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SOADFans: Serj is really tired from the new album! |
Posted by ZAk on Sunday, January 23, 2005 - 12:35 PM
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<P dir=ltr style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">Right in the middle of recording the new double album, Hypnotize/Mesmerize, Serj Tankian is sounding tired after a particularly long and grueling session in the studio.
It’s a gentle voice that greets me from the other end of the line, softly spoken, thoughtful and occasionally aloof.
According to an Interview to the australian Beat magazine :
“Man, I’m tired. We’re all working really hard to finish this album. I’ve been working on it all day and it’s 1:30 in the morning here. I’m afraid we’re not going to have it ready (for the Australian tour), but we are probably going to release the first part, Hypnotize in March and then the second part, Mesmerize, will come six months after that."
Neither is Tankian giving anything away about what to expect live, and how much of their set will include new material.
<FONT face=Arial>“We’ll be putting that together soon, it is too early to comment on, but yes - we will be playing some of the new material live. We are really excited to be coming back to Australia; our last tour there was great we enjoyed playing there very much.”
-So what prompted the idea to release a double album?
<FONT face=Arial>“It was not an idea that we went in to the studio with. When we went in to record, we wanted to make sure that each song was as good as it could possibly be, and when we were deciding what songs would finally make the album, we realized that we had two full albums of songs that were all amazing and all worked well together. We are recording, mixing and mastering all of it at once. That way both albums will flow like a single piece and really work as one. The second release will add more to the same feeling created by the first.”
-Given the resounding international success of Toxicity, one wonders if the band have adopted a different approach to writing and if the fans can expect any changes. Do the band feel like they know each other better musically?
“Everything changes based on all sorts of experiences. How (SOAD have changed) is something you may have to sort out. We have all been through some troubled times over the last year and I think a lot of that emotion is coming through in our new songs.We have learned a lot of each other’s strengths and weaknesses and that helps us as a group, both live and when we are recording. I’m not sure it changes the formation process, but enhances it, based on everyone’s known forte’s…
-Uber-producer Rick Rubin has been at the helm of all the band’s previous three releases, and it’s an association that Serj is content to explain.
“Rick understands System’s vibe and music really well, and in that way has always contributed to its resounding projection. He is an amazing producer who knows this music from the studio/engineering perspective as well as from the musician’s. We enjoy working with him, and I think he helps us in achieving the sound and feeling we are looking for on our albums. Production-wise, I think Daron’s guitar on this one is on another level with his layering and mixing of sounds.”
-When quizzed about the band’s Armenian American heritage, Tankian, sees SOAD’s ethnicity as integral to their identity as a group and to the formation of their music.
“Who you are and what you have seen has a big impact on everything that you do. How it works for our music and specifically this album is there to the listener to judge.”
Besides his main role with System Of A Down, Tankian also runs his own label, Serjical Strike .As one half of the experimental collaboration Serart, a side-project he formed with celebrated avante garde multi-instrumentalist Arto Tuncboyaciyan, Tankian isn’t about to disregard the possibility of another Serart album.
“I loved doing that project, and I loved working with Arto. I would definitely say that there will be another collaboration between us in the future. I have so many ideas that need to be expressed and Serart is just one of the vehicles I am using to do that.”
Indeed. In 2003 Serj was involved in the Axis of Justice, a protest/educational concert organized by himself, Michael Moore, Tom Morello and Maynard James Keenan, which contains all of the above, plus the likes of Flea, Chris Cornell and many others. The live album Axis of Justice: Volume 1 has just recently been released in Australia as an album and as a DVD.
“That was a big collaboration between many like-minded individuals to hopefully enlighten people and make them more aware of what is happening in their society and in the world. We are lucky that so many talented people were involved and without people like this the world would be a much darker place.”
System of A Down play the Big Day Out, Sun Jan 30. Catch them for their special side-show performance at Festival Hall on Tues Feb 1 with Rise Against and The Butterfly Effect. Hypnotize/Mesmerize is out early 2005 thru Sony/BMG. Axis of Justice: Vol 1 is out now.
Interview Made by <FONT color=#ffd700><A href="http://www.beat.com.au/cover_story.php" target=_blank>Beat Magazine - Jan.23, 2005
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Comments
darcy
07.11.05, 06:42
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i think serj is absolutely right, some people like me, live in a world apart from the real stuff thats happening outside, they get stuck in payments, tuitian, groseries, clean up, and have no time to sit and find out whats going on now, i think we should all be aware of whats happening in this society, and im sorry he is sick of the album, but i love it, i couldnt live with out this band, makes me go back to reality, to live, to what i used to be long time ago.
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