SYSTEM FANS ANXIOUS FOR SECOND HELPING
CanWest News, Canada
Sept 22 2005
Sandra Sperounes
CanWest News Service
Photo CREDIT: The Associated Press
Daron Malakian (from left), Serj Tankian, John Dolmayan and Shavo
Odadjian share strong roots — both Armenian and otherwise.
Edmonton — Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
If you’re a fan of System of a Down, you’ve been counting the days,
if not the seconds, until their new acrobatic metal opus, Hypnotize,
hits stores in November.
The wait wouldn’t be so excruciating if their last album, released in
April, weren’t such a powerhouse of metal, politics and groovy Armenian
folk rhythms. Appropriately, the cover of Mezmerize features a face
with a clock in the middle of its forehead, a taunting illustration
of our current plight.
“I can’t imagine what our fans feel like, but I know it’s frustrating
for me,” says drummer John Dolmayan. “Once the drums are (recorded), I
have to wait for everybody else. So I’ve had to wait for about a year.”
Mezmerize is widely considered one of the top albums of 2005 and
Hypnotize will likely make it two. Despite the attendant hype for
Hypnotize, Dolmayan, vocalist Serj Tankian, guitarist/vocalist Daron
Malakian and bassist Shavo Odadjian have been able to keep it under
lock and key.
“Not even the president of Columbia (Records) has a copy of it,”
says Dolmayan. “We’ve got a pretty strict watch on this one. It’ll
get leaked two weeks before the release, as usual. As soon as it gets
out of our hands, then it gets leaked.
“People don’t buy as many albums nowadays, so what’s the difference?
People just download them. I understand from the people’s perspective
— they don’t want to pay $12 for something they can get for free. If
the record labels weren’t so damn greedy and made the albums $8,
maybe people would buy more.
“I go out and buy albums and DVDs, but I’m in a better financial
position than a lot of people. I support the industry because if I
don’t, I believe it will disappear. As it is, less and less chances are
taken on bands. Labels can’t afford to take as many chances so you’re
losing out on a lot of music. A band like System of a Down wouldn’t
get signed today, let’s put it that way. That’s a sad commentary on
the state of affairs.”
That’s an understatement.
A world without System of a Down would be sad. Formed in 1995, the
Los Angeles rockers are one of the most vital, creative and important
bands in rock — more ambitious than Coldplay, more political than U2,
more irreverent than Franz Ferdinand.
Think of System as the musical equivalent of South Park; they both
like to satirize politicians, actors and the entire Hollywood ethos.
B.Y.O.B., the first single from Mezmerize, is a biting look at the
policies of war — “”Why don’t presidents fight the war? Why do
they always send the poor?” — set to raging, rapid-fire riffs and
a blissed-out chorus of hippies. Old School Hollywood, a dizzying
track with whirling disco beats and robo vocals, is a cutting look
at celebrities while Radio/Video takes shots at the music industry.
“South Park is a very ingenious TV program,” says Dolmayan.”They take
all the stupid s— we care about it and make it inconsequential,
which is what it really is.”
Born in Lebanon, Dolmayan and his family moved to California when he
was eight, after a four-year pit-stop in Montreal. (His grandparents
died, necessitating the move to Los Angeles, where other family
members were living.) While in Canada, Dolmayan got his first drum
kit. He was seven.
“It was destroyed on a Sunday morning,” he remembers. “My dad had
been up until five and I decided I was going to play at six, so it
was bye-bye to that drum set. I didn’t get another one until I was 15.”
In the intervening years, Dolmayan’s desire for the drums never
wavered. Nor was he able to figure out why he was so drawn to the
instrument.
“I used to mimic drummers before I knew what a drummer was,” he says.
“My dad was a musician and still is — he’s a sax player. He would
put me in the back seat of the car and you know how there was a
little divider for a hand rest? I’d sit on top of that and he’d put
Chicago’s seventh album on and I would mimic that album. I was one
or two years old.
“It was always drums. I can’t tell you — I was playing at them at
such a young age, it’s like asking ‘Why do you breathe?’ You don’t
know, you just do. Why do you drink water? ‘Cause you have to. Why
do I play drums? It’s in my nature. I have to play them. I don’t know
if I play them or they play me.”
It’s also in Dolmayan’s nature to speak his mind. Ditto for the rest
of System.
Earlier this year, Malakian dropped an F-bomb during an appearance
on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. While censors were forewarned
about B.Y.O.B.’s lyrics and bleeped out five words, the guitarist
unexpectedly slipped one in at the end of the song, much to the
consternation of the show’s executives.
Unlike Motley Crue, who claimed they were banned from NBC’s airwaves
after swearing on The Tonight Show, Dolmayan says System wasn’t
blacklisted. Nor did the U.S. censorship bureau, Federal Communications
Commission, crack down on the network or the band.
With hundreds of Iraqi citizens and U.S. soldiers getting killed
each week, Dolmayan doesn’t understand what the fuss was all about
a four-letter word.
“Luckily, the FCC didn’t go insane and do some stupid fines. It’s
12 o’clock at night, who’s watching TV? It’s not like it’s five-year
olds. Let adults be adults. I think everyone can deal with a ‘F—‘
being said here and there and not have a heart attack. Take it easy.”
Still, Dolmayan isn’t too worried about the cultural climate in
the U.S.
“It could be worse,” he says. “It could be the ’50s. We’d be thrown
in prison because we’re Communists, which we aren’t. At least we can
say something. It could be better, but it could be worse.”
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress