LIVEDAILY INTERVIEW: SERJ TANKIAN
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski
LiveDaily.com
Oct 19 2007
In recording his debut solo effort, System of a Down frontman Serj
Tankian [ tickets ] says he felt the same energy as he did recording
his band’s first album in 1998. And both projects have the same goal:
To make people think.
Tankian said the title of his first release, "Elect the Dead,"
conjures up a multitude of thoughts.
"It means a lot of things to different people that I talk to,"
Tankian said during an interview with LiveDaily. "It’s open to
interpretation. It definitely has a lot of weight and it makes me
think about things."
Born in 1967 to Armenian parents in Beirut, Lebanon, Tankian founded
System of a Down in 1995 with three friends from the Armenian-American
community. The California-based band, which earned one Grammy
Award, scored hits with "Aerials," "B.Y.O.B.," "Hypnotize" and
"Chop Suey!" After the 2005 album "Hypnotize" was released, the band
announced it was on "indefinite hiatus."
For "Elect the Dead," Tankian played most of the instruments, save
for guest appearances on drums by System’s John Dolmayan and Primus’
Brian "Brain" Mantia, and some contributions from guitarist/bassist
Dan Monti and opera soprano Ani Maldjian.
Tankian spoke to LiveDaily about "Elect the Dead," why "Empty Walls"
was chosen as the first single and System of a Down’s future.
LiveDaily: You must be looking forward to your first solo tour.
Serj Tankian: Yeah, very much so. I’ve been rehearsing with my back-up
band. It’s going really well.
Why did you decide that now was an ideal time for your first solo
album?
I wanted it to be something that I prioritized and gave enough time and
effort to do. Between System record cycles, it’s always difficult to
find that kind of time to prioritize other projects. Now that we’re
on indefinite hiatus, it became the perfect time to launch this.
When did you find time to write songs?
I have about 400 to 500 songs. I write music all the time. I have
my own studio. I record, and some of the music is electronic, some
is jazz, some is experimental. There’s noise stuff, punk stuff, rock
stuff, classical music. I do all sorts of music–some for film, some
for licensing for video games, etc. This is what I do. I’ve always
done this.
How did you decide which songs to put on the album? It sounds like
that would be quite the task.
They just kind of popped up as ones that were classically written
on piano or acoustic guitar; things that required my voice versus a
female vocalist or some other nuance. They just kind of popped up. I
also wrote some music last year to complement the bunch. I recorded
everything in my studio pretty much between October and November of
last year.
"Empty Walls" was a good choice for a first single. What was the
thought behind that? And was it hard to choose the single?
Thanks. It’s always hard to choose singles. I’m trying to deal with
the second single now. It’s never easy. It’s a combination of some
scientific efforts and some gut feeling aspect. It was a good album
opener and everyone felt like it would definitely make a good opener
as a first single off the record.
Do you find yourself inspired by certain things that are going on in
the world, or on tour, or is everything pretty much inspirational?
I’m inspired by things that I read and conversations and emotions
and visuals, other art forms, film, music. Everything is part of the
palette that I kind of take from.
On your tour, are you going to play any System of a Down songs?
No. This is a new project, a new band. But it’s actually hard filling
in a full set for a brand new record. The record’s only 45 minutes.
The show is an hour and 15. We’ll do some covers and some bonus tracks.
What covers are you going to do? Or is it a surprise?
One of the covers I’m doing is [the Dead Kennedys’] "Holiday in
Cambodia," which I did with the Foo Fighters at the VMAs. I figured,
"Hey, if I’m going to get that down and learn it, I might as well
have the band learn it as well." For the other one, I asked the band,
"Do you guys know any songs? Any cool covers we could play?" The
pianist was like, "I could do ‘Girl’ by The Beatles." I’m like,
"All right, let’s try it." We kind of tweaked it our own way and it
came out kind of funny.
What do you see for the future of System of a Down?
We’re on indefinite hiatus. We haven’t made any plans right now.
We’re all friends. We’re all supportive of each other’s projects,
and if and when we see the need to speak together as one, you’ll know.