the Good Fear

The Good Fear plays Southern indie rock. The lap steel, slide guitar, and piano hint at 70s rock radio—but the smart, inventive songwriting takes the album out of Allman Brothers territory and into the realm of recent pop gems from the Shins and A.C. Newman.
More than a couple of moments on the album (“Thieves” and “Blow Away”) are reminiscent of recent (more subtle) Sonic Youth. And like those recent Sonic Youth records, Keep in Touch is packed with moody late-night laments. But the mellow (“Mailman” and “To Hold Your Own Funeral”) give way the raucous and energetic (“Tonight,” “Blow Away”) in good measure.
With the exception of one track, the album was recorded by Zach Holland at the band's practice space in Fayetteville. While it sounds interesting, a couple of the tracks almost get lost in muddy lo-fi distortion. But what the record lacks in sonic detail it makes up for with charm and smart arrangements. Standout tracks like “Keep in Touch,” “The Way You Were,” and “Thieves,” serve as a reminder of the power of well-written, well-performed songs to transcend recording techniques and studio wizardry.
- Localist Magazine

If it's hard to pin down The Good Fear's sound, there are reasons. Six of them, in fact.

The septet of Arkansas each contribute to the song crafting duties, adding their unique inspirations in progressive rock, alternative country, alternative pop and more along the way.

The members also bring with them experience gained individually in their former bands, which include The All American Rejects, White Whale, The New Amsterdams, Lucero and the Paper Hearts.
If that sounds like it might yield a complicated blend of sounds, consider this -- when the band first formed, it had 12 members.

The Good Fear started as a collective, a fun side project for local musicians busy with other bands. It also served as a way to wind down after the rigors of the road. The entire current roster has been on a national tour with one band or another, and none of them are willing to duplicate the process.
It is now, said founding member, guitarist and vocalist Zach Holland," a band of people who didn't have the ambition to tour their asses off."

But that shouldn't be understood as a statement about the bands newest record," Dirty Lowdown Adventure,"which will be officially released today at a concert at George's Majestic Lounge in Fayetteville.

It has taken the supergroup about two years to release its upcoming sophomore album, the follow-up to its critically well-received debut," Keep In Touch."The strength of that album, and the band's live shows, has earned them opening duties for bands such as TV on the Radio, Dr. Dog and Lucero.

Complicated by the fact that Holland moved to Little Rock and that each of the members has a full-time job outside of the band, progress was slow.
And as the band stalled on completing the disc, it continued to write new tracks, many of which found their way on to the album.
"Every new song we wrote was the song the album was missing,"Holland said.

The album existed first as a set of demos recorded in a hog barn. The bulk of the tracks were later re-recorded at Dwight Chalmer's Listen Lab Studios in Fayetteville. As a finished project, the album contains 21 songs and spans more than 70 minutes in length.

The varied footprints of each of the members can be heard on the disc. Sometimes, songs started as a jam session in a rehearsal, but offered something that yielded a tasty lick, then a fully structured song.

"We'll just start playing something, and we'll say, 'I like that,'"said bassist Bryan Brown.

Other times, the group's principal songwriters of the group -- Holland, fellow guitarist and vocalist Todd Gill and lap steel player Jason Rich -- will submit a song to the group to have it deconstructed, then reassembled as something that fits the band.
"It's the most democratic band I've ever been in,"Holland said.

Probably one of the largest, too. And if that weren't enough, all of the original members of the band who have moved away are guests on the album, as are several other familiar faces from the Arkansas music scene such as David Slade of the American Princes and Cory Branan.

So, yes, it's a convoluted effort. But in theory only, the band insists. A new song brought in by any of the members, within just a few minutes of rehearsal time, will soon sound like something only The Good Fear can do.

It might just be that the friendship of the members is what allows them to be so different and still make a cohesive sound. But the band acknowledges how chaotic their existence is, the title of the album reflecting that perfectly.
- Northwest Arkansas Times

From the dark depths of the studio, the Good Fear emerges, hopefully hirsuit and wearing sunglasses. A decade ago (or maybe it was more like nine months), the Fayetteville based band started recording a follow-up to its widely beloved debut, 'Keep in Touch'...Look for the followup to tread into equally epic territory with a long song-cycle filled with a wealth of pop expirimentation."
-Lindsey Millar - Arkansas Times

Featuring ex-members of Lucero, Fulton, and The New Amsterdams, The Good Fear have a workmanlike eloquence that is, albeit economically, quite captivating. The band shows semblances of Uncle Tupelo's southern acidity but it does so in the more agile context of progressive rock. Guitarist/Vocalist Zach Holland's voice embodies a degree of heartbreak that is free of melodrama and the band's usage of lap steel, various forms of percussion, and keyboard give them a coarse originality. Like all good southern rock, TGF doggedly confronts the melancholic ghosts of regret and irascibility that accompany the dissolution of youth. It’s music about red eyes from restless nights and futures clouded with introspection – just archaic enough to inspire nostalgia but at the same time safeguard the listener’s attention. - Low Velocity

This super-group writes songs of fiery indie-rock perfection. - Groupeez Magazine