TAKING HUGE INFLUENCE FROM THEN AND NOW MUSIC SCENE WE WANT TO INTRODUCE YOU TO ALTERNATIVE TRIO ‘LITTLE DESTROYER’ WHO JUST RELEASED THEIR BRAND NEW SINGLE ‘HITMAN’. CHECK OUR THIS CHAT NOW AND LISTEN HERE.

What are your names? 
Hi – we’re Allie, Chris & Michael 

What is the band’s name? 
Our band is called Little Destroyer

How did you come up with the band’s name? 
We were under a tight deadline to come up with a name and after a week of killing ourselves trying to come up with something, we realized that it was right in front of us the whole time, one of the first songs we wrote together was called ‘little destroyer’.

What is your genre of music? 
The general answer is alternative… but we’re inspired by everything from Charli XCX to NIN to Elvis, so when you listen to us or see us live, it’s a very mixed bag. Long form answer is like alternative-rock-electronic-pop-60s-iggypop-punk-with the occasional break beat-managers worst nightmare.

Give us a little bio about you. 
Okay, dating profile: wild woman and two brothers strap on and make your ugly dreams come true.  Little Destroyer fill every room with as much energy, spit and spectacle as humanly possible. The agro alt-rock trio from Vancouver straddle the line between punk hedonism and pop indulgence, reminiscent of the volatile 00’s vibe of The Kills and Yeah Yeah Yeahs but at home alongside modern contemporaries such as Dream Wife & Amyl and the Sniffers.  On stage, front woman Allie Sheldan is an enigmatic shape shifter, at times mirroring the unbridled chaos of a 1970’s Iggy Pop, while at other moments, under blue light, introspective and vulnerable.  Brothers Michael and Chris Weiss complete the band with huge beats and livewire guitar and synth antics respectively, rounding out the sound and bringing the type of bond (and rhythm section) that only siblings can.  Here for a good time, and a long time, even after a couple years of particularly bad blows c/o the music industry, they’re still happily grinding away.

What made you go into music? 
We’ve all been playing since we were kids – I wrote my first song at 8, titled kind of hilariously, kind of alarmingly “in the evergreen forest of despair” and started my first punk band at 13. Chris and Michael were enlisted as the prodigious teen rhythm section in a touring band that took them out of high school but eventually left them sleeping/living in their van. We’ve all three been hooked since we were young… “be in a band they say, it will be fun they say” …

Who are your influences? 
As individuals our influences are vast and all over the place, Chris loves Queens of the Stone Age, Michael loves Tricky and literal bird sounds, I love Johnny Thunders… but for this project we’ve been directly influenced by the album Yeezus, Soulwax Niteversions, Charli XCX, The Kills, Radiohead, Portishead, NIN and more recently Sleaford Mods, Slowthai and Billie Eilish. Also, an overall huge influence on Little Destroyer is the crazy ass pop production coming out of the music industry rn. Seeing artists like Halsey work with Trent Reznor, we live or the mashup

Are you signed? 
We’ve been working with Tiny Kingdom for the last year and recently signed on with them as our label. They are an incredible two-woman operation based out of Vancouver & Toronto. Hands down they are the reason we resurrected after a couple particularly hard years. And as a woman (and human) I appreciate so much working with women, it has honestly made such a difference.

You released your new single ‘Hitman’, tell us more about the single. 
Michael and Chris told me to write a story, so I wrote ‘Hitman’. For weeks, I had that recurring question in my head ‘does everybody want to hire one’? We had talked about making something that was simple, driving and to the point, like a Sleaford Mods song. Kind of funny and satirical but also really kind of not, because sometimes life tries to kill you. We’ve all felt sadness turn to rage, maybe while sitting on the curb outside the local liquor store. What do you do with a breaking point? I guess in our case, you write a song.

What is the meaning behind the single? 
It was a processing place for a lot of frustration. But I didn’t want to only reflect on my own reaction and relationship to the anger, I wanted to also consider what it was like for the other guy. As right and justified as I might feel in my anger, so might my adversary. So, it’s a comment on that, while also being a song where I got to say a few final ‘fuck yous’ and have some fun.

What was the writing and recording process like? 
I started writing the song in the dead of covid winter 2020/2021. The three of us had to record our ideas at home – separate from each other – and then pass the track back and forth. It was an interesting experience and really let us dig into ideas and sounds (like, see how many distortions can be used at once on a vocal before the audio wave is too deteriorated to use and then you pass it along to Chris and he tries to mix/eq the track and he can’t, and then you have to redo everything haha). But ya, it was unique, very different than being in a room together physically feeling everything out, this was a far more cerebral experience. Cool and weird in its own way.

Describe the track in two words. 
Violent Humour 

Who did you work with on the single? 
We recorded with Howard Redekopp (Tegan & Sara, The New Pornographers, Mother Mother) who is the coolest, kindest, most talented human. He embraced us and all our hair-brained ideas with  open arms. Want to record a trash can? Fine! Want to throw chains off a roof? Love it! Recording with him was honestly one of the best times we have ever had. At one point him and Chris spent 45 minutes trying to get the perfect take of a wood bench sliding across the floor hitting a trash can. And honestly it was all like a dream come true.

Will we see a Music video for ‘Hitman’ what can we expect from the creative process? Yes! There is a video out now you can watch here

It was a no-brainer to do this video with Connor McGuire, not only because he is amazing and did our previous three videos, but we grew up together and were (very predictably) obsessed with Quentin Tarantino as teens – which felt a fitting starting point for HITMAN. Connor created a video that is balanced perfectly between mundane reality and something far more cinematic. Something you’ll definitely want to watch over and over. It still makes me smile.

Will we see a new album or ep and if so what can we expect? 
There is something in the works for September! 

Do you have any live shows or a tour coming up and if so let us know where we can catch you at? 
We’ll be playing some festivals in Canada this Spring Summer (CMW, Sled Island, Phillips Weekender, Ambleside etc) but will be doing more extensive touring come fall/2023! 

What else can we expect in 2022? 
More music, mayhem and merch! And so many videos, and maybe we’ll learn how to use tiktok.

Will we see any collaborations and if so, can you tell us more about them? 
We don’t have any planned at the moment, but we have our eye on a duo who we’d love to have do a remix for us (s/o Big Kill). We love to collaborate, so if you’re reading this and are into what we do, let’s make something together! 

Where do you see yourself now in 5 Years? 
Honestly, after having a bad brain injury last year I’m just grateful every day that I am still able to play and create music and doing it with two of my best friends—it’s not something I take for granted. I’m grateful that my bandmates, friends, and family are healthy and happy. Honestly – I know it sounds cheesy, but it all feels like a gift. So, in 5 years I hope to have the same things. I will add though, we’d love to have a lot more music to share and to tour, tour, tour! And maybe I have a 87’ Jaguar XJS.

What quote or saying do you always stick by? 
“Do it or don’t. It’s amazing how many things in life are that easy.” ― Henry Rollins 
Also.. and we say this literally every time we’re together 
“Be in a band they say, it will be fun they say”

When you are at a gig, what are 5 things you cannot forget? 
Fresh socks, water bottle, Rickenbacker bass, picks, and batteries (assuming it’s our show 😉

Do you have social media accounts so your fans can follow you? 
We sure do:
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Youtube
Tiktok

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