Famend producer Rick Rubin not too long ago shared a shocking story about his first time seeing System Of A Down carry out dwell, revealing that he “laughed the entire present.” In an interview with Rick Beato, Rubin opened up about what drew him to the band, lengthy earlier than their debut album hit the cabinets.
“I like bizarre issues,” Rubin defined (by way of Metal Hammer) “I like being stunned, I like listening to one thing I have never heard earlier than, I like being challenged by music. When one thing can do this and I prefer it – as an alternative of simply being irritated or [hating] it, which may occur when one thing is not for you – I wished to nurture it.”
Rubin, who co-produced all of System‘s albums from 1998 to 2005, emphasised that his preliminary curiosity within the band wasn’t based mostly on any predictions of economic success. “With System Of A Down, I do not assume I believed, ‘That is gonna be standard.’ With not one of the artists I work with do I believe, ‘That is gonna be standard.’ It would not be life like.”
Reflecting on that first dwell expertise at The Viper Room, a Hollywood venue with simply 200 individuals in attendance, Rubin described how the band’s distinctive mix of metallic and Armenian people music was so surprising, it made him chuckle. “When you noticed System Of A Down once I noticed System Of A Down, taking part in at Hollywood nightclub The Viper Room with 200 individuals going loopy, and them doing these Armenian people dances and taking part in heavy metallic… I laughed the entire present. It was ridiculous! However I liked it.”
Rubin additionally remembered how others initially reacted to System Of A Down. He recalled taking part in their now-iconic music “Chop Suey!” to Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who described it as “loopy individual’s music!”
Furthermore, he additionally recounted the challenges System confronted early on, together with resistance from L.A. radio station KROQ, which initially refused to play the band’s music: “I keep in mind once we put out the primary System Of A Down album, the programme director at KROQ, which was the premiere station that might play that form of music on the earth, stated, ‘We’ll by no means play this band on our station. By no means.’ A yr later, System have been the number-one requested group on the station.”
Though System Of A Down has not launched a brand new album since Mezmerize and Hypnotize in 2005, and hasn’t toured since 2021, frontman Serj Tankian not too long ago printed his memoir, Down With The System, guitarist Shavo Odadjian has a brand new band named Seven Hours After Violet, and he had stated that he’s down to record new music with his bandmates. The band seems to have some unreleased material that rocks pretty hard, nevertheless it’s unclear if we are going to ever get to hearken to it.
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