “I wish we could talk right now” phase. That song was me getting all the unspoken things off my chest. Nothing bad — mostly yearning. But we weren’t in a place where I could share those emotions with her directly, so I did it through the music. That was really cool for me.

Okay, let’s go to “i do i do.”
Cole: That one comes from a more insecure, jealous place. I knew it was very likely the other person would move on, and I wrote a song about not wanting them to — selfishly. It’s bad, but that’s the nutshell version.

And “souls to rest.”
Cole: That one is my personal favorite. I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s me accepting that things didn’t — and probably would never — work out in this lifetime. But if there’s anything after this, or in another universe, I feel like things would work out. Right place, right time… just not in this life. Maybe in the next one.

And “glad that we tried.”
Cole: That one was written after the acceptance stage of grief. It’s a reflection — I’m grateful I got to be with that person, grateful for the experiences we shared and everything I learned. And it’s cool because they’re still in my life. If we hadn’t gone through all of that, I wouldn’t have them now. Everything kind of came full circle, and we’re friends. “glad that we tried” is basically thanking them for being part of my life.

Has this person heard the EP? And if so, what did they think?
Cole: Yeah, they’ve heard it. I think she said she was really flattered. She liked the songs too. We listened to each other’s music.

So she’s a musician too?
Cole: Yeah.

How did you and Nico meet, and what made you realize you’d work well together as mid june?
Nico: Social media. Probably like half a year ago.

Cole: I feel like we were mutuals long before that. I was posting guitar content at the time, and you were doing a lot of that too. I saw your stuff, listened to your music, and before we ever met in person, I was sharing your songs on my story. We’d DM each other every time one of us released something.

Nico: Yeah, we were mutuals for a while, and then we finally got together and wrote a little. Originally it was for his solo stuff — for Cole’s solo project. Then he told me he wanted to start a band and asked if I’d be down to do it with him. I said yes, and that was that.

Cole: We were literally in a session for one of my solo songs, and I just asked, “Do you want to be in this band project I’m starting?” I had already written and tracked some things — I think “i do i do” was done, and I was working on “in this song.” And mid‑session we just switched gears and started working on mid june stuff right then and there.

Nico: At this point, I see Cole more than I see my family.

It’s a good collaboration. A lot of your recent singles lean shoegaze‑indie, and Nico’s music has that vibe too, so it feels like a natural fit.
Cole: It really does. I got really lucky meeting him. I was prepared to tackle this project alone and maybe bring people in later if they were interested. But the fact that Nico was so generous early on and wanted to be part of it — I’m super grateful. It’s really cool. I’m super stoked on it.

Are there elements from your solo or previous work that you intentionally bring into mid june, or are you trying to start fresh?
Nico: I don’t know if it’s intentional. When I’m writing with Cole, my brain is still kind of wired to my solo stuff. The main things I bring are melodies and chord progressions — that’s where our styles blend. It’s not like we’re trying to force our old sounds in; it just naturally happens.

Cole: Sonically, one of the biggest reasons I wanted to start mid june was to do something different. With my solo music, I was writing things I thought other people would like — stuff that would appeal to a broader demographic. With mid june, I wanted to make music I like, music I want to play live. I definitely have little habits from my solo project that sneak in, but it’s unintentional. You develop a writing style over time. That’s why working with him is good — he breaks me out of it. We were working on melodies this week, and every song was starting to sound the same. He was like, “We should switch it up,” and I was like, “Yeah, you’re right.”

Nico: I do the same thing with my own stuff, so having two different styles in the room helps a lot. You step out of your comfort zone and into theirs, and vice versa. The blend just works. It’s been really good — really nice to have that dynamic.

You work with a lot of different people — in production, performing, everything. What made you want to work with Cole?
Nico: Cole’s got a vibe. As long as I’ve known him, he’s been really down‑to‑earth and genuine, which is hard to find in this industry — especially in this scene. I’ve worked with a lot of people, and this one just stuck. We’ve been good friends since the day we met. The writing chemistry, the friendship chemistry — all of it just flows. It’s been a really smooth ride, and I have no complaints.

Is mid june going to play live, or have you played live yet?
Cole: Yes — or at least, we’re going to. We haven’t played live yet, but we really want to. That’s my main goal right now. We’re aiming for the beginning of next year. I’m putting a lot of my focus into writing more, getting a few more songs out, and then really playing shows. I wrote a lot of these songs with the intention of them being fun to play live, so now I’m ready to actually do it.

Pretend I don’t know anything about either of your backgrounds. Tell me what you did before starting mid june.
Cole: I graduated high school and joined the Army for four years. I enlisted in 2018 and got stationed in Germany. Right before COVID hit, I decided to pick up a guitar — I had never touched an instrument in my life. I’d always had a deep emotional connection to music, but I never thought I could make it myself.

Then COVID happened, and I wasn’t really working. I was stuck in the barracks all day, so I just practiced nonstop. I ended up loving it and started writing. After I got out, I moved to Los Angeles in 2022. It was rocky at first — I was trying to figure out how to approach music. I joined Musicians Institute, started in the songwriting program, then switched to audio engineering. Now I’m here, trying to become as self‑sufficient as possible. Musically, it’s been about five years in the making. Everything still feels new, and I’m learning every day.

And Nico, talk about your musical journey.
Nico: I started playing guitar when I was four or five. The first few years were just me sitting in front of the TV at 6 a.m. with my acoustic guitar, learning songs. As I got older, I joined some garage bands. I also went to a music school for a long time, and I switched guitar instructors almost every year — I’d learn what I could from one, then move to the next.

Eventually I started writing with friends, and that made me realize how much I loved the whole process. From there, I started recording and producing for other artists because I wanted to be as self‑sufficient as possible. After producing, I wanted to try engineering, then mixing, then mastering — I just kept going. At some point I realized I needed more credits under my name, so I started releasing my own music. It was mostly me in a room for a couple days, making a song and putting it out so people had something to listen to.

I kept working with more artists, and then when I was 17, I left during my first semester of senior year to go on tour. A guy I was mutuals with hit me up and asked if he could put my name in for a tour because he had to leave halfway through. I said yes, and they picked me — they didn’t know I was 17. I got there, they found out, but we had to do the tour anyway. I had met the band once. We did a single one‑hour rehearsal. They did the first half of the tour, and then I got flown out to Texas out of nowhere and just started. It was stressful, but I’m really grateful for it.

Since then, we’ve done a few more tours, I’ve worked with more artists, and things have been good. Then I met Cole, we started working, and mid june came together. Now I’m balancing everything, and mid june has been the wave we’re riding. It’s been really fun seeing where it goes.

Who was the artist you toured with?
Nico: It was an artist named Garzi. He took me on my first tour when I was 17. I’m really grateful for him and that whole team — they’ve been great.

Before we go back to mid june, do you have any solo stuff coming out?
Nico: Here’s the thing — I don’t know. I’ve been working with so many different people that I haven’t really had time for my own stuff. I come home and I’m just exhausted. But after seeing my Spotify Wrapped this year, it was really cool. I don’t promote my music much; it started as a way to get more credits under my name. And this year was really good for me.

I’ve been writing, and I have a few demos — I just need to pick one and commit. I struggle with choosing a genre or deciding which influences to pull from. I’m hoping to release something in the next couple months, maybe sooner. My family has been really supportive of my solo work, and that might be a direction I lean into more in certain parts of my life. So yeah — hopefully soon.

What’s going on with mid june after this? You wrote the heartbreak EP — what’s next? New music on the horizon?
Cole: Definitely. There’s still some heartbreak sitting there that I’ve been writing about. Grief is a long process, and there’s healing involved. And honestly, I know myself — there’s always going to be something I’m yearning over or heartbroken about. So the themes will probably stay consistent.

But I also like tapping into deeper emotional stuff — things that are harder to talk about. I think it’s important. I’m lucky that I can articulate how I feel pretty well, and not everyone can. Music did that for me growing up when I couldn’t talk about things. I still have struggles every day, and turning them into art gives me a sense of purpose. If someone listens and feels a little less lonely, that means everything.

What do you hope the new year brings for you guys and for mid june?
Both: Live shows.

Cole: Shows and more music. I just want to keep writing, but I’d really love to play live. That’s the goal right now.

Nico: There’s a very specific type of adrenaline you get from performing — you can’t replicate it. It’s freeing, it’s intense, it’s amazing. Being able to tap into that this year would be ideal. If we can get some shows lined up soon, that would be great. And if anyone reading this wants to come out, we’ll be announcing dates.

Cole: We want to give an experience.

IN CONCLUSION

As the sun beamed acriss the Strip and the afternoon crowd started to swell around us, it was clear that mid june is standing at the very beginning of something electric. What started as a breakup project has become a partnership built on trust, instinct, and a shared hunger to make something real. Cole and Nico talk about music the way some people talk about survival — as if creating it is the only way to make sense of the world.

With new songs already forming, live shows on the horizon, and a creative chemistry that feels rare in a city full of temporary collaborations, mid june is stepping into the new year with purpose. They’re not just writing tracks; they’re building an experience, one that promises to hit as hard live as it does through headphones at 2 a.m.

If let you go was the introduction, what comes next is the chapter where mid june truly arrives. And judging by the spark between them at that Coffee Bean table, they’re just getting started.

(Interview by Ken Morton – Photos by Karyn Burleigh of Rock Edge Photography)

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