Switchblade (band)  Switchblade were a five-piece metal band from Sydney, Australia, formed in 2001 and ending in 2011. Switchblade were the support act for bands such as Slayer, Machine Head, Exodus, Trivium and Nevermore during their respective Australian tours and released two albums. They also appeared at Metal for the Brain and the Come Together Music Festival. Switchblade was formed by guitarist Andrew Najdek, drummer Mat Piccolotto and bassist Ben Bessant in 2001. The trio spent the better part of their final high school years playing metal cover songs and writing a handful of originals which would become early Switchblade demos. Vocalist Chris Apps joined the band prior to the recording of the band's very first demo, but split from the group directly following the recording. In early 2002 Switchblade recorded a new and much heavier demo and began to audition vocalists. The auditions were unsuccessful, and the group struggled to find a frontman until Piccolotto answered an internet messageboard post by vocalist Colin "Sway" Druery, who shared a similar musical vision and joined the band in 2002. Switchblade began working together on original material, however only a few short months into rehearsals, Sway would permanently damage his vocal cords and was forced to leave. Switchblade was once again looking for a suitable frontman. During this downtime Najdek began using a seven-string guitar, and tuning much lower than he previously did. As a result of this the band's musical style moved away from its thrash metal and death metal core and took on a much more groove metal approach, similar to bands like Pantera, Machine Head and Fear Factory. Switchblade again found themselves recording another instrumental demo at the end of 2002, the first of the new material written completely on a seven string guitar. Sway got a copy of the demo and was compelled to return to the band. Inspired by this new sound, Sway quickly wrote lyrics for the new Switchblade material, recorded his vocals on the instrumental tracks, and Switchblade's 2003 demo "Incoming" was released in early 2003. Switchblade then began doing the rounds on the Sydney metal scene and was soon touring interstate and supporting higher profile local bands like Daysend, Sunk Loto and Dungeon. Meanwhile, Piccolotto also briefly joined local thrash metal band Descend, who disbanded shortly after, and Najdek became a member of local power metal band Friar Rush. In mid-2004 the band realised its musical output was limited by only having one guitarist, so a second guitarist was added in Scott Bernasconi, who played his first show with Switchblade on 19 June 2004.