Sal LoCoco
Sworn Enemy
With a set of pipes on him that could melt your face off quicker than acid, Sal is a gentle giant - coming in at an impressive 6ft 4" - in real life and comes across as a man of pensive thought and few words, and someone worth listening to when he's got something to say. His hardcore prowess speaks volumes without him having to say too much, and his passionate music speaks for itself. So, how does a band that cut its teeth in hardcore over twenty-five years ago continue to grow? What gets a hardcore vocalist riled up enough to metaphorically break stuff in his music? And is life always on the loud side of things? Read on to find out how the band has evolved, the influences behind the music, and to dig in to find out more about the man behind twenty-five year of Sworn Enemy's uncompromising audial violence.
Leanne "Metal Maiden" Evans, Editor
•
February 17, 2023
I'm doing pretty good! No complaints, but even if I had any, no one wants to hear them anyway!
When this band first started, I never anticipated that it would ever get to the level that it reached; I always thought we would just be a local band playing local shows. To get on some of the tours that we have been part of over the last 25 years is truly incredible, and I have to say I've been blessed to get where I've gotten over this time.
I have to say that I honestly never thought about it. We just started playing and whatever sounded good to our ears we worked with it, so if that sounded like hardcore, metal, or whatever, it didn't matter to us so long as it sounded awesome. I can say this: I think we have grown from album to album and we still have plenty of great music left to write.
I mean scenes are always gonna change when you been involved in something as long as I have. I'm not sure how it has evolved, but I can say that a lot of the music that is being played today has a tone of the same sounds from its predecessors. Everything comes in cycles and hardcore music is no different.
Everyone deals with loss in their own way. Me personally? I don't really know how to deal with it, and I've never been one to deal well with loss, so I try to avoid the topic and keep a lot of the pain locked up inside. I know this isn't necessarily the best way, but that's my way of handling it, y'know? Life is very short, and you all need to make sure you live your life to the fullest, because you never know, one day it may all be gone.
I'm pretty sure he would think that the band is going in the right direction, and the things we have done have been nothing short of amazing.
If I could go back and speak to my younger self, I would definitely hand him a sports almanac and tell him to enjoy!!
People that influenced me when I first started in music were guys like John Joseph from Cro-Mags. I loved his style and stage persona, but most of all, the lyrics that he spit were amazing! Another influential individual for me was Eddie Sutton from Leeway; that dude knew how to run a stage and command a crowd - not many could do it like him! I mean, those are just two of many influences, there's so many more, the list is endless!
One thing that always gets me going is politics: we can talk politics for hours and still not get anywhere, and that's the main thing that I feel that should be changed in this world, but unfortunately, we know that will never happen. Another topic that gets me going is religion. We all know that religion is a big problem in this world and the root of most evil that we face every day, and I can write lyrics about it till the day I die. Politics and religion are two things that need to be changed!
Well, Robb got involved through our bass player Mike's business partner and best friend Dominic Deluca. Dom and Robb have been friends for a very long time, so that's how that came about. The creative process was basically five of us crammed in a hotel room in Oakland writing on the fly. I think it came out aces; this record is my favourite this band has written!
Well, I'd like to say that we do… but we don't. We have a few songs that we're working on and probably gonna finish writing (I hope sometime this spring) but we shall how that goes!
Every night with Anthrax was a highlight when you get to play huge arenas in front of thousands of amazing people, who are genuine music lovers, and treated us like we were on our 40th anniversary tour! The LOA/Madball show was super fun and getting to play with two of the bands that I grew up to loving and getting to do it close to home makes it even more fun.
100 percent they did!!
Being on tour for as long as I have been, I think I've been to or pretty much seen everything that I wanted to, but we did get to visit this pub ("Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem" in Nottingham) while we were there that claimed to have been established in 1196AD, which is pretty damn old. Sorry I'm a boring guy… what can I say?! Ha ha!
It's not even close: the Americans pit harder by far! Ha ha!
You can expect a great performance from us! We always give 150 percent when we are on stage, and you won't get anything less.
As of right now, we only have the Euro tour lined up but when we get more, I'll be sure to let you know.
Me personally? I'd work with anyone - cos I'm easy like that - so it don't matter who wants to work with us or not.
Like I said earlier, I'm the boring guy in the band… I don't really have any funny stories; I just sit in the hotel rooms or sell merch and I don't really do too much on tour. I try to relax as much as I can so I can play at my best.
Well, I'll be honest, I'd like to cover "Your love" by this band called The Outfield definitely one of my faves!
OK, I have no idea what snog means (for those not familiar with snog, it means "French Kiss") so I'll give you three albums I'd marry: 1) Cro-Mags "The Age of Quarrel" 2) would be Biohazard self-titled and 3) would be Slayer's "Reign in Blood". Three albums I would avoid? Gimme any three of Korn's albums and there you have it.
Guess I'm dying! Ha ha!
OK, so my cook would be Dimebag, my chatting buddy would be Tom Araya, someone to entertain me would be James Hetfield, and my party buddy would be Justin Timberlake.
Thank you, Leanne, hope to see you soon!!
Sworn Enemy's European tour kicks off in Belgium on 24th March with THESE STREETS, WORST DOUBT, ADVERSARY, and MOURNING joining them to wreck your necks and pulverise you along the way! Tour details can be found on Sworn Enemy's Facebook page and Instagram on:
https://m.facebook.com/SwornEnemyNYC/
https://www.instagram.com/swornenemynyc/?hl=en
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