Flyer Profile: The Good Fear

March 5, 2008 10:29 pm · By Dustin · 4 Comments

The Good Fear is mostly a Fayetteville band, at least 5/6 Fayettevillian anyway. Zach Holland, singer, guitarist, and piano player resides in Little Rock now after spending at least a good portion of his life in our fine city, while the rest of the band resides in Fayetteville.

They’ve also been working on a record for the last two years, due out this spring on Little Rock based label Max Recordings, and as a result of this fact along with their geographic challenges, it’s not very often that they play in Fayetteville.

That changes at least for this month, though. The Good Fear will play two Fayetteville dates in March. You can catch them at the O.P.O. (downstairs of Urban Table, in the center of the Fayetteville square) on Sunday night, the 9th with the American Princes and Catfish Haven, as well as on the 18th of this month when they’ll open the show for Dr. Dog at George’s.

You can hear a track from the Good Fear’s upcoming album below as well as a video for “Tools of Trade” or you can check them out on their MySpace page as well.

Zach Holland answered the questions for us this time. Thanks Zach.

Fayetteville Flyer: What have you been listening to lately?

TGF: Mostly whatever my wife has on, so: Dylan, Hot Chip, Cat Power, Feist. James Brown Live at the Apollo ‘69 has been in my car cd player for about a month now, and I’m pretty much convinced that nobody ever did anything any better than that. I always start listening to the Zombies again when springtime comes around.

FF: So, you guys have been working on this record for a long damn time. When’s that bitch coming out?

TGF: 2012 probably. No, we should have it out in a couple of months. Its finished. We just have to tie up the loose ends. The good news is that the recording is completely finished, so the hard part is over. As soon as we get everything to Burt, Max recordings is going to release it. Our website, www.thegoodfear.com , will have some details.

FF: Word on the street is there are some pretty bitching guest appearances on the record. Can you give us some hints?

TGF: David Slade of American Princes and Cory Branan are probably the most recognizable names, but they are only two of the many talented guest singers, players, songwriters, etc. There are somewhere around 15 of our friends helping out throughout the record.

FF: That’s a lot of guest appearances. You guys also made a video this year with Deluxe 36. What was that experience like?

TGF: Weird. Making videos is weird. Its a self-concious act, which is not our strong suit, but we are very happy with the outcome. We made it as fun as possible. We went out to the Hog Barn that we used to practice in and played the song about a thousand times while they filmed. One thing I never knew: they use those really hot lights during the daytime also. It was 90 degrees outside and they had these giant lights giving off an extra 20 degrees. The Deluxe 36 guys were very good, very nice, very professional, and very generous with their time. We owe them one.

FF: Are there any bands you’ve seen recently that you are excited about?

TGF: Personally I really like Man Man. They blow me away live, but I cant speak for the rest of the band on that. J. Roddy Walston & the Business are great, and they come through Arkansas a couple times a year. We’re always excited about Dr. Dog. We are playing with them at George’s on Tuesday March 18.

FF: You were a judge recently for the Arkansas Times musicician showcase. How was that?

TGF: How can you beat free chicken fingerz and vodka cokes? I had a good time. Little Rock has a thriving hip hop scene. 607 ruled. I wish that guy would get huge. He seems to be talking about real issues in his life, and he is not really trying too hard to come off like a bad ass. That seems rare in today’s hip hop world which is mostly about which 13 year old has the most ice or lip gloss. I’m convinced that the pop music world is way more controlled and contrived than possibly ever before. Its not that they never put out good music, but they sure aren’t scared to cram some awful stuff down our throats. Going to shows in LR has given me some hope that people are still making hip hop for good reasons, and if it weren’t for Lindsey Millar of the AR Times and TJ Deeter of Localist Magazine I wouldnt know about half of it.

Click below to hear “Downtown” by The Good Fear

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