Hey Everyone!
The Scream Queen here!
Ljesus just premiered No One Is Getting In, a new 44 second long track from his upcoming EP ‘To Keep Me From Dying When I Want To Die’ called ‘No One Is Getting In’ featuring Stacy from Beltway, recorded and mixed by Ben Perman, produced by Ljesus via Ljesus.Bandcamp.com. Check out the new song below!Â
I recently caught up with Ljesus, a Hardcore//Metalcore Artist based out of Southern Florida that was featured on Space Zebra’s Battle For the Big Stage, a competition where the chat gets to vote on unsigned Artists who have submitted their songs to compete for a spot on the main stage at Welcome to Rockville in Daytona Beach, FL this Veterans Day Weekend November 11-14th, 2021! You can watch Battle For The Big Stage live every Sunday and Monday at 3:30PM PST//6:30PM EST on the Danny Wimmer Presents Twitch channel [Twitch.tv/DWPresents]! Check out the Welcome to Rockville lineup below! Click on the poster for tickets!
In our interview he shared how the ‘Ljesus’ name originated. A band he started in April 2019 after departing an unnamed band after 8 years. He told us his Music is more geared towards having a good time on the vocals, especially live.Â
When asked about general Musical influences, Ljesus said “There’s a tiny amount of Every Time I Die; I did do one Every Time I Die style riff, in my eyes, really out of spite for who the song is about. [laughs] Other than that, the majority of the influence is, I’d say, a lot of Poison The Well, a little bit of Glassjaw, and sometimes Converge. Sometimes The Chariot.” He also discussed his guitar and drum influences in the interview.
Ljesus’ first EP was released via Bandcamp in 2019, which you can check out here, and he’s currently working on a second EP, which features a collaboration song with Marlene Mendoza [read our interview with Marlene here], whom he met through the Space Zebra community. He said he was having a bit of a challenge with the song, which is why he reached out to Marlene about it in the first place.
He elaborated, “I thought this would be cool. You know, being at Space Zebra provided another bridge to people who are rad. She seems to be doing her own thing too, similar to what I’m doing. I believe she writes and records all of her own Music too, which that’s what I do, so let’s go back and fourth on that.”
When speaking about Our Veterans, “I honestly don’t think that any Veteran that’s ever fought or done anything, I don’t feel like any of them, no matter what– I just feel like none of them should be without healthcare. I feel like that stuff should be free for them especially, especially considering Mental Health stuff. But even without the Mental Health stuff, none of them should be out on the street for any reason. As far as ‘regular’, you know what I mean, like functioning or non-functioning Veterans that don’t—- you know what I’m trying to say, none of them should be homeless, none of them should be hungry, and none of them should have health-financial stuff to worry about.”
When asked what some of his most meaningful songs he’s written are…He replied, “I don’t know, they’re all pretty heavy… Heavy, I mean like, impact-on-me heavy. Yeah, they’re all pretty heavy. The View From Down Here, I guess that one has a lot of expression in it whenever it gets played live, whenever we play it, I guess I can emote a lot with that one, and Boss Level One. I’d say the least connection I have to, is Low Key Moist, that one is fun to play, but it’s not the most gripping to me. It’s more of just a venting [with] that song.”
When we moved on to the subject of Mental Health and what Music helps him out of dark spots, he said, “If this country took Mental Health far more seriously, especially in it’s agencies, in it’s government agencies to focus on that…A lot of things, crises could be averted.”
He continued to talk about which album has helped him out the most, he mentioned Fiona Apple’s The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do album, “This entire album is amazing to me. And Fiona Apple has gotten me out of a lot of stuff ’cause she has like super raw emotion, completely genuine and honest, and not always in the right. And I feel like that’s really important because every time you hear Music and you relate to something, it seems like that person is right, but you got to listen to the things when people are wrong. You have to be wrong and you have to be ok with the fact that you’re wrong when you’re willing to do something different about it, and I think that’s really important.
That album, there’s a certain release of that album that has a song called Largo, that song is just about how certain people and those people playing Music do a big thing for you, being with friends, listening or playing Music. I feel like that just has a big deal. Those lyrics in that song are unstoppable too. Like one of the lyrics, real quick, she’s watching her friend’s band play at a small bar, “how could I listen without wanting to be with them, and how could I ever have thought I was alone” …and it’s just like, I don’t know, it’s good to feel the opposite. I mean yes, feeling alone is normal and you can be alone, it’s a legitimate feeling. And it’s nice though when you go and feel something like, “how could I ever feel that way”, and be alright with that. I really do pull from her, at least when I’m trying to be honest about my part in things.”
Ljesus also shared some of the Music he’s been listening to lately that maybe not a lot of people have heard of before. Here are some of his lighter picks:
Ethel Cane’s Nuckle Velvet, Bachelor’s Stay in the Car, and Mannequin Pussy’s Romantic.
His heavier picks include the following albums: Gillian Carter’s This Earth Shaped Tune and Oathbreaker’s Rheia.
Watch our entire Zoom interview above!
You can catch Space Zebra live 4 nights a week on the Danny Wimmer Presents Twitch channel [Sunday-Tuesday’s and Thursday’s] 3:30PM PST//6:30PM EST on Twitch.tv/DWPresents!
