P.J. FARLEY Says TRIXTER Is 'Doing Just Fine' Playing Shows Without Half Of Classic Lineup: 'People Seem To Enjoy It'

In a new interview with the Thunder Underground podcast, TRIXTER bassist P.J. Farley spoke about the band's current lineup, in which he is joined by TRIXTER's founding guitarist Steve Brown, as well as Ben Hans on percussion. Asked if he and Steve have gotten any pushback over the fact that TRIXTER singer Pete Loran is not involved in the current touring version of the group, Farley responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Steve and I are singing the songs. And we don't have a replacement up there in the middle singing the songs. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I just kind of felt that, why don't we just do it? Especially [since] Steve can sing that stuff very easily. And I've been working it into my repertoire to [where] I'm singing almost half the set myself.

"To me, I know if I saw a band that I liked and their singer was no longer doing it, I would think it would be cool to see the other guys in the band sing the songs. I just think that would be cool, as opposed to getting another guy up there and sing the songs," he explained. "I mean, of course, people who don't know the scenario go, 'Get your lead singer back.' It's, like, well, we didn't get rid of him. So don't tell us. People just don't know the story, so they just go, 'Oh, you need to get your singer back.' But I think we're doing just fine singing these songs, and people seem to enjoy it. I haven't heard anyone leave the show going, 'Yeah, it was all right, but you should get your singer back.' So I think we're doing okay. I think we're doing just fine. Like I was saying before, I think the fact that it's us singing the songs, people are kind of, like, 'Okay, that's cool,' as opposed to focusing on some poor guy who's in the middle always getting the brunt of, 'Oh, you're not my dad.' That kind of syndrome, which there's no way around that. So, I think maybe they're a little bit more lenient with us 'cause we put in the work to try to get it done."

Asked if the decision from the get-go with the TRIXTER comeback was to split the vocals between him and Steve or if there was some consideration about getting someone else to step in on lead vocals, P.J. said: "At first I don't think Steve wanted to be a lead singer and the guitar player. We wanted to stick to the format of what TRIXTER was — a four-piece band. He's the guitar player, obviously a singer, but me and him on either side of a singer. But I guess I was most kind of — not resistant, but not really that ambitious about getting somebody to replace Pete. And I think the reality is we just fell into it, and we had to do it because the way TRIXTER kind of started back up again in 2021 is because I was doing acoustic shows with Eric Martin, and we had a week of shows booked, I think, and the first one was with WARRANT and FIREHOUSE, and Eric was sick, and this was, like, three days before the show, and the promoter was, like, 'Well, I'll fly Steve out and we'll just do TRIXTER songs. We're playing a half hour. How hard could it be?' We hadn't done it in a couple years. We hadn't played these songs in a couple years, let alone acoustic. We didn't rehearse. We had no idea. 'We'll just get up there and put it in God's hands.' And we went up there, and we had a great time. We did a half hour. We had Ben playing percussion, because Ben was out with me and Eric doing all those shows, so we're, like, 'All right, we'll just plop Steve in and see what comes of it.' And we got done, and we were, like, 'Man, that was fucking fun, and pretty painless.' So we just kept doing it. And then we kind of plugged in as opposed to doing it acoustic. We're, like, 'All right, well, let's just step on the distortion pedal and just kick it up a notch.' So it really wasn't, like, 'Hey, should we put this back together? Should we get a singer?' There was no thought. It was the most organic, natural thing, and we were, like, 'All right, well, this is it. This is where we're at.' And we started out just taking gigs, whatever just came in, just to kind of get into it. We were, like, 'Yeah, this is fun. Why not?' There was no master plan of getting back together or anything. It just fell back."

As for the possibility of the current lineup of TRIXTER releasing new music, Farley said:  "We actually have stuff. Steve's got a whole bunch of songs. I've got some songs, collectively. We just don't have a plan. So put it this way: if somebody called and said, 'We wanna sign you,' we can do it now. It wouldn't take us long to literally put a record together."

This past March, Brown told Australia's The Rockpit that a new studio album from TRIXTER was in the works. He said: "We are probably 75% done with it. We've probably got about 14 or 15 songs. The problem with me making a record is that every time I get sort of moving, I get called to do something else. And I gotta go, when I'm getting paid. But, yeah, it's phenomenal. We are also working on a documentary. It's not a TRIXTER documentary, but it's a documentary about [TRIXTER bassist] P.J. and I, our journey together and playing in all different bands and how we always come back together. So I'm thinking early 2027 is when we're gonna probably release everything together. And all I can say is you won't be disappointed."

Regarding the fact that Brown and Farley are the only members of the classic TRIXTER lineup who are still actively touring with the band, Steve said: "Luckily, we all sing. And I'm pretty much the lead singer. P.J. is singing a couple of songs. It's one of those things to where, look, it's not the perfect situation. I wish the original band was still together, but as we get older, man, people have different ideas how they wanna live their life. And if someone doesn't wanna get on a plane and play rock and roll, hey, I can't make 'em do it. So when P.J. and I made a decision — we looked at each other and said, 'Hey, man, I wanna keep TRIXTER going,' and this is the way we decided to do it."

In June 2025, Steve told The Hair Metal Guru about TRIXTER's new music: "I have about 15 songs worked up and I'm really, really excited. I think when we do get around to making the record, it is gonna blow people away, I can honestly say, because I know I'm excited about it. So I know when I'm excited, by the time you hear it and the fans all around the world, they're gonna be blown away."

Brown continued: "The problem is that I always get booked to do other stuff. And it's, like, I've gotta make money. But also, P.J. and I, we started filming a documentary that's gonna be a partner with the record. And it's not a TRIXTER documentary, though it has a lot of TRIXTER in it. It's about the story of P.J. and I, of our musical journey together, that we've been playing together close to 40 years now. And though we still are in TRIXTER, he's done so many different things — he was in the band RA, he was in Lita Ford, he's in FOZZY, he's in this, he's in that. And likewise with me, whether it's playing with DEF LEPPARD, Dennis DeYoung, Eric Martin, all the stuff that we do. But we always come back together and that brotherhood and that bond that we have. So that's also the other thing. So there's a lot of great stuff happening. I tell all the fans, you've just gotta be patient."

In March 2025, Steve told Youngstown Studio's B.J. Lisko about the progress of the songwriting sessions for a new TRIXTER album: "Yeah, I'm actively working on songs right now. P.J. has got some ideas. We have some stuff in the works. We started shooting some documentary footage — not for a TRIXTER documentary, but something about P.J. and I, our journey together. It's gonna be really unique. And hopefully we're gonna have that done for next year or maybe the year after. And we're definitely gonna have a new TRIXTER record that accompanies that."

He continued: "I could easily put out another TRIXTER record in another couple of weeks, if I had to. It needs to be something that has more special meaning. And especially because it's sort of a different configuration now. So it needs to be that much more extra special for me to wanna commit to do that. But it's definitely in motion. And I will say I probably have 15 new songs that are that I'm extremely excited about and I can't wait for the world to hear it. Because, like everything that I do, I try to make it the best thing that I've ever done. So I'm really happy with this, where it's coming. And P.J. has come up with some great ideas, and I actually had him sing on a song that I wrote that I thought would be perfect. And it came out a hundred percent better than I thought it was gonna be."

Asked what, in his opinion, makes a good TRIXTER song, Brown said:"I think all the classic stuff. What I love is I love pop music that's got great guitars, of course. It's what I always tell people — it's like if you took VAN HALEN, KISS, CHEAP TRICK, BON JOVI and DEF LEPPARD, put it all together, those are probably my biggest influences as far as making records and what I envisioned TRIXTER to be when I was a little kid. That was the concoction that I put in the cauldron. And over the years, that's really it. So I think for me, it's always about melody, a great vocal hook melody, a lyric that you can get behind. I definitely think I took a strong influence from BON JOVI. And I remember when I started getting TRIXTER going, Jon's [Bon Jovi] advice was always, 'Make sure you have a good lyric and something that's powerful.'"

The original TRIXTER lineup — also featuring drummer Mark "Gus" Scott and singer Pete Loran — reunited in 2008 and lasted until 2017, during which time the band released two studio albums via Frontiers Music Srl — 2012's "New Audio Machine" and 2015's "Human Era".

TRIXTER toured extensively in the United States, Canada and Japan in support of its five major label releases. They have performed live in arenas and amphitheaters with crowds up to 35,000 people, appearing with such rock superstars as KISS, SCORPIONS, POISON, TED NUGENT, NIGHT RANGER, CINDERELLA, TWISTED SISTER, DOKKEN, WARRANT, GREAT WHITE and FIREHOUSE.