Several months ago, Loudside.com sat down with a few members of New York's hardcore influenced thrashers Sworn Enemy during their first North American tour alongside Straight Edge Hardcore legends Earth Crisis, in support of their new album 'Maniacal'. In this interview, Sworn Enemy discusses their new(er) more thrash oriented style, Illegal downloads and how they feel about it, and the inspiration (or lack thereof) for the lyrical content of 'Maniacal'. Amidst some hilarious cracks between band members and rather comical interruptions, the band also comment on what it was like to work with two producers instead of one, what they hope to achieve with their new album, and their ultimate goal for this touring cycle...

Loudside.com: So with this being the official start of your North American touring cycle for 'Maniacal', how do you guys feel about kicking it off as a part of this tour?

Jerad: Oh man! This tour....when we found out the line up, that it was Earth Crisis and Terror, we were all about it. Because Earth Crisis is like Legendary in the hardcore scene. So, it was just a cool opportunity. BUT, at the same time we're trying to promote a Metal album. So you know we were stoked on it, but at the same time we knew it was gonna be kind of iffy. But we're doing our best and it's turning out pretty good.

Loudside.com: Good crowd response and all that?

Jerad: Yeah, they like the new stuff. Not as much as the old stuff, but....(laughing)

Loudside.com: (laughing) For sure. On that note, with Sworn Enemy moving more into the Metal arena, how do you really feel about fitting into this touring line up with the rest of it being straight up hardcore?

Jerad: Well, Sworn Enemy started as a hardcore band, so all the old stuff, well we play only two new songs. So the rest of it, you know, the kids can get into. So I think we fit in pretty well, at least with the old stuff.

Loudside.com: Ok, now speaking of Metal, the new album is definitely more thrash oriented......

Sal (addressing Jerad): We might have started as a hardcore band, but we always had Metal in our music. Breakdowns is Metal, not Hardcore....

Jerad: Do you want me to do this interview or do you wanna do it? (laughing)

Loudside.com: Ok, the new album is definitely more thrash oriented, with more lead guitar work and even some death metal vocal influence. What led to the shift in sound and style?

Jerad: Well, like I was just saying, there's always been a little bit of Metal in Sworn Enemy. And it's what we all grew up listening to, ya know. Metal and thrash, Metallica, Anthrax stuff like that. So I don't know, I guess eventually as we got better on our instruments and stuff, we kind of evolved into trying to do something a little more difficult. Just reaching out and seeing what we're really capable of.

Loudside.com: Ok, now more specifically in regards to the guitar work, there's alot of Bay Area thrash influence and definitely some Slayer influence, or at least in my opinon. Is the musical execution a result of becoming better musicians while touring and over the course of the past few records, or is it something that the guys have just always been able to do?

Jerad: Ummm, I think that the leads and stuff.....Larr, I might need you for this one....

Lorenzo: What is it?

Jerad: The leads and guitarwork, is it something that came from touring so much and having all that practice, or is it something you've just always been able to do...leads and shredding, if you will?

Lorenzo: I wish I was a shredder, and I'm trying. I could play alot better, I wish I did. I'm not a great guitar player, I'm an OK guitar player. That's something that I deal with and I wanna be better. I'm aspiring to be.

Loudside.com: Ok, now you guys had Jordan of As I Lay Dying laying down drums on the record. Was all the music written beforehand, or was it written around his style of playing?

Jerad: A lot of the music was written beforehand, just rearranged. And as they practiced with Jordan and started doing pre-production, the end result record.....yeah, it's mostly based around how Jordan played, and how Tim pictured the songs coming out. But for the most part, I heard a lot of the riffs that Lorenzo wrote before they recorded, and it's pretty much the same. Just like I said...re-structured.

Loudside.com: Cool. Now, also on the As I Lay Dying front, as you just mentioned you also worked with Tim on the production of the record, as well as Joey Z. How exactly did that all come about?

Jerad: Well Tim produced the last album, 'The Beginning Of The End', so they got to work with him. I wasn't in the band yet. But he was awesome, he's an awesome guy to work with, so obviously you wanna go back to the same guy and do it again. And Joey Z is a long time friend of the band too, so they wanted to get together and try the two producer thing and see how it worked out. I tried out for the band just after it was recorded. I actually saw the recording process.

Loudside.com: And you came recommended by Jordan.....

Jerad: Uh, Jordan and Tim. I grew up around those guys and watched them grow. And they watched me play drums with my local band in San Diego, and when that broke up, Sworn Enemy needed a drummer and it was just like clockwork. It happened real fast (Laughs). It was pretty cool though.

Loudside.com: (Laughing) Right on. Now you guys just recently did the video for "A Place of Solace", and of course you guys have done videos before as well. But over the last several years, has there been any filming going on that might lead to a future DVD?

Jerad: Yeah. Actually on this tour we're doing a bunch of filming too, but we turned in a bunch of stuff to Century Media. And they're sorting through a bunch of stuff from the recording process of 'Maniacal' and all that stuff so...yeah, that's a possibility. So Look out for it! (laughs) We're also working on something called "Mamaluke TV", so watch out for that too. That's Lorenzo's little project.

Lorenzo: I'm trying to do an interview thing, but not directed toward your typical interview style. A couple of questions and then more to the good stuff that everybody really wants to hear.

(Laughter all around)

Jerad: Yeah, band stories and whatnot....

Loudside.com: Ok. Now the music industry is falling apart because of all the album leaks and illegal downloading and whatnot. I know most bands and artists, especially in Metal and Hardcore, don't really make anything off record sales, but it can affect whether or not the label promotes the record, as well as who gets tour support. On the flipside, it has the ability to help smaller artists get heard or discovered by people who probably wouldn't normally buy a $16 cd from a band they've never heard. With that in mind, where do you guys stand on the issue of album leaks and illegal downloads?

Jerad: I can't stand it! As a band I think we all agree on the same thing you know. Bands live off of record sales, and if you can't make money off of record sales then you can't be a band, ya know. So I mean, it might suck to spend the money on a cd that you don't know, but if you don't like it you can always take it back. Spend the money. Check it out and help the music scene stay alive.

Loudside.com: And say somebody downloaded your new cd....

Jerad: On Downloading.....well, illegally it sucks. But if it's on iTunes and stuff like that, it still counts as a record scan so....as long as they're like spending SOME money. I don't know. Just not getting everything for free, because we're not doing this for free. We depend on it.

Loudside.com: This is your job.

Jerad: Oh yeah, this is a job! We still have to eat! I'm starving man, quit stealing my record!

Loudside.com: (laughing) Ok, now this tour still has quite a few dates left on it. Are there any tours lined up that you know of following this?

Jerad: So far we have something coming up in August that we are slowly confirming dates for. It's gonna be a European tour that we're headlining. And we're trying to get some things together here in the States before that, but same thing...it comes down to money and whether or not we can afford to do it.

Sal: We need those record scans....

Jerad: Yeah, so GO BUY 'MANIACAL'!!

Lorenzo: Can I interrupt for one second....I'm Lorenzo Antonucci, and I'm a bum and I'm about to ask J-rad for a cigarette. (Laughing) Thank you guys, please listen to me and send me a dollar a day. I'm hungry. (laughing)

Jerad: Wait dude, you gotta answer some questions first.....

Loudside.com: On working with Tim and Joey Z, how did that differ from your previous production experiences?

Lorenzo: Umm, it was a lot harder. It was....we had to fly Joey to fuckin San Diego with Jamin and I, just to do like pre-production with Tim. But we were working in Brooklyn, and we were working at home. We were sending mp3 files back and forth. It was really not done like...like as a band. It was kind of just built as like...fucking I don't know. It started with this foundation and it just kept going you know. Working with two different producers was awesome, and it was hard at times too because we couldn't communicate all the time ya know. Like ideas and inspiration comes from being together and doing something in the studio. So it was tough to not all be there together. Cause you know, too many cooks in the kitchen is not good either, but when it comes to like...if Joey and Tim were there together throughout the entire writing and recording process, the record would have came out a lot better. But it came out great. It came out better than we expected, so it's a big difference. But it's easier to work with one guy.

Loudside.com: Ok. and on the lyrical content....

Lorenzo: That's Sal......c'mon Sal...

Loudside.com:....what's your inspiration?

Sal: I don't really have any inspirations, I just go with the flow. However I'm feeling that day, ya know. Larry sends me the music, I listen to it and think about it in my head, and then the hand just flows. It's pretty much natural ya know. I try to write about what goes on around, with the news and personal experiences. Those are the easiest things to focus on, ya know. But I just start jotting down lines and I just let it go. I was always good in English class, so I was always good at writing. It just comes natural, except when I hit those blocks and I can't do shit. (laughing)

Loudside.com: (laughing) And like you just mentioned about news and whatnot, a lot of bands over the last couple of years have voiced their opinions on politics and the war. And from what I gathered, the song "The American Way" kind of touched on the sociopolitical side of things. Is there an overall theme to the content of 'Manical'?

Sal: Well, at first we tried to make an overall theme, but it didn't really work out like that because it's hard to write ten songs about one topic in particular. So I would say no, there's no real theme for the record. It's just, you take it as you read it, you know. Whatever you take from it, that's it. When I write songs, I don't wanna write a specific meaning behind them, because then it's too easy. I want you to read into it, and be like "Oh, he could mean this, or he could mean this.....OR, he could mean this." And then that's the sign of a good writer, and that's what I like to do.

Lorenzo: Maybe that's why we're not big....

(laughter all around)

Lorenzo: Always making people think. On the next album don't be so smart Sal, you gotta be a little dumb.

Sal: Alright.....(laughing)

Loudside.com: (laughing) Ok, and finally in regards to touring and everything else, what can the fans look forward to from Sworn Enemy in 2008?

Lorenzo: A Lot of touring. We're gonna try to bomb the U.S. as much as we can, with just as many tours as possible, ya know. Try not to headline, try to support the bigger bands to try to broaden our audience ya know. We haven't gotten a chance to do that in a long time, and with our new material we think we can win a lot of the metal fans over. And that is kind of what our goal is. Our goal is not to go headline and then write a new record, because we can't support the album because we're not on tour with anyone. So our goal is to be on tour with as many bands as possible, to play in front of new fans. People that seen us before that maybe didn't like us then that we could probably convince now. That's our goal....

To crush your fuckin face!!

(photos from the show can be seen at this location)