Jason Aalon Butler speaks out on the anniversary of Letlive. and teases reissue and reunion tour

image

Jason Aalon Butler has spoken out about the anniversary of Letlive. and has teased an album reissue and reunion tour for the band.

According to a series of new social media posts, the post-hardcore band are seemingly reforming for a series of farewell shows across the world next year.

They are also releasing a new, remastered version of their landmark album, ‘The Blackest Beautiful’.

The influential band’s final line-up consisted of lead vocalist  Butler, guitarist Jeff Sahyoun, bassist Ryan Jay Johnson and drummer Loniel Robinson. Throughout their career, they released four albums and one EP, with their final album, ‘If I’m The Devil’, released in 2016. They broke up in 2017, announcing the split on social media at the time.

In a new post on the band’s social media page, they wrote: “11 years of ‘The Blackest Beautiful’ after 7 years of silence. Remixed, Remastered, Revisited.”

They added: “And to our friends that we never got to say goodbye to – we’ll see you next year to do so. Promoters see slide 2. We’d like suitable spaces around the world for proper farewells,” they added, making a plea to promoters to get in touch.

They concluded: “ll.ove one last time.”

 

In a lengthy new post reflecting on the band’s split, Butler added: “I spent so many years of my life trying to find myself in this band. Trying to understand what I believed mattered. What was worth fighting for and, equally, what was worth sacrificing for. Which is what I did when I decided it was time to walk away from @letliveperiod.”

“It was a sacrifice. A necessary one for my own mental, emotional and physical health. It was somewhat Shakespearean realising that in order to truly honour myself and this band I had to let people love it in their own way even when I was having trouble love myself and let this idea we created be remembered in an honourable state. When I put this project to rest I didn’t know when or if I’d ever come back to it.

“The pain, the peril, the literal hazards I and members of this project experienced are almost too wild to be true. But, in fact, they are. And that is why I felt one last time around the as necessary. This band was not easy for me. It was never ever glamorous. And sometimes it was hard to believe it loved me back the same way I loved it, but I recently came to realise it was y’all that made this band. It was y’all that made it unique.

Advertisement

“The disparate identities colliding to form one common belief system each night as well a the 15 years of its existence is still something I cannot believe happened. But it very much did. Y’all are the reason letlive. was able to exist and y’all are the reason I’ve decided to come back for an actual farewell.”

 

He continued: “ I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me in this project and every other I’ve been a part of as I know so many of you followed me from here. Thank you for letting me be vulnerable while attempting bravado all at once. Thank you for laughing, singing and exploring with me. Thank you for hurting, living and learning with me even more so. With that being said- I ll.ove you and me and the boys will see you soon-ish.

“If you’ve read this far- keep up the community and drop your favorite memories, shows, people you’ve met due to your relationship with ll. in the comments. I love reading that sh*t.”

After Letlive., Taylor went on to form Fever 333 alongside former The Chariot guitarist Stephen Harrison and Night Verses drummer Aric Improta.

Back in January, Fever 333 shared a blistering new single titled ‘Ready Rock.

In ‘Ready Rock’, frontman Jason Aalon Butler and co. play homage to the Black artists who founded rock n’ roll, and use their signature heavy sound to shed light on the musicians that came before them but were denied due credit.

“With this month (February) being Black History Month, ‘Ready Rock’ pays homage to black artists of the past that unequivocally built rock n’ roll into what it is today. Fever bring light to the lineage of iconic rock sounds and sonics that have often gone uncredited to their proper black creators, with the assertion, Rock Music is Black Music,” a press release stated.

‘Ready Rock’ was produced by Fever 333, and features co-production from both the Grammy Award-winning Beach Noise (Kendrick Lamar, Baby Keem) and Glassjaw’s Justin Beck.

The newly shared single marked the second track to be shared from the group following a major line-up change last year.

COMMENTS

Leave a comment

Linkin Park reportedly planning 2025 tour with new female vocalist

image

Linkin Park are reportedly planning a 2025 tour and potentially looking to recruit a female vocalist to succeed late frontman Chester Bennington.

The band have been on hiatus ever since the death of Bennington in 2017, who took his own life aged 41.

However, according to reports from Billboard, the band’s booking agency WME are now taking offers for concerts and festivals featuring Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson and Dave Farrell. Though it’s unclear who will succeed Bennington, a source has apparently told Billboard that the band are looking for a female vocalist for their reunion.

The news follows a rumour sparked by Orgy’s Jay Gordon, who said he “heard” that Linkin Park “had a girl singer now” back in March. He later issued a statement clarifying his comments, writing: “With regards to this Linkin Park singer thing,” he wrote. “I know nothing about any of that. People sure do love to take my words out of context. I love those guys and wish them the best.”

NME have approached Linkin Park’s representatives for comment.

Since Bennington’s death, there have been some discussions on how to continue the band. Shinoda has spoken against the idea of having a Bennington hologram, calling it “creepy”, whilst Evanescence’s Amy Lee has emphatically shot down rumours that she would replace Bennington.

Responding to the rumours, she said: “That is an incredible compliment. I have not heard that. No, I have not been contacted or anything like that. But [I’m a] huge fan feel like our worlds, our fanbases are a lot of the same people.”

Linkin Park released the 20th anniversary edition of ‘Meteora’ last year, where Shinoda and Delson spoke with NME in April about the potential for releasing new unheard material.

“It’s about honouring each creative opportunity as it comes along,” said Delson. “It was an embarrassingly haphazard accident that we found ‘Lost’ and it’s like doing as well as it’s doing. There was not a lot of premeditation beyond, ‘This feels good in the moment, let’s honour that’. It was organic and that’s always really served us. We’ve always done our best work when the creative opportunity feels right.”

Speaking to NME separately in November, Shinoda commented on the future of Linkin Park, confirming that there was “nothing planned right now”.

“I always just tell people like when there’s news I’ll give you the news. We’ve been doing it for a while and I think our expectation for what’s a proper reissue is kind of high.

“I don’t love putting out Greatest Hits stuff or putting out re-masters of things we’ve done, [so] if we were to do a re-reissue of one of our Linkin Park albums, we want it to be a big deal. If we can’t make it that quality then we won’t do it. If it’s not great then I don’t think we should do it.”

Since that interview, Linkin Park have released the previously unheard ‘Friendly Fire’ with Bennington on vocals, which was originally recorded for the band’s 2017 sessions for ‘One More Light’. They also went on to release ‘Papercuts (Singles Collection 2000-2023)’ in April, a 20-song overview of the band’s best-selling tracks over the past two decades.

In other news, Chester Bennington’s son Draven dropped his debut single ‘F_w_Me’ last spring.

COMMENTS

Leave a comment