Sometimes all I need is ice cream, and sometimes all I need is a slow indie rock tune with crisp, piercing guitars and somewhat subdued vocals. When I need the latter, some fear, the Oklahoma City based project fronted by Branden “Bran” Palesano, is always a good place to turn. Last month they released their self-titled debut, a punchier step up from the rougher and more spacious, slow burning sound of their early work. I was already hooked as they rolled out bruting singles like “The Road” and “The Faucet Does All The Crying,” but settled into the music in a new way with the release of their breezy twenty seven minute record.
some fear is cathartic from start to finish, and rewards repeat listens as much as it smacks you over the head the first time around. The guitar tones and songwriting are stellar, which is all the more impressive given the band has only been together for a few years. Moments of pure instrumental euphoria contrast against stripped back verses to create a dynamic push and pull that comes with enough switch ups to keep the motion interesting. It just feels right. It’s an incredibly solid album from a band that promises to have much more in the tank, so congrats on getting in on the ground floor. I recently sat down with Palesano to discuss the evolution of the project, his songwriting process and much more. Read the full conversation below and listen to some fear by some fear.
David Feigelson: It's great to talk with you. I want to start by getting a sense of how some fear has evolved, starting as a solo project just a few years ago. What brought about the necessity to bring others into the fold and how did you find the people that you're working with now?
Branden Palesano: I basically wanted more people just to play shows and get the word out about some fear. I’m in a band called Mad Honey, and we play a lot around OKC (Oklahoma City), but I also wanted to get something going with this project. So I hit up the guys in Mad Honey, friends I already trust, and got the ball rolling. We started playing a lot at a DIY space called The Sanctuary—it was run by one of our guitar players at the time so she was able to get us on some bills. Most of those people are still in the band, and it’s nice that the lineup hasn’t really changed.
DF: Are you still the core songwriter?
BP: Yeah I write most of the parts, except for drums. My friend Ray Morgan is in the band and he does all that stuff. I’m not a drummer even though I wish I could play drums. I’ll do some programming for demos, and then Ray’s like “Okay, I can make these better…”
DF: Yeah for sure. There are some programmed drums at the end of “Worm” which I really like.
BP: Oh thanks! That was Lennon Bramlett, he’s the bassist and he handles all the production, which he’s gotten crazy good at doing.
DF: Sweet! I was curious if there was more collaborative writing going on, because this new project feels a lot more dynamic than even the EP you guys recently dropped—that one’s a cool, dreamy project, but this record’s got some tempo changes, some real explosive moments—the whole band sounds involved.
BP: Yeah, it is a little louder than the EP, there’s more distortion. I think that came out of playing some of the songs live, naturally with more dynamics, and wanting to transfer that to the recording.
DF: So if you have a demo, and you're workshopping it live, might the band make some decisions that ultimately impact how the song comes out?
BP: Yeah, only if I ask them chuckles, but every once in a while I’ll check in and they give their two cents.
DF: Laughing gotcha. I’m curious about the vibe of the music scene in OKC? I was there once but didn’t get to any shows.
BP: Ah man. It's cool. The hardcore scene is really flourishing. There’s good indie rock too, it’s a lot of Mac DeMarco stuff. A lot of bands are still stuck in that, but I don't mind that it all. The DIY scene really is mostly just hardcore, but it's really awesome. We also have a lot of pop and singer-songwriter stuff, as well as Americana, and it’s great Americana. That's probably what you would see if you came here.
DF: Nice. None of those are quite how I would describe the sound of some fear, which has more slowcore and slacker rock energy.
BP: Oh yeah.
DF: How does that enter the frame?
BP: Dude, it's funny. I’m in three bands here involved in that shoegaze/slowcore stuff. Usually, if I'm in a project, it's going to sound like that. But there are other bands too. DOWNWARD is from Tulsa, and there’s a new band called Bliss that’s cool. They do the Hum sort of thing, super heavy shoegaze. But I’ve always listened to that kind of music, I remember hearing my bloody valentine ten years ago and being like, “This is amazing. It's life changing.” Now every single band sounds like that.
DF: Yeah I get that. I wanted to ask about influences, in both the songwriting and the guitar tones. I can hear my bloody valentine, but I’m sure you’re pulling from more places.
BP: Yeah! For some fear, it’s a lot of Duster. Also some Alex G and old Numero Group slowcore bands. Deep diving into that record label is really fun. That said though, my goal with some fear is to step away from shoegaze as much as I can. It still gets labeled that sometimes, which is fine, but I’m trying to move away from it and do something different.
DF: Yeah, what does that look like to you? I feel like the word “shoegaze” gets thrown around so much, and different people can mean different things by it. Sometimes it’s that specific 90s scene, sometimes it’s more of a production mindset/philosophy, what exactly do you want to move away from?
BP: Yeah, I think more focus on lyrics and melody, and not drowning those things out with a lot of guitars. My goal is to have the vocals up front and center, and have that be the main focus of the songs
DF: Gotcha. Hopping back to influences for a second, it’s funny you mentioned Alex G, because I wanted to ask about that Philly scene. I know you played some shows with They Are Gutting a Body of Water (TAGABOW), and I hear a kinship there, so I wanted to get your thoughts on it.
BP: Yeah, I love Philly. I haven't been there, but I love the Philly music scene. There are so many awesome bands coming from there. The TAGABOW relationship came from Ray. He knows Doug Dulgarian and sometimes they hang out and play video games together, so like every time Doug rolls through OKC he’s either hitting up some fear or Ray’s other band photocopy. I'm trying to get some fear out in Philly. I think people would like us there.
DF: Yeah I can definitely see it. Can you tell me about the pros and cons of home recording and production? I understand that’s how this album came into being.
BP: One pro is definitely that you can go at your own pace. Especially working with Lennon, he’s my friend and we can comfortably sit around coming up with ideas. I get him and he gets me, so we can play off each other really nicely. And it’s cheaper.
DF: Yup, that’s a big one.
BP: Yeah, very much cheaper. But one of the cons would be limited equipment. Lennon did a fantastic job—he made it sound exactly how I wanted it to—but I want our next release to be more Hi-Fi, so we’ll see what happens. That’s one constraint, and also, sometimes you're just kind of lazy.
DF: Yeah it seems much easier to stall in a home studio. Time pressure can be tough but at least it gets you going.
BP: Yeah for sure.
DF: Well it already sounds to me like you’re evolving past that mellow Lo-Fi sound, so I’m excited to hear those next steps. Do you ever feel burdened by having to continually relive the negative experiences that you might be writing songs about, either by performing them or recording them many times? Or can it be cathartic?
BP: That's a great question. Man, it is kind of rough sometimes; there are a lot of songs on the record that are about low points in my life. I’d heard people talk about it being hard to sing lyrics they’d written when they weren’t doing well, but I never really understood that until I tried doing this. It’s kind of rough. It can be cathartic, because you can think about how far you’ve come from where you were at the time, but it’s always hard. Every time we play “The Faucet Does All The Crying,” I go back to that place and channel that energy, which can be rough. But it is cathartic, especially writing it at the time when you're feeling it. That helps a lot.
DF: Yeah I can relate to that. I write music as well, and if I can pin something down when I’m experiencing it, it alleviates the burden of feeling it somehow.
BP: Oh, for sure. Definitely.
DF: Your lyrics tend to be vague enough that they can be coded, but they also get specific sometimes. Do you get worried that someone you're writing about might hear and recognize it?
BP: Yeah a little bit, but it always depends. There are a couple songs on the album about someone in my past, but we’re cool now and I’ve talked to them about what I wrote. I haven’t written a song about someone I hate yet. Well, actually no. That is false. “Game” is about someone I hate. But that one’s pretty coded. There’s no animosity over the emotionally heavy ones, which is definitely a good thing.
DF: Yeah that’s cool. Does the weight of the subject matter inform how you'll go about orchestrating a song? Like do you go heavier with heavy, go for juxtaposition, or otherwise?
BP: Definitely. For this release, the darker and more intense lyrical stuff is on the heavier songs. I've been playing as a guitarist in Mad Honey for a while, and usually when I write those guitar parts it's focused around the feelings of those lyrics. So I'm kind of swapping that in some fear. But the new stuff is way more chill, and I’m trying to keep the levels more cohesive regardless of whether the lyrics are happy or sad.
DF: For sure. When you talk about having the voice more upfront and shifting to that clearer sound, did that come before or after chilling out the subject matter, or were those changes more of a coincidence?
BP: I think that just came to be. I knew how I wanted the next project to sound before I’d even written the songs, with more focus on the vocals and lyrics. some fear started off as practice for me to write songs, which I haven't been doing for too long, so I wanted that to be at the core.
DF: Damn, if you haven't been writing songs for that long, where you're at now is very impressive. It's a sound that a lot of bands operate within, but these songs have stayed in my head, which is a good sign.
BP: Oh awesome. Thank you, I appreciate that.
DF: Of course. You mentioned you often have a specific sonic vision and can bring it to Lennon to execute. Are there any moments that you're especially proud of, or places you had a particular idea you were fully able to realize?
BP: Yeah, definitely. “The Faucet Does All The Crying” came out exactly how I imagined it, and it was really true to my original demo too. We added more guitar parts and ambient stuff which felt perfect for it. That's definitely still my favorite song on the record, and the one I'm most proud of. I think it was written in 2022, so it took us a while to get to it.
DF: Did sitting on it for that long help it evolve? Or did it mostly sit in the same place?
BP: I think the original demo was a bit faster and more bare, but it actually didn't change a lot, which was interesting.
DF: It's funny you mentioned it used to be faster, because I’m curious how you arrive at the tempos for these songs, which often feel like they’re right in the sweet spot.
BP: I've always wanted to do slower stuff. Some songs on the record ended up being a little more upbeat, but I've just always loved slower and chiller music.
DF: That makes sense. I feel like the more I heard the record, the slower it sounded. At first, you get caught up with all the riffs and changes, but then you can sink into it really nicely.
BP: That's awesome.
DF: Yeah it’s cool. Do you plan to mostly work with the same people going forward, or are there other voices that you might try to bring in, as features, producers or otherwise?
BP: Yeah! We actually just added a third guitarist to the band, so I'm going to try to do more three part guitar stuff per song. I definitely also want someone to sing with me on this next release. I'm not sure who though. We went back and forth a bit on the recording, and we landed on still doing it with Lennon, but we’re hoping to go to Texas soon to do a song with Grahm Robinson from the bands Teethe and MAH KEE OH. They’re two of my favorite projects, but that would be a whole different world for me, recording my own songs with someone that I don't know. It's kind of scary, honestly, but we'll see.
DF: No, that's very fair. Did you bring in the third guitar player to fill out the live sound? Or did you just meet someone that you wanted to bring on?
BP: It's kind of both. He’s my friend. He can also play some keys or pads if we need. But I basically just said to him, “Dude, we should play music together.”
DF: Totally. And then you talked about it being scary to bring someone in who you don’t know or already have a certain level of comfort with. Is there a kind of song that you would be more willing to do that with, and one that you might be more protective over?
BP: Yeah, definitely. There's a new song that we've been playing live, it's going to be on the next release, and it's probably my favorite song I've ever written. It’s really special, so I’ll probably have Lennon record it. I’m definitely protective over that song. It’s a great question. Knowing where Lennon is at with his production capabilities, I would definitely trust him before anybody else.
DF: That makes sense. I'm sure that feeling that level of comfort in the process makes it easier to tap into certain places that you need to.
BP: Yes for sure. Your environment really dictates how you do a take. I love recording music, but my least favorite thing is recording vocals. I hate doing it. I hate hearing my voice.
DF: Yeah. Will you try to limit your takes because of that?
BP: Sometimes. There are definitely moments when I feel I’m maxed out and I’ll just tell Lennon to work his magic.
brief pause for laughter
DF: I’m glad you have that working relationship, it sounds like it really helps keep the juices flowing. How does playing in this band compare to being in others?
BP: Definitely different. Being a front man is weird. Sometimes I don't know what to say into the mic, and sometimes I say random shit. It’s cool though, it pushes me out of my comfort zone. I'm usually playing guitar or bass in my other bands, so it's definitely different, but I welcome the challenge.
DF: Are you aware of crowd energy in a different way after being up there and commanding it more?
BP: Yes, especially when we play a bar called the Speakeasy in Oklahoma City. Usually the shows run really late, so everybody's drunk and having a good time, and I'm also drunk, just cracking jokes. Those are some of my favorite shows, when the crowd is just yelling at me and I'm yelling back. That's really fun.
DF: That's awesome. When do you think the next release will come to light?
BP: There's a rough timeline. I think we’re going to record Mad Honey’s new album first, which shouldn't take too long, and after that work on the new stuff. I would like to have it done in the summer. This release was really long and sprawled out, and I don’t know if I want to do that again. I kind of want to put everything out at once. Hopefully at the end of this year we'll have something. I think we'll at least have a new song out this year. That's what I'm hoping for.
DF: Hoping as well. You released so many singles and bundles of songs in anticipation for this album, a long rollout for sure. Was that dictated by the state of the market and advertising?
BP: Yeah, I think it was the state of music marketing more than enthusiasm on our end, but it was fine, I was totally down for it. It's the first record, stretch it out as much as you can. But I hate playing Spotify’s game. You have to send in music at least a month in advance so you can pitch it to people. It's kind of dumb, I'm like, “Why can't I just put this out?”
DF: Yeah I agree. My next question was actually just to probe how the streaming model affects you.
BP: Well, man, it's funny. I did the math the other day, and the equivalent of someone buying a t-shirt at a show is the same as someone streaming a song 10,000 times.
DF: Damn.
BP: It's ridiculous. And I hate that we base success off of Spotify monthly listeners. I think it's total bullshit, because there are some bands that have less Spotify monthlies than we do, and those are some of my favorite bands. It's really weird. It also took a long time for me to unlearn that.
DF: Yeah it’s so easy to check that Spotify for Artists…
BP: Every single day. Every single day. My first band was Mad Honey, and when we put out music, all I worried and cared about for a long time were those Spotify monthly listeners. I knew something had to be different.
DF: What was the process like to unlearn that?
BP: Man, it was tough. It was just good to be in the music scene, surrounding myself with other musicians and playing with other bands that I thought were really cool. Seeing those bands and thinking, “Wow, this band is so much better than we are, and they only have 3000 monthly listeners.” It's really strange. That's why I love Bandcamp. It's also a better place to discover music, because Spotify Radio is just stuff you already listen to. I don’t even know how to discover new stuff on Spotify anymore. It's so dumb, but for some reason Spotify has been treating some fear pretty well, with things like artists radios and Discover Weekly. You gotta love it and hate it I guess.
both chuckling
DF: Yeah I mean it's good when it works. Just not attaching your worth to it too much.
BP: Yes, absolutely.
DF: Now more than ever it feels like involvement in a local community is essential for success as a musician, not to mention wellbeing.
BP: Hundred percent. I think community is the coolest thing to come out of being in a band and playing music. I wouldn’t have met most of my friends if I didn't play in a band. It’s also cool to see all of my friends that are in bands outside of Oklahoma, like Trauma Ray and Glare, completely blowing up right now. I love it.
DF: That’s great. I have one more question. Have you been listening to, reading, watching or just enjoying anything that you would like to pass along?
BP: Yeah! I’ve been listening to this album called [lust] by Rei Harakami. He’s a Japanese electronic musician and that record has been background music for me for a long time. I put it on if I don't know what else to put on. I love it so much. And otherwise I've been reading Children of Dune. I'm almost done, so I’m about to knock off the Dune trilogy. I think I'm stopping there! I don't know, we'll see.
DF: It’s a big world.
BP: Huge, man. It’s crazy.
DF: That’s great. Thanks so much for chatting today, it was really fun getting to know you.
BP: Yeah dude. Thanks so much for having me.
Comments