novelty very quickly wears off and the hard work begins

What’s the reason or influence behind naming the band SYSTEM TRASHED?
 
I remember thinking of the name “System Trashed” on my lunch break at work one day.  it’s a reference to when you are not feeling well, too many late nights, maybe too much alcohol and you think, “My system is TRASHED.” Plus also it has a punk, anti-authority vibe to it. System Trashed, trash the system…  It just seemed to fit the style of music I was writing and wanted to do.
 
What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?
 
We started playing a classic heavy metal style with a bit of thrash influence on our first album, Warrior, and on some of our music trying to attain that Black Sabbath level of heavy guitar riffage. Since then we have developed our own style we are calling “Power Groove Speed Metal. It is part thrash metal with a bit of punk influence, and the songs will also have an instrumental half time “power groove” section. There are some songs of this style on our upcoming second album, EDGE OF THE NIGHT, which is in the final stages of production. Our main influences are Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Slayer, Motörhead and Aussie bands like Rose Tattoo and AC/DC. Plus a lot of the early thrash metal bands and some old school hardcore punk. 

  
When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
 
System Trashed began as a recording project of mine in about 2011. I’d been in a few bands that had ended and I realised I would be better off doing something for a while that didn’t depend on other peoples input/motivation. So decided to write an album of new songs that became our first CD “Warrior.” I started to lay down beds/ideas for the tracks in my home studio, and as it was developing used the tracks to audition people for the band. Steve Raine joined on bass and then Tommy J on drums. At this stage System Trashed had a complete line-up and went about finishing the tracking of the album. We thought about getting another guitar player for a while, but the band started working well and sounding good as a three-piece, so we stuck with that. We all had a wide range of musical influences, but the common ground was that everyone was interested in playing some old school classic metal and Rock and Roll!
 
Do you have a record label?
 
At this stage no. There are a lot of people in the music business that say they will do this or that for you,  promote you etc. but you find over time most of these people are wasting your time. Unless you can get the interest of a decent label with successful bands on the roster, you might as well keep working hard and do it yourself. We’ve had talks with some small labels and when you look at what they’re offering it’s hard to see the benefit for the band.
 
Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? 

I have written the majority of songs to this point, but we are starting to collaborate on songs. Steve wrote an early song of ours ‘Midline Shift’ that was a mainstay of our live set and will be on the new album, and Tommy J and I have a few songs happening that we are co-writing. We sometimes start jamming on a heavy riff at rehearsal and build a song from that basis. Some of the recurring lyrical themes of our music are the struggle between animals and humans on this Earth, selling out your dreams to work in a dead-end job, maybe a couple of bitter and twisted love songs and some positive songs about having belief in yourself and doing what you want to do.
 
How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?
 
We are steadily getting faster, heavier probably from playing live, hearing some of the songs in their earlier versions, it’s surprising how much they have changed with a lot more intensity in the performance. We are always striving to rock harder and keep alive the dying art of Rock and Roll. 
 
What has been your biggest challenge as a band?
 
Just to keep the wheels in motion. Anyone who’s been in a band knows the novelty very quickly wears off and the hard work begins. Getting all your gear to and from shows, sometimes playing to less people than you would like. Dealing with people who have a ‘rock-star’ attitude, for us it is all about the music and having a down to earth outlook and staying positive and trying to support the other bands we play with
on the local scene.
 
What’s your ultimate direction for your band?
 
Regardless of our level of success/popularity one of our main goals is to put out a new album every couple of years and always keep the band moving in a positive direction. If we have something we think is good, we don’t expect hand-outs and just keep pushing and promoting it ourselves, maybe somewhere along the way others will catch on to what we are doing and we will achieve some level of success, there are so many bands out there these days it’s becoming more and more difficult to break through.
 
How can fans-to-be gain access to your music?
 
Check out our Facebook page to keep track of the latest news and shows and our Reverbnation page where you can check out some of our songs, and some live clips on the System Trashed YouTube channel.
 
FACEBOOK, REVERBNATION, YOUTUBE, YOUTUBE
 
A Few words for our readers…. 

Thanks for checking out System Trashed the Good ‘ol Boys Of Logan City [Australia] Power Groove Speeeed Metal! and keep an eye out for our new album Edge Of The Night, due for release late 2016