brought back to life - I thought was so cool and that guitar solo he does on the roof top made me want to learn. The instrumentalist in me came out first with getting an electric guitar, then acoustic guitar, then bass guitar.”
Now a singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Palangi feels the closest connection with putting together songs. “Recording is my strongest sense about me. I’ve always been curious with audio production and how to make things sound better and improve. I mean I love playing live shows but in the studio is where I feel the most relaxed and at home.”
Palangi didn’t stop with the string instruments. A friend of his played drums and would leave his set at Palangi’s house, inviting him to play around on that too.” Singing and writing came a few years later his mom asked him why he didn’t want to sing and play. He told his mother that he couldn’t sing and play. Like every mother I know she told her son that ‘can’t’ was not excuse. In fact, Palangi’s whole life has been about overcoming the cant’s to triumph in the cans.
He was born with several different medical issues, causing doctors to believe he would be paralyzed for life and require seizure medications and special treatment. By the age of five, all of the issues that doctors had been concerned about worked themselves out. But that wasn’t the end of his challenges.
“I developed chronic allergies and asthma soon after (turning five) and some people don’t think that’s a big issue but it definitely is,” he explained. “I missed around thirty days of school a year or so, no after school programs or sports, so I had to be creative and that’s why I’ve always been into music and movies.”
In addition, Palangi also suffered from a condition known as Immunoglobulin A Deficiency or IgA. That is a condition resulting in a low immune system count, causing him to get sick easier. Again, that didn’t stop Palangi, who rode dirt bikes and made his own fan films as a child and teenager.
“I thought though I could do more, to fight it, to do something that I could control in a world with no control, made music a good outlet.”
Lots of successful people have mantras and Palangi is no exception. In 2008 he came up with a saying that he continues to express to this day: “I have no Plan B on backing down on my dreams.”
Although he came up with that saying in 2008, it wasn’t till 2010 when he went off to Nashville and started working on his first EP along with opening for his first national act that he really felt like it was starting to become alive.
Pursuing Plan A with a blind ambition as well winning awards for his music has offered Palangi with opportunities that not many indie artists get – performing with internationally known bands and musicians, including Buckcherry, Candlebox and Staind singer Aaron Lewis.
“Awards are great for credits to your resume, but it’s not like the reward of playing a show and really getting a reaction from the audience or someone listening to your new single and hearing their feedback,” Palangi admitted.
He relishes the opportunity to perform shows, whether big or small. “Every show, especially the national ones, you learn something new every time and develop,” Palangi said of the experience. “Some artists you get to meet and they are pretty nice, maybe give you some feedback. Others you never meet or you meet and it’s ‘hi’ and ‘bye.’ Working the crowd is another thing you learn also. Every crowd is different, depending on the artist’s genre, but you learn to adapt.
I play out regularly almost every week with acoustic gigs and national shows when I can book them. I’m always networking and looking for new opportunities and new shows. My goal is to do an acoustic tour getting to the people out of the Northeast United States in the future.”'
If all of this makes you want to go check out Palangi in person, he is booked with acoustic gigs through December in New York and Massachusetts and is hoping to add a few more national shows.
“I’ll be releasing the acoustic EP (August 26th) and plugging that along with still promoting ‘Break These Chains.’ I may do some recorded cover song versions to upload to YouTube that people can watch and see that side of me too. Most cover songs I do differently than the originals - different tunings, added parts, less parts. I like messing with the structure on some.”
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