SYSTEM SINGER VISITS CONGRESSMAN’S OFFICE TO PUSH GENOCIDE BILL
By Corey Moss
MTV.com
Sept 29 2005
Band, meanwhile, is about to shoot a video for ‘Hypnotize.’ System of
a Down’s Serj Tankian at the rally in Chicago Photo: Armenian National
Committee of America
Singer Serj Tankian had some personal business to attend to this week
before System of a Down could shoot their next video. Personal and,
well, global.
Before the band left for the second leg of its fall tour with the
Mars Volta (see
Photos, audio and video from this story
System of a Down “B.Y.O.B.”
Mezmerize (American/Columbia)
“System Of A Down/ Mars Volta Tour Dates Announced”), Tankian
promised his 97-year-old grandfather he would do his best to convince
Congressman Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) to bring the Armenian Genocide
Resolution to a vote, an issue long close to System of a Down (see
“System Of A Down Make The Political Personal At Souls 2005”). And
he did just that Tuesday outside the Speaker of the House’s Batavia,
Illinois, office.
Tankian joined members of the Armenian National Committee of America,
the Armenian Youth Federation and his own Axis of Justice organization
in a rally and then read a heartfelt letter he delivered to Hastert’s
office in support of the pending legislation, which would officially
recognize Turkey’s slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915
and 1923.
With the resolution, which overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan
International Relations Committee, Hastert can either bring it to
the House of Representatives for a vote or let it expire.
“It’s all in his hands, he’s the man,” Tankian said of Hastert,
who spoke in support of recognizing the genocide on the House floor
in 1994. “The thing is that a similar resolution was going around in
2000 as well and he was the speaker of the House then, but at the time
[President Bill] Clinton had written a letter asking him not to bring
it up to vote, citing concerns that had to do with Turkey. In 2004
he also had the opportunity to bring another resolution to vote on
… and that didn’t happen either.
“I’m sure that there’s a lot of lobbying going on from the Bush
administration, from the military-industrial complex that sells a lot
of weapons to Turkey, and a whole host of corporate lobbyist firms
that don’t want this thing to pass, but the truth has to come out,
and more so in a democracy than anywhere else,” he continued. “So
we’re fighting the good fight.”
Hastert was not at his office Tuesday and was unavailable for comment
Wednesday (September 28).
As for that System video, for “Hypnotize,” bassist Shavo Odadjian is
returning to the director’s chair for the shoot at Van Andel Arena
in Grand Rapids, Michigan, after having also lensed the band’s
“Question!” (see “System Of A Down Find Answer To ‘Question!’ In
A Dream”).
“This will be our first live video per se,” Tankian said. “We’ve had
videos where we’ve had fans and we played live, but it’s never been
at a venue that we would actually play.”
Of course Odadjian always has something up his sleeve, and Tankian
hinted that it has to do with a helicopter shot. “I’m like, “I’m like,
‘Hey, man, I’m cool with that as long as we’re not hanging from it,’
” the singer joked.
“Hypnotize” is the first single from the second half of the double
album Mezmerize/Hypnotize, due November 22.
“This track’s pretty mellow in comparison to let’s say a ‘B.Y.O.B.’
or something like that,” Tankian said. “But I’m glad we’re going out
with this track. It’s a beautiful song.”
Tankian chose not to elaborate on the song, noting, “It means different
things to different people, even within the band.”
Guitarist Daron Malakian has said he wrote it while waiting in a
car for his girlfriend (see “System Of A Down Kick Out The Jams
On Hypnotize”).
As for the album, fans should expect something just slightly different
from Mezmerize.
“It’s got the whole melodic thing still, but it’s little more
progressive, a little more emotion here and there,” Tankian said.
“But they both come from the same sessions.”
Before Hypnotize hits stores, Tankian will appear on the new album
from Buckethead, Enter the Chicken. Along with lending his vocals,
Tankian produced the album and will release it October 25 on his
Serjical Strike Records.
“It’s a f—ing amazing record,” Tankian said. “It’s a really, really
strong, dynamic rock record, really out there, with like 12 different
singers. I just brought in a whole collection of friends to sing.”
Guests include Saul Williams, Efrem Schulz of Death by Stereo, Bad
Acid Trip and Maura Davis of Denali.
“I think it will be a breakthrough because first of all, Buckethead
mostly does instrumental stuff,” Tankian said. “And he’s never really
done a lot of stuff with pop arrangements, I don’t mean pop like
bubblegum pop, I mean like anything from progressive crazy stuff to
regular beautiful songs. And this album is going to be like that.
It’s got the whole dynamic range of everything Buckethead has ever done
and it totally transpired by accident and just ended up working out.”
Tankian also remixed Notorious B.I.G.’s “Who Shot Ya” for the “Marc
Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure” graffiti video game,
due November 15. “I love the way it came out,” he said (see “P. Diddy
Flips Out, RZA Promotes Graffiti In ‘Getting’ Game”).
For more on System of a Down’s double album, Mezmerize/Hypnotize,
check out the feature “Doubleheader.”