The Swear A Rising Star Feature by Melissa Minners               My first encounter with music by the Atlanta-based rock band, The Swear, came in the form of the six-track EP entitled Every Trick’s A Good One.  Lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Elizabeth Elkins struck me as a dynamic force to be reckoned with in the music industry.  Backed up by guitarist Jeremy Zamora, bass guitarist Kevin Williams, and drummer Kent Aberle, I believed that The Swear would be a lasting force in the music industry.  Then I received Hotel Rooms and Heart Attacks – a new album by The Swear, featuring lead singer Elizabeth Elkins sporting a very Avril Levigne-like look and a new drummer named Jerod Snider.  Elizabeth Elkins’ vocals are as strong as ever on Hotel Rooms and Heart Attacks and the lyrics written by Elkins and Zamora are just as powerful.             Of course, I am not the only fan of music by The Swear.  The band has won numerous accolades over the years, including Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, a finalist spot in the International Songwriting Competition and first prize in the Converse's Get Out of the Garage Music Contest.  Their music has been featured on television shows such as Smallville (The WB), Roswell (The WB), Reunion (FOX), Life As We Know It (ABC), Wanted (TNT), Outward Bound (The Discovery Channel), My Super Sweet 16 (MTV), Parental Control (MTV) and Beyond the Break (The N).           I recently had the opportunity to speak with Elizabeth Elkins about The Swear, her music and hopes for the future.  Here’s what she had to say:  How did each member of the band decide that a career in music was what they wanted to do? What was that defining moment that made you want to perform?  For me, it was watching other rock bands when I was a teenager.  When I watched them, I got jealous: I wanted to be on stage.  I remember seeing Ned's Atomic Dustbin and Helmet play and just standing there with my arms crossed saying "I want to be up there, not out in the audience."  I think everybody in the band just loves playing so much we really would be miserable if we weren't doing it.  Where do you get your inspiration for your song lyrics? How do you decide what kind of music you want to go along with those lyrics...or does the music come first and the lyrics next?  There are several ways we write songs in The Swear.  The first way is that I write the music and lyrics at home and bring a relatively complete song into the band. Then we all work out parts and arrangements.  With those songs, sometimes lyrics come first (I keep a list of song title and phrase ideas and can sit down and say I want write music around these lyrics) and just as often I will be playing guitar or keyboard and the music comes first and I find lyrics for it.  Examples of these songs are The Sleep Inside, January, Vampire, The City That Never.  Another way songs are written is that Jeremy comes up with a guitar part and lays out the song for the band.  I then help with arrangement, tape the music and take it home and write a melody and lyrics.  Examples of this kind are Always Wasted, Morning in June and List.  Another way is that the band works together on a Jeremy riff and fits a song together.  Then I take it and work out the lyrics and melodies.  Last Breath and Shuttered Off Christine are examples of this.  So it's always a varied process!   Knowing how hard it is to break out in the music industry, what makes you keep coming back for more?  You have to be in music for much more than wanting to "break out".  It has to be a passion and something you truly must do, or you will quickly get too frustrated with it.  Of all the songs you have recorded, which one has the most meaning to you and why?  Probably The City That Never on the new album.  It really brings together a lot of cinematic elements I've always wanted in the band, and Kevin's harmonies are absolutely perfect.  It was one of those songs that wrote itself in 10 minutes, and Jeremy instantly had a killer chorus guitar hook and soaring solo to go with the cello riff, so it just fell in to place really well. It was actually written during the sessions for the album, and we had no idea it would make the record because it was so new.  Any regrets?  Regrets are dangerous, but yeah I have a few.  Read the lyrics.  Any upcoming plans for the band?  I will be playing two solo acoustic shows in New York in the next few weeks, then the band heads out to Austin for the RedGorilla Music Festival in March.  Lately, we've been writing a bunch of new songs and are excited about the direction.  Some working titles include Girls for Every Hour and Trinity.  Any information you would like your fans to know about yourself or the band that hasn't been revealed previously?  Make sure you go check out the new promo video for the album on YouTube - it's got interviews with everybody and live performances from a show in Birmingham, Alabama.  Check it out here: http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=PRQbBUK5pUQ.     For more information about The Swear visit their website at http://www.theswear.com/ or their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/theswear.  To read more rising star features, visit the Rising Star Feature Archive. For feedback, visit our message board or e-mail the author at talonkarrde@g-pop.net.