Eugene Kamlyuk – Sworn In ‘to the Aussie Metal Community’

Our mates in Northlane have been storming through the nation, sporting hits from Mesmer but they’ve brought a few rad mates along for the ride with them, one outfit being Sworn In from Illinois, U.S. The metalcore band have been playing hits from their third studio album All Smiles which has been very well received (check out our review of the Perth show here).

Guitarist Eugene Kamlyuk took a moment to chat with us while on the road in New South Wales. Given that it’s Sworn In’s first look-see down under, the band are still sussing out punters’ reactions. Apparently we’re quite fascinated. “In a way you could say that a lot of people have been observing what we’re doing ‘cause, they might be more interested [than simply moshing] and I think we do have a bit of a different live show.”

 

The band bring a distorted raw direction to their music and really immerse themselves in a live set, which could understandably vortex the audience as well, in awe and amazement.

As usually the case on these large bills (which also included Erra reigning from the U.S.) it’s a big party for the musicians. “We just clicked with all the bands, it’s like we’ve been friends for years in a way so we just start chatting about anything, hanging out, having a good time, makes this tour pretty fun”.

“The Northlane guys have been really inviting (which is what we like to hear), although we haven’t necessarily seen a significant amount of what Australia has to offer.” Unfortunately, these hectic tours don’t often allow for too much time to pet the koalas and see the sights. “They’ve been trying to offer us a way to make it happen and organise when we can we try and take advantage of everything that we can see here.”

 

What would you like to do down here (we ask Kamluyk) – “Get in a fight with a kangaroo or something like that” he chuckles.

For those who might have only heard the name Sworn In very recently, the guitarist offers some words on their sound. “I’d describe it as very heavy, dark beyond just the instrumentation, the whole vibe is very intense when you listen to it.”

There are a mixture of elements from bands like Dillinger Escape Plan in terms of the disjointed mathcore rhythms, as well as influences of the messy vocals from bands like While She Sleeps.

Although, the band have admitted to being actively inspired from some other staple metal bands that are currently cruising along through their pioneering. “I think we take a lot of influence from other bands who have a similar vibe like Meshuggah, Slipknot and KoRn, stuff like that to make our vibe what it is.”

 

The band’s latest album All Smiles, is a follow up to a record of theirs that has arguably given them the household name to the metal community. “The Lover / The Devil (sophomore record) is more a follow up to our first album (The Death Card) so we’re still trying to explore that further.” Kamluyk goes on to say – “with the third album, we learned from what we did on the second, we moved forward and kind of captured the sound in a more honest way than what we have been trying to do.”

Sworn In have been exploding venues across the country with their fresh production and consequent sound delivery, which they deem important. “Production is probably at least half the entire experience, when you go to any sort of electronic festival, what catches your attention before the music is the lights and anything else that captures the senses.” He acknowledges the limitations that a contemporary metalcore band have compared to EDM, but can certainly compensate on bassy breakdowns and other similar attributes. “Even though we’re limited as to what we can do production wise, it’s really important to take advantage of it.”

Having planned to tour Australia with Northlane, Sworn In have been very familiar with the relevant music emerging from our area and with specific bands that have particularly left a mark. “We used to be big fans of Parkway Drive back when we were first starting [out as a band], even before we were playing music.” The guitarist goes onto mention some other beasts in the scene – “We’re kind of friends with the guys in Thy Art is Murder and appreciate their music as well, and there’s a band Polaris which is from Australia and they’re going be joining us with a bunch of other bands in Europe.” Sounds like a loose tour, boys.

Interview by Ricky Aarons @rickysaul90