‘A Lot of Endings’: Brian Fate talks new EP

Brian Fate once heard a smart man say, “We’re only here to become masters of our own fate.” In one of his own songs, the songwriter himself mused, “We’re only here to find that we already have the answer inside.”

So when the artist, who formerly went by Brian Berggoetz, decided to rebrand, “Fate” struck him as a suitable name to match his songwriting philosophy.

“I try to put the big picture of life into each song, and not small pictures,” said Fate, whose latest EP, “The End,” is out now. “And life and love have a lot to do with fate.”  

That, and, according to the artist, a lot of the good names were taken. 

Fate has always been focused on the big picture. When the Indiana-born artist was younger, he spent his time “just searching for the truth.” He began writing songs inspired in large part by the music of Bruce Springsteen, and is wholly self taught in the ways of guitar, harmonica, singing and songwriting. 

Looking to get out of the Hoosier State, Fate blew into Tucson, where his sisters lived, in 1986. After seeing how “different” the desert was, and appreciating the sunshine over the bitter Midwestern cold, he stuck around. He was just beginning when he came out to Arizona, in the midst of a divorce and finally figuring out a health issue that had troubled him for 40 years. 

“I was like, ‘you know what? I’ll take a shot of this thing,’” Fate said. “And ever since, everything’s been going great. It just keeps getting better.”

“There’s a lot of desert in my music now.”

“The End” is Fate’s third studio endeavor. The record began as a collection of loose singles, until he penned the title track. In the atmospheric, reverb-steeped love song, Fate sings, “Real life will bring you to the end.” According to the musician, this tune connected all the dots, and brought all of the songs together.

“All of a sudden, everything made sense,” Fate said. “So we went ahead and put it all into an EP.”

Like the lyric suggests, each track in the EP is meant to take the listener to the end — the end of a relationship, the end of a lifecycle, the end of the world. 

“There’s a lot of endings here,” Fate said. “But with the song ‘The End,’ we see that every beginning comes from another end. So it all ties together in that way.”

Fate writes songs that he wishes he was hearing, but isn’t. The musician tries to challenge himself with each project, pulling from a deep bag of influences not limited to blues, folk, Americana and rock. Right now, he is listening to John Mayer, Ryan Adams and Chris Stapleton, acts whom the singer-songwriter looks up to for their songwriting prowess. 

But the record refuses to be pinned down to a genre. “Breaking Blue” is an honest blues-country song, while the new, symphonic version of “Wildflower,” featuring co-singer Alison Wahl’s emotive soprano harmonies, is reminiscent of 1970s folk and ’90s Disney films. “It’s Gonna Rain” combines chorus guitars and Fate’s trademark smokiness with a toe-tapping rock ’n’ roll chorus. The traditional strings on “Waltz for the End of the World,” a track that Wahl wrote, could draw a jig out of even the least Irish of listeners — the singer takes on a carpe diem approach to endings, imploring us to “Eat that last taco, have one more merlot, cuz there’s only one way for this story to go.”

Wahl first joined Fate on the second record “Magical Times,” an addition that “really amped things up,” Fate said. Otherwise, the recording process has remained the same across the three releases. He’s worked with the same guitarist, and the same producer, Duncan Stitt, who also plays the keyboards on the works.

Along with the EP, Fate also released a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Heartbreak Hotel.” It’s the latest of several reimaginings, all of which are done in the songwriter’s distinctive style. His technique entails stripping the song down to its lyrics, and forgetting everything else.

“I don’t take the melody or the music,” Fate explained. “I just start over: Sit with it, play with it, and see what feels good.”

For “Heartbreak Hotel,” the musician began with an arrangement that just wasn’t quite right. But after sitting with the song for a while, he finally figured out what worked. 

“You know when it’s there. It’s a great feeling when you know a song is finished, it’s just amazing.”

Outside of his music career, Fate enjoys his other work, which allows him to travel around Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico, meeting new people in new places up to six days a week. He spends Sunday afternoons barbecuing with his sister and her children. And of course, he plays a lot of live shows around Tucson, where he has cemented himself as a linchpin in the local music scene. 

Catch Brian Fate at Brother John’s Beer on Sept. 27. On Oct. 7, Fate and his bandmates will perform at an EP release party for “The End.” The event will take place at Monterey Court, where the band often plays, and attendees can expect to hear music from all three records. 

Brian Fate
WHEN: 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27
WHERE: Brother John’s Beer, Bourbon & BBQ, 1801 N. Stone Avenue, Tucson
INFO: brianberggoetz.com

Brain Fate, “The End” Release Party
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7
WHERE: Monterey Court, 505 W. Miracle Mile, Tucson
INFO: brianberggoetz.com