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On the record:

SYSTEM
OF A DOWN

Time Out Chicago: Why release the two discs of your double album, Mezmerize/Hypnotize, seven months apart?
Daron Malakian, guitarist: As a culture, we don't have an attention span that lasts more than three seconds. So I wanted to make two albums that people are going to listen to as separate, complete works. When you keep it short and sweet, you tend to keep people's attention a little bit longer.
TOC: Do you think your fans really grasp the depth of the politics in your lyrics?
DM: There are no politics.
TOC: None at all?
DM: System of a Down sings about everything there is in the world. Coffee. Drive-through windows. Rabbits. It's all there. And if you didn't put politics in there, and if you didn't put society in there, then you'd be leaving something out.
TOC: When people think of your band, they're not thinking about coffee and rabbits.
DM: They should. Because we've got plenty of songs that are about that.
TOC: Such as?
DM: There's a song on our first record called "D-Devil." It's a song about a bunny rabbit. And there's a song called "Kill Rock & Roll" on Hypnotize that was inspired by a dead rabbit.
TOC: How Fatal Attraction of you.
DM: I'm just trying to say that we're not focused on one certain thing that inspires our songs.
TOC: What about your songs related to the 1915 Armenian genocide? As Armenian-Americans, do you feel that System of a Down has raised awareness of it?
DM: That may seem like a political thing, but for us that's personal. Sure, we've made progress—there are a zillion people out there who now know who Armenians are. That alone is a huge step forward. So I feel we've educated people and made some progress in that way. People don't have to think the way we think. We just want them to start thinking.
TOC: What about the thinking—or lack thereof—that's going on in the White House?
DM: I have nothing against George Bush, personally. He's just a figurehead for a bad administration. For me, System of a Down's songs stem from social issues, and a lot of that is misunderstood as political. "Why don't presidents fight the war / Why do they always send the poor?" I'm not focusing on the President. If you're a soldier sitting in a hospital with no legs, that's not a political song. That becomes a personal song.
TOC: Metallica's "One" has a similar social message.
DM: There you go. There's a lot more than just politics going on in our music.
TOC: Did the band get any flack for dropping the f-bomb on Saturday Night Live last May?
DM: There are a lot worse things they show on TV than me saying "fuck." There are people getting covered with leeches on reality shows like it's some sick porn fetish. And that just goes to show how ridiculous and hypocritical our society is.
TOC: What's next?
DM: I don't know. We're at where we're at. If we don't have it in us to make another System album, that's great—we won't make another System record. We're not soaking it for all we can get. If it doesn't feel right, we'll end it tomorrow.—Antonia Simigis