Interview

Sworn Enemy Discusses No Mercy No Surrender Tour, "No Mercy" Video

Sworn Enemy was a fixture in the hardcore scene of the ‘00s. The New York City group released an album of streetwise hardcore about every other year in the first part of the ‘00s. “Total World Domination” was their last release of this period in 2009. The band did not release another album for five years due to lineup changes. That album came in the form of “Living on Borrowed Time,” which was released last year.

Now the group has a stable lineup and recently released a video for the song “No Mercy.” While touring as part of the No Mercy No Surrender Tour, the group stopped off in Austin, Texas to play the Texas Independence Fest. Four of the five members gathered around me in the courtyard to discuss this video, tour and creating “Living on Borrowed Time.”

Rex_84: How is the tour going?

Jeff Cummings: Real well so far. We started off with Biohazard from the 27th through the 5th. Then we started on the 7th with Wretched, Hammerfight and Dark Sermon for the No Mercy No Surrender Tour. Now we’re here at the Texas Independence Fest. It should be a good time.

Rex_84: What are you doing after this show?

Matt Garzilli: We have a day off then we go to Tyler, Texas on Tuesday and will continue on through May 2.

Rex_84: What are you going to do on your day off?

Matt Garzilli: Laundry and sleep. We have to fix our breaks. We’ve been driving around with no breaks for three days now. The show must go on.

Rex_84: Are you playing a lot of familiar venues?

Sal Lococo: A couple on the Biohazard shows we played a couple that we played in the past. We played Cambridge, Massachusetts—the Middle East. We played Revolution. We played Empire in Richmond, Virginia. Now it’s called Jaxx. They changed their name.

Cummings: We played right down the block here at Dirty Dog. It’s good to be back in the area.

Rex_84: How have the crowds been? Are you getting a good response?

Pucciarell: Not bad considering there are four different styles on this tour. You got a little bit of this, a little bit of that. You have the hardcore crowd. You have the death metal crowd. A little bit of black metal with Dark Sermon. Then you have Hammerfight who sounds like if Motorhead had sex with Metallica and then got really drunk. That’s the best way to describe them.

Rex_84: You have a new video out for “No Mercy.” When did you release this video?

Cummings: About a month ago. It’s been out for three or four weeks. We made it a month back and planned to release it with this tour.

Rex_84: Are you playing that song live?

Cummings: We’re not playing it tonight. We play it every now and again. We like to mix up the set.

Garzilli: We broke it out last night, though. We write the set list every other night if not every night. We change it up. We know enough of the catalog going back. There are the new ones and old ones. You can’t fit them in every night, especially shows like this one. We have just a half hour, so we can only fit in so much, so you’ve got to cut.

Rex_84: What material are you playing? Are you doing something from every album?

Lococo: Pretty much. On the headlining set we play something from every record. Tonight we only have thirty minutes so we do everything except “Total World Domination.”

Rex_84: Going back to the video, what was it like filming this video?

Garzilli: Long, I busted my ass. How many takes did we do? It was long, but the guy who did it for us, Derek Soto, did a great job and we’re really happy with it.

Lococo: It was long, but we had fun.

Rex_84: Where did you get the riot footage from? Who compiled that?

Pucciarelli: Derek Soto. We gave him an idea of what we wanted to go with. We took the lyrics from the song and everything else and we figured he would find some crazy shit. The song is about civil unrest in the world, war and chaos. There is enough of that out there. I don’t think it took him long to find clips.

Rex_84: Derek, the director?

Lococo: He’s pretty much the whole kit and caboodle.

Garzilli: He did our photos too.

Lococo: Jack of all trades, master of none.

Rex_84: Now that “Living on Borrowed Time” has been out for almost a year, how has it been received by critics and fans?

Lococo: We’ve gotten a lot of really good reviews. Right after the record came out, it was fresh, brand new. Now, coming around people want us to play this material. They are asking to hear stuff from “Living on Borrowed Time.” In the past they wanted to hear the old stuff. Now we’re getting “are you going to play this one? Are you going to play that one?” It’s really cool. In my own opinion it’s been doing great. I love it!

Pucciarelli: We played the Tough Love Fest in California a couple of weekends ago. Same thing, we had been to Cali right before that about a year ago. You could tell that it had definitely sunk in better because they’ve had time to sit and listen to the album. It’s gotten good reviews. It was the same thing in Florida. We hear “I love the new album. I like this song. I like that song.” It’s good to hear. It’s definitely coming around.

Lococo: I like it personally when people tell me “This is the best record you guys have put out!” Then I’m like “wow, that’s awesome!”

Rex_84: This was your first album in five years. You last released “Total World Domination” in 2009. What was the band working on in this period of time?

Lococo: Trying to get a band together. After that record pretty much everybody quit, so it was me. I can’t go on the road by myself. I’d have to play all four instruments. Putting a band together was the main focus. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. I didn’t know if it were going on or not. The old drummer that just quit recently, he got these guys together and we started jamming. It just felt right, so here we are.

Rex_84: Was it a smooth transition into the band?

All: Pretty much, yeah.

Pucciarelli: We may listen to different stuff and everyone has different personalities, but we all have the same point of view on what we want this band to sound like. When it comes to making songs and playing on stage together…we all joke around together, but when we got on stage together, we make it happen.

Lococo: We’re all a bunch of comedians. We know how to have a good time. The bottom line is: Why did you get into music? To have a good time. To have fun. That’s what it’s all about and we love it.

Rex_84: It’s hard to make a lot of money playing in a metal band.

Lococo: I don’t care about making a lot of money, but if I can pay bills and get by, that’s the most important thing. If you’re going out on tour and you’re coming home dead broke, then maybe you have to rethink things. But if you can come home with a little bit of cash, pay your bills and still have a good time, then it’s worth it.

Rex_84: Is that how it’s going for you now, you’re able to come home and still have some money?

Lococo: Pretty much. We go home and we can pay our bills a little bit. It’s not like we still don’t have jobs. Everybody comes home to a job, you know. If I didn’t have to work and Sworn Enemy paid the bills like that, shit that would be great! I’d be happy as a pig in shit.

Rex_84: What are the lyrics to “Hard Way” about?

Lococo: Matt helped me write a lot of the lyrics.

Garzilli: I think anyone can relate to that song. You listen to the lyrics “I learn the hard way.” Everyone has had a moment in life they’ve learned the hard way, be it small or big. Right off the bat when we play that song, we start playing it and people don’t even know it and by the second time we get into the chorus people are singing “I learn the hard way.” It’s just that type of song. It brings the fans into it. Again, it’s something you can relate to.

Lococo: It’s relative to a lot of things going on in people’s lives. Everybody has shit that they deal with in their own personal lives and I’m sure even you. Haven’t you learned something the hard way?

Rex_84: Yes

Lococo: Exactly. It’s very relative to everyone, not just this person or that person. Everyone has gone through something that they could have done differently, but you learn. You learn the hard way.

Garzilli: This band, too, lyrically is all about real shit. There is nothing wrong with singing about mysterious stuff, ghosts, that’s cool, but that’s not what this band is. It’s about real stuff, real feeling, real stuff we’ve been through, hardships but good stuff, too. But feelings, real deep shit. You play certain songs, from old stuff to new stuff, and people feel it. When they come up to us and say “that new album did this to me” or “that old album when I was in high school that meant the world to me,” they mean it when they say it. We’ve all felt that way too. There is a Pantera album or a Slayer album that got me through that time.

Rex_84: The album was released on Rock Ridge Music. Was that your first on this label?

Cummings: Yeah, they did the distribution for us. They released it and got it all over North America and Europe. We’ve been bringing it out on the road with us on CD and vinyl, too.

Rex_84: You were with Century Media before.

Lococo: We were with Century Media/Abacus. Abacus kind of folded and we were absorbed into Century Media. We only did a couple of records with them. “Total World…” was the last record we did with them and then we became free agents.

Rex_84: How do you like working with Rock Ridge?

Cummings: They’re great, man. They did a good job packaging the record and getting it out to all the shops. When we were in Europe, we went into Saturn, which is like a German Best Buy. They had the record in that joint. It’s cool to see when you go into stores and your record is in there.

Lococo: They did their jobs. They got it into stores.

Garzilli: They’ve done the same thing getting the vinyl out. Vinyl is a little different but there are a lot of shops around selling vinyl. There are a ton of vinyl shops. It’s big again. It sounds great. When you put on the vinyl, it’s no joke. It’s another level, sonically.

Lococo: I love vinyl.

Garzilli: The CD cover is great but when you see it this big it’s like whoa. You can see stuff you don’t even see on a CD cover. There are a lot of guys here selling vinyl and the guys we’re on the road with. It’s nice to see. It’s a different addition. It’s something else that kids want to buy.

Lococo: I’m a collector. I like to go and pick up vinyl of bands I really love. It’s like a keepsake, a memento, something to have.

Rex_84: What are some of your favorite records?

Lococo: I have a shit-ton of old school New York hardcore. I have Sick of It All. I have Judge. I have Gorilla Biscuits. I have Youth of Today. I have Darkside NYC. I’ve got All Out War. I’ve got Sworn Enemy. That’s the most important one.

Rex_84: It’s been a year. Have you written any new songs?

Lococo: Not yet, but right after this. We’re going to lock ourselves in a room and start writing a new album.

Rex_84: So that’s what you have in store for right after this tour?

Pucciarelli: After the tour, all five of us are going right to the studio to make new stuff right away. We want to make it better, make it heavier, next level.