Jason Aalon Butler

Jason Aalon Butler (born July 17, 1986)[1] is an American musician from Inglewood, California. He is currently the lead singer of the post-hardcore band Letlive.

Butler performs at the 2013 Vans Warped Tour with his band, Letlive.
Butler performing at the 2013 Vans Warped Tour

Early life

Butler was born and raised in a rough area of Los Angeles where he was forced into maturity quicker than many others his age.[2] He is the son of Aalon Butler, lead singer of the soul group, Aalon.[3] Butler spent a considerable amount of time away from his father, as he was consistently busy with his music career.[4] With his father constantly being busy with his band, Aalon, and his mother going through treatment for leukemia, he was left to raise his sister on his own.[5] He has stated in several interviews that he would like to have children and give them the childhood that he was never granted due to his parents.[4] Growing up with a black father and white mother, Butler found that he had problems fitting in with any of the white children in grade school as they would always ask why his mother was white and father wasn’t. “I grew up in the hood. For me all of my homies were African American or Latino, or Asian. We were all part of a minority, so for me it was about class, like we were all from dirt. We were all the same color, dirt poor.”.[5] Many of his closest friends, including Jeff Sahyoun (Current member of Letlive.), came from broken or interracial families. He found that this is something that many children in his school had in common, as they lived in a rough part of California where everyone is essentially dirt poor.

Personal life

Stated in an interview with Noisey, Butler stated that he has been sober since he was a kid because he didn’t like the “fever dreams” and “strange way or thinking” that is brought on by drugs. He believes that everyone should live their life to the fullest and shouldn’t have to rely on drugs or any sort of substance in order to obtain happiness.[6] When asked when the most hungover he’d ever been at a show, his response was “I’ve never consumed alcohol before, so the closest thing I can compare that to would be a sugar-high.”.[7] He doesn’t believe in hurting others or performing any acts that cause harm on others.[6] Although he is rather passive and looked up to as a role model for his “gentlemanly” behavior in his daily life, when he’s on stage he has been described as looking possessed. He has stated in an interview with FuseTV that his reckless behavior “may seem like self-abandonment, but it is simply just me allowing myself to feel something that I wasn’t ever able to feel growing up.”.[5] Because of his childhood and the way he was raised, he was forced into a role of maturity at a young age and before music, had no outlet for those emotions.

Music career

Growing up with his father being a part of the music scene, music has always been an enormous and essential part of Butler’s life.[4] Butler grew up listening to a wide range of genres and artists. Of those genres, R&B, soul, and pop seemed to effect Butler the most, as his early inspirations include artists such as James Brown and Michael Jackson.[6] In 2002 he started his band Letlive. in order to express his suppressed feelings through means of music.

Letlive.

Butler got together with Keeyan Majdi, Alex Haythorn, Christian Johansen, and Ben Sharp in 2002 to form letlive., a post-hardcore band based out of Los Angeles.[8] The band has released three full length records, and are currently signed to Epitaph records.[9] Each track features lyrics that come from personal experiences throughout Butler’s life that he has been unable to say in any other way than through music. Butler states that in Fake History he was, “A little more apprehensive to say certain things, but challenged myself to say those things in The Blackest Beautiful.”[10] Butler is the only remaining original member of the band.[8] The band’s fourth full length album titled, “If I’m The Devil,” is set to release in 2016.[11]

Gentlemen in Real Life

As well as all of his work with Letlive., Butler has also created his own clothing line called “Gentlemen in Real Life,” or G.I.R.L. for short. In an interview with Blunt Mag, Butler stated that he has always been passionate about fashion and clothing since he grew up with nothing.[12] Each week the brand releases a new item, ranging from clothing and accessories, to soap and oils. G.I.R.L is trying to redefine what it means to be a gentleman and how a gentleman would present oneself.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Jason Aalon Butler". prezi.com. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  2. ↑ "Interview: Jason Butler from letlive. talks about anything but what we ask him". Thrash Hits. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  3. ↑ "Aalon". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
  4. 1 2 3 Rock Sound (2012-02-17), Welcome To My World - Jason Aalon Alexander Butler, retrieved 2016-02-17
  5. 1 2 3 "Melody in the Chaos: Letlive.'s Jason Butler on His Troubled Youth and 'The Blackest Beautiful'". Fuse. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  6. 1 2 3 "The Method Behind letlive.'s Madness | NOISEY". NOISEY. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  7. ↑ Rock Sound (2014-06-05), Jason Aalon Buter, letlive. - 7of30: Festival Edition, retrieved 2016-02-17
  8. 1 2 "Letlive". Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
  9. ↑ Records, Epitaph. "letlive.". Epitaph Records. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  10. ↑ "Letlive's Jason Butler Talks Lyrical Inspiration + More". Loudwire. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  11. ↑ "letlive. confirm album number four will be called 'If I'm The Devil' | Upset". Upset. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  12. ↑ "letlive: In Conversation With A Gentleman (In Real Life) | Blunt Mag". Blunt Mag – Alternative Music News, Reviews, and Interviews. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
  13. ↑ Life, Gentlemen In Real. "Gentlemen In Real Life Web Store". Gentlemen In Real Life. Retrieved 2016-02-17.
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