ONE ON ONE: AN INTERVIEW WITH LETLIVE.!

THIS IS HIVE MAGAZINE, I’M DANNI BAKER AND TODAY I’M HERE AT 2000 TREES FESTIVAL WITH THE ABSOLUTE ICONS THAT ARE LETLIVE. HOW ARE WE DOING?

Jean: Doing well, thank you.

Jeff: Yeah, very well. Thanks for having us. Thank you.

SO OF COURSE IT’S FIRST FESTIVAL BACK, PLAYING LATER TODAY, HOW ARE WE FEELING ABOUT THE SET FIRSTLY?

Jean: I mean, just happy to be here. Grateful.

Jeff: Yeah, we're feeling good. We're stoked, ready to do the damn thing!

Jason: Yeah, it's kind of the theme of the tour is just we're just happy to be here.

OF COURSE, OF COURSE. I WAS GOING TO SAY, YOU PLAYED LONDON YESTERDAY, DAY BEFORE?

Jason: Two days ago, yeah.Two days ago, yeah.

HOW WAS THAT? THAT WAS THE FIRST ONE BACK WAS IT?

Jason: It was our first one in the UK, and it was honestly, like I'm not just saying this, probably one of the most special and unique shows we've ever played as a band.

Jean: Absolutely.

I HAVE TO ASK HOW HARD OF A SECRET WAS IT TO KEEP, TO KEEP THE REUNION UNDER WRAPS?

Jason: Honestly, it was so fast because we had been talking about it amongst ourselves for a while, and then when we pulled the trigger, it all just kind of happened quickly. Because again, in true Letlive fashion, we were just like “Hey, let's just put out a blast and put out an email and tell people to hit us up and we'll book a tour”. And so it was like, it all happened pretty quickly. So we were able to kind of keep it.

Jeff: Yeah, everything organically just fell into place the way it was supposed to. So we didn't really, yeah.

I MEAN THE ANNOUNCEMENT, THE 2000 TREES ANNOUNCEMENT ESPECIALLY, THERE WAS A LOT OF TALK AROUND IT FOR A WHILE. THERE WERE TEASERS ABOUT THAT REUNION SET THAT WAS GONNA BREAK THE INTERNET. HOW WAS IT FOR YOU GUYS SEEING THE RECEPTION, SEEING ALL THE COMMENTS, SEEING THAT EVERYBODY IS STILL EXCITED ABOUT LETLIVE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?

Jean: Yeah, just the fact that our fans stuck through it and are still showing love, you can’t beat that.

Jeff: I think it's a very surreal experience for us to be here right now. Even waking up this morning, it's like, where? How? How the fuck did we get here? How is this happening? But we're so grateful and we're so happy and just, you know, here to share love and the experience with everybody.

YOU GUYS ALSO REVISITED YOUR ALBUM, THE BLACKEST BEAUTIFUL. THAT WAS RELEASED ABOUT A MONTH AGO I THINK IT WAS NOW? HOW LONG WAS THAT IN THE WORKS AND HOW WAS IT LITERALLY REVISITING THAT AND KIND OF HAVING THOSE FEATURES ON THERE AND EVERYTHING AGAIN?

Jason: I mean, it was kind of in the works from the moment we released the album! Just because I think that the album initially was just a true, and this isn't some sort of excuse, but a true representation of the band at the time. Like, that's what you would, if you were to sit in the room and listen to the band, that's what you'd hear. Also, it was an answer to a lot of the typical mixes and presentation of music in our scene at the time. It was like kind of our answer in almost like the antithetical presentation of what we were seeing at the time to try to see how far we could push it. I mean, that’s really just what we want to do, what we’ve always tried to do, and what we’ll continue to do. Being able to do this has been cool because we can kind of, hear it in modernity, a little more contemporary space.

Jeff: That's awesome that you said that, because I never really reflected on it as much as I just did right now! So that record was, I think, the message, and it was there, sonically, the songwriting and whatnot, but there wasn't so much clarity in the sonic value of the mixes. I think that’s kind of how we were when we were younger, I think it was knowing what we stood for, what we wanted to do, but I think we were missing just the the, the clarity, the aspect of maybe clarity. And in that era of our lives and I think now is a direct representation of where we are because I think we redid the record, it's very clear everything is there and I think you know, again, the evolution of our lives and growing up and being the men we are today is you know, we have a very clear vision of the things we want and how we want to pursue this journey so it's fucking cool.Yeah.

Jean: I also think the fans wanted that as well.

OF COURSE, OF COURSE! DO YOU GUYS HAVE LIKE A PERSONAL FAVOURITE OR STANDOUT TRACK FROM REVISITING THE ALBUM?

Jeff: No

Jason: I've always loved the song ‘Empty Elvis’. I just think it's so cool, and also like, the way that song came together like it was kind of, it was actually the most probably the most piecemeal Letlive song I can think of for a while because I think, I can't remember how it started, but I just remember being in my living room. Mind you, I was living on my two homeboys' couch at the time. I had my acoustic guitar and some clothes, and they had just left for work. I tried not to sing or write when they were sleeping because they had real jobs and shit. They just left for work, and I remember just writing that chorus on my acoustic guitar and being like, I don't know how this is going to translate, and then bringing it to the guys and being like, that's why I'm in a band. I didn’t know how to translate that chorus from that setting to what we did. I don't know, that's just a big one for me, I suppose.

Jeff: I think every track holds weight in some degree. ‘Banshee’, I love when ‘Banshee’ was written too. That's another favorite of mine. I don't know, that's hard! That's like sitting in a room with all your children and then somebody asking you, which one of them do you not like or like the most? It's so hard, but yeah.

Jean: I mean, all of them are great. We definitely put a lot of work into all of the songs.

I MEAN IT’S AN INCREDIBLE ALBUM. AND IT’S SO GREAT TO SEE YOU GUYS BACK AS WELL, SO I THINK THAT IS A PERFECT NOTE TO END THIS ON. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE WITH ME GUYS!

Jason: I appreciate it, thank you.

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