iSound

Blame the Midwestern work ethic. Mississippi Cactus may be one of the hardest working bands around. Drummer Mike Kasprzak, who banged on the lids of his mom’s pots and pans with a wooden spoon on the kitchen floor, got his first real drum set when he was three. He met bassist Nate Ohzourk on their first day of high school. It was band class, of course. The two befriended guitarist Mike Friedl when all three showed up at a school dance wearing flannel shirts. It was the early 1990s, after all. Friedl had been “borrowing” his older brother’s electric guitar since he was 12. The Catholic school boys named their first band “St. John’s Severed Head.” Meantime, Brian Kasprzak was doing his own post-punk, grunge performing and songwriting in “Exit 5,” a band that would fall apart after putting out its first, and only, EP. He returned to his love of blues and decided he “just wanted to play.” So, he joined little brother’s band and Mississippi Cactus was born. The band’s moniker suits...