 Apart from Rage Against the Machines reunion, one of the most talked about sets at Coachella in 2007 was the up-and-coming Texas band
Fair To Midland.
Performing in the afternoon in The Mojave Tent on Sunday April 29th, Fair to Midland easily demonstrated their intricate song writing ability is a perfect mesh with their masterful use of dynamics and a ferocious stage performance that few bands duplicate.
But what better way could the band grab the attention of the masses in the desert than to have
Serj Tankian, lead singer for System of a Down, sit in for an improvised version of Fair to Midland's song 'Walls Of Jericho.' Serj caught the band performing a short time ago in Los Angeles and upon seeing Fair to Midland for the first time, Tankian immediately signed the band to his kick start record label, Serjical Strike Records.
Ultimate-guitar.com caught up with Serj, who is currently in the mixing process for his own
solo album, to discuss being attracted by the band's stage presence.
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Serj Impressed With Fair To Midlands Live Performance
"Yeah, when I first saw them at The Roxy a while back and I saw them at The
Malibu Inn a couple of days after that and I was very impressed with the
performance on stage. I thought if someone, I had heard the music and I really
liked the music but it was more about seeing them live and they really impressed
me. If you put people in front of this band they are definitely going to like
this band because they just go nuts on stage. Thats a part of it. And Andrew,
his voice is very dynamic. It's very truthful you know and there's not a lot of
that out there as we all know. So that was very impressive. The musics amazing
and it has huge elements of progressive rock in my opinion. They go in a lot of
different directions stylistically and melodically and you know I enjoy that.
Obviously I wouldnt have signed them otherwise."
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So what about Serj's performance of 'Walls Of Jericho' with Fair to Midland at
Coachella? Who's idea was that?
"I forgot whose idea it was, whether it was Darrohs idea or mine, but I love
their music and listening to it during the demo stage through recording and
mixing and it's in my head, you know and I really love their songs. Yeah, I
wanted to go up and do a song with them. But we didnt rehearse or anything, we
just did it on the fly you know. Yeah, improv, its the best."
Fair to Midlands full length debut release 'Fables From A Mayfly - What I Tell
You Three Times Is True', which was produced by Serj Tankian, will be released
June 12th on Serjical Strike Records. The band has just released their animated
video for Dance of the Manatee and they were also recently in the studio
recording acoustic versions of a few songs, which was the first time the band
had to opportunity to record their songs acoustically.
Fair to Midland are
currently on tour in support of their up coming release with dates extending
until June 10th at The Download Festival in the UK. Look for the band at The
Bamboozle Festival in New Jersey on May 6th Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park on
June 2nd and 3rd in Germany.
Source:
ultimate-guitar.com
> Watch Video interview with Serj talking about Fair To Midland
Here or Download it from
Here.
>> You can Download a bootleg video of Serj's performance with Fair to
Midland at Coachella Here
(or
from rapidshare)
>>> Check Photos set from Serj's performance with FTM (with backstage photos)
in the
PhotoGallery
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