Fever 333 is as much about the message in their music as the sonics that are behind it.

The Inglewood, California multigenre quartet of lead singer Jason Aalon Butler, bassist April Kae, drummer Thomas Pridgen and guitarist Brandon Davis is currently experiencing a period of realignment with three new band members opposite Butler, but has reason to be excited about their future. The group recently partnered with Roc Nation and released their first single in almost three years with “$wing” back in May. And while it’s taken time to regroup, since the departure of Stephen Harrison and Aric Improta, the band’s progressive yearnings are still at the forefront of their mission.

Since its inception in 2017, Fever has always followed the tenets of justice, whether it surrounds race, economics and/or simply setting up an equitable future for generations to come,   as guidance in their message. It’s this attempt at bridge-building between people that also finds itself within the actual type of music they create in the studio.

It’s rather hard to put Fever in one box sonically. They combine punk rock and metal elements with hip-hop, funk and soul. Essentially, it’s the product of cultures that have meshed together in Inglewood for decades and something Butler – who found his love for all of these genres during his childhood – wants to put in the forefront of his new outfit.

“Punk rock, ska music, metal, hardcore – a lot of attributes and DNA was actually quite similar to the hip-hop and a lot of the rap that I was listening to, especially the 90s,” Fever’s lead singer told BET during a recent interview. “N.W.A., Dead Prez, etc, [there are] a lot of similarities as far as the progressive nature of these things and what they were saying, what they were doing, and how they were doing it within the environments they were in.”

The heavily electronic and boisterous “$wing” is a metaphorical right hook to the capitalist system that Butler says exploits the instruments of power for its financial and political advancement. Emphatically, the song and its accompanying visuals, are a reminder that the structures of any system are only as good as the people who fester them.

With Fever on hiatus since 2020 – mostly due to its realignment – Butler has been able to reflect on why music is the primary vessel he uses to carry on his progressive message. It’s something he had to be reminded of, in a way.

“You have to almost go back into believing that art is the most important thing,” he explains. “Above all these things, even though we’re told all this other s**t, I believe that art and your messaging and your intent are the most important things.”

In May, the new band came together for the first time for a 'Fever Function' show they threw in South Central, Los Angeles. It’s something that encouraged everyone present that the world is still a righteous one and one whose future is still worth fighting for.

“When you're able to get a community together and feel so empowered, especially in areas that typically don't get to be elucidated in such a way where it's positive, when you've got a world outside looking into where you're from saying all these things about it that may not be glowing – coming back to these areas is a reminded to ourselves of what makes this beautiful,” he says. “And then you highlight it you can amplify it.”

Part of Fever’s new alignment as a quartet from a trio is a new emphasis on adding more soul and funk into their repertoire, which Butler believes will further bridge the gap between musical genres as they currently stand. With Roc Nation as a new partner and Kae, Pridgen, and Davis as his new instruments, he hopes the band, in a way, can reclaim punk and rock as the products of Black culture they originated as.

“I really want to find a way to open that bridge,” he explains. “I feel like the bridge is very much open. You see all different cultures and ethnicities at a Kanye show or Travis Scott show or Drake show. People are walking that bridge, but I want to open back up and remind Black culture that the bridge is open this way too into the rock space. Not only are we were not guests here, we never been guests, we created this. We deserve to be here and we still do it in an incredibly beautiful and funky way.”