Give us a little of history on FTM, when and where did the band form? The name Fair to Midland has been around since 1998 but the current lineup has only been around for 2 to 3 years. Darroh (vocals) and Cliff (guitar) are the only two original members. Matt (keys) and Brett (drums and originally congas) were added to the lineup during the writing process for our independent release inter.funda.stifle. About two years ago our bass player got married and left the band. That is when we lucked out and found Jon (bass). We all hail from the small country town of Sulphur Springs, TX or nearby. Darroh, Cliff and Jon went to high school together. They had asked Matt to lay down keys for a couple tracks on their very first independent album and the band loved him. Later they asked him to become a permanent member. Brett originally played congas and we had another drummer. That drummer had to leave the band and Brett began filling in. We didn’t even know he could play the drums. That is how we came to be.
| Did you guys have a Street Team in place before using Fancorps, and if so how was it?
We had tried to put a street team together before but had always failed. It was difficult to keep everything organized. It was also hard to keep in contact with our teamers. The furthest it went was having a local Dallas, TX area team that helped pass out flyers promoting our “home” shows.
Your Fancorps team has quickly grown very strong, now with over 300 active members. How has the fan response been? Do they seem to enjoy working with you guys within the site?
It has been amazing. We had never had more than 30-40 teamers at a time. When we launched our Fancorps site we ended up getting over 250 fans signed up the first week. We were so surprised! We have the best fans and they have always been so involved. This time it was no different. We have always tried different ways to get our fans involved. At our CD release show for inter.funda.stifle, we gave a free CD to anyone who brought a pair of shoes to donate to the homeless. We ended collecting over 100 pairs of shoes. A lot of bands think that Myspace is enough to keep your fans involved but it just doesn’t cut it anymore. Fancorps is the next level!!! |
 |
 |
Looking at your Member Map it appears you guys have a pretty evenly spread team throughout the states...what regions does the band do best in touring wise? We have dedicated fans from all over but we do especially well in our hometown Dallas as well as Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Albany, Tulsa, Madison, Phoenix, Sacramento and several other cities. We have been lucky enough to tour with great bands such as Dir en Grey and Flyleaf. Those tours along with radio support of our new single “Dance of the Manatee” has a lot of new faces joining the street team.
|
Looks like the band has a long summer of shows ahead, including some big oversees festival gigs. Are they looking forward to being on the road promoting the new album? Absolutely. At the first of June we are in Europe. It is our first time to ever play outside of the US or Canada. We are super excited about it. We have 2 German festivals called Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park which we are playing the main stage with The Smashing Pumpkins! Then we play the Download Festival in the UK. In August we are going back to Europe with our buddies in Dir en Grey and will be playing the Metal Hammer Festival with Tool. We are truly lucky to be playing these festivals with these amazing bands.
Speaking of festivals, we saw FTM recently performed at Coachella last month! That must have been a great experience...especially considering Serj from System Of A Down made a guest appearance onstage with the band. Wow. What a great time. We had a great show and a lot of fans came from all over the country to see us. It was also great playing with someone like Serj which we have always been a big fan of. We also got to see a lot of great bands like Bjork, Blond Redhead and Ghostface Killah. Jon also bumped into Lindsey Lohan backstage. haha.
Lastly, just wanted to wish you and the band good luck with the release of the new album, we hope the FTM Fancorps team continues to grow along with the band and their audience. Thanks! We owe a lot to you guys! |
FABLES FROM A MAYFLY
In stores June 12th |
|
|
