SYSTEM’S SERJ DISCUSSES GUEST COACHELLA SET WITH FTM

System of a Down’s Serj Tankian discusses his on stage collaboration at Coachella with Texas rockers Fair to Midland.

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.

We 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.

“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. That’s 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 music’s 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 wouldn’t have signed them otherwise.”

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 Darroh’s 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 didn’t rehearse or anything, we just did it on the fly you know. Yeah, improv, it’s 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 6thRock Am Ring and Rock Im Park on June 2nd and 3rd in Germany.