Vancouver-based alt-rockers Little Destroyer have recently released their debut full-length album, 1134. The focus single, “Only Way Out”, is hard-hitting with fierce vocals and a driving drum beat – this energetic track creates a huge sound for a three-piece, and raises a well-placed feminist middle finger. We caught up with Little Destroyer to chat about the new single, their musical influences, and the weirdest live show they’ve played.
From The Strait: Tell us about the new single, “Only Way Out”.
Little Destroyer: Only Way Out is a pivotal song on our new album 1134. It sits on the threshold between a past and a future. It draws a lot from the angst of our older material 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.
FTS: Who were your musical influences growing up, and how do they differ from your current ones?
Little Destroyer: The Distillers, Tricky, The Clash, NIN, Johnny Thunders, The Stones, The Pixies, Bjork, PJ Harvey, No Doubt, Pearl Jam, everyone on Epitaph Records in the late 90s.. which to be honest all still influence what we do, but we got really fascinated by pop pop music and now always try to expand our views and influences.
FTS: What was the coolest (and/or weirdest) live show you’ve ever played?
Little Destroyer: We played someone’s apartment that was the back of a pretty famous Vancouver strip club. It had this weird glassed in private courtyard and felt like a labyrinth, my memory of it was that there were no lights on anywhere. It started cool and then got progressively weirder and eventually it ended in me trying to fight the promoter for payment.
FTS: What’s one album or artist/band you can’t get enough of right now?
Little Destroyer: Roy Orbison
FTS: If all three members of Little Destroyer were superheroes, what would their superpowers and names be?
Little Destroyer: Allie would be CoolRat: superpowers would be fitting through tiny spaces, looking great in hats and being able to metabolize actual garbage into eternal energy and youth.
Chris and Michael would be a two part transformer style guy called WeissArmyKnife and they’d have everything you always need on tour but never have like screwdrivers, extra batteries, super great sense of time and the direction skills of a 1997 Garmin.
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Check out “Only Way Out”, the latest single from Little Destroyer!
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