If you’ve ever listened to the band Dance Gavin Dance then you know what Swancore sounds like: a subgenre of post-hardcore music influenced by the band’s guitarist, Will Swan. This genre of music consists of clean vocals that are in high-pitch and precise instrumental technique derived from other musical genres such as Math Rock and Progressive Rock.
What’s particularly interesting about this specialized genre is the guitar work. To create the fast-paced rhythm, Will Swan used both of his hands on the guitar’s fretboard to perform a tapping technique inspired by Math Rock, thus creating a melody that would be impossible to play with traditional picking. Clean tapping on the guitar’s high strings result in that high-pitched “sparkling” effect that this genre is known for.
The technical guitar work, paired with high-pitched clean vocals from some of the band’s vocalists, such as Kurt Travis (2007–2010) or Tillian Pearson who had been the band’s vocalist the longest (2012–2024), separate Swancore from the genres it was inspired by. The vocals are primarily focused on high registers and sporadic screams in order to produce a chaotic contrast and dance-pop vibe.
Other vocalists that have contributed to Dance Gavin Dance include Jon Mess, Jonny Craig, the current vocalist Andrew Wells, and even Will Swan himself for the harsh rap vocals he contributes to the band’s discography.
If you find yourself curious about other bands that present Swancore, take a look at Hail The Sun, Royal Coda, Stolas, Saosin, The Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria, and At The Drive-In. These are but a few of the many bands out there that are similar to Dance Gavin Dance’s style of music and they are anything but mainstream.
There are other bands too that are similar to Swancore, but are listed under the genre of Post-Hardcore. Post-Hardcore is a punk-rock genre that contains high-energy, heavy/aggressive elements, and a greater degree of creative expression.
If you’re interested, check out some of these Post-Hardcore bands you may have heard of before, such as Sunny Day Real Estate, Taking Back Sunday, Silverstein, My Chemical Romance, Circa Survive, The Used, Her Words Kill, and Thursday. I also know a few more bands that aren’t as popular, such as This Armistice, YouInSeries, Lower Definition, Luke Pickett, and A Bullet for Pretty Boy.
I asked Roman Mariscal (12th), a huge fan of Swancore, what band and song he’d recommend to anyone new to the genre. He responded, “I would immediately recommend “Uneasy Hearts Weigh the Most” by Dance Gavin Dance. This song includes every element a song needs to be a Swancore song due to its writing, switching between puzzling melodies of post hardcore and intense screamo.”
So be sure to give that song a listen if you are curious about discovering a whole new world to music.
As a final thought, Swancore is the outcome of creativity that can take composing and discovering new music styles to the next level. The music world is endless, and if you take the time to venture out, you may find yourself amongst beauty and connection in ways you never imagined. Or better yet, never heard of (pun intended.)