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Metal Eastern: System Of A Down: Music's New Toxic Avengers
Metal Eastern: System Of A Down: Music's New Toxic Avengers
By Mar Yvette
Original URL: www.supersphere.com/Media...TICLE_SOAD
Driving around the streets of Los Angeles en route to pick up his vehicle and drop off the rental that he's in, Serj Tankian's seemingly mundane errand is a perfect paradigm for his life at the moment. Along with his bandmates, Tankian is on the proverbial metaphoric road, claiming ownership of their sound and casting off any doubts that System Of A Down was just another thrash and bash band of rented noise. Having spent the last several years reaping the benefits of a gold-selling self-titled debut-thanks in large part to their theatrically dynamic live shows-the group is now ready to release their highly anticipated follow-up, Toxicity. A heavy-hitting barrage of pounding rhythms, jarring guitars (each track has twelve layers of them), and quirky vocalizations, mixed in with relentless snarls, growls, and roars, Toxicity fiercely brandishes what listeners have come to expect from the Armenian foursome, while branching out into newer territory, incorporating more experimental instrumentation and showcasing the harmonious interplay between Tankian and guitarist/vocalist, Daron Malakian. "This new album is a bit more focused, and more melodic," Tankian tells me from his cell phone while maneuvering through the canyon. "There are more harmonies with Daron's vocals and mine... Those are the main technical differences [between Toxicity and their debut]. As far as the sound, the record is much fuller. Some songs have samples, keyboards, piano, and live strings as well as multi-layered guitars, so it's much more lush."
That richly textured sound coupled with the euphonic capabilities of Tankian and Malakian is particularly evident on songs like "Chop Suey!" "Aerials," "ATWA" and "Psycho," each of which showcases the band's melodious strengths without abandoning the thrash aspects that precipitate mosh pit fever. "Psycho," a somewhat humorous song about drug-addled groupies, bursts open with Tankian vociferously reiterating the phrase "Psycho groupie / Cocaine crazy" against a caustic cadence before segueing into a soothing mélange of melancholic guitars that wrap around the lyrics, "So you want to see the show / You really don't have to be a ho." Conversely, "ATWA," a song that explores Charles Manson's view on the environment, begins with a beguiling soft guitar intro before breaking out into a full-throttled brouhaha of belligerent beats. Having recorded a total of 33 fully tracked songs during a nine-week period, it was a lengthy process to narrow it down to the fifteen tracks (including a remarkable Armenian-inspired hidden "outro") found on Toxicity. Especially difficult since, as Tankian unequivocally asserts, "I don't have a favorite song because I don't believe in good or bad. They're all great; that's why we put them on there."
It was several years ago when Tankian, Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian, and drummer John Dolmayan played the Viper Room and impressed legendary producer Rick Rubin enough to get signed onto his American Recordings label. Having produced the group's first album that had hits such as the idiosyncratic "Sugar" and the melodically moody "Spiders," Rubin was once again at the helm of SOAD's latest venture. "Rick has been very involved in our records," notes Tankian. "The producer's role is to make sure everything works out fine, to make sure that the musicians are as artistically compelled as they should be, and that everything sounds good and proceeds correctly. I think Rick has done all of that."
An inherently private person, the extremely soft-spoken Tankian veers from personal disclosures and is usually the last in line when it comes to doing press. "It's hard enough having people coming up to me and telling me what my favorite ice cream is, let alone having my private life revealed to the public," he divulges in between moments of cellular static. "I mean, some people are very public and that's fine, but that's just not me. I try to remain fresh for every look of gratitude and joy; I truly appreciate it. I think it's more about sharing the love than anything. There are people who might come up to me at the wrong time and I might tell them that I can't talk right now. And if they insist, then I just don't talk to them. That's their problem of not knowing how to handle themselves. But generally people are very cool and I haven't had any problems with that."
With his own Serjical Strike Records label in full swing and a recently published book of poetry called Cool Gardens, it seems that the introverted Tankian is in fact sharing himself with the public in more ways than ever before. Or is he? "Anything I do is a part of me," he says thoughtfully, "but nothing I do is everything of me." As he continues, "I don't read interviews, I don't listen to the radio, and I don't watch television. I don't have time. I'm almost too productive; I'm able to do a lot of things at the same time."
One of those "things" to which Tankian refers is educating the public about the Armenian genocide via the band's lyrics, website, and live shows. The widespread extermination of the Armenian people in 1915 by the Turkish government, the Armenian genocide is an historical atrocity that has still not been officially recognized by the Turkish government. Despite international documentation that confirms an estimated 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children were killed (not to mention the massacres between the years of 1894-1896), it remains to be seen whether the Turkish government will ever recognize that the abominable event occurred and attempt to make reparations.
"We've got nothing against the Turkish people," Tankian earnestly explains. "A Turkish family has helped save part of my family from the genocide, so you can't really blame the people. It's the government and what they cause. Even though the government is made up of people, that's the structure that caused the damage. Institutionalizing things gives man the ability to do the evil he can't do on a personal level. It's very unmotivating, but you've got to press on."
After an hour of discussion, phone disconnections, and redials, Tankian is off the hook and it's time to call a slightly jet-lagged Daron Malakian, who is chilling at home sipping some homemade soup. Just back from doing a week of press in Germany, Italy, Japan, and the U.K., the extroverted Malakian is an overt contrast to the low-key Tankian. As the group's primary music writer, Malakian is also, as he succinctly puts it, "the one who says whatever the fuck's on my mind." Like his friend Serj, Malakian is somewhat loath to watching television. That is, of course, unless there's a hockey game on or an old sitcom on Nick at Nite. "I love 'Three's Company' and 'All in the Family,'" he says with boyish friendliness. "I just think people shouldn't use TV as their only source for information. If you watch television to get your news, you're in trouble. Turn off your TV and see where your ideas take you. Just like people say it's not the gun that's bad, it's the person who uses it. I guess the same could be said about TV."
A self-professed misanthrope (who happened to be a most cordial conversationalist during our hour-and-a-half discourse), Malakian brims with contrasts. Writing songs heavily rooted in the metallic soil of groups like Slayer and Black Sabbath, he is an avid fan of Iggy Pop, Madonna, and Prince, and sites his two all-time favorite songs as "Sailing" by Christopher Cross and "Sultans of Swing" by Dire Straits. "I just love music in general as long as it's good. I'm not limited to my testosterone," he laughs. This unique union of polarities not only characterizes Malakian's personality; it is an integral part of what signifies the SOAD sound. "Basically, System Of A Down likes to fuck things up and have people think. If you can make somebody laugh and think and cry all at the same time…" he trails off. "Great art -- not to say that my art is great - needs to make me feel a lot of different emotions. Like in "Psycho," for instance. Towards the end of [the song] it gets very emotional; it's like the guitars are almost crying. But yet you can't help but laugh at the lyrics, especially if you're a girl."
"The biggest misconception about us is that we're a political band," Malakian explains. "We're not. [Our songs are] like conversations between friends; we talk about anything and it just so happens that once in a while we talk about politics. Shit, man, we could be talking about a cereal that really tastes good and it's like, 'Oh wow, doesn't this cereal taste good? Let's write a song about it!'" If there were a message to the music, it is, as Malakian enthusiastically declares, "Wake up! And not necessarily in any political way, but just think freely and think more. It's like you watch television and listen to the radio and you let 'em think and choose for you, you know? Don't be afraid about what someone is going to think about you. The reason why people tell us that our sound is so real and different is because we're not afraid to do what we like doing. It's like Serj's line that says, 'Free thinkers are dangerous.' Well, get dangerous."
Gearing up to co-headline with Slipknot on the "Pledge of Allegiance" tour that commences this month, SOAD is ready for another lengthy road trek that will probably plunge them into an even greater sea of celebrity. But as the two bandmates point out, that's never been an aim of the group. As Tankian earlier expressed, "Success is in just doing the work and being happy with your day. We make music for ourselves; we're not trying to please everybody. As far as System goes, even if [Toxicity] was only released on the web and was never sold, it's successful." Malakian agrees. "What satisfies me at the end of the day is knowing that I didn't conform to the norm. As long as I can stay true to myself and be proud of what I'm doing, then I'm cool. Everything else is just an outside opinion."
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