One of the most interesting things about prog-rock band Fair to Midland's lead singer Darroh Sudderth is that he's losing his hair. Not because he gets so crazy during his shows that he rips it out (though we wouldn't put it past him), it's because he has stage fright. You'd never know it going by the rave reviews the band's shows have been garnering, most notably their performance at Coachella this year. (The LA Times even compared his writhing moves to Iggy Pop.) Their sound is part old-school weirdos Yes, part new school rockers Mars Volta, but really, it's unlike most everything else out there. Pulse caught up with Darroh before his set at the Blender Theater at Gramercy Wednesday night.

You guys have been together for almost 10 years now. Do you feel like the recent recognition is overdue?
We don't feel like we've succeeded yet. We've got an album deal and we put out a record. There's no way to tell whether or not we'll have a career, it being such a fickle industry. How this album does will determine if we have a career, if we get to make other albums. We decided to call this album Fables From a Mayfly because a lot of the songs had a sense of urgency to them. Mayflys only live one or two days.

Your sound really is different than a lot of other stuff out there. How did you come together to make something so eclectic?
We were kind of forced to. We're all from very small towns within a 40 mile radius, and we were really the only musicians in the area so we had to settle with each other. Our bass player is an old country western fan; I grew up on '80s indie pop type stuff like R.E.M.; our keyboardist likes a lot of industrial rock, Aphex Twin, Tori Amos, Nine Inch Nails and our drummer is a big rock fan. You know, our music's not progressive and eclectic by choice—it reflects the desire to make everybody happy. We try not to compromise the character of each song. Every once in a while we do, but that's what makes it different. Trying to make each one of us happy and trying to make each song our own.

Have you ever fought, since you guys are so different?
Yeah, it's a constant fight, it's a constant struggle. I have a pretty bad temper. When we were writing songs for the new album I felt a lot of responsibility. We had a real short amount of time, and I was trying to push everybody. Brett, the drummer, and I got into a fight really bad—it got physical. But some of the best albums of all time are made that way. You know, it's the bands that haven't found their sound yet that stood out. Hopefully we won't find out sound for a while.

Do people ever confuse your single "Dance of the Manatee" with Franz Ferdinand's "Dark of the Matinee"?
Yes! We actually had a station in our hometown call it "Dance of the Matinee." It's like, "Aw crap." The DJ mentioned Franz Ferdinand. It's happened on more than one occasion. It's a cool comparison.

- Robin Monheit

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