They say let sleeping dogs lie. Well, someone did wake these dogs back in 1994. Four guys shared the background playing in different death metal bands, but sharing the sheer interest in raw punk, d-beat, käng, call it what you want! Sometime this year these four souls came to the conclusion that they should see each other for a jam and have a couple of beers to see what they could bring to life… The monster they created was SYSTEM COLLAPSE, later known as SKITSYSTEM...
Tomas Lindberg (guitar and vocals) and Adrian Erlandsson (drums) from mighty AT THE GATES joined forces with Fredrik Wallenberg (guitar and vocals) and Alexander Höglind (bass) in Gothenburg 1994. Tompa (T.Lindberg) and Adrian had discussed the possibility to start a side project to their ever growing metal act AT THE GATES. Old time friend Fredrik shared the same interest for old, raw HC bands and the band was a fact. Not long after Alex joined, the band soon started to rehearse more seriously, writing heavy, slow d-beat songs with furious vocal lines. The band, now named SKITSYSTEM was immediately offered a 7” release by Gothenburgs Distortion records and entered Studio Fredman , borrowing studio time from AT THE GATES and recorded the cult classic PROFITHYSTERI (DISTEP23). The 7” was a blast succes! Suddenly the band name SKITSYSTEM was a band on a lot of peoples tounges, a band that every one knew of but knew nothing about! Not long after, the band made their first 2 shows, in Gothenburg, warming up for such acts as WARCOLLAPSE and EXTINCTION OF MANKIND.
1996, AT THE GATES were scheduled to enter Studio Fredman again to record what many people sees as their strongest release ever, SLAUGHTER OF THE SOUL. SKITSYSTEM once again used the opportunity to record for free using A.T.G time and they went straight in, used the same sound that A.T.G was using, even the same instruments and born was ONDSKANS ANSIKTE (DISTEP28), a 10” so fierce it made ears bleed, the heart to D-beat and knees to wiggle. Then it got quiet. Very quit. The rumour said that SKITSYSTEM went the same way A.T.G did who split up in the late winter of 1996. The thing is that the band at this time had cancelled way more gigs than the very few they actually played. There was always something that came in the way: Instruments at the pawnshop, missing members, lack of gas money… They were not the worlds most well organized band, but certainly they never split up!
In the end of 1997 “LEVANDE LIK” (DISTEP44), a split 7” with WOLFPACK came out with 3 outtakes from the ONDSKANS ANSIKTE session. This release presented the last appearance with Adrian as a member of SKITSYSTEM. His other band, THE HAUNTED, finally became too time-consuming and as Adrian was, and still is one of Swedens tightest and fastest drummers it wasn’t easy to find a replacement. As THE HAUNTED soon found out when UK blackmetalers CRADLE OF FILTH stole him away from them…
In spring 1998 remaining members met and decided to fire up the old steamroller again. The drums was now handled by Kalle Persson, formerly of DISPENSE, and SKITSYSTEM started playing gigs regularly for the first time in three years. The audience could finally see that SKITSYSTEM was a real band and not a side project. In July they embarked on a three week North American tour, including two shows in Canadas Montreal, with Chicagos CRIPPLED HEROES. Back in Sweden they did a few more gigs and started gathering material for the upcoming full-length debut album.
January 2nd 1999 the band entered SOUNDLAB STUDIOS/PUNKPALATSET in Örebro with Miezsko Talarzyk (R.I.P) to put down 15 smoking primal screams. The result was named “GRÅ VÄRLD/SVARTA TANKAR” and shows further development in the bands songwriting skills. Lyrics are more to the point and the music lays a lot more strength behind the punches and with the album SKITSYSTEM regains some of the substance and integrity that punk rock has lost in the past few years. An appearance at the Hultsfredsfestival in Sweden is the summer of 1999 from which pictures even were shown at one of Swedens biggest morning news shows was just one of the many gigs the band did that summer.
2001 the band did a highly acclaimed follow-up to the success of “GRÅ VÄRLD/SVARTA TANKAR”. The band once again entered SOUNDLAB STUDIO, again with Miezsko behind the soundboard. The band had only three songs rehearsed and written, but that only helped the band to more intense and furious sounds, and the frustration resulted in 16 new songs of which 12 ended up on “ENKEL RESA TLL RÄNNSTENEN”, this time released by famous US label HAVOC RECORDS on LP and NO TOLERANCE RECORDS on CD. Later on two more songs from the session ended up on a split 7” with NASUM, released by Sweden’s NO TOLERANCE records 2002. Even one more song ended up on the 7” comp. “MORE WORLD-LESS BANK released by HALVFABRIKAT RECORDS 2003. After the release the band did a couple of shows, they went on a European tour with Sweden’s VICTIMS which took them to Germany and Holland. All the time Tompa got more and more hooked up in other music projects like LOCK-UP, NIGHTRAGE, THE CROWN and DISFEAR to name a few. This eventually led to his departure from the band in spring 2004.
The other members never saw a break up of the band as an option and quickly found a replacement in Mikael Kjellman from up-coming band MARTYRDÖD and SANCTUARY IN BLASPHEMY behind the guitar and Alex took over Tompas vocal parts. For the first time ever the band started to rehearse on a weekly basis. A few European shows were done, some in Sweden, opening for bands such as POISON IDEA among others. In spring the planning for a new North American tour started, and August 27 SKITSYSTEM started their D-beat crusade, touring the US from North to south, east to west, on a 4½ week drunken mayhem they tore up the states with bands such as TRAGEDY, MISERY, HELLSHOCK, FUCKED UP, BEHIND ENEMY LINES and KYLESA. They even did a show in Tijuana, Mexico. The tour was a huge success and the band was now prepared for the continuation of their history.
The tour was a huge success and the band was now prepared for the continuation of their history.
So, returning from US of A the band began writing new material. Nevertheless they continued to spread their mayhem in variuos countries alongside the planning of the new assault on CD/Vinyl. The progress off he writing seemed to be more difficult this time. Somewhat the band progressed into a new era and finished it of with a harsh metallic edge never before heard in the bands history. After the preparation of the raw material, the band once again contacted Fredrik Nordström of (in)famous studio Fredman, the warzone of the earliest recordings of the band PROFITHYSTERI and ONDSKANS ANSIKTE. Once again the goal was to see the sun covered by clouds, the fulfil the darkest dreams of mankind into one venominjected nightmare called STIGMATA. Further explorations in the twisted realms of mankind took the band to a new level in songwriting, both musicaly and lyric-wise. Titles as APOKALYPSENS SVARTA ÄNGLAR and STIGMATA made not only the future seem like a hellhole, it also made a statement: SKITSYSTEM is by far NOT dead... yet! Hailed in the media as a freeking document of the bleak society of today, the hellish shadows of mankind, SKITSYSTEM proved once again that they had more poison to spread.
