Five tracks that helped shape letlive's If I'm The Devil...
Ryan from letlive. takes us through some of the biggest influences on the band's latest record..
Just over a week ago, LA post-hardcore outfit letlive. gave us one of the biggest heavy releases of 2016 in the form of If I'm The Devil... It's the four-piece's fourth studio album in an impressive career stretching back to 2002, and a few listens from start to end will indicate that letlive. have drawn on just about every genre and sub-genre under the sun for this record; from punk and rock'n'roll through to soul and RnB. If I'm The Devil… is a hard-hitting, fascinating collection of work that delivers a real and powerful message on some of the world's most pressing social and political issues. We took some time with letlive.'s bassist Ryan Johnson to find out which songs played the biggest hand in the way If I'm The Devil… turned out.
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TV On The Radio - Wolf Like Me
This band released their new single Happy Idiot, and it reminded me how much I liked their earlier work. As I was going through it all, I remembered how often this was played by my friends and I at one point, and I really wanted to do something similar. It's a uniquely punk-ish song, with a hook that sticks like no other. I applied the concept to the second track of our album, and ran with it.
Muse - Hysteria
Whenever I dick around during a sound check, somehow this bass riff comes flowing out - probably too annoyingly often for my band. This band goes in and out of my taste, but somehow they would come up a lot while working on this record. I always have respected their unabashed likings to classic rock stylings and big song writing. We wanted to make sure we stayed true to rock as well. It was fun to mess around with those concepts while writing the record.
Brand New - Limousine
We tried to be a bit more uplifting when we could be, but this band always weasels their way into our studio sessions in some shape or form. The opening track has some influence, I'd say.
Nirvana - Serve The Servants
This band is ever-present. There is a song that is definitely channeling them - you'll know which one that is.
Radiohead - No Surprises
Jeff was noodling around one day while in the studio, and started playing this modulating, kind of twinkling swing riff on his guitar. I had to stop immediately and focus in on him. It reminded me so much of this song, which I love, that we wrote an entire song out of it.
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