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Catch Fair To Midland performing live at SXSW (March 15, 16), Coachella (April 29) and Bamboozle (May 6)

 

FAIR TO MIDLAND SET DATES FOR SXSW, FLYLEAF TOUR, COACHELLA AND BAMBOOZLE

“FABLES FROM A MAYFLY” SLATED FOR JUNE 12TH RELEASE

February 26, 2007 - Dallas-based rock outfit Fair To Midland (www.fairtomidland.com) have been winning audiences over with their dynamic live show as the main support for Dir en grey's US headlining tour this winter, with the Dallas Morning News raving that “Fair To Midland not only delivers heady, poetic, powerful and often fascinating hard music, they deliver it with the gumption of a marauding pack of tribal warriors.”

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Fair To Midland will also be previewing brand new tracks from their forthcoming album Fables From a Mayfly at SXSW (on March 15), followed by a tour of the US with Flyleaf (March 25-April 25) and performances at Coachella on April 29 (alongside Rage Against The Machine, Air and Lily Allen) and Bamboozle on May 6 (alongside Linkin Park and The Blood Brothers).

Fables was produced by Grammy-winning producer David Bottrill (Tool, Muse, Peter Gabriel) and executive produced by System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian. “It’s not often that one comes across bands that are truly original, poetic, progressive, artsy and memorable, compounded by a killer live performance,” Tankian says. “FTM is such a band.”

Fables is set for a June 12th release, featuring the atmospheric first single “Dance of The Manatee”, which can be heard by visiting http://www.myspace.com/fairtomidland.

 

 

FAIR TO MIDLAND Darroh Sudderth: Vocals Cliff Campbell: Guitar Jon Dicken: Bass Brett Stowers: Drums Matt Langley: Keys/Electronics Photo credit: Frank W. Ockenfels III Click image for high res download

Depending on who’s counting, there are anywhere from 100 to n-frigging-thousand subgenres of rock music a band can slide into for easy categorization. And depending on where you drop the laser on Fair to Midland’s Universal Republic/Serjical Strike debut album, Fables From a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True, at least half of those subgenres are being reinvented at once. But to call this Dallas quintet (who, ironically, get their name from an old Texan play on the phrase “fair to middling”) merely eclectic is to sell them way short. No, Fair to Midland are masters of fusing those subgenres into something that’s cohesive, intensely focused, and in a bold new category all its own.

Recorded with art-rock super-producer David Bottrill (Tool, Muse, Peter Gabriel), Fables From a Mayfly finds Fair to Midland stretching out even further into the aggression and atmospherics at their core while taking their inherent gift for melody to new levels. Tracks such as “Kyla Cries Cologne,” “April Fools and Eggmen,” and the gripping first single, “Dance of the Manatee” (which is already climbing the Active Rock and Alternative Radio charts), showcase Fair to Midland’s flair for combining progged-out virtuosity with lead-heavy riffs, dynamic tidal waves, and frontman Darroh Sudderth’s operatic vocals. Even when the volume lets up—as in the softer, spacier folds of “The Wife, The Kids, and the White Picket Fence” and “Say When”—Fair to Midland create sonic tidal waves big enough to level arenas. As the Dallas Morning News described it, "Fair to Midland not only delivers heady, poetic, powerful and often fascinating hard music; they deliver it live with the gumption of a marauding pack of tribal warriors.”

Photo credit: Frank W. Ockenfels III Click image for high res download

Founded in 1998 in the quiet farm town of Sulphur Springs, Texas, Fair to Midland quickly became one of the Lone Star State’s fastest-rising musical forces, earning critical acclaim for their first two independent releases, 2001’s The Carbon Copy Silver Lining EP and the 2004 album inter.funda.stifle, despite being completely under-the-radar. But with a growing buzz and a trail of blown minds behind them, Fair to Midland naturally found themselves looking for a label that could respect their DIY roots, while giving them the means to take their sound to the grand new level it demanded. Enter System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian, who, after being blown away by one of the band’s live performances in April of 2006, signed Fair to Midland to his Serjical Strike label and that Fall released the band’s first “official” recording: The Drawn and Quartered E.P. "It's not often that one comes across bands that are truly original, poetic, progressive, artsy and memorable, compounded by a killer live performance,” Tankian says of his protégés. “Fair to Midland is such a band."

As Fair to Midland began playing out in support of the EP, audiences and press alike both seconded Tankian’s reaction, with Ink 19 magazine noting, "Vocalist Darroh Sudderth transforms from a timid frontman to a spasmatic burst of flailing arms and uninhibited vocal explosions that make him one of the most courageous singers in rock music!" A sold-out winter 2007 tour with Japanese art-metal legends Dir en grey, followed by a superbly-received performance at the annual SXSW music fest in March, further primed audiences for more from the band. With Fables From a Mayfly, Fair to Midland have truly delivered, capturing the kinetic energy of their live show while harnessing the array of influences that make them impossible to pigeonhole. “For the most part, our musical tastes are completely different,” says Sudderth, who rounds out the band with guitarist Cliff Campbell, drummer Brett Stowers, bassist Jon Dicken, and keyboardist/electronics manipulator Matt Langley. “We’ve just gotten better at listening to each other over the years. All of our songs are just us trying to find a happy medium between what everyone in the band listens to—and I think that actually being able to do that is what makes us so different from a lot of other ‘rock’ bands today.”

Photo credit: Frank W. Ockenfels III Click image for high res download

With a spring tour supporting Flyleaf leading up to Fables’ release and a summer’s worth of festivals—from Coachella to Bamboozle to twin German mega-fests Rock Am Ring and Rock Im park, plus the legendary Download festival in the UK that has them sharing stages with My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park and Iron Maiden—Fair to Midland are poised to turn not just prog, but rock music, period, on its ear in 2007. “It’s definitely been a strange ride, going from being this completely DIY, underground thing to being part of a bigger label,” Sudderth explains. “It’s like we can finally step back and evaluate where we’re going with this music without having to worry about, ‘How are we gonna get people to hear it?’” Indeed, getting heard may be half the battle; but when you look across the rock landscape—from the postmodern prog rock of the Mars Volta and Tool to the chart-topping success of Serj Tankian’s own boundary-smashing art-metal powerhouse—it’s easier than ever to imagine Fair to Midland carving out their own plot of land amid these giants.

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TEXAS BAND FAIR TO MIDLAND SIGNS WITH SERJ TANKIAN’S SERJICAL STRIKE RECORDS

SERJ PLANS TO EXECUTIVE PRODUCE NEXT ALBUM

FAIR TO MIDLAND Darroh Sudderth: Vocals Cliff Campbell: Guitar Jon Dicken: Bass Brett Stowers: Drums Matt Langley: Keys/Electronics Photo credit: Frank W. Ockenfels III Click image for high res download

Dallas based quintet FAIR TO MIDLAND have inked an exclusive deal with SERJICAL STRIKE RECORDS, the label headed by System Of A Down frontman, Serj Tankian.

Founded by members Darroh Sudderth (vocals) and Cliff Campbell (guitars) and later solidified by Brett Stowers (drums), Jon Dicken (bass) and (keyboards), FAIR TO MIDLAND has been working diligently with a D.I.Y. ethic since forming in 1998 and have released two independently recorded and distributed albums with 2001’s The Carbon Copy Silver Lining EP and 2004’s inter.funda.stifle. FAIR TO MIDLAND are a unique musical force that you will be hearing more buzz about and new music from in the months to come starting with their first Serjical Strike release The Drawn and Quartered EP on November 7.

With a sound that has been described as a “…mutant offspring of Rush, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, The Mars Volta, Gary Numan and Pantera; grown up and having run off to start their own volcano-worshipping doomsday cult in the desert.” (Rob Gary, The Indie Scoop), FAIR TO MIDLAND have crafted a live show that is as invigorating as it is enlightening by fusing visceral energy and amazing musicianship that has gripped all that have seen them play, including Tankian.

After hearing inter.funda.stifle, Tankian was anxious to see the band perform. It was seeing the live show that had him itching to be involved with the band through his label Serjical Strike as well as offering to executive produce FAIR TO MIDLAND’s next studio offering which is due in April 2007.

“They are one of the best live bands I have ever seen. Their songs are moody and dynamic, not dependent on one catchy beat or emotion to present their art,” expresses Tankian about why he signed the band.

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The Drawn and Quartered EP will feature original demo versions of “Orphan Anthem ‘86” & “Kyla Cries Cologne” as well as live versions of “A Seafarer’s Knot” & “Abigail” from the inter.funda.stifle disc. In addition, The Drawn and Quartered EP will feature a 12 minute EPK titled, The Drawn and Quartered Kinescope . The EPK will include live performances of “Intro,” “A Seafarer’s Knot,” “Kyla Cries Cologne” and “Dance of The Manatee” as well as in-the-studio interviews with the band taped in their home turf of Dallas, TX.

Currently in Toronto with producer David Bottrill (Tool, Muse, Peter Gabriel), Fair To Midland expect to release their first full-length cd on Serjical Strike Records in March 2007.

www.serjicalstrike.com www.fairtomidland.com