2nd System
Lucky Breaks and Last Mistakes
2nd System has confounded critics and fans alike. They have attitude that’s up front and in your face like Dick Cheney (remember him?) responding with “so what” to a reported that had the gall to suggest the public didn’t like his Bush era policies. Unlike Cheney, 2nd system boldly steps up where most bands refuse to go. They follow their own muse and always tell the truth except when they don’t. They have been rockin’ mid-Michigan since 1999 and have gone through band members like Linda Lovelace blowing her lines. This year 2nd System won the award for Best Metal Band in an impressive field that included such heavy hitters as Hokori, Neighborhood Muscle, and Ominous. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for the band to take it up a notch or two and expand their touring schedule and sell their new CD Improper Ganda. It’s a great record that boasts a dynamic full-bodied sound and a surrealistic cover filled with a misty fog, obscure background images and a well dressed Lion-headed dude. The singers were vocal opposites who created a dialectic between darkness and light; lies and truth. So, instead of capitalizing on all this attention, the band implodes and disappears like a bright star rushing toward a black hole. The talented one-armed lead guitarist Don Lajiness turned in his walking papers to complete his college degree and further develop his interest in new wave classical music. Now it’s up to band leader Derek Fisher to re-energize the band and find the missing piece. It’s a Shel Silverstein metaphor for coming face-to-face with a personal truth and finally realizing that the truth even at its most disturbing is better than protecting the lie. Here’s to 2nd System; a great band with a checkered past, a long road ahead and some unfinished business.
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