Slave to the System is an American

alternative Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * ''The Alternative'' (film), a 1978 Australian television film * ''The Alternative ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

supergroup, consisting of

Brother Cane Brother Cane is an American rock band that released three albums in the 1990s. Formed in Alabama in 1990 by singer and guitarist Damon Johnson and bassist Glenn Maxey, the line-up was completed by guitarist Roman Glick and drummer Scott Collier. ...

and

Queensrÿche Queensrÿche is an American heavy metal band. It formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Washington, out of the local band the Mob. The band has released 16 studio albums, one EP, and several DVDs, and continues to tour and record. The original lineup ...

band members, formed in 2000. The band independently released the album '' Slave to the System'' in 2002.

Spitfire Records Spitfire Records was a subsidiary of Eagle Rock Entertainment located in New York City, United States. In September 1998, Paul Bibeau founded, launched and rapidly developed Spitfire Records Inc. from a two-man operation located in his home bed ...

re-released the album in 2006.

History

In 2000, the band

went on a break after finishing a 6-month tour in support of ''

Q2K ''Q2K'' is the seventh studio album by progressive metal band Queensrÿche, released on 14 September 1999. It was the only Queensrÿche studio album to feature guitarist Kelly Gray, who, in the early 1980s, was in a band called Myth with vocali ...

''. Drummer

Scott Rockenfield Scott Rockenfield (born June 15, 1963), also known as SRock, is an American drummer and composer. He is best known as the drummer for the progressive metal band Queensrÿche, which he co-founded in 1982, and the hard rock band Slave to the S ...

and guitarist

Kelly Gray Kelly Gray (born April 7, 1981 in Palo Alto, California) is a former American soccer player. He does commentary for San Jose Earthquakes games on Comcast Sports Net Bay Area Career College Gray played forward and midfielder at the University ...

, who played in Queensrÿche at that time, were discussing what to do. Gray had worked with

on a project, and remained close to singer and guitarist

Damon Johnson Damon Rogers Johnson (born July 13, 1964) is an American guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, currently a solo artist and member of Thin Lizzy. In the 1990s he co-founded Brother Cane, and later joined Alice Cooper's band as lead guitarist. He w ...

and bassist

Roman Glick Roman Glick (born 1970) is an American bassist. He is known for playing with Brother Cane, Slave to the System, Jesse James Dupree, and Jackyl. Brother Cane Brother Cane formed in Birmingham, Alabama in the early 1990s with singer/guitarist Dam ...

. He called Johnson in the summer of 2000, and suggested him to give Rockenfield a call. Rockenfield knew of the band, but never met them. The name "Slave to the System" describes the effect of corporate minds on an artist's music, and hints at the band members' dissatisfaction with the record industry, as Rockenfield describes: "Every one of us was getting tired of being a 'slave' to the corporate system". The name was coined by Gray even before the band members first met. Slave to the System has independently released their album ''Slave to the System'' in 2002. The band played one show in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

and another

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

after this release. In February 2004, Heard left for undisclosed reasons, and they continued as a four-piece. In 2005, Slave to the System were signed to

, who had the album

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

ed and

remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ed, and released it on February 21, 2006. In 2006, Johnson said the band's second album was already completed, but to date, it has remained unreleased. "Stigmata" was released as a single, and peaked at 33 in both the ''Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks'' and ''Mainstream Rock'' categories. In support of the release, the band performed 19 shows in the American

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

between February and April of that year. Due to prior commitments with other bands, other musicians filled in for Glick and Rockenfield on some of the shows. In 2008, the band released two new songs via MySpace, titled "Freak" and "Who I Am Today". They have been on hiatus since.

Members

– lead

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

– guitar, vocals *

– bass *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Former members * Scott Heard – guitar, vocals (2001–2004) ;Touring * Allen Park – bass (April 2006) * Billy Wilkes – drums (April 18–27, 2006)

Discography

* '' Slave to the System'' (2002/2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Slave to the System American hard rock musical groups Musical groups established in 2000 Rock music supergroups