Armed with a hyper-charged hybrid of hypnotic heavy metal and gnashing industrial, THERE IS NO US immediately make their intentions clear…
“Our goal is to stomp your face in,” grins frontman Jim Louvau. Shocked to life by pummeling riffs, menacing electronics, venomous lyrical vitriol, and a dystopic vision, the Phoenix, AZ quartent—Jim [vocals, production, visuals], Andy Gerold [guitar], Jared Bakin [guitar] and, Eddie Lopez [bass], engage a sensory onslaught steeped in sonic futurism, yet anchored by a tried-and-true commitment to sharp songcraft. For as much as the vibe unassumingly harks back to the days of Ministry on Lollapalooza and The Crow Soundtrack at the forefront of culture, the band unapologetically forges ahead on their 2024 self-titled debut album [Cleopatra Records]. “We grew up on industrial rock, and we could never get away from it because it’s in our blood,” notes Jim. “We aimed to create a sound that’s heavier and hook-y. We’re combining industrial undertones, metal, and memorable in-your-face songwriting.” Childhood friends Jim and Andy recorded their first tunes together back in high school. During 2015, the guys introduced THERE IS NO US with the Farewell To Humanity EP. Two years later, they joined forces with iconic producer Terry Date [Deftones, Pantera, White Zombie] on the follow-up EP, Generation of Failure. They attracted a growing cult following through performances with everyone from In Flames, Drowning Pool, and Tremonti to The Dillinger Escape Plan, letlive., and Stabbing Westward. In October of 2024 the band completed their first national tour with Mushroomhead and Upon a Burning Body and won over new audiences every night. There is No Us also played the Queen Bee in Cottonwood, AZ after being invited to perform by Tool/APC/Puscifer singer Maynard James Keenan who co-owns the venue.   At the same time, the members also respectively paved their own paths. Andy hit the road as a guitarist or bassist for everyone from Ashes Divide to Marilyn Manson, while Jim worked with some of the most influential artists of all-time as a photographer and video director. His photography spanned studio and live shoots for Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails, Alice Cooper, Queens of the Stone Age, and late legends Chester Bennington and Scott Weiland. Collaborating with Tony Aguilera, he also helmed music videos for Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains, Poppy, Kittie, Sebastian Bach, Killer Be Killed, and Exodus in addition to Fuck Content—the critically acclaimed Greg Puciato documentary. In the throes of the Global Pandemic, Jim and Andy commenced writing for what would become their self-titled debut record. This time around, influential producer Sean Beaven [Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson] lent his talents behind the board as the record materialized in Las Vegas and Phoenix. “Sean is incredible,” Jim goes on. “He’s worked with all of our favorite bands and is like the godfather of this small group of Arizona musicians. He’s nurtured us over the past 10-12 years, but this was the first time we got to properly work with him as a Mixer. All of the planets aligned.” Louvau’s family had recently endured his two-year-old daughter’s Leukemia diagnosis, treatment, and, thankfully, recovery. Though not a thematic conceit, the experience informed his pummeling vocal tracks. “I was definitely channeling the way I was feeling at the time,” he admits. “Leukemia is not a hereditary cancer, so you never really get an answer as to how it picked your kid. There was a lot of anger built up inside of me. It comes out on the record. Vocally, I tried to be as wild as I could in certain spots to get this frustration out. Between what was going on at home and in the world, I had a lot of pent-up feelings.”

This energy teems over on the likes of the first single “Fame Whore.” Guttural guitar teeters atop a percussive barrage as screams resound with palpable intensity. The accompanying visual co-directed by Jim incisively skewers our zeitgeist’s pervasive obsession with fame and celebrity. “The internet is the avenue for so many talentless people to become famous,” he sighs. “You also have housewives watching the lives of others on television instead of living their own. Rock ‘n’ roll stars get caught up in the glitz and glamour of the idea of what it’s like to be a rockstar that the art becomes secondary. We’re living in a world of fame whores.” On “The Proposal,” Jim urges, “Burn this fucker down, ‘cause we don’t give a shit.” A scorching guitar lead twists like a sidewinder missile through the barrage as the jackhammer groove bludgeons. “Musically, it felt like an uppercut,” he goes on. “The riots were a topic of discussion nationally and internationally at the time. You can hear the influence in ‘The Proposal’. The message is, ‘I’d rather burn the world down than be locked in a cage’.” A buzzsaw riff underlines menacing verses on the cyber thrash of “Dead Letter,” while “Eye For An Eye” confronts the epidemic of school shootings with eerie samples, a whiplash-inducing pace, and a lyrical diatribe, “This is the monster you made.” “It’s more straight ahead metal,” he says. “The beginning is one of the most fucked-up things I’ve heard in my life. It makes a statement.” The record concludes with the neck-snapping catharsis of “Paradigm.” It flips one final middle finger raised high above a torrent of distortion. “It’s a big, ‘Fuck you’,” he affirms. “The chorus was meant to be powerful and memorable. Sometimes, living in this world makes you feel disgusting and dirty; I want the listener to feel that way when they hear ‘Paradigm’.” In the end, THERE IS NO US meet dark times head-on with just as much force. “When you hear us, I hope you’re a little uncomfortable, but you’re singing along,” he leaves off. “The songs basically say, ‘I don’t fucking trust anybody, and you shouldn’t either’. Everyone has his or her own agenda. We’re so beaten over the head with politics and division, but music can bring us together.”