INTERVIEW: Frank of all Trades: Sitting Down with Musician/Filmmaker Frank Palangi
A still from Palangi’s “Souls of the Damned”
“I like to call myself one of the grandfathers of fan films; people will probably swear and yell at me for this, but there were only like 15 of us back in the early 2000s doing YouTube fan films.”
Talk to anyone engaged in the hustle of independent artistry of any kind, and they’ll tell you the same thing: the stereotype of the starving artist is no stereotype at all. Especially, it turns out, if you’re not one of the anointed few to get signed to a lucrative contract. If you’re chasing your dream and trying to do music or art full time without “making it”, you’re going to have to be prepared to try on a lot of hats.
There’s no one doing that better than Glens Falls’ Frank Palangi. I sat down with him to discuss his plethora of work, running the gamut of recording local artists at his home studio, hosting his own radio show on Radio Wigwam, working on his own musical releases, and putting out original horror films on major streaming outlets like Tubi just in time for spooky season.
James Mullen: You were telling me about these horror films going out to Tubi and some other streaming platforms. You have Souls of the Damned, Killer Tales, and The Lost Chronicles, yeah? And you do all your own music for those, as well. I saw you have some acting credits, and some directing too. Tell us a little bit more about all that!
Frank Palangi: Yeah, it's basically a one man project between directing and editing and producing and setting up the shots and lighting and the list just goes on and on and on. Plus acting. You know, of course. I have my friends help out, and then there's a few local actors that are in it too. But, you know, you're at the mercy of their schedules too. You're asking these actors to come in and be in your movie and do these things and it's hard. “Real” movie productions and stuff, they shoot straight for weeks; this week I'm shooting two days for a fourth film. So it's usually, like, one or two days a week and on people's schedules and things. But yeah, they're all out there streaming right now. And it's crazy to think I can just turn my TV on and watch. The first two are free on YouTube. Some of them are on Trauma TV, which is a really big “B” movie kind of thing. We're working on some of the other ones, like Pluto TV and Plex. So you're going to see them pop up here and there as time goes on.
JM: Very cool. And you said you're also doing some production, mixing and mastering in your home studio right?
FP: Yeah, I've always been into that, but a lot more since COVID. A lot of mixing, mastering, recording, writing with other people, or even just doing guitar parts. It's a lot of fun, and also a lot of work. I've done this for all these years and the reason why I invested more into home studio equipment is because I kept going to these big studios and working with these producers, and you can only do that so far on a budget and still have any money left at all to promote yourself. So I thought, maybe I could do it myself and actually have money for the promotional end, or just, you know, gas or food to go to some gig or whatever it is.
JM: That's what it's all about. Like at this independent level, when you're not getting famous and getting signed to big record deals, it's all about supplementing with as many different hustles as you can. It seems like you're right at the top of the list of people who are doing that locally with all the different hats you wear.
FP: Yeah, it's changed too because, for fifteen years I played out full time and I realized that I just couldn't make a living at it. I had to branch off into recording, and guitar lessons, and movies and I've got a radio show too on Radio Wigwam. So I'm into a lot of different things, but that's cool, because it enables me to interview some of the people that I've always wanted to talk with or just learn more about, plus up-and-coming indie bands that are on these SMR charts and stuff. You see them, you know, they're squeaking up there, and they want to go somewhere. So I'm like, “let's do an interview”.
JM: Yeah, yeah. As a performer too, to be able to get involved on the media side and be a fly on the wall of the journey of these other artists – see all these cool events that are going on, be on the radio as a DJ and give people a platform. That's got to be really rewarding!
FP: Yeah! And you get to play their music, and sometimes, if they're playing locally, you show up and you connect with them [in person]; it's all about connection, right? And my show is a little different. I like talking gear, so we try to talk some of that in there too. It's just like how we're talking right now, just a conversation. The radio station is based in the UK, and I think I'm the only North American DJ. We have one in Canada, and a few other ones, over in Wales. It’s a global network. I forgot what they call it over there, it's their version of FM radio.
JM: That's cool. Yeah. And you said you're working on some new music for yourself for 2025 as well, right?
FP: Thinking about it, yeah. I re-recorded a cover song that I did, and it features, I think he's 16 now, but there was a time when he was a 13 year old drummer over in the UK, and his dad contacted me and asked, “do you think we could do something?” I watched this video and I go, “he's 13 years old, and he drums like that?”; he drums like a 40 year old and he was trying to connect with people. This was during COVID, too. So we did (Jimi Hendrix’s) “Purple Haze”, like a live video type run through on YouTube. It's taken me two years and I've been doing all this other stuff… but my plan is to release “Purple Haze (2025 Version)”. And maybe because I've never released an album, only singles and five or six EPs. Everyone's like, “when's the album coming?” When I get signed someday, maybe.
JM: That’s the thing about streaming culture now; it’s about less more often, right? It's that pressure. We always lament it in my band, because we still like to try to make an album as, like, a whole collection of songs. But, yeah, the trend is just singles and EPs.
FP: I really want to update my catalog – redo some songs, give some a second chance that I never sent to radio and all that kind of stuff. My original single “I'm Waiting”, you know, a lot of people liked that, and there's no music video for it. So I was like, well, that's gonna need one someday. At the time, you can only do certain things. You can only promote, and maybe you didn't have the connections way back in 2010 as you do now. So if I take the same song, if it's relevant now, redo it, add some juice in there. I'm sure the majority of people will just be like, you know, “Wow. What is that?” You know what I mean? My close friends and fans can also compare them to the older versions.
JM: It's almost like fan service, like the people who've stuck around forever. They'll get to compare the two, and it'll also expose you to new listeners, which is always nice!
FP: I released “Dynamite” last year, and that hit the secondary SMR charts which is active rock. It was like, I think number 36 so I thought, “All right, if I can hit some radio with that, I really think some of these older songs would do very well now,” especially because all these 90s bands are coming back post-COVID.You have all these other tours going on, we're seeing a wave. But, you know, my passion for movies was always first, and then music kind of took over and I kind of went back and forth between the down periods of music. I would do music and then I would do film, but now I don't want to rush the opportunity to do more movies.
JM: Why don't you tell us more about that, because these aren't the first movies you've done. You've got a whole resume up on streaming services, don't you?
FP: Yeah, on YouTube especially. I like to call myself one of the grandfathers of fan films; people are gonna probably swear and yell at me for this, but there were only like 15 of us back in the early 2000s doing YouTube fan films. And I don't want to say they're great; they're sucky quality but you’ve got to start out somewhere. We were fans of Superman and Jason and Michael Myers and Batman, and so we just made movies, one after another after another. Through the years, everyone was like, “when are you going to do an original one?” I had done some shorts here and there. And I was like “Well, I don't know. It's a lot of work and I don't really have the right camera.”
I was approached by one of Cinema Epoch's directors, Geno McGahee, and they really liked the fan film stuff. They said if we made an original movie, maybe they’d put it out and go from there. We had had a house fire that damaged my home studio that year, and I had my camera and literally nothing to do. It takes months and months for everything to be rebuilt or figured out. We were in a hotel room, so I was like, “What am I gonna do?” And I thought, “screw it, let's just film a movie. Let's just do it. I'll worry about editing later.” That's how the first movie was born. The Lost Chronicles ended up landing a distribution deal. They handle all the streaming platforms and how that works. It was kind of boring, and it was derived from Twilight Zone, you know, with the different stories.
JM: That’s something I was curious about; are these anthologies or more like short films?
FP: The first two are; the third film is actually one idea based off of all of them. It's me having these nightmares and then you find out why I’m having these nightmares this whole time in the third movie. I took the story of the roommate, you know, is she the one giving me the nightmares? And there's little hints, like she wears a necklace that's kind of witchy, and there's a thing with water. I made a story about waterless-ness, like there’s no water in the world for the second movie. They seem like they don't relate, but they do, because it's the protagonist’s own nightmares. All three movies, it's still me going through torture. Why? You'll find out in the third movie.
JM: Sounds perfect for spooky season.
FP: Yeah, I mean, I filmed all the way up to the end of August to get this thing in. I've been working every single day. I have a TV series I'm recutting for, and then a fourth movie which is like a serial killer movie. So it just takes hours and hours.
JM: I’ve heard our very own Prince of Podcasts, Andy Scullin, was up there working with you recently as well…
FP: He is, he might be in the fourth movie. He is a very sarcastic husband character. He said he never acted before but he loves horror movies. I go, “alright, well, this girl needs a husband. Come on over, let's do it. You're a doctor and you’re a bit of a jerk.” He says, “I think I can handle that.”
JM: Before I let you go, I have to ask… what are some of your personal favorite horror films and directors, and do you attempt to emulate their work or bring a unique style of your own to the genre?
FP: Halloween 1978, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Nightmare on Elm Street, Toby Hooper, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Saw, Jeepers Creepers, Night Of The Living Dead, Terminator 2. As for whether I attempt to emulate them, I did in the fan films we had made for years. When it comes to doing your own films, you don't want to copy styles, but honor them at least.
JM: One final parting shot: As someone actively doing both, how is writing/producing/directing a film similar or different to working on music?
FP: Writing and Directing is a bit different because every step of the way, the process changes, from pre-production to post. What you thought you wrote and had scenes locked in for, could be edited and rearranged differently or be cut out or you may have to do reshoots.
Music is similar but once you record the song, it's the song and you mixed the audio. Films are a bit more flexible but with music, ideas get thrown out or cut and no one ever sees them. I'm a big believer in letting a song or a film become what it wants to be. If there's a flow to it and it's working, stick with that but still keep your vision of the project.
