SERJ TANKIAN: 'I Live In And Love America, But If The Policies Are Wrong, Then I'm Gonna Say It

Nick Snelling of Australia's Time Off magazine recently conducted an interview with SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankian. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On the clip for his single "Empty Walls", which presents a seemingly benign scene where young children play make-believe in a kindergarten setting, innocently re-enacting the more horrific sequences of war and terrorism, including 9-11, Abu Ghraib prison, the fall of Saddam's statue and the last moments of a suicide bomber:

"One of the reasons why I picked that treatment was I thought it was a great way of presenting serious things with a very intuitive, childish, kinda playful way. Not everyone gets it, but when you do, it's pretty powerful.'

On a theme running through his solo debut, "Elect the Dead", which he terms "the end of civilization":

"If you look at it in a completely scientific fashion, the accelerated rate of destruction of the natural resources on the planet, coupled with the accelerated rate of the population growth, makes our current progress of civilization unsustainable. It's not like a giant theory — it just is. Civilization is already over. What we call history, which is only the last 1000 years or so, is the story of civilization. I think we're all addicted to this theory that equates humanity with civilization whereas it's not the case. Humanity has lived before civilization and will live after, so it's all about redefining our role in life to nature, to each other, to transportation, to communication… and it's a hard pill to swallow, definitely."

On the argument that as a first generational Armenian migrant, Tankian and his SYSTEM cohorts are living, breathing examples of the American capitalist dream — is he really in a position to criticize the corrupt underbelly of a society that's made him a millionaire?

"I don't personally consider it duality. I care about America, enough to put my neck on the line to speak out at times when it's not necessarily matching public opinion. If I see injustice, whether it's here in America or in Australia or anywhere, I'm gonna talk about it.

"For example, let’s talk about Australia and John Howard. I think it's dangerous to have your foreign policy so aligned to Bush's. A lot of people obviously make fun of your Prime Minister for being in Bush's you-know-what and I agree — it's a bad move. And I don't mind saying that, I'm being honest with you.

"I live in and love America, but if the policies are wrong, and the administration is taking us for a ride and creating war unnecessarily and unjustly, then I'm gonna fucking say it."

On whether he, as both a bearded man of "Middle Eastern appearance" and "maniacal facial expressions," who must by necessity catch a lot of planes, he ever gets a few anxious looks from his fellow passengers:

"Not recently, I think it was more after 9/11. There was a lot of fear and understandably, so when I'd get on a plane I'd make sure to crack a lot of jokes and be laughing to put people at ease. Not so as much now, obviously — I think everyone is a lot more sober about what's really happened after 9/11 and how we've been taken for a ride.”

On the Armenian genocide of early last century and Turkey's continued denial of the widespread ethic cleansing and massacres that occurred under the final days of the Ottoman Empire:

"It's absolutely frustrating to see an injustice that's denied . . . Historically, it's relevant. You have the Holocaust and Germany and even though you can never pay for such a horrendous act, but at least you don't deny it. It's a shame for everyone because the truth eventually comes out and to be on the wrong side of the truth is just to be a hypocrite ultimately."

On SYSTEM OF A DOWN's so-called "hiatus":

"The complete truth is — we are not a corporation. We’ve been a band for 11 years, longer than THE BEATLES, longer than THE DOORS, longer than LED ZEPPELIN. We've put out five records and it came a time when we needed to do our own thing and prioritise our own personal lives, not around the band. And to do that successfully, we needed to take an indefinite break without making any plans. Now we're all friends, we're all supportive of each other and we communicate so the door's always open."