Got this off a system news letter thought it would be nice to contruibte

 When System of a Down's second album Toxicity was released in 2001, it became an instant classic. The youth of America connected so well to the group’s aggressive socio-political lyrics and heavily robust and brash music that they went out and bought six million copies of the album, making System of a Down an international phenomenon.

Not o­nly did the band help cultivate a mini revolution of mainstream rebellion among the Gen Y population, System of a Down carried the free-speech m.o. like an Olympic torch. With their albums, they brought attention to drug addiction, the state of the nation and the Armenian genocide, the latter of which they’ve based an annual benefit concert. If you go to the band’s Web site, you’ll find a dedicated section of links to causes that they support.

Now, after a lengthy wait and during a strongly divided political climate, System of a Down is ready to release a double album set. Drummer John Dolmayan tells us why.

Get Connected: You’re giving fans six months to get comfortable with Mezmerize before Hypnotize is released. Can you talk a little bit about how the two albums are related?

John Dolmayan: They were all recorded at basically the same time. We didn’t really intend o­n having two albums in the beginning. It’s just that the music kept coming and great songs kept being written, and we didn’t have the ability to choose which o­nes would o­nly be o­n [one] album.

GC: So it was more a matter of too much good stuff?

Exactly.

GC: How did you wind up deciding which material would go o­n each?

I kind of left that up to [guitarist/producer] Daron Malakian since he wrote most of the songs. I felt that he would be able to pick them best.

GC: What was recording the new album like? Was there any pressure after the massive success of your last full-length release?

It was a good experience. It was a lengthy experience, which is something we weren’t really used to, but it was, overall, a learning experience. It was a lot of fun.

GC: What are you inspired by?

Art [is] o­ne of them, music [is] another, life [is] the third.
There isn’t o­ne particular thing, but a combination of all things in life that inspires me.

GC: With a few records behind the band now, does System of a Down feel comfortable enough to experiment and move away from what fans would expect?

We’ve always kind of stuck to that way of thinking. It’s not like we thought the first album was going to be a huge commercial success; we were just doing what we felt we should do to get our musical opinion out there. We never thought we’d be as successful as we are. It was kind of a shock. You can’t really plan for this kind of success. You just try not to plan for it, if that makes sense.

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