In a day and age where bands are criticized for going “softer” and more accessible with their music, New Jersey noisemakers Can’t Swim decided to go against the grain.
After building a passionate fan base of pop-punk enthusiasts thanks to the release of This Too Won’t Pass and Fail You Again, the Pure Noise signees have given their listeners the ultimate curveball with their new hardcore-inspired EP Foreign Language.
Featuring guest spots from former Gallows’ frontman Frank Carter, Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazzara, Stray From The Path’s Drew Dijorio and Trash Talk’s Spencer Pollard, Can’t Swim’s latest release is a rambunctious crossover of everything you know and love from both the hardcore and pop-punk scene.
Detailing his time working with such influential names in the rock and heavy music community, vocalist Chris LoPorto said, “Frank Carter did something on Foreign Language, we’re all big fans of his. Drew [from Stray From The Path] has become a friend of mine through Can’t Swim. He reached out his hand and helped us in the very beginning. Spencer from Trash Talk – I played in Trash Talk for a little bit – he was nice enough to come and do something. And then Adam Lazarra from Taking Back Sunday sang a little bit on the first song.”
LoPorto went on to add, “[This EP] felt like a mixtape. It felt like a group effort. It was a lot of fun to make, a lot of fun to collab. We never really did anything like that in the past. So it was cool. It was a lot of fun.”
As for the music that helped inspire LoPorto and Co. create such an energetic and hard-hitting release, we asked the talented frontman to give us a list of a few records that helped introduce him to his “heavy” side. To check out which albums LoPorto picked, be sure to look below. Afterward, make sure to pick up a copy of Foreign Language and grab tickets to see Can’t Swim out on tour with A Day To Remember, I Prevail and Beartooth here.
Metallica - Ride The Lightening
CHIRS LOPORTO: One record that inspired Foreign Language was Ride The Lightning by Metallica. My Uncle Mike played it for me when I was a young man. I thought it was really cool that it was heavy and somewhat melodic. Like, they would sing and I could understand what was going on. It wasn’t just full-on thrash like their previous record was. The end of “Creeping Death” is one of mine and Chez’s [Mike Sanchez, guitarist] favorite parts in any heavy song and we try to rip it off as much as we can [laughs]. But yeah, we’re all big fans of Metallica and I just remember that was the first [album of theirs] that I heard. I definitely think it snuck its way into the creation of Foreign Language.
Every Time I Die - Hot Damn!
Another record that helped inspire Foreign Language was Hot Damn! by Every Time I Die. It came to me a little bit later in life. I think I heard it when I was in high school. It’s way more chaotic than the Metallica record. I thought lyrically, it was cool of them to write about very poetic things but it’s like the heaviest music of all time. It still comes from like a very singer-songwriter type of perspective but it’s like the most intense album of all time. I don’t know how similar [Hot Damn! and Foreign Language] sound but it was just more of an inspiration. Like, if they could do something that wild, we wanted to do the same thing.
Converge - You Fail Me and Petitioning The Empty Sky
You Fail Me and Petitioning The Empty Sky by Converge was really big for me in high school. Again, probably the most intense, not very melodic at all, but I just remember falling in love with the drums and just how intense it all was. Again too, Jacob Bannon was very poetic in his writing – I didn’t think it was like, “beat up your friends.” He wrote a lot of different types of stories and narratives and I just fell in love with all the artwork that he would do. And the live show, I remember seeing it in Asbury Park and it just blew me away. [Bannon] was just a madman and the crowd was just as insane. It was my first glimpse into that world of just like people losing their minds. I’ve been a fan of Converge ever since the day I’ve heard it and I still am. They still put out amazing records and I would like to think that some of the inspiration snuck its way into Foreign Language.
