Artist View

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Emmure is a band that was destined to come together. The founding members met through the Internet, then commuted hours at a time to rehearse, write their music and settle on a lineup, doing all this with one goal in mind: “We’re looking to be the heaviest, most emotionally moving band out there,” declared guitarist Jesse Ketive. Their efforts have paid off in a deal with Victory Records and a debut album, set to be released early next year, determined to destroy any and all limitations to what’s known as hardcore rock.

It all started with Queens, NY, singer Frank Palmeri. “I was personally in nine different bands before I turned 16,” he says. “I was looking for musicians to play with-and this was before MySpace and PureVolume became popular. In April of 2003, I found a musician’s message board, where I first got in contact with Joe (Lionetti), who played drums. We would trade mp3s of our songs back and forth until it became obvious we should start a band.”

There was one slight problem: Palmeri lived in Queens, while Lionetti lived in New Fairfield, CT, along with his brother Ben, who played guitar. “Either they would come down or I would go there,” he says. “I took the train to Connecticut every week for a year. I spent a lot of cash on the cummute, but it ended up being totally worth it. Soon thereafter, [guitarist] Jesse Ketive and [bassist] Mark Davis joined the band, and there was nowhere to go but up from there.

“There was definitely a change in the music when those two came on,” Palmeri notes. “At first we were more of a heavy rock band. When Jesse joined the band, he brought a new writing style to the table, which got even heavier, but with more mosh into the music that molded our sound to what it is now.”

“We really enjoy writing the heaviest music possible and playing it to others, yet at the same time this band is very friendly and approachable,” Ketive says. “The thing that sets us apart is our finesse…in the way we care about everything we do, and the way we come across to people. I want our fans to have a true sense of who we are, so when we go up onstage, we’re having a lot of fun playing the hardest music we can, so people can enjoy it, too.”

With the lineup solidified, Emmure started playing out… a lot… and cut several demos and an EP to ensure that their brute sonic force transferred to CDs. “We pride ourselves on creating very genuine music,” Ketive declares. “We always made music that way and we always will. The only difference now is what we do will be done on a larger scale. How we make our music won’t change. We’re not going to snap our fingers and become this totally different band.”