{"id":29837,"date":"2016-06-08T07:00:30","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T21:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=29837"},"modified":"2016-05-25T08:05:17","modified_gmt":"2016-05-24T22:05:17","slug":"jason-butler-letlive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2016\/06\/jason-butler-letlive\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Butler of letlive."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo credit: Jonathan Weiner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“…as the band we just grew and evolved and not to say that we all evolved or moved in the same direction artistically but we did certainly grow as artists and I think we started to find out different parts of ourselves creatively that were going in different directions and because of that we were able to put it together and create this record…”<\/p>\n

From Release: Since their beginning in 2002, letlive. has been a band that is not easy to categorize. In fact, letlive. refuse to be constrained by the ideas of a “scene” \u2013 whether it is punk, metal, indie, rap. However If I\u2019m the Devil\u2026 necessitates a genre, one could posit revolutionary counterculture music – a punk rock Run the Jewels, a more emotional Rage Against the Machine, and Public Enemy with more inclusive politics.<\/p>\n

Jason from leltive. aka one of the nicest dudes in the business gave us a call to catch up on all things letlive. including the band’s newest album ‘If I’m The Devil’, inspiration, evolution, Australia, what the band represents, and much more…<\/p>\n

Now, we last spoke just before The Blackest Beautiful being released, so let’s catch up, how has the last few years been for you?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s been wild, turbulent in numerous ways but it\u2019s all been I guess conducive of what we\u2019ve recently produced with \u2018If I Am The Devil\u2019 so it\u2019s been a wild ride, we\u2019re thankful for both the difficult and the joyous times we\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n

The album is out on June 10, so before people hear it, can you give me one word that you feel sums up the record perfectly?<\/strong>
\nHmm\u2026 that\u2019s a good one\u2026 explorative\u2026<\/p>\n

Is that a word? *laughs*<\/strong>
\nI think so, it\u2019s one of the forms of explore *laughs*<\/p>\n

I have to ask as ‘If I’m The Devil’ is such a great title, what does it represent to you personally?<\/strong>
\nEssentially for me, it\u2019s my offering, it\u2019s an offering for people to finish that phrase and if they consider for themselves and all these ideas of evil and all these ideas of perception of what is right and what is wrong, it\u2019s like holding a mirror up to other people and saying if I\u2019m some form of manifestation of evil, or if this is what we perceive as wrong then what does that make the true you or even worse what are the preconceived notions of myself or other people that have just been viewed in the wrong light. It\u2019s definitely an offering to kind of finish that statement.<\/p>\n

So was there a catalyst or major inspiration behind what has become this new album?<\/strong>
\nYou know I think it was just over time at least artistically for myself again, as the band we just grew and evolved and not to say that we all evolved or moved in the same direction artistically but we did certainly grow as artists and I think we started to find out different parts of ourselves creatively that were going in different directions and because of that we were able to put it together and create this record which was actually quite formidable, it was pretty difficult to get it all together but I think that what I\u2019m realising now is that\u2019s a form of art, is the difficulty creating it and because of that we came out with what I think to be, and all arrogance aside, the best record that we\u2019ve ever created. That\u2019s not just me saying that, I don\u2019t typically throw that around, I didn\u2019t say that with \u2018Fake History\u2019 or \u2018Blackest Beautiful\u2019 that\u2019s more so of an organic product of what we were trying to do, but with this one I think it was a deliberate effort to make the best representation of letlive. sonicaly and I think we did.<\/p>\n

So, over the previous three albums do you feel that without those that you couldn\u2019t have grown into the band that you are today?<\/strong>
\nOh absolutely, I think that we were able to search the musical and ideological landscape that was to become our band and we were able to try things out, and we succeeded in many area san probably failed in just as many, but all those things together, the aggregate allowed us to become more confident and also we wanted to take more risks because of it, and without those records both failure and accomplishment we definitely wouldn\u2019t have been able to get to where we are today.<\/p>\n

In listening to the new album it’s evident that you’re taking on more singing than screaming. Was that a conscious decision or did the songs just evolve that way?<\/strong>
\nThat was conscious, to be completely honest I\u2019ve wanted it for a long time, I grew up singing, I grew up loving R&B and soul and a very large pension for pop, you know, pop sensible music, so for me it\u2019s just delivering. I felt like if I was going to be honest to who I wanted to be at this point in my career, I had to sing the way I did on this record really.<\/p>\n

You’ve been a part of letlive. for fourteen years now. What keeps you driven?<\/strong>
\nHonestly man, someone asked me this question yesterday and it was actually cool to answer it because I hadn\u2019t said it out loud in a while, but it\u2019s honestly the fact that people would invest themselves in letlive. the way they have and continue to really gives me the most I guess reason to continue with what we\u2019re doing, without it there wouldn\u2019t be much else to substantiate or to validate continuing. You lose your friends, you lose your sanity, you lose money, you lose relationships all because of an atypical lifestyle and it\u2019s difficult approach to living life when you\u2019re in a band. A band like us that took a while to catch fire would usually prove a little bit too much for most people to continue, but the fact that the people have invested so genuinely and like so passionately, it\u2019s bigger than ourselves at this point, it\u2019s more than us just trying to indulge ourselves as artists but it\u2019s also trying to create a soundtrack for something bigger than us, so I think that\u2019s it really.<\/p>\n

When can we expect to see you back in Australia?<\/strong>
\nMan, I\u2019m hoping beginning of next year because I know for now our plans don\u2019t bring us to that side of the world yet for 2016 but hopefully at the beginning of 2017 we\u2019ll get our asses over there because we miss it.<\/p>\n

You’ve been to our fine shores a number of times before and played killer shows,\u00a0what do you think it is about the Australian audiences that just get what you guys do?<\/strong>
\nDude I just think you guys as far as music goes are quite omnivorous and open minded, it\u2019s almost as if people not even saying letlive. but you\u2019ve been waiting for something musically and you\u2019re always waiting for something and you\u2019re open to a change and open to what could be next or what presents itself to you guys, at least that\u2019s how I see it. We\u2019re just lucky that you guys are so open minded musically because we\u2019re certainly not, our derivation, where we come from is not a very standard place musically, so for people to kind of really believe in us on such a large scale and a pretty fuckin\u2019 major music market is very flattering.<\/p>\n

Plus you\u2019ve got some good friends down here so that always helps\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah, that\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

Of course we\u2019re all friends with Janine\u2026<\/strong>
\nOh she is the best, she makes like things that typically through music you hear us complaining about like having to travel for press or wake up early to do this or that, she makes it so easy and almost like it\u2019s not a job it actually becomes quite fun because she makes it like a vessel to actually enjoy the business part of it which is something admittedly I\u2019ve grown quite tired of and she\u2019s made it so that I don\u2019t have to be because again, she so genuinely gives a fuck about what happens to us. That means a lot to us.<\/p>\n

Plus she has the world\u2019s coolest dog as well.<\/strong>
\nDude, Dallas is the homie, he\u2019s the best.<\/p>\n

What is that one thing you want letlive. to represent?<\/strong>
\nDude, being free, man, being free and not just like a sense of your citizenship, but in your mind and in your heart, and this sounds so clich\u00e9, I say it and I\u2019m like oh god, why say that, but it\u2019s just the truth, man, I just want letlive. to be a place where people can actually kind of feel for a second like they don\u2019t have to act accordingly in societal parameters or thee emotional constraints, because essentially for me that\u2019s why I started the band when I was sixteen, I had nowhere else to really talk about this shit, so I went to a thing called letlive. and I started writing and performing in ways that typically if I wasn\u2019t in a band or wasn\u2019t doing it through music people might actually institutionalize me *laughs* so it\u2019s like a place where you can feel true liberation\u2026 that\u2019s what I would hope for at least, I know that\u2019s really grandiose or really ambitious but that\u2019s what I would hope for.<\/p>\n

Lastly, let’s look ahead to the future, so finish this sentence for me, by the end of 2016, the one thing letlive. wants to do is…<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s a good question\u2026 by the end of this year we want to have plans to get to Australia in 2017, how about that.<\/p>\n

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Essential Information<\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong>\u00a0Los Angeles, CA, USA
\nBand Members:<\/strong>\u00a0Jason Aalon Butler – vocals, Ryan Jay Johnson- bass, Jeff Sahyoun – guitar, Loniel Robinson – drums
\nWebsite:<\/strong>\u00a0http:\/\/www.thisisletlive.com<\/a>
\nForthcoming Release:<\/strong>\u00a0\u2018If I’m The Devil\u2019 (June 10 – Epitaph)<\/p>\n

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