(antiMusic) Fair to Midland have been turning heads for while on the indie scene and caught the attention of Serj from System of a Down who signed them to his Serjical Strike Records. They released an EP last year and have a full length coming out in April (plus a tour in Feb). We caught up with Darroh Sudderth recently and here are some of the highlights from the conversation (the full interview will run in April).2&2: Fair to Midland is a bit of an unusual name, where did it come from? *** Darroh It's just an old saying originally used to grade cotton. It's a synonym for average and/or mediocre. I've always used a lot of old clichιs, so it also kind of pokes fun at my lyrical tendencies. It was one of the only names we all came to agree on as well.
2&2: You have a CD coming out on Serjical Strike Records, how did you hook up with Serj? *** Darroh Well, during one of our independently funded tours of the west coast we became good friends with Mike Haitayan, who just so happened to be an acquaintance of Serj's. Mike coaxed Serj into coming out to a couple of shows; and it was at our second show in Malibu that Serj was kind enough to offer his help. We've been extremely fortunate and have nothing but good things to say about Mike, Serj, and Serjical Strike.
2&2: You've had some pretty diverse comparisons from Mars Volta to Pink Floyd and Pantera, how would you describe your music to someone that hasn't heard it? *** Darroh Well, I'm not the best salesman and even worse at knowing how to describe our sound. I've been told it's very eclectic and progressive. Given that's the most common 'genre' we're thrown in, I'd be inclined to say it's probably as accurate as one can get.
