About Midsummer

Midsummer is a progressive rock band with expertise in both original material and popular complex rock cover songs which surprises the crowd and gets them moving. Crafted in Lehigh Valley, PA, is a project 35+ years in the making. Originally formed in the late 1980s, the band re-emerged in 2023 to bring new life to music written decades ago. Midsummer’s debut EP, “Tales of the Time Traveler, Vol. 2,” was recorded at Spectra Sound in Quakertown, and released in October 2024. Each of the five original songs re-emerged from the past, morphing sonically to tell new stories in the present…

The current version of Midsummer includes original members Joe Held (guitar/songwriter) and Shawn Semmel (drums/songwriter), with new members Jamie Fiore (bass), Frank Abbadessa (keyboard), and Ben Youngerman (vocals).

Midsummer’s “Tales of the Time Traveler, Vol. 2” is available now on all streaming platforms and on physical CD at Compact Disc Center in Bethlehem, PA.

Meet the Band

Ben Youngerman

Vocals

Ben Youngerman is one of the most versatile entertainers in the Lehigh Valley. The Midsummer frontman has performed for millions of people as a singer, emcee, actor, comedian, broadcaster, and mascot.

Best known as arena host “Bow Tie Ben,” he's been hyping up Lehigh Valley Phantoms fans since the team moved to PPL Center in 2014. Ben is the founder of Molten Metal Media, a social media marketing agency for small businesses, artists, and non-profit organizations.

He is a proud graduate of Parkland High School and Syracuse University.

Billy Joel once told Ben he was “very talented.”

Joe Held

Guitar

Joe's musical foundation came from: his mother who favored the works of Engelbert Humperdinck, Elvis, Classical, and Cole Porter, while his father filled the house with Country & Western and "Oldies"—the doo-wop, Beatles, and Beach Boys.

Joe’s journey began on the trombone, though he also had an early ambition to be a singer. That desire transitioned to the guitar when his father brought home n a single-neck Fender steel guitar. When the house was empty, Joe would attempt to play along to Barbara Mandrell steel licks and Hank Williams Jr. However, seeing ZZ Top on MTV changed everything; to his adolescent self, they represented the absolute pinnacle of cool.

Determined to play, Joe acquired his first Harmony electric guitar and has been obsessed ever since. He credits legends like Jimmy Page, The Edge, Billy Gibbons, Gary Moore, Danny Gatton, David Gilmour, and Adrian Belew for "taking him to school." From these masters, he learned to appreciate and fuse blues, metal, new wave, country, and jazz into a singular, progressive style.

To this day, Joe remains a dedicated student of the craft, constantly seeking out new inspirations. For him, the process of writing music and playing guitar remains humbling, liberating, and cathartic all at once.

Shawn Semmel

Drums

Shawn started his music journey when he was the age of 10. He joined his first band in middle school called the young bloods. Midsummer was born in the late 80s and it consisted of the original power trio Joe Held, Shawn Semmel, Ray Ferraro. Shawn's inspirations come from a variety of styles including Dream Theater, Rush, James Addiction, Dave Mathew’s, Grateful Dead.

Frank Abadessa

Keyboard

Frank started playing when he was 6 years old. While studying piano as a child in New York, his dad, an accomplished violinist and conductor, would accompany him on violin. Frank took jazz piano lessons at the University of Illinois and studied music theory at Antelope Valley Junior College in Southern California. He has played for many years in bars, military service clubs, weddings, music festivals, including Musikfest, and other venues. His influences, while many, include The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Chicago, The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, The Crusaders, The Rolling Stones and The Who. Frank brings creative arrangement and instrumentation to the sounds of Midsummer.

Jamie Fiore

Bass

Jamie Fiore got her start playing local punk shows in the NJ punk/metal band, Draw Two. They were eventually signed to 7th Sign Records and affiliated with Punch Records Promotions in the early 2000s. They also got radio airplay on New York’s radio station, 92.3 K-Rock. She has been holding down the low-end on bass for over 25 years in various rock and metal bands but joined forces with the members of Midsummer in the summer of 2023 to record their debut EP, Tales of the Traveler, Vol. 2.

Her influences include Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, Periphery and Rancid.