LOVE THE HATE – SINGLE REVIEW & INTERVIEW

Love The Hate is an edgy hard rock ensemble based in Mobile, Alabama. Formed in 2015, the band consists of Doc St. Andrie (Vocals), Frank Killian (Guitar), Leon Craft (Bass), Marshall Mears (Guitar) and Troy Dearmon (Drums). Love The Hate released a forceful full length in 2019 entitled Burn to rave reviews. They also dropped a ruthless cover of Information Society’s  “What’s on Your Mind? (Pure Energy)’ in 2020. Now the group has returned with a ferocious single, “Solid Ground”.

“Solid Ground” contains emboldened vocals and explosive guitar riffs. St. Andrie’s voice has that perfect grungy quality that immediately grabs the listener. The guitars hit you with propulsive intensity while Craft’s bass is brutally infectious. Dearmon’s drums pop with monstrous vigor. All the while, Love The Hate maintain a transcendent melodic cadence that is harmonically rich.

The video for “Solid Ground” is an eerie masterpiece with dark gothic overtones. Directed by Thomas Crane of KillDevil Films (Saliva, Eve to Adam), it was shot in an historic Mobile mansion known as the “Outlaw Mansion”. It was often referred to as Alabama’s most haunted house. Speaking about the video, Frank Killian espouses: “It played a big role in making the video because of all the historical aspects of the house. Inexplicably it burned down shortly after their filming.

Marshall Mears of Love The Hate was kind enough to answer a few questions.

AMP: Give us a brief history of the band?

MEARS: Love The Hate goes back to 2015 with Frank, Butch and Leon. Butch is the original singer of the band who passed away early 2019. To say the least, Butch was a powerhouse vocalist who is featured as songwriter and performer on the Love To Hate debut album Burn. From then, Doc and Marshall were picked up shortly after Butch’s passing as vocalist and rhythm guitarist respectively. After a brief time in 2021 of not having a drummer, Troy was auditioned and picked up by the band almost immediately. And here we all are today, developing our sound and techniques to deliver meaningful but hard hitting songs.

AMP: How would you categorize your sound?

MEARS: If we had to pick a genre, we would say Hard Rock best fits our sound. With each individual member putting their foot forward in the writing process, some songs can sound like progressive heavy metal, southern rock and some elements of pop. In the metal/rock community, it is very difficult to define a band simply by one genre. Rest assured, many elements of all types of music can be heard at our shows.

AMP: Who are some of the band’s major influences?

MEARS: We are influenced by a plethora of musicians and bands who, in turn, are influenced by other musicians and bands, lol. It’s difficult to quantify where we pull our inspiration from because each member brings some different style to the band which we want to embrace. To simplify, however, our influences come from the likes of Trivium, Chevelle, Failure, Sevendust, Soundgarden, Black Sabbath and Pat Benatar just to name a few.

AMP: Your new single, “Solid Ground” is really dynamic. What can we expect next?

MEARS: We loved how “Solid Ground” turned out but we want to be a band that continues to grow with everything we do. We are in the midst of working on our follow up single right now with the intention of sounding even BIGGER than before. We love having the dynamic parts embedded in our songs and we want to make sure our next single hits even harder than “Solid Ground”.

AMP: How was the band able to connect with the fans during the pandemic?

MEARS: During the pandemic is when we worked the hardest. We were obviously limited on shows but we made sure to keep invested in our community here. We also recorded “Solid Ground” during the pandemic and worked through a ton of other material we have been working on. it was a good time to sit back and reflect on where we needed to go and eventually joined up with Sarah Raye at World of Music Management. She, herself, has kept us working through the pandemic and has been a huge part of us getting where we are today.

AMP: Is the Alabama hard rock scene vibrant?

MEARS: Vibrant, yes, but more dynamic than anything. On a given night, you can go downtown and watch a jam band. Pop over a block or two to see some death metal bands and make your way a few more blocks to see any and everything in between. We love the hard rock community but there is such great talent in the area from all types of music. The hard rock and metal scene is taking shape and form here and we will not be surprised to start seeing other bands from this area get more attention.

AMP: If you could tour with a current band, who would it be?

MEARS: We all have slightly different tastes in music we listen to but I don’t think anyone in the band would object to Metallica, Rammstein, Nonpoint or any other band that has influenced us. Foo Fighters would be my main aspiration for the simple fact that they just want the audience to be part of their garage band rehearsal lol.

AMP: What’s the future look like for Love The Hate?

MEARS: Love The Hate has barely lifted off at this point. We have music that we want to share with the world. After our next single, we have a cover lined up that we are very excited about to be working with the original artist (can’t say much more without getting into trouble, lol). Then we plan on a full length record and the sky is the limit after that.

AMP: Favorite Pie?

TROY: π2

FRANK: 3.14

LEON: Pizza?

Marshall: Beer

DOC: Sweet Potato Pie

Amp would like to thank Love The Hate for their time and thoughtful answers. Also, the band is killer. Please catch them live when they hit your town.

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To learn more about Love The Hate, check out their website

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Stream music:  Spotify / Apple Music 

Purchase:  Bandcamp 

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