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SOADFans: 'Cigaro' to be the 1st Song in the new album! |
Posted by soady on Wednesday, January 05, 2005 - 05:49 AM
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According to a hefty soad interview in Kerrang magazine,
"MY COCK IS BIGGER THAN YOURS" is the first line of the first song called "Cigaro" from the new upcoming album 'Hypnotise'.
Other finished songs are "Hypnotise" and "Kill your rock'n'roll!".
"My cock is bigger than yours"
You cant help but crack a smile at the first line of "Cigaro", a brand new track from the forthcoming system of a down opus `Mesmerise/Hypnotise`, blasts from the speakers of the bands Burbank, Los Angeles recording studio.
As opening gambits go, its an attention grabber to say the least; funny, provocative and instantly recognisable as another slice of oddball genius from one of the worlds most innovative rock bands.
its been three years since the release of their brilliant, five million selling `Toxicity` album and although we had the 2002 outtakes record `Steal this album!` to tide us over, it seems like system of a down have been away for far too long. Not that the band would have been slacking - `Mesmerise/Hypnotise` is in fact, a double CD that will have been released as two separate albums six months apart; the first in early 2005. Which gives them an unhealthy chance of having the album of the year.
Today the band are gathered together to do the first in what will inevitably be a tidal wave of press. It’s the calm before the storm, something the band are obviously mentally gearing up for, sometimes the first time they’ve expressed their thoughts on the music to people outside of the band.
“Its like trying to make mental sense of out of art which is not necessarily mental”, explains Serj, noticeably thinner than the last time we saw him, but still radiating the same warmth.
"People want to know certain things, but you want to be able to do it in a way that’s true to you and sometimes you haven’t even thought about it. For the sake of interviews I was trying to find common denominators or things people are going to ask and I realised that a lot of the songs are very critical; critical of society or a situation or so many different things.
“Bur we’ve always been kind of critical. There’s a lot of weird stuff too! A lot of bands have social and political commentary, but I think our presentation in making it more fun makes it more accessible”.
Right now, the bands task is made a little easier by the fact that there are only three finished tracks for us to pore over: ‘Cigaro’, ‘Hypnotise’ and ‘Kill your Rock’N’Roll’. However, the typical SOAD twist means no one song is about one subject and the response to any question can go off on a seemingly random tangent before you can see the whole picture. Interviewing system of a down is like staring at one of those magic eye pictures that changes and shifts depending on how you look.
“I guess artists are the same way!”, nods Serj.
Someone will go `Wow that’s a mountain!` and they’ll go `Well actually that’s a woman’s body, but I guess it could be a mountain`”
The main one difference on Mesmerise/Hypnotise is that Daron Malakian, always the bands main songwriter in musical terms, has been writing far more lyrics and providing far more vocals.
"I’ve always been able to sing, but the songs never called for it before”, he explains.
“I usually just give the songs what they want and this time around my parts were naturally fitting themselves into the songs. I could just tell when I was writing the songs where my parts were and where Serj’s parts were. I didn’t wanna overdo my parts in the songs, but I guess it’s what we’ve evolved to. Sometimes I won’t present the vocal idea, I’ll just let Serj sing it and see what happens. If its better than my idea and we’ll both come to an agreement and mix ideas. I bring in the backbone of the song for the most part, but I’ll leave a lot of room, I’m not the kind of guy who says `This is my way and it’s the only way its gonna be`”
Malakians head is, it must be said, a weird an wonderful place. Before you even consider asking about his lyrics, take a peek inside…you might not be quite the same when you re-emerge. For instance to attain a particular guitar sound, Malakian wall-papers the studio with guitars so that when he plays a note in the middle of the room, the strings on every guitar vibrates to create a new musical sound. An average mind, he admits just doesn’t think of such things.
Malakian, he will also confess, questions everything. He finds the idea of applause “fascinating” – the hands together to create an appreciative noise. And why, he wonders, do people line up outside clubs on the street when they can dance on the street? Heres another one: “IF aliens landed and saw someone walking a dog who would they think is the master?”
Not the one walking behind and picking up the other ones turds for sure.
“It’s just a simple thought and I have those little questions that maybe some people don’t think” shrugs Daron.
“I wonder why, I wonder what makes us do that. I’m that kind of thinker. I mean, to me television commercials are much better than any comedy. You see people selling herpes medicine going “Woohoo!” and I think its funny. A really good way to understand system is that I half laugh, but I half get angry because society buys it because of what I’m laughing at and what I think is so ridiculous. I guess that’s how you get politics mixed with humour mixed with everyday life”.
When Malakian says what he’s writing about “everything that goes into life” he really means it.
“You could say Hypnotise is a political song” he ponders, “But you could also say that its not. I remember sitting in an alley, waiting for my girlfriend in my car and the lyrics just came into my head. That song takes on a real complex matter and brings it down to a real simple level. The lyrics say `Have you seen the kids in Tiananmen square?/Is fashion the reason why you weren’t there? And then it goes into a chorus about waiting for my girl. It shows a chaotic world, but I like to personalise it. `yes, the world is crazy but how am I a part of this?` That’s just a reflection of society right now: it is a mesmerised society, whether its propaganda for war or to buy toothpaste, its just a hypnotised, mesmerised society"
Not surprisingly the events of the past three years have been a huge influence on the band. It was merely coincidence that `Toxicity` entered the billboard charts at No.1 the same week that two jumbo jets crashed into the world trade centre, forever changing the world as we know it. But it’s no coincidence or surprise that system of a down choose to focus on the aftermath of that horrific day or that they do it with empathy for both sides.
“In Cigaro I’m not really singing about my cock, I’m singing about an ego-based attitude that’s out there”, explains Daron. “Why does one person have the right to go and kill, and when another is a terrorist? Is it because I have a bigger army than you? How do we differenciate that? Some people will take it in a sexual way and some people will think about it more. I’ve got family in Iraq, but Im not one sided about it. I think about the young kids that are leaving [the US] and going [to Iraq] for a bullshit reason and they’ll lose limbs and you think ` Goddamn that’s really hard to live with!`”.
Its business as (un)usual for system of a down. Technically they took a full year off from the band, but their own unique blend of music and politics and off-kilter world views were never far away. And while they were off doing their own thing, whether it be Shavo taking bass lessons, Daron starting a record label or Serj working on his Serart side-project or learning to play the nose-flute, you know that all the pieces will somehow fit together in the SOAD jigsaw.
“I didn’t feel it was necessary to shit out another record just because we had momentum,” says Daron who has written an incredible 30 songs SINCE he finished writing for the new album.
“I think a lot of bands end u selling themselves out or over-exposing themselves because of that and they’re afraid that no ones gonna listen to them if they don’t put out another record. I personally didn’t want to make another system record until we felt like wed got enough great songs. I still think `Steal` is a great record. I don’t think it’s a lesser wok. We just don’t wanna make a record that’s more than an hour long, which is the reason those songs didn’t make it onto `Toxicity`. I’d rather keep the albums minimal and put out good work.”
And yet your effectively putting out two new albums in the space of 6 months?
“That’s had a lot to do with how I feel about putting out long records,” reasons Daron. “I don’t have the attention span to listen to two albums of new music, the songs seem to get lost in the shuffle and it doesn’t do them justice. I honestly think that if we had a society like in the 60’s when people were frying on acid then it would be okay because you’d fry on acid and listen to a record eight times, but we don’t have that attention span. I think it would be cool if people listened to the albums together because they would get something out of that sequence, but I’m also just being realistic.”
But its not a concept album as such
“Not in any story format because there’s no concept other than the songs flow together,” says Daron.
“But both records feel like they belong together and they’ll flow together. And at the end of the sequence I have planned something which I’m not gonna give away, but you’ll see the connection at the end. "
“It usually comes out sounding like system”, Daron laughs.
“The fact that we have that is a special thing because the band can evolve and still keep their identity. The bands I admire and respect are these that have a sound that is unique, but built on it so it’s not repetitive, like Faith No More and U2. I want to shape this band so we don’t shy away from where we came from, but were not gonna keep giving you that same old thing. I wanna try new ideas whether its with song writing or with sound.”
Keep staring at the picture. If nothing else you’ll see one of the greatest rock bands on the planet.
-Credit for <SPAN class=name><A name=45209><FONT face=Tahoma color=#d6d6d1>soady for writting the whole thing
- This Interview was published in Kerrang magazine Jan. 2005
-Discuss this news <A href="http://soadfans.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=45211#45211" target=_new>HERE
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Comments
Daxx
07.01.05, 06:31
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Re: 'Cigaro' to be the 1st Song in the new album!
NOOOOOOOOOOO Daron CANT HAVE A GIRLFRIEND!?......UNLESS ITS ME!!!!!!! this is upsetting.....
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DeadFace
07.01.05, 09:20
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Re: 'Cigaro' to be the 1st Song in the new album!
Congratulations Daron!!!!!!!!!
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soady
09.01.05, 16:55
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Re: 'Cigaro' to be the 1st Song in the new album!
Another song name on the album is "Lost in Hollywood"
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daron_iz_hot
28.01.05, 05:09
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Re: 'Cigaro' to be the 1st Song in the new album!
your so fukin right man he really cant have a girl friend oh well i guess shavo is the next person i wanna fuk hahhahaha
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Dream0ver
19.06.08, 21:48
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quote; Other finished songs are "HypnotiSe" :D
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