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No lead in really! Recently I had the opportunity to ask a few questions of
Cliff Campbell (guitars) for Fair to Midland and Erwin Khachikian
(Vocals-Keyboards) for Slow Motion Reign.
Both bands are currently
under the Serjical Strike record Label and both have had a chance to work with
Serj Tankian, here is what they had to say.
Tina: Were you a fan of SOAD before you got signed by Serj?
Cliff: Of course! They are a great band. Any musician can learn a great
deal from or merely enjoy listening to a band such as SOAD.
Erwin: Our guitar player Sam (previous member) was a fan. The rest of us
appreciated their music as musicians and artists.
Tina: Did Serj produce your record himself?
Cliff: No. David Bottrill produced the record. Serj was the Executive
producer of the record. They both had say and input on the songs.
Erwin: Serj produced the SMR album with a Thom Russo who also engineered
and mixed the album.
What is the producer's job? What do they actually do?
Cliff: Usually his job, in our case, was telling us what was good or not.
We have a tendency to second guess ourselves. David also had a great ear for
where a song should go from an infant state. He really allowed us to make songs
into something concrete.
Erwin: A producer pretty much over sees everything that happens with the
recording of the album from beginning stages (lyrics, songwriting) to last stage
(Mastering) in our case we had already written all the songs previously so we
just went into studio and started pre production.
 What was working with Serj like?
Cliff: Great. He is very open minded and hard pressed on maintaining an organic
nature when composing your material. This really allowed us to be free and make
the music we wanted to make. You often hear of exactly the opposite when a
record label comes into play, so we we're well relieved to be working with him.
Erwin: Great experience for both parties, he is really a easy person to work
with, we had the same vision so it made things a bit easier.
Is he pretty open or did he seem shy at all?
Cliff: Heh. Serj can be shy, but don't get me wrong. He is firm on his beliefs
and what he thinks is right musically and of course politically. I guess I would
just call him polite rather than shy. Heh. (Interviewers note: Not really sure
what heh means but that’s what he said so I didn’t edit it out.)
Erwin: Not shy at all, spoke his mind when he felt like he had to.
I have read a lot of different articles that describe him as shy and soft
spoken what's he like as friend or producer? Is he still soft spoken or can he
be loud and boisterous?
Cliff: I have yet to see Serj speak his mind in a way I would deem boisterous.
Heh. He is usually pretty collected when speaking with us young 'uns. I wouldn't
put anything past Serj. Heh. I am sure there are times when he lets himself go.
We just haven't had the joy of being there at those times yet.
Erwin: He is pretty soft spoken as you said.
Have you worked with any other producers besides Serj? If you did were
their styles different?
Cliff: Bottrill and Serj had a lot of similar arguments on the songs we made. I
would say that they agreed more often than not. Heh. I'm sorry I don't really
have much input for this question.
Erwin: Yes we have worked with other producers, and they are all different
-painters and artists.
If you could open for any band in the world who would it be?
Cliff: What a great article to say this in. Heh. System of a down. A close
second for me would be Rage Against the Machine. I guess you could say we're
doing that at Coachella this year.
Erwin: Pink Floyd
Have you met any other members of SOAD?
Cliff: Sure have. I met Darron, Shavo, and John in Houston when we played a show
with them. They were all great guys as well. Very different personalities in
that band. Its impressive to see them fit together so well and make such great
music.
What kind of music are you into?
Cliff: Eh. I am into pretty much everything. I like old country, industrial,
classic rock, pop, some rap. I never really know how to answer these questions.
I went through so many musical phases when growing up. I pretty much retain a
respect for each genre.
Erwin: Well between the four of us, we range from Zepplin, Floyd, Beatles,
Metalica, Satriani, Sting, Peter Gabriel ....
Did you listen to other peoples music while sitting around the studio if
so who?
Cliff: Not really. That’s me though. Darroh will often do the opposite. Heh. I
just tend to concentrate better and achieve more original material with a clean
slate.
Erwin: not really unless its something someone says "Hey I just heard this great
music on the freeway check it out!" we tend to zone off in our own SMR mode.
Describe the first time you met Serj?
Cliff: Hmmmm. The first time we met him was in the alley beside The Roxy in LA.
We talked for a few minutes and he claimed to have liked the show quite a bit.
He needed to be somewhere else, but said he would catch us the next night at The
Malibu Inn. Sure enough he showed up, and that was where he offered us the deal.
Erwin: Met him on the stage at the Whiskey in Hollywood, after our show he
jumped on stage and introduced himself.
 Did you have a relationship with Serj before you got signed?
Erwin: Not really, except for our original guitar player Sam new his
brother.
Do you think that going with a lesser known label has had any effect on
your success? For instance most SOAD fans are going to at least check you out
cause they love Serj Do you think that has been beneficial to you?
Cliff: Yes. It has helped a lot. I have had nothing but good feelings about
being on Serj's label since the Malibu Inn.
Erwin: since the industry is changing due to Myspace and other sources,
"Bigger Label" is slowly loosing its meaning. Some Serj fans really dig our
music and some don’t. I think it is because we dont sound like SOAD so it comes
as a surprise to some.
And I hope this question is not offensive but your last names look
Armenian are they?
Erwin: Amen sister, we are Armenians but from different parts of the world.
Vigen from Iraq, Erwin from Iran, Narek and Raffik from Armenia. But at the end
of the day we are all humans.
As an Armenian what do you think of SOAD's efforts to get the
genocide recognized?
Erwin: We support them. But don’t think we will ever be politically involved
like they are.
Do you support Axis of Justice or Amnesty International as well or do you
guys shy away from making public political statements?
Erwin: We are just musicians and like to leave the lyrics to speak for
themselves.
For the record I am totally addicted to your CD and can't wait for the
next one. So any ETA on a new CD?
Erwin: Yes we are recording 6 new tunes some will be available on Myspace soon.
It is titled "Demons on the Ceiling."
( Interviewers note: One new song is already on their page)
Do you think you will be working with Serj? Or do you think you'll get
another producer?
Erwin: The new album we are producing on our own, but we might pick up the rest
of the album and work with Serj.
Tina: Thank you so much.
Erwin: You are welcome Tina.
Cliff: I just hope you can use some of this. I am horrible at doing these thing.
Fair to Midland is:
Darroh Sudderth - Vocals
Jon Dicken - Bass
Cliff Campbell - Guitars
Matt Langley - Keys/Electronics
Brett Stowers - Drums
Their new Full length is due June 12th.
Check them out on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/fairtomidland
Slow Motion Reign is:
Narek Pogosyan -Lead Vocals-Bass-Piano
Erwin Khachikian -Vocals-Keyboards
Vigen Sayadian -Vocals-Drums
Rafik Oganyan -Vocals/Guitars
Check them out on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/slowmotionreign
Interview by Tina Flores
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