Interviews

Jason Aalon Butler - letlive. 'I've Learned To Love Myself'

Will Oakeshott

May 13, 2025

8 min read

“I fucking put my hand through a window, and when I tried to pull it out, I got a large shard of glass through the bottom of my wrist, and out the top. So, it went through my arm. And me being again, the idiot that I was, I continued playing. As I was playing; it was my dominant hand, my right hand, and as I was going like this (clenches hand), my flexor tendon was being serrated by the glass, and then my median nerve as well.”

This depiction of a rather severe injury by Jason Aalon Butler, the vocalist for post-hardcore lunatics letlive. and rapcore outfit Fever 333, epitomises the extreme nature of his live performances flawlessly. Jason’s high energy presence verges towards the level of derangement and it is beyond astounding to witness. Butler is often observed climbing to terrifying heights, whether scaling the stage rigging or ascending to the upmost altitudes of a venue. He will frequently crawl upside down from the ceiling and dangle dangerously from the rafters, and he has on numerous occasions, crowd surfed while being enclosed in a waste bin. At times, he launches his entire body into the drumkit and even the security fencing at a festival.

For the thrillseekers among us, watch the interview here or read on for the notable best bits...

From the spectators’ viewpoint, especially when JB executes backflips to professional gymnast calibre mid-song, it appears that he is virtually supernatural with his strength driven by his politically impassioned poetry. However, this injury, which resulted in the frontman’s arm being in a cast for a very extended period of time, proved that Jason Butler is assuredly human, and more-so, willing to bleed for his art and devoted lyrical messages.

“I severed both the median nerve and flexor tendon. And then while we were playing, someone had called the ambulance, and the guys [members of letlive.] did a [instrumental] jam during a break so they could look at my arm, and they [paramedics] were like ‘You need to leave right now.’ And I responded ‘I need to finish this set.'

So, I signed something, denying care, finished the set, and by the time I got off stage, I was like, chalk white. And my homies were like: Bro, you got to get to the hospital.’” Jason recalls with a reflective chuckle and slight disbelief, before continuing – “So, I go to the hospital and I thought I had broken my arm, I thought it was bone that was coming out with all the blood; I even said ‘Shit it’s a compound fracture’. Anyways, they did an x ray and said ‘There is good news, you didn't break your bone.’ I was like ‘Oh, Amazing!’

Then they changed their tone and said: The bad news is it's a fucking piece of glass and went through your arm and it severed your fucking your tendons and nerves.’ So yeah, I had to have surgery that night in Lubbock, Texas. It was crazy, dude.”

letlive. Australian Tour 2017. Photo: Mitch Chamberlain

Do you still have full function of the arm and hand?

“I got a little bit of limited range in motion, but I can still play guitar, play drums, bass, keys and stuff, and I've got limited feeling, but it's all good. It still works.”

When Mr. Butler was describing this exceptionally horrific injury, he presented the permanent scar found on his right wrist from the incident and consequential surgery to the camera for this writer to comprehend the full gravity of the wounding. Numerous times throughout the conversation, he would return his gaze to the laceration mark with mixed emotions. Most of the time, these dispositions would be positive, with Jason in-all-likelihood remembering the incredible shows and global touring that letlive. executed throughout the world, and their remarkable discography which earned the post hardcore outfit critical acclaim and commercial success well beyond their wildest dreams.

At other moments, Butler would almost come across as humbled and ambivalent. Perhaps unable to ingest all that he had accomplished by screaming and singing his artistic motivations and illustrating political injustices as a sensationally self-appointed “soul punk”. Alternatively, it could be his need to understand why he becomes so fantastically ferocious during his “demonstrations”, which have also carried through to the Grammy-nominated Fever 333. This desire to understand his death-defying impulses led Mr. Butler to therapy and as he told James Hickey of KERRANG! Magazine in 2019:

“I’ve been speaking to a therapist to find out why I have this reckless abandon onstage, because it’s concerning sometimes to people who care about me.”

It therefore plagued this scribe to enquire further about Jason’s progress with his therapy, particularly with his transition into a husband and father, and additionally his understanding of his thrillingly volatile behaviour.

“Well, you know, man, very recently I was like journaling. I was writing down my thoughts on why I behave the way I do onstage and why I write and perform the way I do. And what I came to [realise] when I was writing was, I think a lot of what I've been doing is exhibiting my feelings, but not exploring them if that makes sense?” He discloses with deep sense of discovery that is infectiously enlightened, then elaborates further – “So, I go onstage, and I would sort of almost feel as though I was able to leave those feelings there and then escape them.

A lot of what I was doing when I would get off stages, it was escapism.

So, I think that now that I've reflected on that, and that was really recently, like, maybe two weeks ago, three weeks ago; a lot having to do with the fact that I have to return to these emotions to play letlive. music. So, I think that now that I see that, that's what I'm doing.”

How are you finding these techniques of not utilising escapism when returning to the phenomenal letlive. songs that were released up to 15 years ago?

“I’m now working on methods and tools to put me into position where I am more healed, a more cognizant version of me is in control and is in the driver's seat while holding space for that person, because that person is in me, and that person is me and will always be me, but needs to be more of a passenger than it is a driver so that I can make decisions that represent who I was, but also who I can be, and so that I can show people that there is healing.” He describes with a hypnotic sense of discovery, then clarifies to a greater extent - “It's not just doom and gloom, it's not just trauma, it's not just pain that can prompt or encourage this almost like larger-than-life persona, this ‘pushing the boundaries’ type energy. You can still do that healed, and you can do it in a way that's not only safer, but more powerful if you're healed. So that's what I'm working on.”

The trio of must have full-lengths from letlive. entitled Fake History (2010),The Blackest Beautiful (2013) and their (mournfully) closing chapter If I’m The Devil... (2016) are treasures of experimental post-hardcore. Rock Sound certified Fake History in 51^stplace of their esteemed 101 Modern Classics listing, higher than The Used’s self-titled record and Queens Of The Stone Age’s Songs For The Deaf.

The Blackest Beautiful was revered by Clash writer Mike Diver proclaiming: “The Blackest Beautiful is a pop record, of a kind. The kind that eats the other albums racked next to it.” The LP also chartered in both the UK and the US. If I’m The Devil… chartered in the US, UK, Germany, New Zealand and Australia and was described by Wall Of Sound bossman Paul 'Browny' Brown as an album that "compliments their serious songwriting in a way that'll make you second guess the world around you." The band celebrated the release down under in early 2017 with a tour alongside Every Time I Die and a UNIFY appearance which was praised by fans around the county.

The fourth and most commercially triumphant album was to be the adored outfit’s last as they disbanded not long after with an announcement on April 28^th 2017 after 15 years together:

"There will be no further activity for the foreseeable future".

February 12, 2025 letlive. gratefully announced their reunion tour taking place in the US, UK, Europe and Australia. 'The Dope Beat’ was brilliantly and blissfully back.

“You know to be real, it was just the three of us, getting together, me, Jean [Francisco Nascimento, guitar] and Jeff [Sahyoun, guitar] and just reconnecting is how it started. We didn't call each other up and be like ‘Yo, should we play some shows?’ Nah - it was like ‘Yo, what are you doing bro? How are you? What's going on? Come over.’ And then we just kept kicking it. And then the inevitable was that, you know, we would reminisce, right? And there's nostalgia and there's all attached to our relationship. And we were just talking about the past and then we were talking about the present and the world and where we are and sort of how we're seeing everything as it unfolds. For me, it was like spiritually, intellectually, all these things; but then they were in very similar places as well, with all of that.

And once we realised that we were sort of all experiencing this sort of 'same but different' experience within our own journeys, we then were like, maybe the world and us could use a letlive. performance.”

It was only meant to be one reunion performance?

“So, after however long months of us kicking it, we were like ‘Why don't we see about a show or two?’ Then it was like, maybe we could do some stuff in the US. But then, there's the UK and we loved Australia too! So, it just organically, sort of unfolded this way. There wasn't really too much premeditation as far as the planning. Once we realised we were all willing to do it because we needed to, versus wanting to; we felt like we needed to. It just sort-of unfolded pretty naturally.”

Interview by Will Oakeshott @teenwolfwill

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