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Category: SOADFansThe news items published under this category are as follows.
SOADFans: Being Brash to Stir Things Up
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| Posted by JP on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 08:47 PM |
By JON PARELES
Published: May 11, 2005
System of a Down doesn't mind taking some cheap shots. The band played Irving Plaza on Monday night fresh from its appearance on "Saturday Night Live," where its leader, Serj Tankian, used a four-letter word and caused the predictable brouhaha, which gave him something to brag about onstage.
Televised profanity was just the thing to stir some interest in the band's brief new album, "Mezmerize" (American/Columbia), to be released on Tuesday, but didn't get much exposure in the band's set, which drew mostly on its 2001 album, "Toxicity" (American/Columbia). Mr. Tankian's other stage banter was about sex, drugs and pumping up a crowd that had already turned the floor into a bruising mosh pit.
The music was made for that: thrashing, stop-start rock that slowed down and got melodic just long enough to give fans a breather before the next blast of fast power chords and strobe lights. In concert, System of a Down's songs are like throttles governing the speed and impact of the crowd. But for all its muscle, the band has more on its mind than brute force.
System of a Down, whose members are Armenian-American, sings about genocide, war, religion, oppression and freedom. Between the salvos of speed metal, the songs switched - sometimes instantly - to minor-mode tunes that hinted at Eastern European origins, and the nasal bark that Mr. Tankian used for fast passages turned to a sustained, almost mournful tenor.
For all his sardonic vocal mannerisms, Mr. Tankian rarely jokes; even "Cigaro," the hyperbolic sexual boast from "Mezmerize," turned out to be about greed and overconsumption: "Burning through the world's resources, then we turn and hide." System of a Down can get away with slinging a lot of messages as long as the music keeps pummeling.
Article from NY times |
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SOADFans: Toazted Exclusive Interveiw With John
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| Posted by JP on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 08:37 PM |
Toazted had an interview with drummer John Dolmayan from System Of A Down in a very expensive hotel in Amsterdam, Holland.Right after a special listening session of the new album "Mezmerize" we spoke to John about this great new album, touring, Rick Rubin and more! |
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SOADFans: Toronto Show Cancellation
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| Posted by JP on Wednesday, May 11, 2005 - 07:28 PM |
SOURCE:systemofadown.com
Due to seasonal illness, System Of A Down is regretfully canceling their Toronto club performance originally scheduled for this Friday, May 13th. There are plans to reschedule at a later date. The band truly appreciates your concern and continued support.
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SOADFans: System Of A Down Mezmerize NYC With Crushing 90-Minute Gig
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| Posted by JP on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 06:45 PM |
<IMG alt=Serj src="http://soadfans.com/SO/serj_chicago_050503.jpg" width=180 border=0>System of a Down's Serj Tankian
Photo: Getty Images/Matt Carmichael
05.10.2005
Band touches on mostly older material during 24-song set.
NEW YORK — Fans of avant-garde metal troupe System of a Down started lining up outside Irving Plaza as soon as the venue for Monday evening's gig — one of the last stops on the band's 10-city road primer — was announced Friday evening.
For a handful of System extremists, sacrificing a weekend in their young lives was a small price to pay — a pittance, really — for what was without question the hottest ticket in town, even with Dave Matthews' tour bus parked some 40-odd blocks away at Roseland.
To their credit, System of a Down made every minute of that wait worthwhile for the holdouts. They delivered a thunderous, high-octane set that mixed the fresh with the dated, but never let up, not even for a second.
The 1,100-seater was packed to the rafters, the crowd teeming with rabid fans and Italian-suit-sporting industry wheelers who gave little regard to New York's smoking ban. Even that skeletal, womanly dude from H.I.M. made it out for the rawk show, which followed less than 48 hours after guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian uttered the F-word during the band's "Saturday Night Live" appearance.
"I wasn't offended, were you?" Malakian asked the undulating crowd midway through the foursome's powerful, 90-plus-minute set of rock and roll fury.
Surprisingly, System didn't attempt much new material, concentrating instead on songs they've been playing for years — especially cuts from 2001's Toxicity and 2002's Steal This Album! But the band did set the tone early with one of its freshest ditties: "B.Y.O.B.," the first single from System's forthcoming, two-pronged attack, Mezmerize/Hypnotize. The first disc hits stores next week (see "System Of A Down Album Preview: Band Pulls No Punches With The Pummeling Mezmerize"), while "Hypnotize" is due this fall.
Pulsating, seizure-inducing strobes plastered the throbbing, pogo-prone masses, their arms collectively reaching for the ceiling. Beneath a splash of white light, floppy-fro'd frontman Serj Tankian crooned the song's chorus, "Everybody's going to the party, have a real good time/ Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine."
Malakian's bulging, "crazy like your uncle's" eyes scanned the sea of sweaty bros rhythmically swaying in time with Shavo Odadjian's pounding, penetrating bass lines, ready to launch into 'roid mode as the funky breakdown neared its end. "Blast off, it's party time, and we don't live in a fascist nation," Malakian screamed, sending the crowd into a lawless fury with hats, cups and sneakers hurtling through the air like cattle in a tornado.
"Science" was next, but as with the rest of the show, it was difficult to discern where one song left off and another began. System ripped through 24 songs with virtually no break between, blending them together effortlessly. Of course, it became more than evident why they chose to merely graze the forthcoming material: "Kill Rock 'n' Roll," the only track the band would touch from Hypnotize, cooled the crowd from a frantic, spastic flail to a placid body bop caused by utter unfamiliarity.
Of course, no System of a Down concert would feel complete — especially for the band's Johnny-come-latelies — without the singles. And for System's longtime loyalists, completely ignoring the rockers' self-titled 1998 debut would be cause for a riot. Both sets were placated as Serj led the crowd through a vicious sonic assault that included "Chop Suey," "Sugar," "Toxicity," "Spiders," "Aerials" and "Suite-Pee," all the while doing a haphazard onstage jig with a lopsided grin pasted across his face.
When System tackled "Cigaro," the third and last morsel of newness, Irving Plaza was nearly leveled. The song's crushing riffs, Tankian's genre-defying, schizophrenic vocals, the floorboard-snapping bass, and drummer John Dolmayan's explosive skin swatting ignited a rumbling and unleashed a wave of energy that sent shudders through the building; heard from below, you'd have thought a stampeding elephant had cut through the mosh pit. That sound was unchecked aggression, a sound the swath of security that went charging up the stairs recognized all too well.
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SOADFans: Newest US Guerrila tour dates
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| Posted by JP on Tuesday, May 10, 2005 - 01:20 AM |
SYSTEM OF A DOWN - NEW US TOUR DATES
May 10 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
Doors: 7:00 PM
Tickets go on-sale the day of the show only at the Theatre of Living Arts box office on Tuesday, May 10th at 10am.
May 11 - Washington, D.C. - 9:30 Club
Doors: 7:00 PM
Tickets go on-sale the day of the show only at the 9:30 Club box office on Wednesday, May 11th at 10am. |
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