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Accessing System's spiritual side |
Posted by JP on Monday, September 12, 2005 - 04:04 PM
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Daron Malakian, the guitarist and principal songwriter for the dazzlingly versatile Armenian American heavy rock band System of a Down, is not a religious man.
But when Malakian, who will play at the Spectrum Friday (Aug. 26) along with his System band mates, Serj Tankian, Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan, talks about the creative outpouring that led to SOAD's two 2005 albums, Mezmerize (out now) and Hypnotize (due in November), he speaks in spiritual terms.
"The best way I can explain it is that I'm like a religious person who prays a lot," says Malakian, 30, who was born to parents who emigrated from Iraq to System's home base of Los Angeles. (The other band members were born in Armenia and Lebanon, but they all attended the same Armenian private school in L.A.)
"You pray a lot to get closer to God. For me, my religion is what I do with music. I'm very into it. I'm very serious about it," he says. "And I'm always ready for my higher power to channel the music through me. That's what I wait for."
Tankian has described System's sound, which combines a metal edge with Zappa-esque adventurousness, as "progressive rock in a three-minute-song format." The wide range of Malakian's musical interests is apparent as he randomly scrolls through his iPod. "Let's see, what have I got on here," he says, talking on the phone from a tour stop in Miami. "I just listened to Elvis in Hawaii. James Brown. I've got some Scandinavian death metal. Wham! Agnostic Front. Alien Sex Fiend. Al DiMeola. And I got the 2 Live Crew . . ."
Malakian's catholic taste is apparent on the masterful Mezmerize, on songs such as the radio hit "B.Y.O.B.," which moves in the blink of an eye from an all-out guitar thrash attack to operatic vocal flourishes to a mock war recruitment ad song chorus ("Everybody's going to the party, have a real good time/Dancing in the desert, blowing up the sunshine").
"That's pretty much my ball game," says Malakian, who has always written most of the band's music but sings more than ever on Mezmerize. "What I bring to the band is my structuring and songwriting style. Make it progressive, make it interesting, yet keep it simple."
With such an ambitious musical agenda and lyrics that often take a confrontational political stance - and frequently mention the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians at the hands of the Turkish government between 1915 and 1923, which Malakian calls a "genocide" - it's one of the wonders of modern popular music that System of a Down is a multi-million-selling band.
Like the prog-rock upstarts of Mars Volta (who will open tonight), Malakian says "we see ourselves as an experimental band."
"I don't put walls in front of what I can write songs about or what I can't write songs about. There's a hell of a lot of people who are afraid to say the things that we're saying right now, and I think people appreciate that kind of honesty."
Malakian, who has many relatives in Iraq, says he writes songs from a social, rather than a political, perspective.
"When we sing a line like 'Why don't presidents fight the war?/ Why do they always send the poor?,' you can bring it down to a class issue, if you like. Or it could be really personal for you, if you just came from Iraq and have lost two legs and are sitting in a hospital listening to that song.
"There are plenty of kids out there like that. And I'd like there to be someone to speak for them."
By Dan DeLuca
Philadelphia Inquirer
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Comments
pierre-luc
14.09.05, 18:29
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I'm waiting for the fokin hypnotize track list grrrrr release it more soon plzzz:P
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209116032
15.09.05, 06:00
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Very nice, though I think the person who wrote it was perhaps maybe a little off on some things.
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rraaee123
15.09.05, 16:57
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k i don't give a damn about what me and aband member have in common...and that artical is so deadly! Like i mean if i could meet one of them that would kick ass, but im not going to tell the world, 'omg i want an iPod to be like Daron Malakian!' THe only reason why he hhas an iPod cuz he loves music, and he can easily tkae losts with him where ver he goes!
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Ruby_Gloom
16.09.05, 09:35
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<FONT face=Courier color=yellow>I ave a lot in common wiv Daron: I have an ipod, soon 2 ave an ibanez, my hair is like darons when he had it sort of down to his shoulders and i am religious and im the song writer 4 the band im in
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Theinfectedangel
17.09.05, 20:21
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<FONT color=#ff00ff>hay yankees!!!!!!!!!!!!! .....tell daron to send me a red ipod.....lol....
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lanubez99
19.09.05, 13:29
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Man, you people are just so grouchy.... eeeee! Anyway, it's not JUST a band member.... it's DARON... it's System of a Down.... they're not just any band... I assume you just don't understand what it's like to love someone so much because of what they mean to you. To me, System of a Down is a big part of my life in many aspects...
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Malakian8Me
27.09.05, 19:10
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I have a lot in common with Daron! My fav instrument is the drums! I'm adorable! And I have a great ass! The only difference is I'm a girl and I'm not famous! Yeah!
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