Letlive are a 5 piece band from Los Angeles, so to be here in the UK is a far way from home for these guys, they've just signed to Epitaph Records and are currently touring up and down the country with the likes of Break Even, Stick to Your Guns and Your Demise. We meet their tour manager Tom, who takes us to the band who have set up camp in Nottingham's own Rescue Rooms. The guys are sat around preparing themselves for tonight's show. We manage to pull away singer; Jason Butler, bassist; Ryan Johnson and drummer; Anthony Rivera. These guys are incredibly sweet without a hint of rock star status. They're quick to offer us water and beer as we get to know who Letlive really are.


How did Letlive get started?
Jason- "We try to avoid this, but it's unavoidable, the inevitable, it was a continuation of a project we had in high school, between a few of us. What happened is we had many members, it's high school, so its very fickle, and consistency is not one to show its face all that often, so through the years we just played music and continued to keep playing music and with the errors and the defeats, I guess whatever success we did have, we learnt that the Letlive to come was gonna be much better than the Letlive that was. So about 4 years ago, after all that we all got together through bands we'd been playing in together, we've known each other for years.
We all got together and started playing as Letlive, as soon as we got together we literally wrote the album, the album that actually means alot to us, so that's how it all started."
Clair- "Is that your latest album 'Fake History'?"
Jason- "Yes."


What are Letlive's major influences?
Theres a pause as the band think, they look at each other...
Clair- "Well I thought 'Over Being Under' sounded a lot like Coheed and Cambria..."
Ryan- "Yeah we've heard that, we hear alot of things actually!"
Carla (Photographer for Midlands Rocks)- "Good or bad?"
Ryan- "Good, you know, there a couple of words that are a little outlandish, at least there's bands we at least once listened to, describing us, i dunno its..."
Jason- "Its more of a vibe."
Ryan- "We like to have a personal connection to people and the music isn't particularly sided in a negative way, but it is re-enforcement for not so much then but for me." 
Jason- "Music's a personal way for us to get our emotions out, and it's us explaining those emotions on stage and whatever people can pick up on when they listen to us. I think people make that association, connection, when they see us live, literally right there in front of you, it's a closer, tighter experience."

Clair- "Does what you listen to at the moment influence you at all, say if your really into one band one week...
All- "(Laughing) Nooo!"
Ryan- "I can't speak for everybody but everybody has specific influences it's not particularly directly transposed into the music, but there are tinges of influences to alot of it, I personally wouldn't associate it to what we have."
Anthony- "It depends, like he brings in what influences him, I'll bring in what influences me and we change it to Letlive."
Jason- "I think we try to get a natural simulation."
Anthony- "We don't force it"
Ryan- "It's not at all premeditated though."
Jason- "When it is shown, when people would describe the band, or what they hear, that's what they hear and what they may hear not be what we were thinking or feeling at the same time, but music I believe generally is an essence and what it is, is someone to feel and interpret as they want to. If you come in speaking directly or with one mission or subject to present to the crowd that's all the person is allowed to feel in essence. With Letlive it's an open forum, we try to seamlessly incorporate the things we like to hear or like to feel whilst playing music."


What's your favourite venue you've played? least favourite?
Ryan- "On this tour?"
Clair- "Ever"
Jason- "Hyde Park cafe?"
The band break into laughter...
Carla- "Whats special about that one?"
Ryan- "It's back in our hometown, LA" 
Jason- "It's like a shoe box"
Ryan- "We're kinda joking, but at the same time not really, because we really did have some great shows there..." 
Jason- "It's very oven-esque."
Clair- "I always find the smaller ones are better, more personal."
Carla- "Rescue Rooms always gets quite hot when the crowd gets going."
Jason- "Can't wait, I think I have over active sweat glands."
Carla- "I photographed Architects here, and it was a sweat box!" 
Jason- "That's a good band to sweat too, I really like that band a lot" 
Anthony- "Have you guys listened to the new CD?" 
Jason- "Its pretty rock n roll." 
Clair- "How about your least favourite venue?"
Jason- "Hyde Park cafe!"
(Everyone Laughs)
Jason- "No the Knitting Factory in LA, for more emotional reasons"
The smiles on the guys faces make us sense there's some great memories they all have regardless of the venues they play, as if each gig holds a different story.



Letlive are playing a gig on the 28th Feb at old blue, London, with all the proceeds going to the homeless charity, Shelter, did you get a say in what charity?
Ryan- "No, well it was a mutual decision, they came and proposed the idea"
Jason- "We saw a list, and I spoke with our manager 'Dave Taylor', wonderful man, and we heard the shelter was a very large homeless shelter, and it was an understanding we'd get something good. yeah, not the McDonalds!"


Do you ever get distracted on stage?
All- "Yes"
Ryan- "If the equipment isn't all that,"

On the previous nights gig we learn that the band suffered technical difficulties with half the stage losing sound.
Clair- "Isn't that part of touring though?
Ryan- "Yeah I guess you could say that, yesterday we had some major malfunctions and it was very frustrating, but if everything's going smoothly on stage, everyone gets into their own personal zone. There's a strong unspoken unity with everybody, and we're all in our own world on stage, and its a great thing to have.
Jason- "I think 'distracted' is the best word actually, as Ryan eloquently described, is that we are in our own world, and the technical difficulties I would consider as being unsettled, cos we're definitely unsettled, but during the whole set we're distracted by everything, every single thing that we've written about within us, we are now allowed to emanate these.. what we haven't said or done or felt in the past few years or the 10mins before the show, it all comes out on stage, so distracted is a very good word.

How do you chill out on tour?
Ryan and Jason- "Chill out?"
Jason- (points to a crate of beer on the table) "Tuborg?"
Ryan- "We're very quiet, we read alot, we have small discussions"
Clair- "Do you get to go round the cities?"
Ryan- "Occasionally, when we can, it's been very hard on this tour, because of interviews..."
(Everyone Laughs)

Clair- (Laughing) "Sorry!"
Jason- "No, no we're happy for you to take pictures!"
Ryan- "When something like this is happening we're definitely stoked to be doing it"
Jason- "It's a matter of placement, we haven't been afforded much time because we get here, we load in, sound check then go for food, then we play. We're first on with this tour, and by that time its freezing cold outside and atmospherically we're disadvantaged right now."



Who's your favourite band that you've toured with?
Ryan- "We've become close to alot of bands actually, and have enjoyed touring with a lot of them"
Jason- "I have to say 'I am the Ocean' are the first band that opened us up to, as far as being what people call it the 'gig life' we call it touring. But the way we felt and connected and the way we lived that life with them was probably the first of that connection we ever had..."
Anthony- "With another band"
Jason- "Prior we would tour by ourselves because we are, um, assholes, he says laughing, so we would tour by ourselves most often, after we recorded the album "Fake History", directly after I mean like days after we began this tour with 'I am the Ocean'  and with them we learned many things about other bands, travelling, touring, and ourselves as a band... and to never play the knitting factory again!"
(Everyone Laughs)


What things do you miss most on tour?
Anthony- "Homemade cooking"
Ryan- "We love being on tour, but we miss home obviously"
Jason- "The standard comforts, you will hear this all time; family, closest loved ones, oh and my dog!"

Clair- "I could not leave my dog at home!"
Jason- "We've taken him on tour before, yeah hes a great guy"
Anthony- "I don't know if I'm the only cat person in the band but I guess my cats!"



How to British crowds differ from American?
Jason- "Accents!"
Ryan- "The British crowds have been amazing, they've been very responsive, they love to go to a show"
Anthony- "Definitely more similar to American crowds than to European crowds, they've been awesome, we've had 3 shows?"
Ryan- "Home can be very accepting but it can be a little hard to gain that acceptance, but here they're more appreciative"
Jason- "Here it's very reminiscent of what the scene or scenes were years back when they were more fresh, a little more organic and authentic and I know I sound like an old jaded asshole, but I mean it, we are in fact an all arrogant society, we are a hub, especially in LA, for great things and terrible terrible things."

At this point during the interview, tour mates 'Break Even' interrupt for the crate of beer placed on the middle of our table.
Jason- "These are our Aussie friends"
The guys break into the beer and proceed to tell us about their venture to the Nottingham castle...
Ryan- "We're doing an interview!"
Break Even- "You're doing an interview? ah sorry guys!"
We all laugh and ask about their day, and as they wander off we hear them shout,
"Do you guys want to interview some real bands afterwards?!" 

Jason- "With that being said 'Break Even' are very, very courteous men"

Anthony- "They're one of the bands we've had the great pleasure of touring with"

It's clear that theres a bond between all of the bands touring, and they've made some great friends along the way.


If you could recommend one album what would it be?
(long pause)
Jason- "Motown classics! I would, I really would."
Anthony- "Miles Davis, Birth of the Cool" 

Ryan- "Harvest by Neil Young"
Jason- "You'll very quickly realise the spectrum of music that we listen to!"



What can we expect from the future with you guys?
Jason- "Progress!"
Ryan- "We are in the process of re-releasing the album, through epitaph, hopefully we'll have new music in the next year, hopefully sooner than later"


Doing any festivals this summer?
Ryan- "Summer... we're actually booked for the rest of the year"
Jason- "We're currently waiting on whatever is to come this summer,"
Ryan- "We're considering staying at home this summer!"
Jason- (Laughing) "Unless you 2 have a band you wanna go on tour then we're all in!"


Any interesting tour stories?
Jason- "Get in the van, drive far, play a show... we had tour dog with us, and he crowd surfed, twice!"
Ryan- "Stage dove once!"
Jason- "Crowd surfed twice!"
The band break into laughter again as they recall the show to us, telling us that the dog is a teacup sized poodle mix, with long legs.
Jason- "He's a great dog, Stanley, Stanley Urban Wolfe!"

Letlive are a humble, passionate band. They put their music first and truly believe in each other and the music they create. After the interview we stick around to see what I can only describe as an epic unforgettable show. This band want progress and I can see big things for their future. Letlive are re-releasing their album 'Fake History' on Epitaph records, out April 12th, make sure to catch these guys on tour.