Early years (2002–2009) Letlive was formed in Los Angeles in 2002 by vocalist
Jason Aalon Butler, drummer Alex Haythorn, guitarist Ben Sharp and bassist Christian Johansen. In 2003, the band's debut
EP Exhaustion, Salt Water, and Everything in Between was released on at One Records. After a line-up change (with only Butler and Sharp remaining), their first album
Speak Like You Talk was released in 2005, also on at One Records. Bassist Ryan Jay Johnson joined the band before the release, but did not perform on the album. In 2007, Ben Sharp left the band and the band was plagued by subsequent line-up changes and a scrapped album.
Fake History (2009–2013) After establishing a first stable lineup with guitarists Jean Nascimento and Ryan Johnson, and drummer Anthony Rivera accompanying Butler and Johnson, letlive. toured extensively throughout the US and Canada, and gained momentum. The band signed with
Tragic Hero Records in 2009 and released their second album titled
Fake History the next year. The band continued touring and after signing with
Epitaph Records in February 2011, undertook a brief European tour. They were signed to Epitaph after
Bring Me the Horizon frontman
Oliver Sykes contacted label owner
Brett Gurewitz after watching them perform at a single gig in 2008. Epitaph re-released
Fake History in April 2011 with three additional tracks, including two B-sides and one new song produced by Brett Gurewitz. The re-release has been the subject of several favorable reviews from
AllMusic,
Alternative Press, the
BBC and
Rock Sound. Starting in June 2011, the band undertook more extensive touring, In February 2012, letlive. toured again with Enter Shikari and Your Demise for their first time around Australia as a part of the
2012 Soundwave Festival. Butler also featured on track
Tangled in the Great Escape from
Pierce the Veil's album
Collide with the Sky. In October 2012, the band announced they had parted ways with drummer Anthony Rivera.
The Blackest Beautiful and ''If I'm the Devil...'' (2013–2017) On June 4, the single "Banshee (Ghost Fame)" was released. On June 17, the full album was streamed on the
Rock Sound website, three weeks before the scheduled release. In an interview with
Fuse, released on July 16, it was confirmed that Loniel Robinson, their touring drummer, as well as drum tech for
Of Mice & Men, would become a permanent member. selling nearly five thousand copies. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 62. A music video for the song "Younger" was released on September 26, 2013. On January 23, letlive. revealed that they would be releasing "renditions" of songs from The Blackest Beautiful, featuring various artists on remade versions of the songs. The first "rendition" released was a new version of "27 Club", featuring
Keith Buckley of
Every Time I Die. On April 23, their second "rendition" released was a new version of "The Dope Beat", featuring
Dan "Soupy" Campbell of
The Wonder Years. On February 10, 2015, Jean Nascimento left the band for unknown reasons. In light of his departure, Kenji Chan, former live guitarist for
Bruno Mars and former member of Ryan and Jeff's previous band, Best Interest, acted as the band's touring guitarist. On September 25, 2015, the band posted a tweet confirming that they had completed their fourth album and that it would be released in 2016. On the same day, they also confirmed that further additions to their 'Renditions' project/album would be put on hold to focus on new music. On November 3, 2015, in a Revolver Magazine online article, letlive. disclosed that their fourth studio album would be entitled ''
If I'm the Devil...''.
Split (2017) On April 28, 2017, the band announced that after 15 years together as a band, "there will be no further activity for the foreseeable future". In June and July 2017, Butler, former
The Chariot guitarist Stephen "Stevis" Harrison, and
Night Verses drummer Aric Improta began teasing a new project called
The Fever 333 (later shortened to Fever 333). The band performed their first show together out of the back of U-Haul truck in the parking lot of Randy's Donuts in Inglewood, California.
Fake History 10th anniversary (2020) On April 13, 2020, the band started using their Instagram account again and teased fans with a 10th anniversary release of
Fake History complete with unreleased songs and demos.
The Blackest Beautiful 11th anniversary and "sincerely yours," farewell tour (2024-2025) On April 17, 2024, the band posted an announcement of the remix and remaster of
The Blackest Beautiful and announced they will be performing a farewell tour in 2025. "To our friends that we never got to say goodbye to: we'll see you next year to do so," the statement read. "We'd like suitable spaces around the world for proper farewells." In October 2024, the band announced the first show of their farewell tour as part of the 2025
When We Were Young line-up. On February 12, 2025, the band confirmed reunion shows will take place in several dates in the US, UK, Europe and Australia throughout 2025 as part of a tour called "sincerely yours,". They also unveiled the reunion line-up, which would consist of Butler and returning guitarists Jean Francisco Nascimento and Jeff Sahyoun. The live line-up would be completed by touring musicians Sage Webber of
Point North on drums, and former
Issues member Skyler Acord on bass. ==Musical style==