JERIS JOHNSON TOUR IN THE USA 2026
INTERVIEW WITH ALYSE AND OSCAR FROM LYLVC
INTERVIEW WITH LYLVC WRITTEN AND PHOTOS TAKEN
BY ABBY FLESHER
Abby – Hi, Alyse and Oscar, it’s so nice to meet you guys. Thank you for taking the time to interview me.
Alyse – Hell yeah, nice to meet you.
Abby – How has the tour been treating you so far? I know it’s been like a fast couple of months. You guys have been touring with like Jeris Johnson, Eva Under Fire, and the Butcher Babies. How’s that been for you?
Alyse – Oh my god, before that, we finished ShipRocked in the Bahamas with Halestorm, Motionless In White, and others. Right when we got off the ship, we started a 6-week tour, and every single day you were playing at a different venue. It’s been a wild ride. I think we’re now at the tail end of it. We have Hollywood and San Francisco, California, left. The tour has been good. I really enjoyed the crowds. They have been really great.
Abby – That’s so exciting. Have you guys played at the Nile Theater before?
Alyse– This venue looks very familiar to me. I told Oscar I was wondering if we played here on our other tour. It seems very familiar.
Abby – I attended one show here, and it was crazy and great. It’s a super cool venue. I enjoy it for the hard rock shows for sure
Alyse– I hope the crowd comes out tonight
Abby – Yeah, for real! So with your new release “Starless”, I absolutely love that song. I discovered it at work and felt it really spoke to me. How was it to release that single during the tour?
Oscar– Yeah, it was really cool to release it during the tour. Actually, it was kind of like we got to do a promotion with it.
Abby – Yeah, hands-on experience to see how the crowd reacts to it.
Oscar– Especially because it’s a very personal story to me that started about 7 years ago when I tried to commit suicide. This is the 1st time I’ve ever really spoken out publicly about what happened or what I went through. My whole goal for the song at all was to have it be this testament to anyone who’s ever felt that loneliness and that space of depression, because in that space, once you like decide that there’s an end coming, it kind of give you this, like, false sense of hope that “oh, finally, like, the weight of life is off my shoulders, and, like, everything’s gonna be good now, because I know” and it kind of makes you feel happy, and I know that for me, it was very scary to be so calm with the end there. And so, having shared it on tour and hearing people react to it, it’s just been like, wow. I wanted people to feel like they weren’t alone, because I knew what they were going through, and to see the community of people that have come out and been like “No, I’ve been affected. I’ve gone through it myself, my family, my friends have gone through it, I’ve been affected by this in some way or some form,” and to legitimately see the community of people that say, “No, you’re not alone” To watch them all conglomerate around the song has been really cool. I absolutely love that.
Abby – Thank you for sharing that. I saw on your website that you’re originally from Ohio, what part?
Alyse– Sandusky, Ohio, where the Cedar Point Amusement Park is.
Abby – No way! I’m from Milan, Ohio
Alyse– I know where Milan is!
Abby – It’s a small world! I would have thought maybe Cincinnati or Cleveland, that is so crazy.
Alyse– Every time we’ve played in Cleveland or Columbus, I mention I’m from Sandusky, and people turn up! It’s been crazy. Ohio crowds go hard. I really love that.
Abby – I’m so happy to hear that! Being from Ohio, were there any key parts that shaped your outlook that you bring to your career as a musician?
Alyse– Growing up in Ohio, the 1st songs I ever wrote were in the church. I didn’t know how to play instruments at the time, so I would come up with a cool melody and lyrics and sing it for my mom. My mom thought it was so cool and wanted me to sing for the pastor. He thought it was great and wanted me to sing a cappella in front of the whole church. I ended up doing that often. I would make up random songs that came to mind and perform them quite often. Later on, you are told you can’t really follow your dreams. That “It’s really hard to become a singer”, “How are you going to make money”, and “What’s going to be your real job”. You are told this your whole life to constantly get your day job, and I hated that. In Ohio, I looked around me and saw many people working multiple minimum-wage jobs just to barely make ends meet. I didn’t want that. I wanted to go for my dreams. I ended up moving to North Carolina for college, where I met my bandmates now. I ended up studying to become a computer hacker. It’s nice because I can hack when we are traveling. I can hack during the day, and sing at night. I’m blessed because I was able to find a job that allows me to pursue and pay for my dreams without feeling stuck. I hate rules and locked doors. Break through them. I absolutely love that, that is so cool.
Abby – I feel like so many talented creative people come out of Ohio because they’re stuck in a bubble.
Alyse– Once you leave, it’s a different air. I love that you got out. No offense to Ohio, I love the people there and everything, but I felt I was constantly having to fight this internal voice that was constantly telling me not to pursue or reach high. When we started the band, we actually took our first demo to the top producers. We could have recorded with a random producer in Raleigh and had state and local shows, but we were determined to find the top producers in the world to send our demos to. You miss every shot you don’t take. If they don’t email us back, at least we tried. We emailed our Benson, and they emailed us back, baby! Now we are signed to them. I think it’s great not to listen to that voice or to the people telling you your dreams aren’t possible. If you want it and take that shot, you have nothing to lose. That is so badass, I love that.
Abby – With one of your latest releases, “Barely Human,” I thought the music video was insanely cool and creative. What look and theme did you want to capture with that video?
Alyse– With “Barely Human”
“In a sky that’s turned, when the sun has died,
where sickness spreads, where the webs have dried,
where the shadows fall, fear and pain collide
In a world consumed, only the void survives”.
We are past the point of no return, baby. This is at the end of the world. I struggle with my emotional switch when I’m going through pain or getting hurt. I turn off my emotions and try to be strong in that moment. Sometimes I can be a bit of a monster when I turn off my emotions, and I don’t have that empathy, right? I think that in a world where we are all fighting to be barely human, do we turn off our emotional switch? Or do we fight for what makes us human? Do you fight to keep your empathy and emotions, and try to keep that humanity right? We wanted to capture that. In the video, I’m fighting to become a full robot, while Oscar leads a group of people who want to hold on to and stay true to humanity. In the end, we came together for the good of humanity.
Abby – It was beautiful. I loved the storytelling through the lyrics and the video. I understood what you were telling the audience through both the music and video. I don’t know who filmed it, but they did a fantastic job with the video.
Alyse– Yeah! Jensen Noen is wild. He has done music videos for Falling in Reverse, Nine Inch Nails, and a bunch of people. His visual effects are insane
Abby – Incredible! This is more of a curiosity question: after a show, what is your go-to meal? Are you looking for more fast and easy food, or a unique spot in a new city to check out?
Oscar– Typically, it’s the closest fattiest cheeseburger we can find that is still open.
Abby – Period, Haha.
Oscar– It’s funny because before the show, we are very strict about what we eat before we go on stage. We basically only eat like dry toast and hot tea.
Abby – I see you got some tea right there.
Oscar– Yeah, exactly, like no joke. We are very strict about what goes into our bodies before the show, and you will see why. We are so on the move on stage. After the show, dude, it’s burgers, pizza, quesadillas, and whatever. Just put it in my face!
Abby – Haha, totally relatable, I love that!
Abby – Final question, after this tour, where is LYLVC going next? Do you have any new projects you’ll be working on?
Alyse– Yeah, so we have 3 shows left on this tour. That is Mesa, Arizona, Hollywood, California, and San Francisco, California. Then we will be playing in May at MMRBQ in New Jersey with Godsmack, Alice Cooper, and Everclear. Then we are playing at the Rocklahoma, which is huge! I’m so excited. Sometime in the summer, Oscar and I are going to plan the next song release. We have some writing to do, and with so many songs already written, we need to plan the next release. We just have to convince the label to release the next ones next.
Abby – Hell yeah, I love to hear that. I’m excited to see what you guys put out next! Thank you, guys, so much for doing this interview. I really appreciate it
Alyse and Oscar – Of course! Thank you, enjoy the show!
JERIS JOHNSON
BUTCHER BABIES
LYLVC
