Book of Fears was started by Jason Rabe, Ravi Subramanian and Fernando Sanchez in the summer of 2014. Jason first had the idea for Book of Fears a few years back while recording some material for a film score a friend of his was working on. He wanted to create something which was both acoustic, but also cinematic in it’s scope and sound, stripped down, but with a tone and subject matter that evoked the landscape of Los Angeles and its surrounding desert.
The actual “Book of Fears” was a pamphlet that Jason got a few years back from a friend who had picked it up at a home for the mentally disabled. The original ‘book’ was written by a paranoid schizophrenic who simply listed his fears alongside crude drawings which depicted the various things which frightened him. The list contained such things as “feared of escalators” or “feared of falling into a hole and not getting out” “feared of bats flying at head” and so on. Although the pamphlet is lost, it remains the inspiration for the music and lyrical content of the songs.
Though their music is not overtly political, Book of Fears are very politically and socially engaged. As a result, the music and lyrics tend to reflect this aspect of their lives. Trying to find an angle or obscure way to express a political view is one of the goals for Book of Fears. Where we live, how we live and who we are trying to become as a community, are constant narrative themes which they explore. All three members currently reside in Los Angeles, CA and can be found wandering the streets in search of inspiration and fellow artists.
Biography