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  • A System of speaking up

    A System of speaking up
    Band's material sprinkled with political, social commentary

    Larry Rodgers
    The Arizona Republic
    Aug. 4, 2005 12:00 AM

    Although his band's latest album comments on the Iraq war, the demise
    of Western culture and the polarization of American society, singer
    Serj Tankian doesn't want System of a Down to be narrowly categorized
    as a "political band."

    Asked about the commentary on Mezmerize, the first installment of a
    two-disc project (the second, Hypnotize, is due in the fall), Tankian
    says the CD and the band have "political and social ideas . . . along
    with personal narratives and stories, theoretical evaluations and
    humor."

    Like such bands as Green Day, Pearl Jam and Wilco, which take an
    occasional swing at politics and social commentary while singing
    about more traditional rock subjects at other times, System of a Down
    doesn't take itself too seriously.

    But Tankian acknowledges that even when his band, a foursome with
    Armenian backgrounds, is singing about a subject such as death (the
    focus of its new single, Question!), it's taking only a temporary
    detour from social consciousness. The band performs in Phoenix
    on Monday.

    Tankian says that some groups who joined the wave of acts campaigning
    against President Bush last fall have fallen silent since John Kerry
    was defeated.

    "They focused on the election, and then they lost touch with their
    political or social ideas," says Tankian, who met two of his three
    bandmates, Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals) and Shavo Odadjian (bass),
    while attending a private Armenian school in Hollywood.

    "When people feel like they're being listened to or heard, they
    speak. When they feel like no one's going to listen, they don't.
    Well, we talk all the time."

    Using a combination of wildly creative instrumentation and vocals
    that range from Freddie Mercury-style swooning to solemn chanting
    to operatic octave-jumping, System of a Down has an instantly
    recognizable sound.

    For instance, the new Violent Pornography, which criticizes American
    television, bounces between Middle Eastern guitar riffs, thrashing
    metal, rapid-fire vocals and pleasant harmonies.

    "It's a violent pornography . . . turn off your TV," Tankian sings
    before adding, "Can you say 'brainwashing'?"

    Mezmerize's debut single, B.Y.O.B., moves among five rhythms played
    by drummer John Dolmayan as Tankian rails against the destruction
    in Iraq: "Everybody's going to the party, have a real good time /
    Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine."

    Asked whether the band gets much feedback from fans about such
    diatribes as B.Y.O.B., Tankian, 37, mentions a particularly troubling
    e-mail from a Marine who had returned from Iraq:

    "He told us that while they were attacking Fallujah, they(broadcast)
    our song Jet Pilot. . . . Using the loudspeakers of the mosques (U.S.
    forces) actually played that song. It literally left me speechless. I
    shared it with the guys, and they were all concerned."

    Despite his band's penchant for intellectually stimulating subject
    matter, Tankian knows the messages that he and Malakian pen wouldn't
    be heard without music that moves the masses. (A million copies of
    Mezmerize were shipped at its May launch, and it debuted at No. 1 on
    Billboard's Top 200 album chart.)

    "I think the music is the most powerful vehicle," he says. "Music
    touches people's hearts; speaking touches people's minds. But the
    heart can always overwhelm the mind."
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