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.”