Another band to appear out of the deathly shadows of the UK hardcore scene are Kettering based Let It Die. They have been causing quite a stir recently in the UK and have a 10" vinyl/CD set coming out via an as yet unknown label, as well as being band on the week on the Terrorizer magazine website, which you can read here http://truecultheavymetal.com/band-of-the-day-let-it-die.
So explain a bit about Let It Die? How did you form?
We are a kind of crusty/scuzzy Hardcore thing from Kettering in the Midlands. We are Alex on drums, Ben on Guitars, Dean on bass and me, Red, on vocals. Let It Die came about through the demise of two bands (You Suck and Jealous) that happened within a couple of months of each other. My old band, You Suck, had finished and I was looking to carry on doing vocals and it just so happened that Jealous were planning on finishing but with the aim of some of the members moving on to a new band. We were all friends anyway and Alex had produced You Suck's cassette release so it was a pretty natural transition into the new band.
What are your influences?
Typically with these types of things I will say that we all have a big range of influences but there are a bunch of bands we all agree on such as Black Breath, Trap Them, Cursed, Black Flag, All Pigs Must Die. None of these were really something we set out to sound like but there are certainly plenty of reference points in our music to that sort of "darker" Hardcore if you will. The aim with this band was I guess to take bits from both previous bands and smoosh them together.
Tell us a bit about the scene in Kettering?
Kettering is pretty much dead. We used to have a gnarly venue called Sawyers that was run by an amazing fellow called Rich who put on a lot of great bands and was very much into the DIY ethic but sadly not enough people were interested and it shut down last November after a decent run of about eight years. As for bands, there are basically none. There's probably some out there but they're either terrible Deathcore type stuff or at the complete opposite end of the scale to us. We have been looking for somewhere to put our own shows on again (I used to run shows at Sawyers) but it's proving difficult with costs and such.
You play more experimental hardcore in Let it Die. Do you think UK bands seem to favour this type of hardcore?
Man, these questions always throw me. When faced with it I A) forget all the sweet bands in the UK right now and B) don't really know what qualifies as experimental. I think it is pretty hard nowadays to start a band regardless of where you are and NOT have some kind of "experimentation" in your music. Sure you can be more attached to one genre than another but music in general is so wide now that it is pretty hard to have a rigid mindset.
What do you think about the metal/hardcore scene in the UK at the moment?
As with the previous question I always forget stuff when put on the spot but for me, when I look around at shows the UK right now I see a pretty darn healthy scene. Regardless of whether I like the bands or whatever it is nice to see more people standing up and putting shows on. I think that is a very important thing. I am neither a supporter or detractor of the whole "hardcore as family" mentality but the idea of a loose community of people doing things because they want to thrash it out and see others doing the same can only be good.
You remind me a bit of Napalm Death. Are you fans of Grind-core and what are your favourite bands from that genre?
As a band I think we all appreciate Napalm Death but they are not a direct influence. If peeps hear them in our music it's more likely to me the aforementioned combination of our influences and former projects that bring that out in our music. You Suck was a straight up Powerviolence band and Jealous were more trad Hardcore so inevitably the two together will give you something similar to that of Napalm Death.
Can you give us a heads up about bands from your scene that people should check out?
Here are some kick-awesome bands y'all should peep (sorry if I forget anyone):
Witch Cult - South Coast Powerviolence! Our badass buds who we are doing a short tour with at the start of June. Debut record coming on Holy Roar soon - http://witchcult.tumblr.com/
Year Of The Flood - Epic D-beat from Nottingham. Good friends and amazing musicians. Maybe a split with them later this year, WHO KNOWS?-
www.reverbnation.com/yearoftheflood
Meatpacker - Two-man Vegan Grind holocaust from Leicester. Great guys, fast drum machine -
https://www.facebook.com/Meatpacker
Regimes - Stalwart Rock 'n' Roll Hardcore from London -
http://www.myspace.com/regimesregimes
XharoldshitmanX - Super gnarly Powerviolence from Scotland -
http://www.reverbnation.com/xharoldshitmanx
Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair - Hilarious Grind from Scotland -
http://www.myspace.com/4wheelchairs
Senator - Banging Tech-Hardcore type shizzle from our pals down on the South Coast -
http://www.myspace.com/killthesenator
Let it Die's 2011 Demo is available for streaming and digital purchase from their bandcamp page www.letitdie.bandcamp.com. You can listen to it below:-
If you'd like a more physical copy of their demo, you can buy it via Party Wound Productions Big Cartel at partywound.bigcartel.com. You can follow Let It Die via Facebook on http://www.facebook.com/LetItDie.
Let It Die are certainly gaining a name for themselves in the UK, and along with the bands they mentioned above are very exciting additions to the UK hardcore scene, and additions that should see us square up against and surpass those from across the pond.
Watch this space!
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