EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED FROM TANKIAN
By Aaron Lavery
Metro
Aug 19 2008
UK
Political activist, environmental campaigner and, most famously,
voice of alternative metal band System Of A Down, Serj Tankian has
never followed a conventional rock’n’roll career.
More likely to be found working alongside Rage Against The Machine
guitarist Tom Morello on behalf of Axis Of Justice – the non-profit
humanitarian organisation the duo formed in 2002 – than falling out
of a bar drunk, the Lebanese-born Armenian-American has long been
one of the more contentious and idiosyncratic frontmen in rock. Now
that he is effectively a solo artist, following the announcement in
2006 that System Of A Down were on indefinite hiatus, he is proving
just as unpredictable.
In October last year, Tankian’s solo debut, Elect The Dead, was
released to positive reviews, expressing relief that the singer had
abandoned the obscure Armenian folk of his previous side project,
Serart. In contrast, Elect contained the same hard-hitting blend of
soaring guitars, skewed time signatures and classical arrangements
that had originally made SOAD so distinctive. Unsurprisingly, Tankian’s
plans for the follow-up record are somewhat different.
‘I am putting together a world-class orchestra and a few opera singers
to collaborate with for the next one,’ he says. ‘I am looking at doing
a jazz/orchestral record: jazz on the intimate side and orchestral
on the grand side. I want the orchestra to be the electric guitar.’
In the meantime, Tankian is also working with playwright Steven
Sater on a musical adaptation of Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound. ‘I
have never done a musical or a play, so to me it’s interesting new
territory as a composer,’ he explains. He describes the project as
‘ranging in style from classical to pop, noise to rock to electronic’.
Although evidently keen to stretch himself artistically, Tankian
has not abandoned his rock roots, with this rescheduled UK tour
predominantly based around material from Elect The Dead. Then again,
if you’re not prepared for the odd snuck-in orchestral-jazz-noise-rock
fusion moment, then you just don’t know Serj.