Fresno Famous

Brandon Lee is a product of the tech age — quite literally. He’s a pop singer, a songwriter and producer and the sole creator of “Fighting to Be Me,” an album he self released in November.

“It’s all me and a mic and a bedroom,” says the 25-year old.

Technically, Brandon is trained as graphic designer. The whole music thing is a bit of a fluke. Sure, he’s always loved to sing. He used to tape songs off the radio, play them back on a cassette desk, singing along until the batteries on the thing died. It was his dream. But he let it slide because that’s what happens. At some point, you quit reaching for your dreams and start reaching for what you can get.

And then (here’s where the technology comes in), he bought a Mac. It came loaded with GarageBand, a music program that allowed him to record songs and beats without a proper studio. Or proper musicians for that matter.
“I don’t even know how to play an instrument, technically,” he says.

He did learn enough to sit down at a keyboard and put together the 11 songs that make up “Fighting to Be Me.” It’s actually his third collection and it’s full of the down-at-the-mall pop songs. This is sing-in-your car-at-the-stoplight kind of stuff that kids love and parents don’t find overly annoying. It’s rock guitars over techno beats. 

It’s pop music.

Which has it’s drawbacks. For live shows — he played at the Fresno Fair twice this year — he sings to a backing track. He knows he can’t play just anywhere. He’s not a bar-band playing-for-drunks kind of act and doesn't want to be. 

He grew up during the pop explosion. He vividly remembers everyone at his junior high being crazy for the Spice Girls. And ’N Sync. You know the list goes on. He’s not ashamed by his influences — which range from the Backstreet Boys to Powerman 5,000.

Try not getting looks when you slap both of those down at the counter of Rasputin.

There’s a huge market buying market for the style, he says. One of his first moves he made was getting on the Internet and going to the Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber fan pages.
“And I almost got kicked off of Facebook,” he says. But he introduced himself (and his music) to a lot of people.

Some people abandon pop music as they get older — it becomes a guilty pleasure. That’s not Brandon.

“You don’t have to grow out of it.”