Sworn Enemy Are Coming to BB Kings "The neighborhood, man. Growing up in the ghetto. That has a lot to do with it," says Sal LoCoco with a snide laugh. LoCoco, the front man for the hardcore outfit Sworn Enemy, credits his hard upbringing in the rough Woodhaven neighborhood of Queens for transforming him into the jagged and raw lyricist he is today. "There was a plethora of things to write about. Juts put on the channel seven news every night and you could see for yourself.Just look out the window or walk up the street. Growing up in Queens made me the person that I am. I see a lot of people in this industry and I'm glad that I'm not like them. I'm happy who I am, plus where I came from helps me be the songwriter that I am, you know what I'm saying."

The rough and tumble Sworn Enemy, [Sal LoCoco; Mike Raffinello; Lorenzo Antonucci; Mike Couls and Paulie Antignani] are now prepping to leave the neighborhood and hit the nation with their first major label release on No Name/Elektra Records titled, AS REAL AS IT GETS.

The album blasts out with a harsh, skull-spitting assault which rattles rageful angst with an interminable hope through stomping grooves, disorienting stop-start riffing and flat-out thrashing mayhem. "Basically it 's like we don't take no shit," simply says the front man. "We're not pulling no punches, there's not gonna be any rock star fantasy here. We just come as we are, you know. We don't hide behind any gimmicks or clothing or fashion, we are who we are and that's all we're ever gonna be."

AS REAL AS IT GETS was produced by Hatebreed's own Jamey Jasta who helps serve up a heaping helping of in your face, kick-ass thrashing hardcore. "For me personally, (Jasta) had an outside look at my lyrics and changed some of the sentence structure around, threw in a couple of different words here and there. You know, things that would fit better and sound better. He was a big help, definitely a big help. He even helped change some of the drum parts around to help us make things sound better," raves LoCoco. "I'm not saying that every idea he had was the best, because there were some ideas that he had that we didn't agree with and we didn't use. But, It's still good to have outside criticism because maybe there are some things that you can't hear that maybe somebody else can."

Serving as an explosive statement of fury and intent AS REAL AS IT GETS delves deep into singer/songwriter's psyche and touches on his own personal matters. The song "Time Heals No Wounds" for instance, deals with LoCoco's childhood and growing up without a father. "My Misery" speaks out about his so-called friends who turned their backs on both him and Sworn Enemy after they signed a deal to a major label and began to make some money. And title track "As Real As It Gets" deals with the 9/11 tragedy whom LoCoco and his mates both had friends who died there. "Basically, when the tragedy happened and all of that I just told all those guys in the band that we gotta write.or that I'm personally gonna write something about it and they better come up with some good music to back this up. We had friends and shit that were involved in the NYPD and fire department that passed away. Like, good friends of our brothers and shit were in that and it was a tough thing to deal with. I just thought it would be best if I expressed it through writing a song. I gotta let people on the outside know what we're feeling over here, you know what I'm saying."

Sworn Enemy's roots stretch back to the mid 1990s. LoCoco and guitarists Mike Raffinello and Lorenzo Antonucci, are lifelong friends who played in various bands in Queens; they released one single under the name Mindset which got a good reception from the hardcore underground scene. Soon joined by bassist Mike Couls, formerly of Detroit's Cold As Life, and drummer Paulie Antignani, the band adopted the name Sworn Enemy and wasted no time in setting out to accomplish their mission. In a year and a half they have played literally hundreds of shows, touring the US three times and the east coast four times. They've shared the stage with the most respected names of the punk/hardcore scene, from Hatebreed to Poison The Well and many more.

Now, aside from their major label debut, the rough and rugged Sworn Enemy are prepping to appear on Ozzfest 2003's second stage. "Oh, man.I am so looking forward to that. Who'd ever figure that a hardcore band from Queens would play Ozzfest? I love Ozzy. I grew up being a big Ozzy fan and now I get to enjoy Ozzy every night. That's gonna be awesome." www.swornenemynyc.com

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