WHAT CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THE SCARS SONG "ANGRY GURU"?
It's a real frantic song. It mixes thrash, black metal, death metal with groovy, funky rhythms. The topic is an imaginary person of this guru who is frustrated. It was a character that I made up. [Laughs] If one song really has a System of a Down style to it, that one is extremely Systemesque.
THE SECOND-TO-LAST TRACK ON THE ALBUM IS AN INSTRUMENTAL CALLED "GIE MOU." THAT'S AN INTERESTING PIECE OF MUSIC.
It's an old Greek song. It means "My Son." My uncle spent a lot of time in Greece, so he brought to the United States a lot of Greek music. As a kid I would listen to a lot of that music. That stuck with me. I decided to do an instrumental version of that song because I always loved the melody. I had no idea what he was singing, what he was saying. It's a really pretty song and it's a sad song.
My guitar influence has a lot of bouzouki in it. I always loved this song, and I wanted to do an instrumental because I don't sing in Greek. It's one of my favorite parts of the album because it's so unexpected.
YOU'VE OFTEN MADE UNEXPECTED CHOICES ON COVERS, INCLUDING DIRE STRAITS' "SULTANS OF SWING," CHANGING THE CHORUS LYRICS TO SAY, "WE ARE THE SYSTEM, WE ARE THE SYSTEM OF THE DOWN."
I always like to do covers in my own way. On the new album, there's a song called "Assimilate," which is a Skinny Puppy song. The Skinny Puppy version is all electronic and industrial and a totally different thing. If you're going to cover a song, you've got to do it with your touch. You have to show how that song influenced you to be who you are — not necessarily copying what they are.
System even did a Black Sabbath cover back in the day with "Snowblind" and it sounds nothing like the original. Even the Sabbath guys were so into it that Bill Ward came up to me — we were opening up for Sabbath [in 1999] and they asked us to play the song live. We can't play a Sabbath song before Sabbath is about to play! I felt weird about that, but Bill Ward convinced me to play the song. Those guys are everything when it comes to metal, so for them to be into it — words can't express how I felt about that.
ANOTHER SONG FROM YOUR PAST IS "A.T.W.A.," FROM TOXICITY, AND INVOLVES CHARLES MANSON, WHO RECENTLY DIED IN PRISON.
I've never really been interested in the murders. It was more about the person. The way I got attracted to Manson was through his interviews, and how he put his words together and articulated himself and his viewpoints on society. There are certain things he said that he put in a certain way that is very artistic. That's what drew me to Manson. Even "A.T.W.A." has nothing to do with killing or murder. It's more about the man. I almost wanted to shine a different light on somebody that people usually put together with murder and blood and horrible things. I wanted to take a different approach on the Manson thing and show a different side of it.
YOU'VE SAID THAT ONE OF THE REASONS YOU SAT ON THE SECOND SCARS ALBUM FOR YEARS WAS BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT THE SONGS MIGHT BE NEEDED FOR A NEW SYSTEM ALBUM.
System still plays live, and there was always this talk of maybe we'll do something, maybe we won't do something. So I was like, "Maybe I should save these songs." That's the biggest reason why I took so long to release these songs. There was this constant chatter amongst ourselves of maybe doing an album together. But enough time has passed that I don't want to wait anymore. It feels really good to let these songs loose. Honestly, almost anything that I write works for either band. What you're hearing [in the music] is my writing style. Anything that I write usually comes with those flavors.
DOES THAT MEAN THERE WON'T EVER BE ANOTHER SYSTEM OF A DOWN ALBUM?
I couldn't say ever, but as of right now, it's not looking like we're doing something together soon. I can't close the book on it and say it's done forever. We still play live. We're all still friends. All my band members posted "Lives" on their own Facebooks and Instagrams, so we're all very supportive of each other. It's more a combination of where each person is at a different point in their life, and each person wants to do a different thing. There are some creative differences as well on what direction each one of us wants to take the next System album, if that ever happens. Which is fine. I'm not sitting here upset or anything. The only thing I'm a little frustrated with was waiting for that to maybe happen or not happen. Too much time has passed by since I've released anything with Scars or System. But it's never too late.
ARE SYSTEM FANS SUPPORTIVE OF SCARS?
When I put out the first Scars album, I felt a different energy from the fans. The first time around, I felt a lot of, "Well, it's not System. When are we gonna get System?" And when I put out the song "Lives" I felt a more positive energy from the fans. Now, I've been hearing people say, "Hey, put out more Scars!" — a real positive vibe towards Scars, which makes it feel all the better.