wow soad is playing at the mtv europe music awards05! they sure r getting mainstream

[QUOTE=mutant!]Every rocker goes through a poofy hair phase. Look at Mike Einziger.

I'm waiting for Daron's dreadlock or mohawk phase.[/QUOTE]

He's already had a mohawk face n00b :thumb:

[QUOTE=cigaro88]wow soad is playing at the mtv europe music awards05! they sure r getting mainstream[/QUOTE]

Yeah I heard that... Sellouts! ;)

[QUOTE=cigaro88]wow soad is playing at the mtv europe music awards05! they sure r getting mainstream[/QUOTE]
Yes, but "mainstream" only means a lot of people like them.

Maybe it just took the rest of the world longer to realise SOAD's genius than it took us. :thumb:

[QUOTE=Skit]He's already had a mohawk face n00b :thumb:[/QUOTE]
****! Did I miss that?!

Sh[i]i[/i]t! I'm in my mohawk phase right now. When school closes in a month and a half I'm shaving a proper one. But who will I aspire to be like now? Who will lead me in mohawky m3t4ln3ss?

Tim Unseen! LMAO!!!!

[QUOTE=cigaro88]wow soad is playing at the mtv europe music awards05! they sure r getting mainstream[/QUOTE]
SOAD have been mainstream for several years now, get over it.

I just realised I said face instead of phase :lol:

Heres some pics of Darons mohawk back in the old days (1997-1999 I think):
[url]http://soadfans.com/modules/My_eGallery/gallery/DARON/rare50.jpg[/url]
[url]http://soadfans.com/modules/My_eGallery/gallery/DARON/06.jpg[/url]
[url]http://soadfans.com/modules/My_eGallery/gallery/DARON/39.jpg[/url]
[url]http://soadfans.com/modules/My_eGallery/gallery/DARON/WOW.jpg[/url]

(It wasnt always pink, but there the only pics I can get)

I think this is the closest he's been to dreads:
[url]http://soadfans.com/modules/My_eGallery/gallery/DARON/22.jpg[/url]

Just cause I feel like asking, didn't he have that semi-dread style in the video for "Toxicity"?
Or have I lost my mind?

No he didnt have his hair braided in the video he just had it flat, Same length etc though.

Nice.

Listen to it in order, it's no use if you listen to it shuffled 'cause the first and last tracks open and close the album nicely.

^ yeah, pretty much

[QUOTE=Six Foot Revolver]SOAD have been mainstream for several years now, get over it.[/QUOTE]

Since 1998 when I first saw the video for "Spiders" and "Sugar" on MTV. Didn't take them long to get noticed due to sheer freakiness (and of course a really great debut album).

yeah, awesome... it is pretty mainstream cuz there is no one that says they've never heard of them... thats pretty mainstream to me

Yes there mainstream, But why does that matter?

It doesn't. Or at least it shouldn't. I don't care.

saw some people talking about lost in hollywood earlier.. my interpretation of the lyrics is just a guy from a small town writing a letter to his friend who went to Hollywood to become "famous" [I](I'll wait here, You're crazy, Those viscious streets are filled with strays, You should have never gone to Hollywood.)[/I]. In a nutshell, he's promised all these great things by agents, etc.. he gets ****ed one way or another, and decides to go shoot all of them

[I]All you maggots smoking fags on Santa Monica Boulevard,
All you maggots smoking fags out there on Sunset Boulevard.
All you maggots smoking fags out there on Hollywood Boulevard.[/I]
^ Where he's shooting them ^

[I]All you bitches put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care.[/I] < Them running away

So I'm pretty sure Daron had intended it to have little or nothing to do with BSB

Awesome song, one of my favorites on the album :thumb:

He doesn't shoot them, he doesn't do anything. He's just ranting.

[QUOTE=DWJK]saw some people talking about lost in hollywood earlier.. my interpretation of the lyrics is just a guy from a small town writing a letter to his friend who went to Hollywood to become "famous" [I](I'll wait here, You're crazy, Those viscious streets are filled with strays, You should have never gone to Hollywood.)[/I]. In a nutshell, he's promised all these great things by agents, etc.. he gets ****ed one way or another, and decides to go shoot all of them

[I]All you maggots smoking fags on Santa Monica Boulevard,
All you maggots smoking fags out there on Sunset Boulevard.
All you maggots smoking fags out there on Hollywood Boulevard.[/I]
^ Where he's shooting them ^

[I]All you bitches put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care.[/I] < Them running away

So I'm pretty sure Daron had intended it to have little or nothing to do with BSB

Awesome song, one of my favorites on the album :thumb:[/QUOTE]
hmmm, well idk bout the shooting part, but pretty damm close to my interpretation

More lyrics to prove it.

[I]This is my front page, < Front page of the newspaper
This is my new age,[/I] < Self-Explanitory

[I]Look at all of them beg to stay, < Self-Explanitory
Phoney people come to pray.[/I] < People praying etc.. for the dead

I don't know, if it isn't about shooting people, it seems all too coincidental.

i never thought of the song that way.. thats interesting..

It IS about writing a letter to a friend who has moved to hollywood Daron said so in an interview.

Oh god!!!!
I finally looked at that...monstrosity on top of Daron's head.
MY EYES!!!! THEY BURN!!!!
But I read the lyrics and there is no question cause he says:
[I][U]I wrote you,[/U] and told you
Those vicious streets are filled with strays[/I]

According to bassist Shavo Odadjian, System of a Down had planned to open Hypnotize — the second half of the band's Mezmerize/ Hypnotize double LP — with the sweeping instrumental "Hezze." Instead, the track was dropped

"We wanted to start off really heavy," Odadjian said. And as System's fans will learn on November 22, when the 12-track/40-minute album hits stores, "Attack" fulfills that mission admirably, with speed-metal blast beats and brutal, start-stop riffage that raise System to new levels of heaviness (see "System Of A Down Album Preview: Band Pulls No Punches With The Pummeling Mezmerize" and "System Of A Down Kick Out The Jams On Hypnotize").

There are numerous similarities between the two albums: Both are rife with tandem vocals from frontman Serj Tankian and guitarist Daron Malakian, as well as unconventional and drastic time changes, blistering guitar sections interspersed with placid moments, and tracks that blend seamlessly into one another. But Hypnotize, taken as a whole, is a more thunderous and mystifying LP.

The mind-pulverizing racket of the album's second cut, "Dreaming," is highlighted by Malakian's crisp vocals, which dispense bizarre lyrics like, "For treated indigenously, digenously/ Human right is private blue chip, pry." Simultaneously, Tankian's frenzied voice rattles off lyrics at breakneck speed: "We're the prophetic generation of bottled water, bottled water/ Causing poor populations to die, to die, to die."

Malakian is the star of "Kill Rock 'n Roll," on which he proclaims, "I felt like the biggest a--hole/ When I killed your rock 'n roll," with an almost Bon Scott delivery. The song, which the band has been playing live for months, eventually morphs from jarring, start-stop rhythms into minimal guitars and neo-funk drumming (see "System Of A Down 'Kill Rock 'N' Roll' With Volta In SoCal"). Next up is "Hypnotize," the album's first single, which features Middle Eastern-tinged guitars and keen lyricism: "Why don't you ask the kids at Tiananmen Square/ Was fashion the reason why they were there?"

"Stealing Society" kicks off its fervent tempo with a bassline that sounds co-opted from the Descendents and follows with fierce drumming, frantic guitar abuse and breakdowns galore. "Vicinity of Obscenity" finds Tankian repetitively speed-belting some characteristically nonsensical lyrics — "Banana, banana, banana, terra cotta/ Banana, banana, banana, terra cotta pie" — before the track wanders into disco lunacy, with Serj crooning, "Do we all learn defeat/ From the whores with bad feet?"

The convulsive, fast-paced "Tentative" features an electric cello toward the end, capping off three minutes of spastic vocals and crushing bass hooks. The gentle guitars featured in the triumphant "U-Fig" — which are sandwiched between ferocious riffs — recall Red Hot Chili Peppers axeman John Frusciante's solo strumming. "Holy Mountains," which showcases Tankian and Malakian's powerful harmonies, pummels the listener with bruising drums and guitar licks, but then softens the blow with delicate violins and orchestration.

Malakian handles the bulk of the vocals on "Lonely Day," with Tankian surfacing for the track's harmonized choruses; the tune's complex, intricate riffs leave one wondering just how System are going to replicate it live. Violins are employed once again during Hypnotize's closer, the politically charged "Soldier Side," which completes "Soldier Side (Intro)," Mezmerize's opening track. "They were crying when their sons left/ God is wearing black," Tankian wails. "He's gone so far to find no hope/ He's never coming back."

Hypnotize will be released as both a CD and a DualDisc, with the latter containing behind-the-scenes footage shot during the making of both records.

For more on System of a Down's double album, Mezmerize/Hypnotize, check out the feature "Doubleheader." Look at next post.

— Chris Harris

"Doubleheader"

It was the 45th annual Hollywood Stars game at Dodger Stadium, and System of a Down guitarist Daron Malakian felt as out of place as he looked in his oversized uniform.

Tony Danza, David Arquette and Norm MacDonald were among those gathered on the field, schmoozing with the media, signing autographs for the Dodgers players and, for the most part, ignoring the only legitimate rock star there (sorry, Frankie Avalon).

Daron at The Hollywood Stars baseball game


"That whole day was very strange for me because I went there just being a guy not taking it so seriously," Malakian recalls on a recent Friday night in the studio, where he's back in the metal band uniform of black T-shirt, black leather jacket and black jeans. "I just wanted to get a shot at hitting the ball, to just be at Dodger Stadium on the field because I'm a sports fan, but everyone else there were wearing cups and they were all in uniform and there was a coach on the team. I was really uncomfortable that day, to be honest with you."

That night, after doing an interview with the one reporter who recognized him, Malakian went home and wrote "Old School Hollywood," one of the most irate yet oddly comical tracks on System of a Down's new double album, Mezmerize/Hypnotize.

"That's just what happens to me when I go through some kind of traumatic experience," he says, laughing as he shoots a look at his longtime publicist, who arranged the game. "In her defense, I wanted to do it, but I didn't know what I was getting into. I would never do it again."

Since System of a Down were last in the studio, sessions that produced both the landmark Toxicity and Steal This Album!, Malakian's life has been marked by traumatic experiences, mainly America's invasion of Iraq, where several of his relatives live, and the government's ongoing refusal to recognize the Armenian genocide. Both were fuel for Mezmerize/Hypnotize.

"I was going through a tougher time ... But having some turmoil usually brings out the best in you, artistically."
— Daron Malakian


"There is a lot of emotion that I spilled out, and I am very lucky to have that outlet in music," says Malakian, who wrote the music and most of the lyrics for the new material. "Maybe that's why I wrote more lyrics, 'cause I was going through a tougher time and I think that everybody in the band understood that and understood that I wanted to express that. We're not one kind of band. I can't say we're just political. Lyrics run into so many different things. But having some turmoil usually brings out the best in you, artistically."
The war and the Armenian genocide (in which the Ottoman Turks killed as many as 1.5 million Armenians between 1895 and 1915) as well as homelessness and the other passions of singer Serj Tankian's Axis of Justice political-action network (which he formed with Audioslave's Tom Morello), have been the focus of several emotional, sometimes tearful System interviews with MTV News over the past few years. This is the first time since the "Aerials" video shoot that they've sat down to discuss solely music, and while there's a definite excitement in the air as they play back a few tracks, the traumatic experiences are not exactly history.

"We have a very personal approach to politics, or political approach to personal things, whichever one you want to say."
— Serj Tankian


"I feel like this record is really balanced in a lot of ways with thoughts, with ideas, with music, and in terms of social or political [topics] or anything like that," reflects Tankian, still in the pinstripe sport coat he donned for a photo shoot earlier. "I think one thing we were realizing doing a bunch of interviews together is that we have a very personal approach to politics, or political approach to personal things, whichever one you want to say. And there is something that we do with that that somehow it grabs people. I think it has to do with that we take things on a very personal level. [For example,] like 'Hypnotize,' one of the verses will talk about, let's say Tiananmen Square [where Chinese students held pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989], and then you get into 'I'm just sitting in my car.' It's very personal."

"Hypnotize," like some of System's most memorable songs, finds Serj and Daron singing the same simple line ("I'm just sitting in my car/ Waiting for my girl") over and over, but the music and the way it's sung keep it from sounding repetitive. The song's two verses, although only four lines each, inspired the titles of the double album (Mezmerize is due May 17th, followed six months later by Hypnotize, because "people don't have the attention span to listen to two albums at one time," Malakian says, "and the songs need space for digesting").

"They disguise it, hypnotize it/ Television made you buy it," Malakian sings in the opening verse. "Mesmerize the simple-minded/ Propaganda leaves us blinded," he sings later.

"It's a reflection of what I see in a crazy snowballing world of people walking around like zombies," Malakian explains. "We are condemned for things, and then we're sold the same things that we're condemned for. Like, they say, 'Child molestation is bad,' but Calvin Klein goes and signs a 13-year-old model and spreads her legs [in an advertisement]."

Of course, the title "Hypnotize" and the track itself — and in fact all of System's music — is open to and meant for interpretation. Malakian and Tankian are adamant that no System song is about one thing.

"Cigaro"


Malakian on "Cigaro"


Take, for instance, "Cigaro," an untamed tiger of a track that was leaked on the Internet last month and became an instant hit on KROQ-FM in Los Angeles. The song begins and ends with the line "My c--- is much bigger than yours" and has Tankian blurting out the chorus "Cool, in denial/ We're the cruel regulators smoking cigaro."

"We've talked about it being a political song, we've talked about it being a song about ego, we just recently spoke about it as [being about] not having balls enough to have a sex change," Malakian says. "It's all over the board. And System of a Down will always be all over the board in my opinion. ... When you're shooting out art and you aren't blocking yourself and you aren't censoring yourself, you're going to shoot out a lot of different sides of yourself that you usually block. I believe in just doing natural mutations of something, like giving birth to something, not thinking about it before or after, just doing it."

System apply the same approach to their music, only amended to suit their perfectionism.

"The motto of this band from day one is that no idea is a bad idea until it doesn't work," Malakian says as Tankian, bassist Shavo Odadjian and drummer John Dolmayan nod in accord. "Some things end up working our way and some things don't, but if you don't try it, then you never know. Just keep the flow going. Let's try to come across new things. Let's try to impress ourselves before we can impress anyone else."

As System of a Down have matured as musicians, one of music's most experimental bands has only gotten more willing to try new things, especially Malakian. One night while working on the new album and struggling to get the exact guitar sound swimming in his head, he brought in every guitar in producer (or "song doctor," as the band calls him) Rick Rubin's home studio and mounted them on the wall. Daron pointed his amplifiers at the guitars and started playing, with the vibrations off the guitar strings creating a one-of-a-kind sound.

Oftentimes during the writing and recording sessions, Malakian would call one of his bandmates, play him a song from another band over the phone and say, "That's how I want [insert instrument] to sound on [insert song]." But don't think that sort of behavior makes it OK to call System a technical band.

"We're very misunderstood about being technical, and we're not," Malakian explains. "We're trying to get the right vibe from that snare. We aren't trying to say, 'Add this frequency to that frequency.' It's not a math project, it's more the feeling that you get when you hear the snare or any other instrument that we've thrown onto the record. It's just walking in and knowing what you want."

"No idea is a bad idea until it doesn't work"
— Daron Malakian


It's clear after talking about Mezmerize/Hypnotize for a while that it's Malakian's baby. The guitarist produced the album with Rubin and sings lead vocals on several tracks. While this might cause friction with a less secure band, it's a non-issue for System.

"If the song doesn't call for my voice then I'll shut up," Malakian says. "If it calls for my voice, then I'll sing it. Me and Serj both believe that it's always what's best for the song as vocalists, and that's the mentality as a whole band. John doesn't try to overplay something, even though he can. He really plays solid for the song. We all play it for the song."

"And we're getting better at articulating what the other person is gonna do," Dolmayan adds. "All the years of touring have definitely helped with that. We are more in contact with each other's souls when it comes to playing."

Malakian, ever the sports fan, likens the band to a basketball team.

"You might have four or five or six star players on your team, but if they don't pass the ball to each other, then they aren't going to win," he says. "I've seen great teams who have big rosters, payrolls and stuff, but they can't get along with each other, they have egos, attitudes, whatever, and no one passes and they don't win. You know what team wins? That team of rookies that are hungry."

— by Corey Moss

kool...

I agree...

i scrolled through it fast. are those the meanings of the songs or something.?

Thast quite old news... But thanks anyway :Thumb:

Do any of you think that the song 'Hypnotize' is a bit disapointing?

I most certainly do, really average.