Interview: Love letter: The co-founders of Defeater & Verse talk about their new band and their debut album

Published a few weeks ago, Everyone wants something beautiful is the debut album by Love Letter, a new band featuring the founding members of Verse and Defeater. On the LP, the experienced musicians deliver elegant melodic hardcore and post-hardcore songs with lyrics that hit hard.

Everyone wants something beautiful was produced by Love Letter, with guitarist Jay Maas and bassist David Alcan handling the mix. Maas first came into contact with Love Letter singer Quinn Murphy when he was fronting Verse, and produced the band’s 2008 album. aggression Album.

I spoke to Maas and Murphy about the making of Love Letter, their debut LP and other personal things.

Jay, your personal connection to Verse has been around for a long time. Tell me a little bit about how you fell under each other’s spell and why you connected with them.

Jay Maas (guitar, background vocals): Quinn and I stayed in touch after graduating aggression for verses, but we probably only became close a few years later. Although we only live about 90 minutes apart, it is more likely that we run into each other almost 6,000 kilometers away in Europe at various festivals.

Without going into too much detail or specifics, it became clear that we both had chaotic and unstable childhoods and later identified with each other in this area of ​​music as adults when we were still trying to process our past.

Over the years, it was just nice to be able to talk to someone who wasn’t uncomfortable with these kinds of topics, because that’s really rare. Since then, we’ve always supported each other when life has thrown its inevitable surprises at us.

What was the initial spark behind the creation of Love Letter? Were there many conversations before you actually started working together, or did it happen quickly?

Jaye: I would say we probably communicated for 5 years via group texting and a few occasional phone calls before we really decided to take the band seriously. For me, it was when Quinn and I went to see Silent Drive’s first show in 17 years and met our guitarist Matt (Spence).

Matt and I talk to each other as directly and without regret as you could imagine (always with respect and love) and he just looked at me and basically said, “We haven’t done anything yet because of YOU,” and he was 100% right. I’m not sure if he was secretly planning to get me going, to be his authentic self, or a combination of both, but either way it definitely made me want to finally put all that talk into action.

Did you discuss in the early stages what specific stylistic direction you wanted to take with the band?

Jaye: No, not really. I think we’re all very aware of each other’s influences and writing styles. I think it was more because we knew the combination of band members would result in a certain sound.

Every musician in Love Letter has a sound and what makes a band special is the complex combination of colors, textures and dynamics that come together to create something special and unique that could not have been created in any other formation.

To get into the individual songs on the album, “Misanthropic Holiday or Vacation” stood out to me in particular because the following line really blew me away: “Social media feeds feed you bullet-point memes, armed to the teeth wellness pushers touting placebo supplements and bullshit cures.”

Quinn Murphy, vocals: Misanthropic Holiday or Vacation is simply based on my own nonsense. The experiences I’ve had trying to understand myself and learn to navigate the US healthcare system after repeated psychiatric hospitalizations. You want to fix yourself and be OK and be OK for others. That’s the goal, but the wild mountain of confusion in front of you sometimes seems impossible to climb. If you’re/still on a low income like I am, figuring out how to get the help you need is a nightmare.

I don’t want to write a novel here, so I’ll try to keep it brief. Many people are born into terrible environments: poverty, physical/emotional/sexual abuse, severe neglect, etc. The chances of escaping unscathed are zero. You can live in denial or oblivious to it, but it will catch up with you in some way. It will spill over into everything and affect others, and ultimately it can be endemic.

Some people will never recover from their trauma. It is the result of a larger problem of inequality, exploitation and oppression by those in power that affects most of the world.

The album cover fits perfectly with the music it represents. Is there a story behind this image?

Quinn: Well, it was basically an accident that was later discovered when Jessie was getting some film developed after a little trip to Florida for the festival. Jessie (Maas) is an important part of Love Letter and is basically considered a member of our band/collective – without a doubt the glue that keeps us focused and united. The gratitude and respect we all have for Jessie is unmatched.

Forgive me for being cheesy, but I owe so much to Jessie and the Maas family. When I say they are a huge part of my bullshit still being alive, I mean it. They were there for me during the darkest times of my battle with mental illness and never hesitated to give me some light to escape those times.

Basically Jessie just took a photo because they “liked the light” and were trying to document the trip. Nothing forced, just a natural moment. They didn’t realize I was having a panic attack and was just trying to calm down and catch my breath. None of this was put together until after the film was developed. Jay saw the photo and it clicked immediately – he knew that was the cover of the record. I didn’t agree at first (laughs).

I had a hard time seeing myself on the cover, regardless of the connection between the moment captured and the lyrical content. It made sense, but it played into a lot of insecurities I had about myself and how I was perceived. I’ll be honest, up until now I was hoping to avoid any potential questions about the cover or pass the question on to someone else because I was so torn, no matter how much sense it made.

I’m still torn and unsure about it, but I think that’s exactly why it had to be the cover. Part of us making this band is dealing with uncomfortable situations while also coming to terms with ourselves. Our past, our worst moments, our best moments, exploring vulnerabilities and the like. Jessie captured an important moment – this photo is very me.

Panic Disorders are an important part of my life and I am glad that it happened to be captured by a best friend. I couldn’t ask for a more perfect and beneficial moment to be captured that encompasses Everyone wants something beautiful.

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Everyone wants something beautiful is now available via Iodine Recordings (Digital/LP & Cassette).

Tagged with: conqueror, love letter, verse