By Lindsey Rothering —
With nearly 25,000 Facebook likes and a new album on the Hopeless Records label, SycAmour seems more apt for a lifetime of Vans Warped Tours than a show at University of Wisconsin–Stout. Yet the Ann Arbor, Mich. band is doing exactly that. On Oct. 2, the band becomes the latest highlight in Blue Devil Production’s “Thursday Night Out” concert series, with a show that’s sure to be high energy and pleasing to metal and pop punk fans alike.
Like most recent mainstream metal acts, SycAmour has a somewhat poppy influence, while still reminding you of how punk and metal sounded before they hit mainstream appeal. Not to say that SycAmour isn’t original; the band seems to have taken the music they enjoyed as kids and put a demented spin on it. The concert will leave students with joined hands and dreams of igniting a revolution against the man.
After interviewing Jeremy Gilmore, the lead singer of SycAmour, it became clear that the band puts far more effort into how they are perceived than a casual listener would realize. With the recurring theme of “unconditional inclusion” as Gilmore described, in both the music and marketing, all songs seek to show how humans are all united through love and suffering. In a perhaps unsurprising twist, storytelling holds the ultimate goal of the band, rather than a comfy living of shows, musical growth and money.
“Are my answers too long?” Gilmore asks with a slight chuckle. If there’s one word to describe Gilmore, it’s certainly not guarded. Accessibility seems to be a common theme with members of the Michigan-based pop-metal group, and the singer is no exception.
When it comes to interacting with the band, inclusion becomes evident with every Facebook post and tweet that appeared to garner a reply. Gilmore assured me it is entirely intentional, saying the band sometimes spends hours replying to online postings. Showing a marked difference to most in the music scene, Gilmore adds, “the band and I plan to be able to keep up with most of the postings, no matter what the future holds.”
When I asked Gilmore about some onstage behaviors I heard about the band, the interview took an interesting turn. Part two of “SycAmour comes to UW–Stout” can be found here.