Life of Crime was first featured on No Echo in January of 2022, and the Ohio metallic hardcore band has been steadily growing their fanbase since then. This time around they’re doing a split with a new Columbus hardcore outfit, SALT.
Both bands' vocalists—Dylan Lake from Life of Crime and Josh Brown from SALT—sat down with us for an interview and to premiere two songs from the split.
How did this project initially come to be?
Dylan Lake (Life of Crime): Josh and the SALT boys are the homies. We had some songs we didn’t get to record for the last album, and a split with another Columbus band to start the year sounded like the right move.
Josh Brown (SALT): I just personally love splits so when SALT started, doing one was on the bucket list for sure. I’ve done a ton of shows taking photos of LoC this past year and even got to do a short tour with them so those guys are the homies.
They were my first thought when I was trying to figure out who I’d want to do a split with. I messaged the guys and asked about it, they were down, and that’s pretty much it.
Tell us about each half of the split
Dylan (Life of Crime): “Another Day, Another Death” is about how people put themselves in positions of being something they’re not, then getting exposed and ending up in very bad situations.
“Heaven Weeps” - I used to work with this bible thumper that would tell me I needed to be saved, would call/text me after I quit the job, and hounded me to come to his church for months. From personal experience when I was 16, I attempted to take my life by overdosing. When I fell out there was nothing there. No fire and brimstone, no golden gates, and harps. Just nothing. So I just mashed those two experiences together for it.
Josh (SALT): “Rats” is a pretty simple one about how rich people suck and are ruining the world.
“Cut Your Teeth” - I noticed in my time in the scene people who come in and don’t care about the music or the scene, they just see an opportunity to make money.
What’s on the horizon for each band now that this split is coming out?
Dylan (Life of Crime): We already started writing our EP for later this year. Got some shows lined up out of state throughout the year.
Josh (SALT): More shows. I’d love to have more songs by the end of the year, but after this split release we’re just trying to focus on shows.
Dylan, what's changed for Last of Crime since your last release and this split?
Dylan (Life of Crime): Nothing too crazy. We’ve had a member step down and brought in our boy Cris from my past bands. Outside of that, the only thing that’s changed is the Columbus scene has continued to grow and grow.
Josh, since SALT is newer, what’s your formation story?
Josh (SALT): Basically, I was watching and documenting this insane hardcore scene in Columbus grow and grow, and I just couldn’t sit on the sidelines anymore. So I texted my brother, Seth, and said, “Hey, we’re gonna start a hardcore band that sounds like if Comeback Kid and Backtrack did only 90-second songs, and we’re gonna play Dirty Dungarees." Thankfully he was down and in like two days we (mostly Seth) wrote and demoed our first ep.
What are some other bands you wanna shout out?
Dylan (Life of Crime): Saboteur, You Die First, Darkroom, Bovice, Total Loss, Tomb Sentinel, Sanguisusugabogg, Volcano, Vomit Forth, 200 Stab Wounds, Divebomb, ill will, Human Law , Bitter Thoughts, Forest Fucker, Fleshpile, Rejoice, and En Love.
Josh (SALT): Alright strap in, I love a lot of bands. Darkroom, Kill Gosling, Griphook, Last Gasp, Crime Light, Wasp Factory, Forest Fucker, En Love, SOUR, Rejoice, ANTEATER, Kaiba, Body Farm, fallfiftyfeet, Bolster, Total Loss, Human Law, Fleshpile, Leba, and Captive.
What else would you like to share with No Echo's readers?
Dylan (Life of Crime): Mad love and respect to every band, show attendee, and every venue in Columbus that keep this scene going and growing.
Josh (SALT): Ohio hardcore and, more specifically, Columbus hardcore is the best there is.
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The Life of Crime x SALT split EP will hit all streaming outlets on March 17th.
Hit the Life of Crime Linktree for more info.
Hit the SALT Linktree for more info.
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Tagged: life of crime, salt
