LESSER BEINGS. GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
Lesser Beings are a new band who hail from Glasgow, Scotland that consists of members who play in a whole host of both hardcore and metal bands including Hard Stare and Coffin Mulch. Lesser Beings released their self-titled debut EP last year, and it is a storming collection of hardcore anthems which marks them as definite ones to watch. In Effect’s Gavin Brown caught up with vocalist Lev to hear all about the EP and how it has been received, highlights of 2024 and how it was for the band and what this new year holds for them. Graphics by: Paul Turano, lead photo by: Good Luck Wolf Photography, all live photos by: Duncan McCall.
IE: Your self- titled debut release came out earlier in the year. What has the reaction been to it been like so far?
Lev: The reviews we’ve had have all been fantastic and everyone who hears it or sees us live seems to rave about it, which is great! We do have some difficulty attracting attention to ourselves in the first place, right enough, which is something I think we all expected, and which we largely attribute to not really being a round peg for any common round holes genre-wise. Most of the members of Lesser Beings play in other bands who do pretty definitive examples of popular enough genres (Derek and Fraser play old school death metal in Coffin Mulch, I do metallic hardcore in No Known Weakness and I also do crossover thrash in Hard Stare) and it’s much easier with those bands to go “Hey, if you like other bands who sound like this thing you already like, get your ears on THIS”. I’m not saying we’re breaking totally uncharted ground or anything, but Lesser Beings has never really been going for something as easily labelled as folk seem to like their music to be just now. If you play, say, black metal, there’s a million popular Spotify playlists your black metal band can fit on and people who have decided that black metal is their lane can discover you on that. Genre exercise is fun when it’s done well and with some passion, but we throw some real different shit in the pot with Lesser Beings and, by design, it’s not quite as easy to market. But the reception from folk who do seek it out or stumble across it, like I said, has been very warm! The listener maybe needs to work a little more to appreciate Lesser Beings, but people who put that effort in seem to enjoy it.
IE: What other highlights have Lesser Beings had in 2024?
Lev: We finally played our first shows, which were all class! Only 4 so far but everyone was a screamer, and now that we’ve got the ball rolling I’m sure we’ll get out and about a bit more in 2025.
IE: What are the bands plans for 2025 and will it involve new music?
Lev: Derek has had full new song ideas written since before we even recorded the last batch, and we have just started jamming out these newer ideas in the studio as of December 2024. So I dare say it looks likely we’ll release another few tracks in 2025, aye! As well as new music, 2025 will probably also include old(er) music, as I believe that Fraser said his pals in Gold Mold Records are looking to put out a second press of the demo tape now that our initial DIY run is almost sold out. I’ve not had any chats about that myself, so dunno the script TBH, but even if it doesn’t materialize everyone should check Gold Mold Records out anyway! They put out great punk, indie and assorted other good shit here in Scotland; some of the stuff you might be more interested in if you like fast, aggressive music would be Bleaks, Piss Bath and Moni Jitchell, but there’s loads of cool stuff in their discography to root around for and get to know.
IE: What have been the best gigs that Lesser Beings have played this year?
Lev: As I noted above, we’ve only played 4 shows so far but we’re fortunate that all 4 have been absolute ragers, so tough to pick just one fave! For me, personally, it would probably need to be our first show, which was at the “Grindhound Day” all-dayer in June. Not only was it our first show but the place was packed out, I booked the thing (along with Chris from Party Cannon/Iniquitous Savagery), the lineup was stacked top to bottom with my friends’ absolutely magic bands, and all the money raised went to a greyhound rescue charity. That’s gonna be a hard one to top, personally; we set the bar high straight out the gate!
IE: What is the hardcore scene like in Glasgow at present?
Lev: Feels, to me, like by far the best it’s ever been! I think everyone with an eye on hardcore probably knows about all the Northern Unrest bands; those guys are absolutely smashing it in terms of metallic hardcore and generally just regularly bringing out great music and putting on big shows over here, which has done wonders for raising the profile of Glasgow hardcore in the global eye. Salute to those guys. But there’s also SO much other great stuff going on over here besides that! We played an absolutely rammed show in Glasgow on 19th November with Bleaks, Bathed In Sin and Grand Slam – all 4 bands ostensibly hardcore, yet all bands pretty disparate in sound and fucking awesome at what they do. I love how much variety there is right now, with such a high quality across the board as well, and the turnouts and support for the various flavours of hardcore have been unprecedented up here. I see people all over the world talking about Glasgow hardcore right now, and it makes me proud to have been a part of it and contributed to it in whatever small ways I have for so long and to see it so healthy. Lots of young people, new bands, new DIY promoters and general fresh blood in the scene as well, so looks like things will be in good hands for a few years to come too!
IE: What venues are the best for hardcore in the city?
Lev: For hardcore or any type of DIY underground music you can’t really beat The Audio Lounge. It’s a practice space actually just outside the city centre, but it’s cheap to hire, already has a full backline and all the spare equipment you could need (it’s a rehearsal studio ,after all!), it has the perfect wee stage for folk to dive off of for shows where folk want to do that, it’s BYOB, it’s all ages, and the vibe is just bang on. I think folk really enjoy coming out to shows there just now despite it being a little out the way and in an area with a historically kind of rough reputation… It’s particularly great for me to see it going strong as a popular hardcore venue now, since I put on Grove Street, Guilt Trip and Kingpin as one of the first hardcore shows in the venue back in 2016 and I’m not exaggerating when I’m saying we’re lucky if like 12 people made the effort to come to what was a pretty untested venue at the time. If you put Grove Street and Guilt Trip on in Audio Lounge in 2025, the outside would look like that scene in World War Z with all the zombies piling over a wall, there’d be so many people trying to get in.
IE: What have been your favourite hardcore releases of the year?
Lev: First things that come to mind without thinking too hard are: “Life’s Question” by Life’s Question; the Fatal Realm demo; “Game Of Death” by Nerve Agent; “Try Again” by Divide; “LP 2024” by Bad Beat; “Year Of The Pest” by Pest Control; both Candy releases; “Conditioned For Demolition” by Haywire; Crush Your Soul. I don’t need a LOT of stuff like Bayway in my life, but I DO need some of it and their releases this year have been super fun. The aforementioned Northern Unrest stuff, obviously; Nothin’ But Enemies, Demonstration Of Power, etc. Actually a pretty good year for hardcore now I think about it, damn. I’m sure I’ll read this back and be kicking myself for stuff I forgot about as well. Don’t know if reissues count but if they do then I’m never going to miss an opportunity to praise “Prone Mortal Form” and “Innocents” by Only Living Witness as well; two of my favourite records of all time, good to finally get them on individual vinyl releases this year!
IE: What have been your favourite hardcore gigs of the year you’ve seen?
Lev: Off the top of my head, excluding shows I booked or played… Everybody Gets Hurt in Glasgow; Crowbar w/Inhuman Nature in Edinburgh; Drain w/Pest Control in Glasgow; Dead Heat in Glasgow; Northern Unfest (Killing Frost, Division Of Mind, High Vis, Whispers, Big Cheese, Broken Oath, etc.) in Glasgow; HellFest in France.
IE: Who are OG bands that you look up to and are the biggest influence on Lesser Beings?
Lev: In terms of Scottish bands… Really hard to say that on behalf of Lesser Beings as a whole because I feel we all like different stuff and came to where we are via very different routes, but for me I will always look up to Divide as the blueprint for what Glasgow hardcore could and should be. They were one of the first bands I knew of that repped for our scene on a UK-wide level, their lyrics are always relatable and no matter how different some of the music I may be involved with may sound from the old-school hardcore of Divide they are always going to be a touchstone for me. There was also a grind band from Scotland called Co-Exist (led by local legend Quzzy, RIP!) who were probably the first local band I ever saw, supporting Medulla Nocte when I was still of school age; I went with my girlfriend at the time and the bassist for Co-Exist was a substitute teacher at her school, and we thought that was mental. That was when I clicked “Oh, people in these bands are just normal people, anyone who wants to do this can and should just get some pals together and do it”. Big influence on my getting involved in the scene in the first place, right there!
IE: What bands would you recommend to check out that are going to make waves in 2025?
Lev: I am first and foremost a shameless self-promoter and have just recorded some stuff with my new metallic hardcore band No Known Weakness (featuring members of By My Hands, Burning Scars Of Betrayal, Pay The Price, etc.) and crossover thrash band Hard Stare, which should both be released in very early 2025 and both of which I’m very proud of. So look out for those making splashes in the paddling pool soon! The vocals for both of those releases were recorded by my friend Malcolm, who not only smashes it as a studio engineer for other bands but also plays in a new Glasgow metallic hardcore band named Heads On Pikes (along with Euan, the live drummer for Hard Stare). I believe Heads On Pikes are currently recording their debut demo, and I have every faith based on the people in the band and how savage they have been at the two shows they’ve played so far that it’s going to be a ripper. I think Malcolm is also in the studio as an engineer on some new material from Test Of Patience, another amazing Glasgow hardcore band who always kill it, so keep an eye out for that soon too!
IE: What are the most influential hardcore albums for you personally?
Lev: “Age Of Quarrel” by Cro-Mags, “Brightside” by Killing Time, “State Of The World Address” by Biohazard, “Born To Expire” by Leeway, “River Runs Red” by Life Of Agony and “Perseverance” by Hatebreed are probably the records most instrumental in helping me click with the difference between “hardcore” and all the fast, heavy music I listened to before I found those records, and they’ve stuck with me to this day. So probably gotta say those!
IE: What are the biggest influences on the music of Lesser Beings?
Lev: Again, quite hard for me to speak on behalf of the entire band as we all listen to quite disparate stuff and I’m not entirely sure what each member is pulling on for Lesser Beings, we just sort of get in the studio and jam out what we think sounds good without trying to go for anything. Someone recently described us as “Crowbar meets Converge”, though, and I think, overall, those are probably two bands it’s fair to say we pull from pretty heavily, on average!
IE: How did Lesser Beings start as a band?
Lev: I believe Derek wrote the first drafts of all the songs on the first demo by himself, but he has told me that many of the riffs (particularly the big, slow breakdowns) were written with the intention of being the kind of thing he knows I’d like. Not sure what order he got Paul and Fraser on board and they started jamming out the music into the more fleshed-out versions of the songs we have today, but I do remember being on my daily government-approved fitness walk to get out the house and stop myself from going mental during the lockdown when Derek sent me over some recordings of his song ideas and asked me to do vocals for it. Given that some of it was literally written specifically to appeal to me, it’s no surprise I liked what I heard, and was also just really keen to sit and work on lyrics and ideas for new music to give myself something to enjoy in life during those darkest times of 2020, so I jumped on board and then as restrictions eased we were able to all get together and make it an actual band that exists in the real world. And it’s been a lot of fun playing heavy music with my friends, here’s to much more of that kind of thing in the years to come!
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT LESSER BEINGS HERE