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(7/6/02 11:37 am)
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5 Arabs Interview
5 Arabs Interview
John Dolmayan
A few weeks ago, I got a phone call. "Jon," said the voice at the other end of the phone, "would you like to do a phone interview?". With whom, I politely enquired. "A band called System Of A Down", was the reply. After picking my lower jaw off the ground, I stammered "yes please". Thus, on the 26th July 2001, I talked on the phone with John Dolmayan, System's drummer..
Five Arabs: Hey man, how are ya?
John: You know what? I can't listen to the ring here without thinking of Pink Floyd's The Wall... you know what I mean?
Five Arabs: Hehe, yeah I know what you mean actually!
John: I mean, it's been years that I've been coming to England but it still fucking freaks me out and I get depressed every time I hear the ring!
Five Arabs: You must be bored of interviews by now, actually! (I interviewed John at 4.30, the band had been doing phoners since about 9am...!!!!!!!)
John: No, actually, I think it's cool... everybody's got fresh excitement about it, so...
Five Arabs: So how many have you done today then?
John: Oh, I dunno...
Five Arabs: Lost count?
John: Twenty something, I think...
Five Arabs: Shit...!!!!! You must've heard all these questions before then!
John: Don't worry about it, I'll answer them in a different way!
Five Arabs: So, the new album, "Toxicity" - how do you think it compares to your debut album?
John: Well I think that it shows a lot of growth, not only in the music but sonically we've done some different things in the studio, we've layered tracks of guitar and whatnot. We recorded in a different studio as well, that had a little bit better drum sound...
Five Arabs: So the drums sound a lot better!
John: I wouldn't say better, I'd say different. I don't want to say better because I think that our first album is a really unique sounding album, if you compare it to other albums it doesn't really sound like anybody else's. But this one, musically... it's more heavy in the heavy parts, and more melodic in the melodic parts. It's really taking it to another level.
Five Arabs: So is the kind of weird, zany feel of songs like Sugar or Suite-Pee still there?
John: Yeah, we haven't departed from our route, it's still System Of A Down, it's just not like System Of A Down of the past... I don't think our fans want us to put out albums that sound exactly the same. You know, we're always going to have a growth, but it'll be in the direction of System Of A Down.
Five Arabs: So the song writing and musicianship's evolved with this record?
John: Yeah... we've grown much closer, because we've spent 3 years on the road touring... I mean, how can you not? You either get closer...
Five Arabs: Or you hate each other by the end of it!
John: Yeah, exactly, one or the other's going to happen... and for us, both happened! We hated each other, and then we were like "OK, fuck it, let's make another album!" And I can't tell you how proud I am of this album. People are going to trip out when they hear it.
Five Arabs: You think it's going to be a career-defining album then?
John: I think every album we make is going to be a career-defining album, that's what we strive for. We just don't want to put out the same shit!
Five Arabs: Yeah, give the fans something different, something to challenge them?
John: I get really bummed out when I hear bands that I like putting out the same vibe album after album. It just bores me. And as a musician in a band, I wouldn't want to play the same crap for ten years!
Five Arabs: Although you have to admit, a lot of bands get a lot of money for doing that! You wouldn't go down that road if you suddenly became multi-million sellers and on MTV every 5 minutes or whatever, you wouldn't consider it?
John: I don't define success by how much money you have, or how many albums you've sold. I define success by the quality of the material you put out. When we're dead and gone, say seventy or a hundred years from now, nobody's going to care about how much money we had, or the chicks we had, or whatever bullshit... they're going to have an album in front of them, and that's what's going to be defined. I mean, nobody gives a fuck about what Beethoven did in his private life, or how much money he made. It's all about the music he created, and that's what's timeless. When I listen to a Beatles album, I never think about how rich they were... even though they're fucking rich, they deserve to be, they're geniuses! But I never think about anything but the music, and that's how I'd like people to look at us.
Five Arabs: Just going back to the album again, it's been described somewhere as "prog rock" - do you think that's an accurate description of it?
John: God... we were labelled "Armenian rock" then we were labelled "nu-metal" and now it's "prog rock"... who knows what they'll label us tomorrow? As long as they listen to the music and take in whatever they want, I don't care, because... they'll never be able to label us, there is no label for System Of A Down other than System Of A Down... and there's no-one else that sounds like System Of A Down, so you can't categorise us!
Five Arabs: It's true mind... what are your favourite songs on the new album?
John: All of them.
Five Arabs: There's not one that you can pick out?
John: Well... some are more fun to play than others, but I love every single song on this album, and I love the seventeen songs that didn't make the album!
Five Arabs: Christ, you've got quite a few outtakes then... are they ever going to see the light of day?
John: All of them will, eventually. Every song we recorded was definitely worth putting on this album, but unless we put out a double album, they just would not fit, and I don't really like double albums. I'd rather put the songs that go best together on one album than put 32 songs on a double!
Five Arabs: So the rest will come out as b-sides or on compilation albums or something?
John: Compilations, b-sides, soundtracks, and definitely on the next album you're going to hear a lot of these songs!
Five Arabs: So have the outtakes from the last album made this album, like X?
John: Yeah, that was the last song that we wrote for the first album, and it wasn't quite mature... which is the same for some of the songs that didn't make it on this cut...
Five Arabs: They're just incubatory...
John: Yeah, you give them a bit of time, and we'll change a verse or a chorus or whatever, and you think "now this is ready". System Of A Down doesn't believe in filler songs on albums. We're not the kind of band who'll write two songs which we know will make it to the radio and be huge and have a bunch of crap for the rest of the album. Every song is its own piece of art, and is treated with respect.
Five Arabs: So which ones do you like to play more than others?
John: I really enjoy playing Toxicity, the song... I really enjoy playing Aerials, the last song on the album... Prison Song is a lot of fun because I get to confuse my band members at the beginning - there's no set timing on it and there never will be! I mean, you've heard the song...
Five Arabs: I haven't heard that one actually, I've only heard four - Toxicity, Deer Dance, Needles and Suicide...
John: It's no longer called Suicide by the way - it's called Chop Suey. It was actually never called Suicide...
Five Arabs: Oh right, my copy just labelled it as Suicide...! That one's the single in the States, isn't it?
John: Yes it is, it's doing pretty well... so far so good!
Five Arabs: Is it going to be released over here, you reckon?
John: I'm sure it will be! It's a good song, it's a great representation of System Of A Down and once again, it's totally different to anything else out there!
Five Arabs: The first album had some political leanings, especially on P.L.U.C.K., are they carried on onto this album?
John: I don't look at it as political, I look at it more as social statements. It's not that we're trying to push our views onto people, more trying to awaken them to opinions other than their own, and also to make them think a little bit and maybe do a bit of research into their lives, just to get a better sense of the world. You have a tendency to concentrate on what's happening in your house or in your neighbourhood...
Five Arabs: But it's better to see the whole picture, as it were...
John: Anyone who's ever travelled anywhere gets... I mean, you really realise that it's one planet. People are people no matter what, and you should care about them because everything affects everyone, you know. We have no problem discussing political issues in the album, we have no problem discussing social, but we also discuss love, hate, anger... and we have some ridiculous topics, shit that makes no sense! What the fuck is a "Kombucha Mushroom person" anyway?
Five Arabs: You know, I've always wondered that!
John: So have I, and I'm in the band!!!
Five Arabs: So you guys raised $20,000 dollars recently for the Armenian genocide recognition...
John: Almost $30,000 actually!
Five Arabs: Christ! Do you think that events like that concert will help to get that atrocity officially recognised?
John: I think that every little drop creates the ocean. Anything you can do to help will eventually make a huge difference... it takes all those droplets of water to create a tidal wave, so... it's a drop in the bucket but it's a bucket that's slowly getting filled.
Five Arabs: Something completely different now, off the topic totally of the album - you guys are going out on a co-headlining tour with Slipknot soon, aren't you? How did that come about?
John: It was suggested to us by mutual management... their management and our management got together and thought that it would be a great tour since both of our albums are coming out around the same time... and you know, we have relationships with Slipknot, we respect them and they respect us. So we thought it would be a good way to fuck up America!!!
Five Arabs: I've got some friends over in the States and they're really looking forward to that show... I'm sure it'd have massive success if it came over here!
John: Well, you never know, anything's possible!
Five Arabs: Are there going to be any other bands playing on that tour?
John: Well I heard rumours about MudVayne or Rammstein... but I don't know anything for definite yet.
Five Arabs: As well as that tour, you're playing Reading & Leeds this year - are you looking forward to that?
John: Absolutely! We love playing over here... I wish we were playing here tonight!
Five Arabs: What, is it just press today?
John: Yeah, unfortunately... believe me, I'd rather play!
Five Arabs: Yeah, I can imagine, after 20 interviews!!!
John: Yeah, after no interviews I'd rather be playing! But I love interviews too, it's a good way to express how we are to people, otherwise you have to come up with your own conclusions, which I'd rather you didn't! We're not a typical band...!
Five Arabs: So are the sets going to be mainly taken from "Toxicity" with a few old favourites, or mostly old stuff with some new stuff thrown in?
John: Well we'll definitely throw in a couple of the classics, you know... Sugar, Suite-Pee, War?... but we are definitely going to concentrate on the new album. It'll probably be about 70% new material...
Five Arabs: So it's definitely going to be an introduction to the new album?
John: Absolutely.
Five Arabs: Are there any bands you're looking forward to seeing when you're not playing at Reading & Leeds?
John: To be honest, I don't know who's on the bill!
Five Arabs: Staind are, Boy Hits Car are playing... they're really good...
John: I've heard them, I've not seen them live though.
Five Arabs: Didn't they play the Sno-Core tour with you guys...?
John: No... not the Sno-Core we did... did they? I dunno, I can't remember!
Five Arabs: So you planning on doing a fuller UK tour later in the year or next year to promote "Toxicity"?
John: Hopefully this year if we can but I doubt it. Early next year is when we're looking at coming to Europe, but when we hit, we're going to hit with a ferocity you guys haven't seen for a long time. We're gonna fuck some shit up out here!
Five Arabs: So what are the plans for the rest of the year after the Slipknot tour?
John: Tour, that's it. There's something kind of being spoken about right now about Black Sabbath, Rob Zombie and us...
Five Arabs: Holy shit... wow! Quite a lineup!
John: Yeah! What I would really like to see now actually is us, Tool and Deftones.
Five Arabs: Yep, that would be good as well... wouldn't complain!
John: We're talking about really respectable packages here, bands that we respect also...
Five Arabs: Yeah, I think either of those two really would be a bill to die for!
John: Yeah, I'd also really like to do some stuff with At The Drive-In, but I don't think they're a band anymore, they're on hiatus right now... but hopefully they'll get their shit together, we want to take them out on tour!!!
Five Arabs: OK, final question, and certainly the most important...
John: OK...!
Five Arabs: Who would win in a fight between Jackie Chan and Luke Skywalker?
John: Erm... well... depends how they were fighting! Luke Skywalker would kick Jackie Chan's ass!
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