Things are heating up something fierce in the United States of America. With just two months separating the country from a decade-defining election, it’s only right that multi-hyphenate artist-activist Jason Aalon Alexander Butler throws a monkey wrench into the puffy and sterilized political timeline ahead. On Friday 4th of October—pretty much one month before the 2024 US Presidential election to the day—the 38-year-old Inglewood, CA-native will be releasing DARKER WHITE, the second studio full length by his insurrectionary creative collective FEVER 333. Since its thunderous 2019 LP debut STRENGTH IN NUMB333RS, the former letlive.-messenger in Chief has gone through a tempestuous five-year juncture, including founding his own 333 WRECKORDS CREW label, side-gigging for Southern Californian hardcore outfit Pressure Cracks, dropping the socially-conscious and racially-loaded EP WRONG GENERATION (2020), as well as disbanding and then getting the band back together—albeit under a new and improved guise.
The hardcore-rap extraordinaire has been warning people that the fever has been coming since their incendiary presentation to the world in 2017, incubated by a makeshift U-Haul truck stationed at famed Los Angeles establishment Randy’s Donuts parking lot on Independence Day. Highlighting and elevating the tripe C-mantra of community, charity, and change ever since—C being the third letter in the English alphabet—his artistic vessel of FEVER 333 is now locked and loaded, ready to come back with a whole entire new backbone. Now a quartet, including Brandon Davis on guitars, April Kae on bass duties, and Thomas Pridgen on percussions, the project is about to be back in the saddle just as their home country needs it most. Not that the political soul punk band ever really stayed quiet, though; since their Grammy-nominated 2018 first collection of statements, Made an America, FEVER 333 has been putting in the grassroots work, sweating it and hustling from sea to shining sea. In the midst of it all, Butler even found the wherewithal to debut a straight up hip-hop record of his own, the racial gun violence-condemning “Bulletproof” (2020).
DARKER WHITE is the highly-anticipated 14-track socio-political proclamation the Californian project has chosen to materialize at such a critical time, not just for their motherland, but most parts of an ideologically scavenged West too. This latest iteration of FEVER 333, finally rocking a stable studio and live bass constituency, first re-introduced itself in May last year with the standalone at-the-time-unannounced-LP teaser “$WING“. They followed that abrasive helping of distorted catchiness with another non-album single, “READY ROCK“, this past February—an outing putting back some respect on the often-ignored Black rock pioneers’s name. Although not having made the final cut on DARKER WHITE‘s tracklist, the record offered another expression of savage rage and sonic grooving, that stands to encapsulate the quartet’s brand new audio imprint.
Things really started to get seriously official with the announcement of “NEW WEST ORDER” the day before Juneteenth. The number is an anthemic signature soundtrack doubling as the definitive musical manifesto for where the collective is at in 2024 and beyond. The gospel-indebted hard-rock sermon of “HIGHER POWER” followed suit about a month later, very much sticking to Butler’s racially-celebrating script since before FEVER 333 ever became a realization: “To all my people, my beautiful black skin people / If we are born equal, how can someone be illegal? / Black, Brown, Asian, don’t forget who built this nation/ They done broke the foundation, but won’t pay for the reparations“. Yet the big headline came with the release of sticky-singalong punk-rap cut “NO HOSTAGES“, proudly accompanied by the announcement of the full-length project’s unveiling in early October. Lest the lead gets buried in the bells and whistles, with it the Los Angeles-band best proved how it’s not lost its penchant for incisive songwriting—repurposing and retooling an old right-wing, NRA-bred adagio with a subtle twist: “Guns don’t kill people / People kill people / Guns don’t kill people / Cops kill people“.
In a similar vein, on account of the initial dozen of minutes sampled off DARKER WHITE hitherto, it’s safe to say audiences are in for a poignant and momentous benefaction, touching on themes of ethnicity, politics, marginalization, and bottom-up emancipation. All soaked in wet layers of distortion, bouncy funk grooves; this is going to be rage music in spades. What else did we expect? Whether that’s “NO HOSTAGES”‘s umpteenth stark reminder that law enforcement doesn’t protect us, as “I wasn’t worried ’til I came across the news / A black father was murdered by some killers dressed in blue“, or the opening track’s era-defining refrain chanting “Pulled up outside in an all-black ride / Screaming “333” til’ the day we die / There’s a fever coming / Let them know there’s a fever coming“, the spectrum-pigmented group’s timing choice as to when to release their first album in five years can’t be coincidental. They too understand how much is at stake this November; curtailed by political, technological, and climactic forebodings bestowing extinction-like gravitas to how the world’s next five years will pan out.
A gargantuan, and essential, part of how FEVER 333 preaches its message of community, charity, and change has always been through their blitzkrieg live shows. Formerly known as demonstrations, these are now officially elevated to faith-like functions. Incidentally, a few weeks after their second LP drops in October, the quartet is to embark on a worldwide tour that will keep them busy on the road through the rest of the year. Considering both letlive.’ and FEVER 333’s storied global appeal, we wouldn’t be surprised if the itinerary were to extend onto additional corners of the planet in 2025, such as Russia, Asia, Australia, and Latin America. Although the explicit cardinal geographical reference might be pointing in the Western direction, the message of inclusion, unity, and mutual support conveyed by Butler’s pen retains a universal application at heart. That’s what has always made him so earnest and believable. Whether that’s through his DIY entrepreneurial ethos manifesting in GIRL, his seminal and influential output with post-hardcore fixtures letlive., or just how he generally keeps it a buck. This is the type of election interference we need.
We’d like to thank you sincerely for taking the time to read this and we hope to feel your interest again next time. And don’t forget to let them know… there’s a fever coming.
AV
A.A.L. (AGAINST ALL LOGIC) – 2012-2017 (OTHER PEOPLE)
AUGUST GREENE – AUGUST GREENE (AUGUST GREENE LLC)
THE FEVER 333 – MADE AN AMERICA (ROADRUNNER RECORDS)
PUSHA T – DAYTONA (G.O.O.D. MUSIC)
KIDS SEE GHOSTS – KIDS SEE GHOSTS (G.O.O.D. MUSIC)
DENZEL CURRY – TA13OO (LOMA VISTA)
PAUL MCCARTNEY – EGYPT STATION (CAPITOL RECORDS)
BROCKHAMPTON – IRIDESCENCE (RCA RECORDS)
JID – DI CAPRIO 2 (DREAMVILLE RECORDS)
Everything Must Swing 