– Hello, thanks for answering to our questions. What are you currently up to?

At the moment, we’re at the apartment of some friends in LA, relaxing during the week or so between tours.

– First off, I hope you don’t mind starting with some history of the band…

The band was formed in the small rural town of Sulphur Springs in northeast Texas around 1998 by Darroh, Cliff, and a few members of the various and mismatched talent resource local to the area. Darroh started on bass, and agreed to sing until someone «more qualified» could be found. When bassists proved easier to find than vocalists, Darroh found himself (fortunately for us) stuck with the position of singer. Some time later, Brett answered an Internet want-ad seeking an auxiliary percussionist, and was quickly accepted as conga player. When he invited me to come to one of the bands shows in its early incarnation, I was immediately impressed by their stage show, Darroh’s vocal range, and their unusual musical offering (not to mention the size crowd they were already drawing) and decided silently on the spot that I would seek a position with them. Eventually my connection paid off; I was asked to play on their first indie release as a guest musician. Subsequently, they invited me to perform at the CD release, I kept showing up for rehearsals, and here I still am, now considered an integral member (I hope!). When the original drummer left the band before the next release, Brett was moved from congas to drums, and had less than a week to learn all the parts, which he did very well under the pressure. Next to leave was the bassist (to seek other career opportunities) who’s position was taken over by Jon Dicken who, being a fan and student of country and western music, as well as a former rodeo cowboy, completed our already varied and strange cast of characters perfectly.

 

– And why the name «Fair to Midland»?

The name is derived from an antiquated expression once used in the cotton industry. The quality of a crop could be described as good, fair, middling, or poor, as I understand. A crop whose quality is between fair and middling could be described as «fair to middling», or «middlin'», in the lazy pronunciation of the southern United States. Later, the term came into use to characterize a person’s state of being as average, and a commonly accepted answer to the question «How are you, today?». For whatever reason (the name was chosen before I joined the band) «middlin» was traded for «midland».

 

– «Arrows & Anchors» was released some weeks ago; what are your expectations? And how’s its being accepted so far?

Sales have been good in these first few weeks, with a less than typical decrease with time, which is encouraging in our current business climate. And reviews, though I don’t go to a lot of trouble to read very many, have been good. As for our expectations, they are difficult to speak to, in this business.

 

– The album is quite varied, with different layers but; how could you describe it in sound terms?

Sonically, this album is really hard-hitting, dark, and has a dense, wall-of-sound quality. This is the meanest sounding record we’ve made so far.

 

– I could say «Arrows & Anchors» is your most heavy album to date, but it’s not metal. Do you plan how you want each album to sound like?

We have only the most general intuition of what each album is going to be like. The evolution of our sound is the result of organic and often unconscious shifts of interest of individuals in the band more than any planned changes in style or delivery.

 

– So, how’s the songwriting process in FAIR TO MIDLAND? Also because of the different elements in your music.

It varies. Some are completely collaborative efforts from the beginning. Others are concepts of mostly one member, which are demoed, submitted and auditioned for the other members, then torn down and rebuilt over the following weeks or sometimes months until we can all agree that the song is ready to record and release.

 

– Leaving behind the musical part in the album, I would like you to tell us a bit about it’s lyrical concept.

Darroh’s very secretive about the real meanings of his lyrics, even with regard to his bandmates, so my guess is only as good as anyone else’s. That being said, I can tell you that the words to our songs are designed to work mostly on a subliminal level. He uses stream-of-consciousness, and puts expressions and phrases together in ways that are meant to illicit unusual psycho-emotional responses. So if you’re listening to our songs in an attempt to find a clear, literal message, you may end up frustrated and confused.

 

The cover art was done by our long time friend Mr. Isaac Flores. The photograph on the front is of an actual 8.5 meter long rendering of the symbol. Isaac brought 340 kilograms of black Mexican beach pebble, and placed each stone by hand. The inside artwork was hand drawn.

 

– Have been 4 years between «Fables from a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times is True» and this brand new album; what were you up to during that time?

We did a LOT of touring in support of «Fables…». In addition, we’ve had a lot setbacks and delays during the writing process, such as changes in management, label, and booking agencies. We also had a major tour van accident that necessitated the replacement of our vehicle and most of our gear.

Mostly, I think the delay was due to the fact that we’re five musicians with very different tastes and influences. Among us, we have fans and students of rock, metal, country/western, electronica,

classical/baroque, etc… It’s no easy task to combine all these influences into a cohesive whole. It’s a difficult and time consuming process, involving a lot of debate. It can be frustrating at times, but it’s worth it.

 

– I know you like QOTSA and for this album you have worked with their producer, Joe Barresi. Shed some light on this please; the whole process, the final output…

When we were looking at our list of potential producers and Joe’s name came up, I looked very briefly at his resume. Briefly because somewhere around the third or fourth item I found two albums by QOTSA and, my being a huge fan of their work, decided immediately that he was the one we were looking for. In hindsight, I have absolutely no doubt that this was exactly the right decision. We knew at the outset that we wanted this record to have an earthier, grittier tone, and a warm, analog sound. We also wanted it to be a bit messier than the last release, in terms of guitar feedback and fret noise, amp buzz, and so forth. Barresi delivered brilliantly in every such capacity. He had a studio full of vintage amplifiers and effects machines, and analog toys dating back to the 1960’s. We tried all kinds of unusual ideas like cranking keyboards thru guitar amps, layering four or five bass guitar tracks in the bridge of a song, employing strange instrumentation like a portable pump organ built in 1910, and a drum kit made of aluminum wash tubs and garbage cans, and lots of other strange and wonderful ideas too numerous to mention.

He helped us out deftly with regard to the finer points of song structure and composition, but mainly we focused on tone. The man knows his business, too. The guitars bites like a crocodile, the bass rattles the windows, and the kick drum kicks your teeth in. All in all the album sounds, as Joe put it, «evil».

 

– You shot a video for «Musical Chairs». How was the experience like? Do you plan on doing any other video?

It was a lot like doing the live show, only performing the same song twelve to fifteen times in a row. Visually and physically we handled the making of the video exactly the same as the live show. The destruction of the piano was a little difficult to watch ( especially for me), but works great in the final result. We had a great location at the New York Metropolitan Building, and director Kevin Custer created from the huge amount of footage a seamless and beautifully edited video.

We are hoping to make as many more as time and finances allow.

 

– As I mentioned before, your sound is layered, with many different details so; what are your main musical influences?

That depends on which one of us you ask. For myself, I’m a student of Queens…, NIN, Tool, A Perfect Circle, Marilyn Manson, early Tori Amos, The Smashing Pumpkins, J.S. Bach, Pink Floyd, The Crystal Method, and several others. Others might list Soundgarden, Peter Gabriel, Them Crooked Vultures, Sunny Day Real Estate, Muse…

 

– And how could you describe your music?

Dynamic, unusual, cinematic, aggressive, bipolar.

 

– During your career you have played with well-known bands such as SMASHING PUMPKINS, DIR EN GREY, ALICE IN CHAINS, etc. But, which band would you like to play with and why?

It would be a strange bill, stylistically, but I’d like to tour with QOTSA, just because it’d be cool to meet them and get to see them play every night.

 

We will tour furiously, I’m sure. We’re already doing that, there aren’t too many breaks in the schedule at the moment. We have the European tour with Evanescence coming up in November. I’m also hoping to start the writing process for the next release. As long as it typically takes us to write new songs, we can’t afford to stop writing, ever. Nor would we want to.

 

– That has been all, thanks once more for taking the time. Feel free to add some final words.

Thank you for your interest, and hope to see you and your readers in Paris at the Olympia on November 16 when we come through with Evanescence. – Matt Langley

 

Sergio Fernández

sergio@queensofsteel.com

 

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