Little Destroyer’s new album 1134 is out today via Tiny Kingdom. Produced by Howard Redekopp (Mother Mother, Tegan and Sara, The New Pornographers) the blistering collection of tracks sees the enigmatic Vancouver-based threesome at their dramatic grunge-pop best; a powerful sonic explosion of pent-up fury and 00s breezy pop-punk energy of seminal bands like The Kills and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
“Only Way Out is a pivotal song on this album,” states Little Destroyer’s frontperson Allie Sheldan. “It sits on the threshold between the past and future. It draws a lot from the angst of our older songs but with the positive frenetic urgency of someone who is on the edge of an evolution. The only way out of pain is through it, you can’t avoid that – there are no detours. I wrote this song while I was discovering that, and was needing to pump myself up for the road ahead of me.“
Straddling the line between punk hedonism and pop indulgence, Little Destroyer is a tight knit trio of creative powerhouses; vocalist, bassist and songwriter Allie Sheldan, and the brothers Weiss – multi-instrumentalist Chris, and drummer Michael. The three are industry veterans, with the scars to prove it. No stranger to the exploitations of the music industry, nor the house of cards upon which it is built, Little Destroyer have a litany of almost chances, near misses, and lawyer invoices strewn behind them. A break was needed and the last two years provided the breathing space to reassess and realign.
Back with a new team in the female-led Tiny Kingdom, it’s a clean slate for the band and one they’re keen to move forward with. Working alongside JUNO Award winning producer Howard Redekopp, the band has excised any remaining demons, returning with a new offering that is part cathartic release and part raucous reclamation of their musical identity.
Like so many artists, this latest offering was born during the pandemic and the creative process looked a lot different due to accompanying restrictions. “We didn’t see each other for 8 months,” Chris says, “Having to be apart really defined our creative process”. Tracks were built by passing files back and forth, each band member creating at home, allowing ideas to percolate differently – adding, layering, building. “We’ve always either been in a jam space or writing room together, and often with a producer in the wings”, Chris continues, “In a jam space setting you’re very much feeding off each other and there’s an ebb and flow and things are happening so fluidly. When you’re apart, and you’re in your own head, you’re not able to bounce it off their expression”.
There was a paradoxical liberation that came with the feeling of being boxed in, and when combined with the extemporaneous guidance of a producer that truly gets it, well, that’s where the magic is. “Howard was such a good sport,” Allie shares, “We were able to get as weird as we wanted to and, after being locked inside for months, things definitely got weird. Not only did he get it, he supported and matched it, and started coming to the table with really crazy ideas. It felt like an exciting process for not only us, but also for Howard; the synergy was palpable”
It’s that synergy that gave a rise to an authenticity within this album, truly the closest yet to capturing the rawness and seething energy of a live Little Destroyer performance (the stuff of legend) within the studio environment. “What producer is down with you not practicing your parts before you record,” Michael laughs. “It needed to be so raw, so real, so unrehearsed”. And it’s this confidence in the vision, this ability to flawlessly pull off a shoot from the hip kind of idea, that makes Michael the undisputed creative wellspring of the band.
On stage, front woman Allie Sheldan is a dynamic shape shifter, at times mirroring the unbridled chaos of a 1970’s Iggy Pop, while at other moments, like a blue light, introspective and vulnerable. Brothers Michael and Chris Weiss complete the band with huge beats and livewire guitar antics respectively, rounding out the sound and bringing the type of bond (and rhythm section) that only siblings can.
Little Destroyer, in their own words, is a sum of its parts. And every part makes, ‘great fucking music’. 1134signals a new intention for the band, a conscious decision to shift away from the meat grinder side of the music industry and toward a way of working and creating that sees the self honoured and freak flags flown high. Little Destroyer is proof that creating a pop-punk blitzkrieg is just as much about love and connection, as it is spit and spectacle.
