Photo: Ari Michelson

by Scott Thill

Many of you know Serj Tankian as the fiery frontman for Los Angeles' thrash metal masters System of a Down. Many of you might also know that Serj and his System mates are that rare breed of politically involved, culturally diverse and sonically muscular entertainment professionals. In these days of Dixie Chicks hate-mongering and jingoistic headbanging, who else would allow one of their videos to be directed by artist/author/agitator, Michael Moore? Who else would join up with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist, Tom Morello, to form an activist group whose name, Axis of Justice, is an ironic twist on George Bush and David Frum's linguistic generalization, Axis of Evil (which itself is a self-congratulatory allusion to WWII's power axis)? It is all of these things that make Serj Tankian a force to be reckoned with.

But according to Serj, the spotlight should fall as heavily on the multi-instrumental talents of Arto Tuncboyaciyan as it does on System of a Down's activist spirit. Arto is nowehere near a household name in America, which is a disservice to a guy that can make a symphony out of something as mundane as a crockpot (for a display of this prowess, make sure to click the Serart video in this page's pop-up). So what better way to wake up the world than to form a genre-busting act and release a hard-to-pigeonhole disc, both aptly named Serart? Serart's disc is something both world music and metal fans can relate to, and in that convergence you will find Serj and Arto's best wishes come true. After all, like Serj says, we've got only one life to live. Might as well hear everything there is to hear, all at once.

Morphizm: How did the collaboration with Arto come about?
Serj Tankian: You know, when I first saw him perform I was so compelled and awed by his artistic capability, how he transcended with his voice, the things that he played. He's really a master of percussion, as well as many instruments. He can play literally anything. It doesn't have to be a musical instrument for him to make it musical. And so I had him come and do some stuff on Toxicity with System of a Down. And then, when we were hanging out and laughing and working, I said, "Hey, one day you and I should do something together, something just spontaneous and fun." And he was down, so when the opportunity arose, I brought him down to Los Angeles. We walked into a studio for six days and out came Serart.

Morphizm: How did the process of collaboration work with you two?
Serj: It was pretty spontaneous. I had maybe six songs on my computer that I felt would be interesting to do with Arto. I brought those in as starters and then we wrote another ten tracks in the studio. And, of course, added vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass and all sorts of stuff to the tracks that I brought in.

Morphizm: Obviously, you wanted to work with Arto, but did you have any other goals from the outset of this project, before you went in to work together?
Serj: Not really. Business-wise, I like setting up goals in my life, but the more artistically purposeless I am -- if that's even a word [Laughs], you can check it out -- the more spontaneous, the more in-the-moment, the more fun it is for me. And, ultimately, that's what Serart is.

Morphizm: How did the project turn out for you?
Serj: I'm enjoying listening to it when I do listen to it. I'm not big on listening to stuff I've done unless I'm going through the whole thing: recording, mixing, mastering and all that. You can over-listen to stuff, so I don't usually go back and listen to it; but when I do, I enjoy it. It's cool. It is what it is: a reflection of a time and space in the studio with an amazing artist that I got to collaborate with. I'm happy with it.

Smashing the system. "It's good to be informed and make your decisions accordingly, because an uninformed democracy is not much of a democracy at all." (Photo: systemofadown.com)

Morphizm: One thing I noticed about it is that it's entirely inclusive. There are so many different styles and rhythms. How do you think your different perspectives have influenced what you guys have done together?
Serj: Everything you do is a reflection of who you are and/or vice-versa, you know? And no matter what you are influenced by in life, it plays a big role in what you do. I don't know exactly how that pans out. Serart is like a painting that just doesn't stop at one particular dimension; we liked adding stuff on. Sometimes we added too much -- it can get insane -- but it was important to make it kind of flow.

Morphizm: That's the other question: how do you know when to stop?
Serj: We just know. We just look at each other and we're like, "This is done." It's just one of those things. It's like when you're eating food, even if it's great food, there's the point where you've got to stop or else you're not hungry for it anymore, you know?

Morphizm: Do you feel more comfortable shutting off the analytical mind and letting the music flow?
Serj: Yeah, it's the best, man. It really is.

Morphizm: It seems to take you in directions that you probably wouldn't normally be able to go into if you were thinking things through too hard.
Serj: Yeah, you can't be spontaneous and thinking at the same time, you know? [Laughs] You've got to trust in the moment and let go, see where it goes and know that wherever it's going, it's going there for a reason. As long as you accept and are cool with that, everything else is secondary. You've got to live with that. And, you know, a lot of people don't. They want to be commercially successful on every record. They want to maintain a certain perception; whatever that might mean, I have no idea what that perception is. Perception doesn't belong to me because it's in other people's heads, how they look at me. I don't relate to it because it's not a part of me, so this is a really good thing.

Morphizm: Is this collaboration something you are thinking of continuing in the future?
Serj: Possibly, yeah. I'd really like to have a jam forum for people that are really masters at what they do -- or are really instinctive and original at their art -- and bring them in and have Arto and I collaborate with them. I think that would be a fun thing. But the future -- the future doesn't exist, so I don't want to make that decision now.

Morphizm: Are there any songs that stand out for you, ones where you're like, "That's exactly what I wanted"?
Serj; They're all different expressions, you know? It's hard to tell because "Love" is a piece of something, "Narita's" something and "Claustrophobia's" something. They're different animals, so it's hard to kind of compare.

Morphizm: Do you guys have any plans to take this on the road, to give people a feel for what the Serart experience is like live -- if it is possible to reproduce it that way?
Serj: To some degree, yeah, it is possible. We would need some other artists with us who are producing it. I don't think we would even do it in the same form, but we'd kind of like switch it over. We've thought about that, but right now we just want to put out the record. The whole thing was done in such an organic format that even touring and live performance would have to be very organic, Such as, if there is someone who heard the record and calls us and says, "Hey I really would love to play guitar on that record if you guys ever need a guitarist on tour". That would be more natural and organic, rather than picking musicians to go perform. If that happens, and if we both have the time -- as far as live performance -- we'll do it.

Morphizm: Has the free-form method that you employed with Serart taught you anything that you might take over to System of a Down?
Serj: Yeah, I've learned a lot from making Serart. Working on it has expanded my musical and artistic horizons in a way, and I don't know what kind of direct effect it will have on what I do. But I'm sure it will. Everything that's put into me in one way or another is spit out in a different format, so I'm sure the result will come in different ways.

Morphizm: I know that System had worked before with Michael Moore for the "Boom" video. How do you feel that experience translated visually into the Serart DVD?
Serj: Well, the "Boom" video was being done at the same time as the Serart DVD, which is an 18-minute visual collage representing sounds from the album, which is based on the 13-minute mix-down heard on the sampler. They were actually both being done at the same time, so it was really interesting seeing the director who was putting that together -- his kind of visual representation and his feelings of what were going on at the moment before the war started -- and, at the same time working, with Michael Moore to do "Boom" with System. It was a really interesting time.

Morphizm: Have you ever thought of taking a journey into the visual arts?
Serj: I had a little taste of it on System's first record. I really worked hard on the "Sugar" and "Spiders" videos. I was very involved; you know, it's a fun and amazing thing, but I'd rather work more with audio, more with music that utilizes visual tools rather than the other way around.

Morphizm: Tell me about your feelings in these repressive times. Obviously, you have a different cultural perspective on what it means to be an American. How do you feel about how things are going nowadays?
Serj: Well, you can look at it in different ways. There's definitely repression and there's definitely fear of the power of the corporate West taking everything over. They already have. Now, it's water that is the new blue chip; companies are rallying and fighting over water resources in different countries.

Morphizm: They call it blue gold.
Serj: Yeah, blue gold, exactly. Everything that's going on is a very telling tale of our times, and there's a lot of danger in being unaware of the world that we live in, let alone the neighborhood that we live in. And it's important to not just be aware of it, but to visualize the change, to visual the type of world that you want to live in. I just firmly believe in that, to try to create that world for yourself, your family and your country and the rest of the world as an extension.

Morphizm: Right now, they're jailing Arab-Americans without trial and without access to lawyers. They had kids in Guantanamo who were like 15 or 16 years old. Is part of you angry -- and ready to give into that anger -- while the other part is trying to mediate and visualize that change?
Serj: There's a lot of repression in a lot of countries, not just in Guantanamo Bay. But yeah, it's kind of weird that we're using Guantanamo Bay as a holding cell for what we can't do on American soil. It's unconstitutional, if I'm not mistaken. But, man, it's just time for a change. We're in a new century, and I wish everyone would start acting like it. And I also wish everyone would start realizing how threatening wartime is; but, at the same time, I wish everyone would realize how positive things could be. I wish everyone would realize that these times could actually bring a new type of living, a new type of understanding, a new type of conscience. In one way, George Bush's unilateralism -- not just his administration, but his unilateralism -- has kind of unified everyone in the world that believes in peace. You know, this is the first time we've had 10 million people protesting a war that didn't occur at the time.

Morphizm: Right.
Serj: Historical stuff. And that movement is getting huge, people are more aware of the world that they want to live in, and now they have to realize that they can actually create that world and fight for the things that are worth fighting for and not feel apathetic. I mean, we are all going to die. There is no point in holding anything back. We have to live with our hearts and enjoy every minute. It's like when you eat. Why not pay attention to your food while you are eating? Why take that for granted? Everything in life should not be taken for granted. Everything has its place and everything should be enjoyed and learned; that's why we're here. We're all going to die, so we've got to do the right thing, no matter what the consequences are -- whether it's a job, whether it's a career, whether it's perception. You've got to do the right thing.

Morphizm: That's an excellent segue into the Axis of Justice. Can you talk a little bit about it and why you and Tom (Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave) started it?
Serj: Well, Tom and myself started a radio program that's kind of a political mouthpiece, but, more than that, it's an expression of our political activities. And, at the same time, it's a way of bringing a lot of good organizations -- be they Amnesty International, Greenpeace or many other -- into the music festival and touring world, allowing different artists to metaphorically take these organizations on tour with them. So that they are coordinated and have tables at every show; it doesn't cost them anything. Axis does all of the organizing and turn-key operation, has everything set up so that concertgoers and fans fans of progressive music will have more access to these organizations, that are really volunteers working out of the goodwill of their hearts, trying to do good stuff for the planet.

BUY SERART HERE

Morphizm: It also seems to function as a wonderful point of presence, at least on the Internet, for music fans and socially-conscious individuals to go to one site and find out what's been going on lately.
Serj: Yeah, Tom puts it really well. He says a lot people always ask us, "What can we do?" And we'd like Axis to be that: to tell someone else what's going on, relate the word and have activities they can participate in, whether those are anti-war activities or just a bunch of stuff happening. It's good to be informed and make your decisions accordingly, because an uninformed democracy is not much of a democracy at all.

28 May 03

Scott's krap on culture and biz has appeared in LA Weekly, Salon, XLR8R and others who don't mind loudmouths. His first novel, The Dangerous Perhaps, should be done by the time the War on Terrorism is over.

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