Racism, Social Media & How to survive as a species: A letlive. Interview

JASON AALON BUTLER of letlive. : Racism, Social Media & How to survive as a species

An interview by Sarah Kidd.

Words are a powerful thing. They can convey thoughts, opinions and emotions. They possess the power to influence and can be utilized as a call to action. So it’s always refreshing when a band such as letlive. are not afraid to use their music and ultimately their lyrics to address some of the issues faced by today’s society. Their latest album “If I’m the Devil…” does just that. Speaking with lead singer Jason Butler he believes that with their fourth studio album the band have finally developed the sound that is letlive.

“Essentially for me it was just trying to really put letlive in a dimension where people feel as though there’s nothing they can really expect – other than us putting forward music that in essence is letlive. We never ever wanted to be placed in a position where, you know, we couldn’t move – we never wanted to be just a hardcore band or just a punk rock band or just an alternative band; we just wanted to be a band that played music, spoke on things that we felt were important and necessary, I guess things that will affect culture artistically. It was a realm in which we could exist and people, whether they for better, for worse weren’t expecting. And that’s kinda what I would hope, I don’t want anyone to have cemented expectations for what we do and how we do it. I just want everyone to know that we will do it honestly and to the best of our ability and, you know, as authentically as we can with everything we do.”

Formed in 2002 in Los Angeles, letlive have continued to gain momentum and achieve critical acclaim with each new album. But they truly exploded across the scene upon signing with Epitaph records and re-releasing their 2009 album ‘Fake History’ in 2011, complete with three new additional tracks. Riding this wave of success they quickly followed it up with their heralded third album ‘The Blackest Beautiful’ in 2013.

Jason Butler was born and raised in the ‘rougher side’ of LA; son of Aalon Butler (lead singer of the soul group Aalon) Butler is no stranger to the music business. Nor is he a stranger to many of the issues plaguing American society today, such as poverty and racism. The son of an African American father and a Caucasian mother, Butler understands and has experienced both sides of the coin. The first single off the latest album entitled “Good Mourning America” is a powerful track that addresses one of the key issues that has been spotlighted in America right now – that of police brutality, especially against minority races, in particular, African Americans. Since ‘If I’m the Devil’ dropped in June of 2016, America has obviously gone through some major changes, the largest (and the one that the rest of the world is closely watching) being that of Donald Trump becoming President elect.

So how does Butler feel about the current situation in America?

“So when he became president elect, Mr. Donald Trump, I was in Budapest. I stayed up all night watching the results on my phone and after the results I stayed up even longer cause I was hoping that they were wrong, you know, admittedly I was like ‘ok maybe there was a mistake’ as I couldn’t believe it. I woke up in a sort of surreal haze, trying to understand how this could have happened and why? What are the reasons behind this, you know, politically, societally; and for me I always try to chalk it up to something universally, you know, that’s sort of my grace that I give everything, but I would like to believe that there’s a reason and I want to understand that reason and I’d like to operate with that knowledge. So for me now, I just believe that if there was ever a time for us as millennials or ever a time for us as a recent culture as Americans to sort of have a light shone upon the residual effects of racism, the residual effects of sexism, the residual effects of, you know, corporatized politics is now. This is a real indication of what we are capable of dangerously as a country. I’m not here to say, you know, I’m not gonna completely say he is the bane of all political existence but I will say that his track record prior to him becoming president elect is certainly not favorable for me as a person of colour and also just as a person with liberal thought and open mind; it’s just not something that I would really hope for as the leader of the free world. But as Americans I believe we can endure a lot and I think we will quickly learn what we need to do both liberally, conservatively and just all around as a country. I believe that this will show us what we need to do – that’s what I’m hoping for!”

Tracks from ‘If I’m the Devil’ such as ‘Nu Romantics’, ‘Reluctantly Dead’ and ‘Another Offensive Song’ certainly pack a punch, and don’t hold back in addressing many of the issues that America are currently fighting themselves over. But does Butler believe that with the power of social media and the technological age in general that issues such as racism, police brutality etc. can not only be clearly identified but dealt with at the root cause?

“I feel really ambivalent about it as I do more research and I see things happening, because what I think it can do is that it can offer empirical evidence, you know, like offer fact to be presented in a court of law if need be, but also I think the other side of that coin is that when you provide it to a social media outlet or even a major media like television the fear that I have is that it makes it seem almost movie like, it sort of fantasizes it, turns it into this thing that we’re watching from afar, from a distance, something that we’re watching on a phone or a television or your computer screen and people forget that its reality! It’s almost like this weird sick sense of entertainment for some people. That alongside understanding that us as a millennial culture I think that we put weight a little too much weight in speaking our minds just on the internet. We have deluded ourselves sometimes to believe that that is enough that when we are out on the streets we have almost extinguished our ability to speak to others about what we think is right or wrong. So I do think on one end of the spectrum this is helpful and I do appreciate it but on the other end of the spectrum I find that we have put so much weight in it that we think that it is enough, which it is not! It is not a fully active role in making change, even just speaking on behalf of fucking humanity it’s not enough.”

So does Butler believe that being a ‘keyboard warrior’ in today’s society is enough to really make change?

“I don’t think that we are all designed or even supposed to, you know, be the activist on the street – I understand that but I do think that people hold accountability, culpability and a responsibility; if you’re going to fucking talk about it on the internet I think if you see it somewhere else in real life I think that you fucking need to understand that there is a humanistic approach. Using your words, using an encounter, using confrontation like that is what we need and that is just where we are at if we want change. If you want to exist and continue as a fucking species that’s what you need to do and that’s not just me, that’s not conjecture or opinion that’s what we need socially.”

letlive. are currently touring Australia and will be playing a much anticipated one off New Zealand show in Auckland on January the 18th at the Kings Arms Tavern – tickets are on sale now through Ticketmaster.