QUIETLY-SPOKEN Fair To Midland frontman Darroh Sudderth may be jet-lagged and a little disorientated by his first trip to London but the man has manners. Gold ole’ Texan manners, which means Kerrang! is pleasantly surprised to be politely called “Sir” throughout the band’s first interview.

It’s also a sign that the five-piece are smart. A bit different. Forthcoming second album ‘Fables Of A Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True’ is a complexity of aural riddles, an unashamed mind-bendingly prog record where songs are casually called such things as ‘(When The Bough Breaks) Say When (Ozymandias)’. If you’ve ever shaken a tail father – or moved a dragon in your dungeon - to Coheed & Cambria, The Mars Volta or Rush you should rightfully love FTM.

“Lyrically, I’m all over the place,” explains Sudderth. “A lot of it is stream-of- consciousness, but disciplined. The music we make isn’t too conceptual or contrived, it’s more a result of vastly different tastes. Like everything, there’s a yin and yang to what we do.”

Formed way back in 1998 Fair To Midland spent their formative years touring from their musically-undernourished Texan base of Sulphur Springs.

“It’s dairy country,” shrugs Sudderth. “There are lots of cows. But the musical isolation has really worked to our advantage – we’ve developed a personality and the community has been supportive of what I guess you could call our blue-collar prog.”

It wasn’t until their sixth trip to California in early 2006 that System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian saw the band and immediately offered support.

“He laid his cards on the table and said there and then that he wanted to release us on Serjical Strike,” enthuses the frontman. “From the get-go he said he’d signed us for who we are already. It’s been a steady, organic process but it’s just great that people are finally getting to hear about us.”

 

HEAR: ‘Fables OF A Mayfly: When I Tell You Three Times Is True’ on Universal/Serjical Strike on June 11.

MORE INFO : www.fairtomidland.com 

Words by Ben Myers, published on Kerrang! magazine this month.

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