I caught the fever. The music industry caught the fever. The world caught the fever. Yes because, last Friday 23rd March, Los Angeles-based soul-punk-hip-hop trio The Fever 333 dropped its first official bundled musical effort out of thin air in form of a 7-track EP entitled Made An America. The highly-anticipated and extremely urgent project includes a number of scene-setting and flagship songs already previewed throughout the course of 2017, namely the violent and ambitious “We’re Coming In“, the incendiary and furious “Hunting Season“, and the anthemic and explosive “Walking In My Shoes“. While it was continuously hinted here and there across their social media footprint, Made An America also acts as compelling event marking their heavyweight mentoring from superstar producer and Goldfinger-frontman John ‘Feldy’ Feldmann and true gangsta don Travis Barker, as well as their official signing to Warner Music’s portfolio label Roadrunner Records in association with what presumably is their imprint moniker 333 Wreckords Crew.

Now, since I’ve already written at length (<– read this!) along these airwaves about the band, its inception, and the main underlying motifs behind their origination, and considering my long-standing adoration and alignment with post-hardcore/punk letlive., at this stage I’m only going to remind y’all esteemed readers that The Fever 333 is composed of singer/instigator Jason Butler, guitarist Stephen Harrison, and drummer/percussionist Aric Improta, alongside the obliging acknowledgement that the movement is about so much more than just music and entertainment. The prominent and unexpected EP, just about shy of 20 minutes in length, acts first and foremost as primary conduit for the movement’s broader objectives, encompassing elements of messaging protest and resistance, catalyzation of socio-economical change, and strong components of charity and philanthropy. More specifically, the numerical reference in the movement’s labelling (333) points to a poignant triad of meaning, as frontman Jason Butler himself explained in a recent interview:

“The thing we’re putting forward is the idea of the three “C’s” — community, charity and change. I think that kind of encapsulates the idea of giving a f**k about someone other than yourself, which I don’t think [Trump] has exhibited the ability to do, [he has] truly full-blown characteristics of a nihilist, an actual egomaniac, his frontal lobe is f**ked, he’s crazy. I think ultimately there is this large idea of putting in efforts and consideration beyond one’s own and that, to me, is, if you were to distill the message, it would be three “C’s” and those encapsulate the idea of thinking about what happens when you’re not on this earth anymore. What are you doing today to affect tomorrow, next week, next year, next decade, next millennia? There are other bands doing this and I want people to know that and we need them to speak up. We need them to feel like they are being supported and part of this. Not only are there other bands, there are other people, many people out there that feel voiceless, that feel like they don’t have a platform or anyone who has dedicated themselves creatively, politically as a representative. And that’s also what this band is trying to do, we’re trying to offer representation for people to feel like they have a catalyst for change. We, as individuals, are not the catalyst, but the message we carry with us is in fact that catalyst.”

That being said, for as necessary and praiseworthy the different manifestations of the ancillary and contingent dimensions to the movement are, Made An America is principally an artistic statement processed and delivered in form of sonic audio waves, and therefore it most certainly warrants a closer, more detailed look at how exactly it presents itself musically. As introduced above, the EP entails all previously previewed singles by The Fever 333, which appear to have remained virtually unchanged except for a couple production embellishments here and there as well as, most notably, an additional marching drum rolling climax coming in – pun intended… – at about 1:20 and some deep, distorted incomprehensible outro lyrics in “We’re Coming In”.

The latter composition, curiously placed as second on the tracklist,  is quite clearly the band’s prime introductory statement in the world’s ecosystem, funnelled by insurrectionist lyrics (“So let me tell you about / Where all my people from / We hear them sirens come and then the people run / So let me tell you about / Where all my people from / We’re living hand to mouth and dying by the gun“). To this day, and holding through in hindsight to the release of the whole EP too, the song represents the best welcoming résumé for anyone new to the project. But, while the Travis Barker-featured “Hunting Season” – although it seems like the blink-182 drum-god allegedly recorded all drum tracks on the record – channels a lot of “We’re Coming In”‘s abundant rage and angry societal liberation coefficient, it’s the grungy and catchy “Walking In My Shoes” as penultimate cut on the tracklist that candidates itself most prominently for the spot as most important and exemplary hymn for group, championed by a superbly soar and meaningful rapped verse and a waterfall-y explosion in a perfect in-your-face refrain.

Taking a step back all the way to the opening self-titled song, kicking off with a futuristic and bubbly synth motif only to be abruptly replaced by a raw drum and bass section, the track’s first lines – delivered through a successful and convincing rapping by Jason – enlist the project’s whole mission in a perfectly distilled fashion: “We are the melanin felons / We are the product of / Plunder and policy that you gotta love / Casinos, amigos on forty acres, uh / They built this shit on our backs / Made an America“. Expanding on the latter argument, popular and brilliant UGC-music lyrics and meaning site Genius provides a useful, and in my view correct, interpretation of the song’s overall message:

“‘Made An America’ is a pun on the nationalistic slogan ‘Made In America’. The phrase is often used in the context of bringing jobs back to America or rejecting foreign goods because they are inferior. Jason sings/raps about American history in which the modern nation of the USA was arguably built by the efforts of brown and black immigrants and slaves. It’s a passionate indictment of the way white America suppresses historical truths through a racially tinted lens.”

“(The First Stone) Changes” at number three on the EP features Alabama-rapper and Travis Barker-frequent collaborator Yelawolf for what is in fact a pretty underwhelming moment on the project, only to be partially saved and restored by an incendiary chorus and what appears to be Jason’s attempt at a speedy and technical flow spitting a series of bars taking over from Yelawolf on the track’s second verse. Moving on, following the aforementioned “Hunting Season” at number four, is the abrasive and heavy “Soul’d Me Out”, personally the highest and finest moment on the whole EP, whereby one can’t say enough good things about this cut, from the outstanding and groovy drumming work, to the fast and violently distorted guitars, passing through arguably Jason’s best vocal performance in years and a counter-intuitive yet perfectly adhering plain-landing chorus exclaiming simple but upfront lyrics, via a vocal line no too dissimilar from a lullaby melody (“Sell me out down the shallow river / Could I hate you more? / Could I hate you more?“), just moments before collapsing and disappearing into a scratching scream chanting the song’s central topic, perfectly mocked and intertwined with the expansive meaning of its title: “Sold me out, sold me out / You sold me out to the highest bidder / Sold me out, sold me out / You sold me out to the highest bidder“.

The EP’s closing track “POV” indeed leaves the listener longing for so much more, as despite the energy and voltage levels are being kept extremely high throughout the whole running 20 minutes, the necessity and urgency that The Fever 333 are able to transmit with their work demand so much more, and are clearly to be seen only as an initial sparking moment of a much bigger narrative. The track’s introductory crunchy and jungly drums, overtaken for the most part by a minimal yet charismatic drum machine texture, take up the driving seat for a short and fulminating raging wrap up, adorned once again by Jason’s nervous and fat rapping highlighting the quintessential recapitulation of much of this initial body of work arising from the band’s movement: “Middle finger to the face, that’s our point of view“.

This standpoint is such a fiery and glorious closure to an incendiary landing onto the wider musical scene and the world of art-driven activism and protest, which without wanting to sound like a broken record, is best understood when placed as only the beginning of an incredible global community invested in socially-conscious, bottom-up societal change. This sentiment is further solidified by the realisation that the band appears to have so much more material up its sleeve ready to be offered to the wider public, as revealed through their increasing and amassing demonstrations (support slots for Nothing More, Eyes Set To Kill, and To Whom It May, as well as mighty The Used are in the books for this summer) in conjunction with a smart keyword YouTube search.

That is, apparently The Fever 333 have already written and played live several other songs like “Animal”, “Endgame”, “Southside of Inglewood”, and “One of Us”, in addition to the unbelievable performance on US national TV of “Burn It” on NBC’s Last Call with Carson Daly. It really does sound like amazing things are ahead for The Fever 333 – and in turn all of us recipients of the message and ascribing to the movement –, hence dreaming of another chunk of recorded material being dropped fairly soon doesn’t seem too forbidden at this point. Considering the scope and magnitude of the broader project, a new record would merely be another little brick in the giant wall for these gentlemen (in real life).

Stand up. Resist. B3 Fr33. Letting them know, there’s a fever coming…

I’d like to thank you sincerely for taking the time to read this and I hope to feel your interest again next time.

AV

THE FEVER 333

MADE AN AMERICA

2018, Roadrunner Records/333 Wreckords Crew

http://thefever333.com

If you’re thinking I might be focusing too much on soul-punk representatives letlive. lately, you have got a point. That is, three of my last four blogpost entail more or less specific hints and references to the L.A. four-piece, but to be completely honest with you all I just don’t seem to get enough. As already anticipated within this feature, on 10th June the post-hardcore outfit released their lengthy gestated fourth studio album If I’m the Devil…, and after two solid weeks of infinite listening I’m officially attempting a verdict at its impact. I explicitly waited a while to pen down some thoughts on it because lately I’ve found myself agreeing with a very intelligent reflection by online music media outlet Consequence of Sound about how hysterical races to publish album reviews are actually bad for music criticism, something I fully agree on and try to embrace myself, not least because it simply means lack of representativity, depth, and big picture angle. To be fair, one might as well argue that a two-week span still falls within the “too early” category applying to said thinking, yet I feel that for me it’s been enough time considering the amount of plays this record has already registered in my iPod.

Some stage setting could be useful in here before jumping into break downs of single tracks of the 45-minute long album released under Hollywood-based indie record label Epitaph Records. In fact, the job has pretty much been done by the label itself, who produced and released a wonderful documentary – shot mostly in London during letlive.’s latest UK tour and directed by Ryan Mackfall – shortly after If I’m the Devil…’s saw the light of day two weeks ago and that can be watched here. The documentary takes viewers behind the scenes of the record’s making, reflecting on both high and lows with ind-depth interviews with all band members telling it all about the album’s meaning and background. Additionally, on letlive.’s official bio page Epitaph also shared very interesting insights as to where exactly If I’m the Devil… came from:

“The album is the follow up to letlive.’s critically-lauded 2013 release, The Blackest Beautiful. And the time spent between that and 2016 are defined by the band’s engagement with the griot lineage of Saul Williams and Ta-Nehisi Coates, the deaths of Eric Garner and Mike Brown, the social pathologies that led to Ferguson, Missouri and divisive redlining policies that are functionally domestic terrorism. And with those ideas letlive. is a band that aims to bring political messages into rock music again. ‘Our music is very left-leaning. It’s very clear I have a large disdain for the way a lot of systems are working and our society’s incapability to unravel,’ front man Jason Butler states.”

…concluding with the following:

“Guitarist Jeff Sahyoun explains, ‘We collectively wanted the audio realm we have spent years creating to give birth to a digestible powerhouse of modern sound.’ It is a strident, principled and heavy studio work created by 4 uniquely creative individuals known for letting their passion unfurl onstage. Those who have witnessed a letlive. show can attest that it is a connective, reactive and provocative experience that transcends the standard band performance and stage/audience dynamic. That explosive energy and fury is fully expressed on If I’m the Devil… As Butler states, ‘I feel we’ve spent years developing the idea that is letlive. and with this record I feel we have finally developed the SOUND that is letlive…’.”

The record was anticipated by three of its most violent and angry cuts, although this being meant not necessarily sound-wise but rather more in their lyrical connotations: “Good Mourning, America“, brutally reflecting on recent sociopolitical and racial disorders in the USA while at the same time shouting for revolutionary claims of justice (cf. below frame pulled from its official music video), “Reluctantly Dead”, a chorus-heavy brick of a song that, once again, takes on a range of critical topics such as police brutality and individual self-abandon, and “Another Offensive Song”, the ninth track on the album’s tracklist and no doubt its heaviest and angriest one, possibly referring back to the band’s initial two albums and more raw times. This trio of tracks pretty much sums up the record’s overall sound and feel, a rare combination of anthems railing for social fairness, sonic violence aimed at raging against the machine, and introverted punky lullabies finding comfort and catharsis in one’s most intimate and personal spaces.

This very third topic is best expressed in “Who You Are Not”, surely among the catchiest tracks on the albums – alongside the grungy and Nirvana-evoking “A Weak Ago” – presenting some of the most melodic and radio-friendly vocals frontman Jason Butler has ever delivered. Similarly personal, intimate, and mature is sixth track “Foreign Cab Rides”, a brilliant confessional slow-burner in which Jason reflects on the relationship with his wife and even contains an actual voicemail recording between the two at the beginning. Calls for social justice, equality, and reactionism against disenfranchisement come back at their shiniest with the two album closers, title-track “If I’m the Devil…” and “Copper Colored Quiet”, two songs that quickly find themselves borrowed as rebellious and solidarity-invoking anthems wonderfully wrapping up the sociopolitically-filled undertones of the effort as a whole.

A special mention is due to the second track on the album, “Nü Romantics”, which follows the climaxing grand opening of “I’ve Learned to Love Myself” investing heavily in guitars and an inherent wall of sound. The thing with “Nü Romantics” though is not only that it’s beautifully structured with an unusual and unexpected break just 1:49 minutes in (of the total 3:36), but said interruption also feels as necessary as pleasant to the ears, navigating through minimal echoed guitar sounds ramping up a multi-layered chorus launching the track into a literal explosion in its last minute. Also, as far as Jason Butler’s lyrics and vocal job go, this one might be one of letlive.’s finest, although apparently it being performed live can turn into a little play with fire, for even the smallest deviation from its stinging and thin melodic line can sound quite off and overwhelming. Yet, the overall impression from the record is that with this effort the soul punkers really did try to challenge themselves both sonically and lyrically, pushing boundaries way out of their comfort zone. In this regard, one would have to agree that most of the times this is exactly where self-development and growth can find their shelter and flourish. The only hope is that this approach is to be undertaken not just by the band but also by a too often ill-advised and ignorant world at large.

I’d like to thank you sincerely for taking the time to read this and I hope to feel your interest again next time.

AV

LETLIVE.

“IF I’M THE DEVIL…”

2016, Epitaph

http://www.thisisletlive.com