Alternative/Rock
Fever 333: “Love can be radical. Love within a hateful place is radical. That’s what I hope for next year…”
In our latest cover story, vocalist Jason Aalon Butler talks openly about society, the band, his own mental health and the future…
Socially, politically, musically, and lyrically, Jason Aalon Butler is a man who has a lot to say and isn’t afraid to speak his mind especially when standing up for those in a less fortunate position than his. However, this has come at a cost as, both within his band and personally, Butler has been through a lot of turmoil in the past eighteen months.
Since V13 sat down with Jason for this feature, the outspoken frontman announced he is taking a step back from the limelight with the band cancelling all touring plans for the immediate future while he deals with his mental health. In that conversation ahead of the release of their new album, Darker White, for our latest Cover Story, Jason was as open, honest and passionate as we have come to expect. V13 sends all our best wishes to Jason, his family and friends.
I want to start with a comment you made in a recent interview. The album is coming out weeks before the Presidential election and I think you said that you walked into 2016 not thinking that Donald Trump was a legitimate option for President. We’re heading into a period where it could very much happen again. Why do you think that is?
“It’s because I’ve seen the opposition’s desire for what they want the same way that I wanted what I want. I saw everyone that I didn’t think would, activate themselves and mobilize and get together to get him into office. I saw them do it and it’s like Bruce Lee, you never underestimate your opponent. That’s what I did. I did that within an echo chamber.
I did that alongside a lot of other people who felt the same way I did as if it was an impossibility and then we were proven wrong. I think in a lot of ways we were left sitting on our hands. We didn’t know what to do with that and we saw a lot of turbulent, destructive and degenerative behavior because of it.”
It’s a very realistic option again. In the four years since he was president, do you think America has become a better place or has it got worse?
“That is difficult because that type of question is so loaded because there are so many other things deep within the system of America that are being perpetuated by birds with different wings. Like the Democratic and the Republican party are the same bird. They’re still propagating and perpetuating the same system that is deeply in need of reformation so while some things may have gotten better, in my view, other things suffered. The general idea of assistance and aid for more people, I don’t see enough of that. We still haven’t done enough for enough people.”
Fever isn’t a band that I would put under the label of solely being a political band you cover wider social subjects. How important is it for you to use your platform to raise awareness of wider social issues?
“I get to indulge myself as an artist by creating but when I write I think that one of the strongest methods I can be of service is to write about things that I think are underserved or underserviced in music and art, particularly in our scene. I think that this whole idea is of alternative music being subversive and progressive so I just want to see and hear more of that. I started it with the idea to discuss these issues and use the platform in this manner so it is just baked in with the project.
Although there are different ways to look at being of service and there are different ways to look at discussing these issues with an emotional approach as well, which is something that I think I will dedicate myself to for the next album, which I’ve already started writing. I want to talk about the humanistic elements of what it means to be sociopolitical or involved in systems in general. There’s a huge human element that we forget because it’s so abstracted by the ideas of these systems and frameworks. I just think there’s more to it.”
“I think that this whole idea is of alternative music being subversive and progressive so I just want to see and hear more of that.”
When you started Fever, what was your ambition, what was driving you to do it?
“I just wanted to see and hear more discussion about what was going on societally and people that weren’t getting highlighted or given a place on the stage for these issues and media and music and in policy throughout the world, not just America, but it was just an idea that I had that I started in my old band. I started to talk a lot more about it openly and publicly in my previous band so I wanted to take a crack at it with this project.
So I took these ideas that I had and I placed them in Fever. I was lucky enough to have John and Travis Barker in the beginning, who I started writing everything with and producing the project with. I took it from there really. I didn’t know what I wanted other than what I was doing. I was just doing what I wanted to see and hear.”
Did you expect the reaction you got going back to the comment you made about not just being in America? The excitement to see you when you first came to the UK, was noticeable. Did you expect that reaction to the band outside the States?
“No, not at all. The only expectations I had were those for myself. I just expected myself to try hard and to be honest and authentic and as brave as I could about the topics that we were going to discuss and the art we were going to create. That was it. I didn’t put much thought into the reception especially with something like this, when you try to go outside of what is considered the norm. You always run a pretty high risk of people not liking it so I was prepared for that as well.”
In terms of the industry, the music industry has changed a lot over the last few years. Do you get any kickback from the industry at all or does it cause any difficulties because you’ve been outspoken about certain subjects?
“Yeah. Just in general though, I think that, again, these are systems that we are working and existing and, and performing within and anytime that you challenge that, the system only knows what works for it, right? What it has produced in order to survive. So, when you talk about it, or if you talk against, speak against it, or you try to challenge it, then there is a very, very high chance of you are putting yourself in a position to lose something, and there is a lot of inherent sacrifice with that.
Although by no means is this me discussing my efforts as those of a martyr, I just have to talk about these things and I don’t think about the results or, excuse me, I don’t think about the negative result from the systems because, if I did that, then it would curtail what I needed to say and what I needed to do. I don’t think that there’s any reason big enough to worry about that.”
You look at something like Download where there was a whole backlash against Barclaycard. Although Fever wasn’t part of the festival this year, what was your view on that?
“It was great. I thought it was a real testament to what we are capable of and I think that it showed a lot of these people that thought that these efforts were, were in vain or self-righteous. I think that these people were proven, were shown that everything we think about the whole shut up and play, or ‘we didn’t come to hear the politics, we just wanted the music,’ they were wrong about that. Some people go there to hear the politics and there are people that that want more and you don’t necessarily have to agree with them to enjoy the music either.
The festival still happened and they made decisions and choices that were better suited for that scenario and the ones that I thought were necessary, especially being an alternative festival and people still got to enjoy it, right? Some people are advocating for their stances and you had people that didn’t give a fuck and they all got to exist at the same venue and that’s fucking cool. I think that there’s a larger discussion to be had there too about how we can do things together and the interconnectivity, even if we don’t necessarily agree.”
“I think that there’s a larger discussion to be had there too about how we can do things together and the interconnectivity, even if we don’t necessarily agree.”
Do you think the alternative crowd are more… like you said, ‘some people care, some people don’t give a fuck.’ Do you think the alternative scene is more open to talking about issues like the Barclaycard issue, unlike the more mainstream side of music?
“You know, I want to believe that. I do want to believe that but also a lot of our infighting and ego will disrupt a lot of the bigger picture that we say we’re all striving for when we subscribe to or participate in alternative music. There’s a general feeling of being progressive, right? But it takes a lot more than just saying it. It takes a lot more than just fucking wearing the shirts or even writing the music. It takes a lot more than that.
Part of it is spiritual. Part of it is having compassion for people outside of ourselves who may not look sound or feel the same way we do. Even people that do sound or look or enjoy the same things we do, we’re still fighting with them because of other nuanced acts of violence against each other. I think there’s a lot of work to be done and I don’t know if we actually understand that yet as an alternative scene or if we understand that enough yet. That’s not to say that we can’t, I believe we can. I’m just saying, I think it needs to be noted and highlighted that there’s just more to do.”
Moving on to the record you worked with a new band on this record. Dynamically as a unit and for you as a songwriter, what do you think has changed within the band?
“I am just trying to follow whatever element of inspiration I’m given at the moment and be open to expanding the way that this band is heard and the way that it performs and the way that it is perceived sonically because that’s how I listen to music. It’s how I love music. It’s how I enjoy music. So, for me, and also for this album, I took a much larger producer role in doing it.
I was able to explore a lot more with this album and I’m really grateful for that. I’m really grateful that I got to see myself in this role and see how it all played out and see what I was capable of and see what the music was capable of and it’s a lot more than I think people typically think that alternative music in general is capable of a lot more than what we’re giving it credit for.”
In terms of bands, who do you kind of connect with or do you feel Fever share a similar ethic with?
“That’s a great question. I think there are a lot of newer punk bands – all the bands that took a stand at Download just ideologically right off rip. I stand with them. I think that they get it and I think that a lot of them make music that is fucking rad that does make people think and it also pushes boundaries. That is pretty much anybody willing to take a risk in some way. I mean a real risk, not just a relative risk, but a real risk, I feel in community with.”
Bringing in April as a songwriter, what do you think she brought to the band?
“This question has been asked a lot in interviews, so I’m just trying to make it so that it doesn’t look like I’m trying to be arrogant when I say that a lot of the primary songwriting since the beginning of this project has been me and a few collaborators when it started with me, John and Travis so it continued on that way and then I brought other collaborators in so I handle most of the writing then I’ll work with producers or other writers. So having April involved, just as a general sense of just having her around in the band, has been incredible because there’s an element of obviously womanhood and experience that none of the three of us in the band could speak to.
Having her perspective has opened my eyes about where else this band should go, what else we should speak about and what spaces we should make even more safe or more accessible for women of colour. It’s been a really beautiful offering to our experience as a band. This band to me I look at it as a project. I look at it like a dynasty. At some point we may go and do other things or other people may be involved but as long as the mission is the same it’s still Fever and that’s how I view everything.
We may we may bring another woman into the project or we may bring a fucking person from a culture that we’ve never experienced in our lives. I think that’s the coolest thing about a project or at least this project is you can include people from everywhere and it can still be that project as long as they get it right. As long as they align with the values.”
“Having April involved has been incredible because there’s an element of womanhood and experience that none of the three of us in the band could speak to.”
Absolutely. That’s really interesting, I hadn’t even thought about that as an option as that opens it up to a whole new world really, doesn’t it? You’ve talked about bands you connect with that, but every generation has a band that has been their voice. When I grew up it was bands like Public Enemy, going back to the nineties, you had bands like Rage Against the Machine, and now there’s a band like Fever for fans. For those fans listening to Darker White, what you do hope they get from listening to it?
“A sense of understanding that there’s a world outside of our own. For a lot of this album in particular, a significant part of our demographic, I don’t think comes from where I come from and where people like myself come from So I really hope that there’s this idea of celebration for things that people may not understand. I know that everybody in the world, for the most part, has things that they love or that they enjoy, or they are curious about, that somewhere else may be considered taboo or may be framed as unattractive in some way.
I think that the ultimate idea, while this does come from my experiences, a lot of this album and the way I view things, sociopolitically, even romantically in some senses, this album is a place for people to celebrate our differences and their differences as well. So inter and intra personally celebrating things that are different.”
When you travel the world, what’s it like travelling to somewhere, maybe not the UK, but somewhere in Eastern Europe or somewhere like that and finding those same issues being brought up by fans?
“It feels like that we’re on the right path. We’re here for a reason and it’s not this isolated siloed event or instance, but again, you understand that the emotional quality within, again, existing in a system, whether that be a political one, whether that be a side or whether that be religious, whether that be domestic, like within your own home, like living within systems, there’s this inherent emotional element to it.
You see that when people are explaining and exploring their experiences together across the globe and you find similarities, you’re like, ‘Wow. Okay. So this is not just happening to me or us in America, but this is something that humans throughout the globe are experiencing.’ It makes me think that I should probably lend some credence and a little bit more exploration to this.”
“In alternative music, there’s a general feeling of being progressive, right? But it takes a lot more than just saying it. It takes a lot more than just fucking wearing the shirts or even writing the music.”
Recently, you talked about your mental health and depression. You’ve talked about the challenges of the band and the industry. Is travelling to places where fans get what you’re about, the thing that lights the spark to keep you going?
“Yeah, it does. That’s exactly right. To be super honest with you, I am in this really unfamiliar place for me where I’ve got really high highs and really low lows right now and I’m so thankful for everything that has happened and I’m preemptively thankful for what will happen whether it fucking feels good or not. I’m experiencing it in a way that I’ve never had before and that is difficult for me and it is bleeding into my life as a father a partner and a friend.
A lot of it has to do with how I’ve poured so much of myself into this project and so much of myself into music as a career and art. I’ve just given so much of myself to it that I’ve never actually stopped. I’ve never taken a break. I picked up a guitar when I was 11 or 12, started a band when I was 14, and I’m in my fucking thirties now, my late thirties. I just don’t know. I guess I’m just trying to show the world that I’m a person too.
I’ve created this image that I believed was appropriate and necessary to endure the trappings of the industry and touring, musicianship but I just want to be a person for a little bit, to be honest with you dude.”
I was going to ask how you separate the two because the minute you walk out on stage you explode into the music. How do you separate that from the father, the friend, the partner?
“My kids. Although they do like Fever and they think it’s cool and they like going to shows, they don’t expect that of me. All they expect from me is to be there and to be engaged. I think that has shown me the clear delineation between who I am to the outside world and who I am in my household. It makes it clear to me when my children look at me and remind me of my humanity because that’s like the most authentic, non-fabricated version of myself is with my kids.”
Tying this round to where we started, on a personal level and just for America as a whole, what are your hopes for 2025 and beyond?
“More compassion and more understanding between us all. I think my purpose here now, as I’m starting to view it, is to show people that even me, someone who was so loudly opposed to the idea of things non-liberated with my almost aggressive approach to change, I hope to show people that it doesn’t always have to be so hard or so violent, and it can still be radical.
Love can be radical. Love within a hateful place is radical. That’s what I hope for next year, beyond just the superficial, like I want a tour and I hope people listen to the album, I just want people to see that there’s a radical sense of love because I could then I hope I can help spread that idea.”
Fever 333’s new album, Darker White, is out now and you can pick up your copy from here.
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