“The project with Wu-Tangs GZA is going to be big”

In a posh hotel at the Potsdamer Platz the record company is asking for an interview. To answer the questions bass player Shavo Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayen come together with the journalists separately.
Shavo obviously enjoys the luxury of having such a comfortable room like this to give interviews.

On an sideboard are fruits right next to an expensive looking carafe with alcohol. The room is modern furnished and offers an excellent view to the Christmassy Potsdamer Platz. With Hypnotize, System Of A Down have an album with them that is extremely heavy and are accordingly happy.

Hey, nice room! Do you have more promotion dates in such rooms?

No, not that often. But its really cool here though. This is probably one of the nicest hotels I’ve ever been. My room is not furnished as modern as this is but it’s still awesome.

Potsdamer Platz in Berlin

Where are you coming from right now?

We are coming from Paris. I had time to chill a bit today and I bought a cap (he is putting on some kind of old Soviet cap you can buy all over Berlin). I will take it home as a memory of Germany, will lay it in a corner and probably never wear it again. I also bought chestnuts and ate three sausages. Up there is a small Christmas market. It’s bad ass! I drank beer on the street! A huge beer. And then ate a crêpe with NUTELLA. How can I ask for more?

Sounds like a perfect day!

Yeah, we have to do this pre-listening party and after that we will celebrate. Our flight home will be at 6 am. So I can party through the night and then relax on the plane. I hope there will be some cute girls at the party. I’vee been single for a while now, one and a half year. Now I am back man. Do you know how it feels to break up a long relationship? Everything is horrible and you need your time.

The famous spread named Nutella

Now you can think of women.

I was thinking about them all the time!

But you don’t hate them anymore. Do you?

I never hated them! It’s just the horrible process of being YOU after a long time of being WE. But I had to go through it.

But actually we are here to talk about your second album this year.

Actually it is just one album. And now the second part is coming out. When you get it you will understand it. Of course even the single albums make fun but actually it has two parts. Like an A-side and a B-side. Just that there are 11 songs on one side and on the other side there are 12. Including the package it comes with. You see how the albums belong to each other. I created the artwork. I mean I had to let it draw but it was my concept. It’s awesome, I am pretty excited.
 

Making one out of two

I just came from the album pre-listening. Together with “Mezmerize” there is a huge amount of good songs. You worked similar to that how you worked on “Toxicity” and “Steal This Album”. You don’t seem like a band which comes out with one album every 4 years that has just 10 titles on it.

It’s just the way it is! Daron is writing so many awesome songs, Serj and I contribute our stuff to that. And System Of A Down is what turns out then. We all contribute more than just playing our instruments. When that comes together you get System Of A Down. We don’t have a plan for that. I did not even have the plan to publish an album. When I wrote “Sugar” I never thought they would ever play it on the radio. We just made that for fun. We still do it for fun but it also became a job. Bring it on! I’m a happy man!

Mezmerize/Hypnotize

When you recorded the two albums, “Mezmerzie” and “Hypnotize”…

It’s only one album. “Mezmerize/Hypnotize”. Confusing, hmm? I love it! (laughs)

Altogether the songs are pretty old then…

Some of them are older than three years. We did not record them such a long time ago but they are written earlier.

What do you think -with a due distance- about the songs?

I love playing them, I love hearing them. We even played “Hypnotize”, “Kill Rock’n’Roll” and “Holy Mountains” in front of the audience. The last time we have been in Berlin, and at the Hurricane Festival.

I have to confess that I have never seen you live

Then you have never heard us! Cause we are not playing the same live. If you want to hear the album don’t come to the show. It’s totally different in our shows. We will probably be here again in May, you should come.

And Daron was the one who has chosen the songs that should be on the record?

No, we do that all together. Daron just put them in the right order. We agree very well. Everyone is doing what he is doing. Everyone is doing what he is able to. What makes a good Rugby team? I love Rugby! Every player has his own position. On this position he is good. And then they help each other. This team wins all together. When the people in the back don’t play good the people in the front can’t win. So when you have the best singer in the world but the music sucks, it won't do. It’s teamwork!

I have that impression that the title “Hypnotize” fits very well to the songs since they are more quiet than…

No!!!

That they are not as aggressive as those from “Mezmerize”.

You are kidding, aren’t you? See, everyone has their own opinion. And the intro is actually pretty heavy.

Yeah, but then it’s almost native

You probably mean “Lonely Day”. We did not make a conscious decision as to which songs belong to which album. We had this set and it was about: Which song tells a story? What fits together? Some songs proceed to each other. It’s happening a lot.

Is that a part of the concept album?

Yeah, maybe. The concept making two albums to one.

It has more concept than “Use Your Illusion I & II” from Guns N’Roses.

Was it supposed to be an concept album? I bought it on the day it came out.

I think it was supposed to be a concept album. Even if I didn’t understand the concept!

Me either. But they are great albums. Awesome songs.

 

Musicians as multi talents

You are also the director for your videos.

I didn’t do all the songs. I did the first two, not "Chop Suey", even though I did have the idea for that video. I also didn’t shoot "Boom!" and "Spiders". With the others I have been involved. I did the cutting for "BYOB" and brought in some ideas for it. I directed "Toxicity", "Aerials", "Question!" and "Hypnotize". On "Hypnotize" I painted, that’s not just some computer animation. I painted to the song.

What can we expect of your next videos?

A lot. A lot of crazy shit! I have so many ideas, but of course I can’t give them away. I have the ideas before I have a song to it. Often I’m thinking “That would be a good idea for a video!” and then when I have a song that fits, I make it. Like, I always wanted to paint music and now was the time, so I did. I’m a painter. So I put on some inspiring music, not Nu Metal, but classic music or Jazz. Slow music. And then I paint something sexual. They will be just be strokes, but they are sexy strokes. I have a Wu-Tang painting. I call it that way because I was listening to a Wu-Tang song while I painted it. For the Hypnotize video I had a canvas and some paint left, so I used them. As the song had ended, the painting was finished.

System Of A Down is often seen as a political band.

We’re not a political band. We’re a social band. Politics play an important role in society. It’s like that in today’s world, and has been as well when we wrote "Prison Song" or "Boom!" Just because we sing about political subjects doesn’t make us a political band. We also sing about pogoing or bunnies." Lonely Day" is not a political song, even if maybe you can interprete it that way.

But Serj has partly set up Axis Of Justice and is often seen as a leader in the movement against George Bush. Isn’t that sometimes nerve-racking?

Yes it is at times. I’m not the most political person, but I can still talk about it.

Do you think it’s conceived differently in the US as it is in Europe?

No, it’s the same. Everywhere people think we are political. We always have to explain it and tell them that we’re not political. There’s a lot of Bush-haters in the US. There’s a lot of Bush-haters all over the world. We don’t hate anyone. We don’t want to spread hate.

You’d rather sing about bunnies.

Exactly! Because that bunny had something to do with our lives when the song was written. "Kill Rock ‘n Roll" is about a bunny. In the middle part of the song it goes ‘Eat all the grass that you want, accidents happen in the dark.’

Wu-Tang-Clan

Leaves me with one last question..

I have a feeling you want to ask me about my side project. I’m gonna be doing an album with GZA. At the moment we’re writing a story, that will be released in bookform. I’m playing the bass to each chapter. It’s gonna be a very visual project, because GZA is a very visual Rapper. He paints pictures with his words as I do with my music. RZA will join us and Serj. Daron will play the drums on one track. I want to have many people involved in this. Lots of different voices. Masta Killa will be on it as well. It’s gonna be so cool. Just not a Rock/Rap thing. There won’t be rock guitars in it. The bass will be the main instrument. We already did a cover of Shame ona Nigga with them. Those guys are my friends. They’re really cool, I respect them and I’m a fan of their music. I’m a fanatic. I’m telling you, this project with GZA is gonna be big.

Translated by AnnabelleTankian and Rainbow_Chile

Original interview by laut.de

 

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