Combining technically driven guitar with impassioned vocal delivery, letlive.’s brand of progressive post-hardcore, spans various genres including alternative metal, experimental rock and hardcore punk. The band’s debut came in 2003 with the EP “Exhaustion, Salt Water, and Everything in Between" released on At One Records, with the line-up consisting of vocalist Jason Butler, bassist Christian Johanson, lead guitarist Ben Sharp, rhythm guitarist Keeyan Makif, and drummer Alex Haythorn.
letlive.’s full-length debut “Speak Like You Talk” arrived two years later in 2005 and marked the beginning of a series of line-up changes that resulted in Butler remaining the only original member in 2007. The band’s popularity grew at this point with a extensive touring schedule across Canada and the U.S. and the group returned to the studio to release their sophomore album “Fake History” in 2009. The album, released on Tragic Hero Records, was supported by another relentless tour including parts of Europe and produced by Kit Walters.
After Bring Me the Horizon frontman Oliver Sykes saw a letlive. performance in 2008 he arranged for the band to sign with Epitaph Records who rereleased the band’s sophomore album. With greater exposure the album earned high praise both critically and by fans and led to appearances at Download Festival, Leeds Festival and support slots for Enter Shikari, Your Demise and Underoath.
Subsequently, letlive. released their third full-length album in July 2013 peaking at No. 74 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and No. 62 in the UK album chart. Featuring the singles “That Fear Fever” and “Younger” the band proved their critical and commercial viability; achieving universal acclaim.
Letlive, are an American post-hardcore band from Los Angeles, who bring quite a heavy sound to the table, laden with big technical riffs and distorted dissonance amongst the guitars. The drums are that of a machine gun kind of speed when it comes to the fills. I’m still trying to figure out what post-hardcore actually means. It could be a fancy name for screamo, as this is definitely the music that is being performed before me. I’ve always understood it as very melodic choruses complimented by heavy verses complete with screaming. One thing is for sure when this band perform live and that is that the lead vocalist Jason Aalon Alexander Butler, is giving the vocals 110%, each scream sounds more painful than the last as though he is lacerating his vocal folds. From this performance I can see the passion that these guys have alongside a fantastic work ethic, it is no wonder that they have toured with A Day to Remember, Achitects, Enter Shikari, Underoath and Every Time I Die.