We're
Swine System, from Longview, Texas, and we're just another punk
band in the 90's... Our influences are mainly old school hardcore punk
and Oi!, english, german and french bands from the early 80's... Only the
best.We don't have nothing against americans, but... We've been together
for a couple of years now, and we've put out three demos, but it seems
that even when we try to sell out, nobody wants to buy it anyway... So
we heard that in now days, it was the cool thing to do to advertise in
the Internet, and that's what we're doing now, hoping it will be our way
out of the factory (the three of us work graveyard shift in factories),
'cause even if some people brag to be proud to belong to the working class,
we got our share of it and are ready to sell out!!! That's what most of
our songs are about, the struggle of the working man to subsist in this
world, not the joys of working!!! As soon as we can, we'll put some tracks
on this site, so you can hear them... And some pictures, too, whenever
we'll come across a scanner. This page is not too informative so far, so
here's our story, to the best of my knowledge (noticed how I shifted from
we to I with such subtility?).
Swine System started sometimes in the mid eighties in France and was constitued of Bozo on the mike, Tranber on drums, Phillipe on bass, and me on guitar... We played covers of G.B.H. and The Exploited, and most of our original songs were three chords hardcore punk songs going one hundred miles an hour... It did'nt last to long... Since we were all squatters, we all got in trouble with the law for different stories and got separated, going to jail, etc.
Then I came to the states, trying to put my life together. I stayed away from music for a few years, not because I did'nt like it no more but because when I came here, I could'nt find nobody who liked punk, in these parts of the woods. Everybody was into metal or hippie crap. It sucked, I hated it. But I still got me a guitar and did a couple of recordings by myself in a studio, hanging on to what I liked the best. A few years went by and I met this dude from work, Chad Stevens, and one day, when we where drinking beer, we decided to make a band together. He started to play the drums and was'nt really worth a damn (still aint), but he could keep a beat without getting tired and that's all I wanted from him, as long as he did'nt try to get too artistic...
Then, we were looking for a bass player, and we tried some guy out, wich I don't remember his name, but he was too much into that Primus/Soundgarden stuff and it did'nt work out. So I asked a buddy of mine, Mick from American Nightmare, if he knew a bass player and he gave me Brian Iwan's phone number. I called him and we set up a session and he's been playing with us ever since.We called ourselves Swine System, after my band in France. We sing songs in french, english, and play instrumentals... After about six months,we had enough songs together to play gigs, so we played our first one at the Ocean Club, some dive in Longview thats closed now... But then, Chad started to mess up on us and would'nt come to practice because he thought taking some chick out to eat or whatever when we were supposed to jam was more important... So I sacked his ass. No pussy whoop in Swine System, damnit!!!
So Brian had a buddy of his, Rick Workman, who could play the drums and liked our stuff, and we took him in the band. After a few months again, we started playing gigs. We were getting gigs left and right, from Dallas to Austin to San Antonio to Little Rock as well as local ones. So I set us up a little tour going on, and in the middle of it, i'll be damned, Rick told us he quitted. Brian and me were so pissed... All this hard work for nothing. I had to call places and cancel seven gigs, so lemme tell you, I was fuming (still am). It gave us a bad name and a bad reputation with these bars waiting for us, and if any of you see this, sorry again. Brian and me had a talk and decided to take Chad back, since we were still friends, and he was dying to play again with us. That was about six or eight months ago, and we've been practicing ever since, no gigs yet, but we're ready, so if anyone want us to come and jam at your place, e-mail me, ok?
Other than that, we go to a studio in Dallas June sixth 98 to make a new demo, if someone wants a copy, same thing, e-mail me. It will be on the house that's about it for the history, now, the news...