050820 - From 1915-23, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Turkish

BY EVELYN MCDONNELL
The Miami Herald
Among the myriad norm-deviations that make System of a Down one of the millennium's strangest musical acts is the fact a holocaust indirectly spawned the group.
From 1915-23, an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed by the Turkish government in a horrific campaign of massacres, deportation, starvation and
torture. For System, this brutal history is something more than prime heavy metal song fodder: It's personal.
"Because of the genocide, Armenians scattered," System bassist Shavo Odadjian explains over the phone from his Los Angeles home. A number of the displaced, including 4-year-old Odadjian and his future bandmates, eventually made their way to America's 20th-century promised land: Hollywood. While many rock groups have their genesis in high school, System of a Down is probably the first whose members all attended an Armenian-American academy (albeit during different
years).
Odadjian, guitarist/singer Daron Malakian, singer Serj Tankian and drummer John Dolmayan all speak Armenian. And while their music isn't filled with Armenian
instruments, their shared ethnic history undoubtedly unites them - and shapes their distinct world view and musical vision.
"We've all grown up not the same, but with very similar morals and values,"
says Odadjian. "We know how it is. We know not to talk about anyone's mother and sister." That cohesion has allowed System to carve a distinctive path through the
contemporary soundscape. They're a thrash band that throws in operatic trills.
Progressive in their musical tastes and politics, they've shot a video with Michael Moore. On "Mesmerize," their recently released fourth album, they mostly seem to be channeling the goofy, artsy ghost of Frank Zappa, if he were in Metallica.
The band members' experiences as progeny of the Armenian diaspora provided the fuel for "Mesmerize" and "Hypnotize," its companion CD to be released in late fall. Malakian's family fled from Armenia to Iraq before winding up in California. (Malakian was born in Hollywood, Odadjian in Armenia, Tankian and
Dolmayan in Lebanon.) His personal and politicized fear, anger and sorrow drive "Mesmerize," from the opening "Soldier Side," through the fierce anti-war
"B.Y.O.B." to the melancholy "Sad Statue," in which the Statue of Liberty - the beacon of immigrants - weeps over her torn domicile.
"He sees it totally differently," says Odadjian of Malakian's view of the war in Iraq. "It's not because he's from there, but because it's family. He doesn't
know when he's going to get that call saying something's happened to somebody."
Malakian's need to express his feelings on global politics changed the very dynamic of the band. For the first time, on "Mesmerize," the guitarist wrote
the majority of lyrics and sings leads, while Tankian, the traditional front man, plays such instruments as acoustic guitars, piano and synthesizers (and
cowrites and sings). It's as if Keith Richards and Mick Jagger traded roles in the Rolling Stones. And unlike the famously rancorous Glitter Twins, System's
songwriting partnership apparently made the transition smoothly.
"He's always been a singer," Odadjian says of Malakian. "I was not surprised;
we're really good friends. I was surprised how Serj took it so well and felt just like me: If you do something well, why would I hold you back? We don't let
ego get in the way." Odadjian is also Zen about the way Malakian's increased auteurship ate into his
presence on "Mesmerize." The guitarist recorded many of the bass parts himself, although Odadjian says the media has overplayed this change.
"The way we did this album was a little different. The others we wrote songs,
played them for a while and then recorded. This time around Daron had a vision.
He wanted the bass playing to be similar to guitar. The way I play bass is
different. I did my stuff, and he redid some of the tracks the way he wanted. Some songs are me, some are not."
Odadjian does admit that he did, for the first time in his life, take bass lessons while recording "Mesmerize"/"Hypnotize."
The fact System's members can so beatifically absorb one member's power move/creative burst is a testament to their strong roots. The group formed in `95, when Odadjian met Malakian and Tankian at a shared rehearsal area. At first Odadjian was the group's manager, but eventually he passed those duties
on to professionals.
"That was the hardest thing to give up," he says. "We've always been forewarned that the industry will take you and make you into something you're not. Luckily that hasn't hit us. We've totally made our own path and not strayed."
Dolmayan joined in `96. System built a reputation by gigging before releasing their self-titled debut, on Rick Rubin's American label. Rubin, the legendary
rock and rap producer, produced the band's four records to date, including `01's "Toxicity," which became an unlikely multiplatinum global hit with such
singles as "Aerials" and "Chop Suey!" Of course System's intensely dramatic, sometimes grandiose music has also earned the group its share of detractors. For the haters, the best thing about "Mesmerize" is the fact it's mercifully short, just 36 minutes. Odadjian says the group chose to release the two CDs separately, rather than as a double album, because they thought songs would get lost to modern listeners' short attention spans.
"The youth of today has ADD, or at least they like to say they do. The school we came from, albums were 11, 12, 13 songs, and every song meant something.
With 20 songs, people are going to skip songs they can't relate to."
Odadjian designs System's stage shows, has directed several of their videos, including the current Question, and is in charge of their album art. "We look
at the group as a team. Whoever's good at what they do, they do it. I have a visual thing."
For the "Mesmerize" tour, Odadjian uses a lot of mirrors and stainless steel.
He says he was inspired by being in a small bar that seemed twice as spacious because of a mirror on one wall. "I want to touch every sense. It's crazy, but
not overdone."
With his videos and the CD art, Odadjian says he tries to supplement the songs, not duplicate or explicate them. Like the band's odd name, or such lyrics as
"Gorgonzola gonorrhea," some things are better left unprobed.
"We don't like to explain what we mean. It takes away the mystery. It's good to leave it to the person that's seeing it or experiencing it. I think our band is like an abstract painting

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