According to Blabbermouth.net, The Grammy Award-winning hard rock band SYSTEM OF A DOWN gets the Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star lullaby treatment this week, album released October 22. The collection highlights some of this cutting-edge band’s most memorable rock songs, such as “Chop Suey!”, “Aerials”, “Toxicity” and the “B.Y.O.B.”. SOAD remains one of the most requested bands that Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star fans have asked the label to release.
SYSTEM OF A DOWN emerged onto the scene in the late ’90s and quickly gained a large fan base with its unique mix of innovative riffs, hard rock instrumentals and lyrics that blend a style of socio-political commentary and cultural quirkiness. Over the last 15 years in the business, SOAD has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, winning in 2006 for “Best Hard Rock” performance for their song “B.Y.O.B.”Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star was born for the parent that wants to pass along their biggest passion to their child, music. Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star transforms popular music into instrumental lullabies perfect for babies, yoga or just relaxation. Now, parents can enjoy the music from LADY GAGA to METALLICA in soothing lullaby style. With over 135 titles to choose from, Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star is the largest line of pop, rock, metal and jamband music lullabies in the world.
These aren’t novelty recordings. They are cute, they are soft but these are serious recordings. Roma Music Group, which releases Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star, is run by two music industry veterans who put the fidelity of these recording at the top of the priority list. Let’s face it, much like the brand name clothes you buy for your infant, this music is really for you. Whether you are raising a metal baby, rocker or hippie baby, Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star has your music transformed from arena anthems into nursery classics.
“Vilify”, the first single from DEVICE, the new industrial-style project featuring DISTURBED frontman David Draiman and former FILTER guitarist Geno Lenardo, will go for radio adds on February 19. The band’s full-length debut will follow on April 9 via Warner Bros.. Other songtitles set to appear on the CD include “You Think You Know”, “Recover”, “Hunted” and “War Of Lies”.
DEVICE is filming video today (Friday, January 11) for “Vilify” with renowned director P.R. Brown, who has previously collaborated with such artists as MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, John Mayer, Alicia Keys, Carrie Underwood, Prince, AUDIOSLAVE, MÖTLEY CRÜE and SIXX: A.M.DEVICE will also take part in a photo shoot for the new record at the same time.
In addition to Draiman and Lenardo, DEVICE‘s touring lineup will include EVANESCENCE drummer Will Hunt and DOPE lead guitarist Virus.
Special guest musicians on the DEVICE album:
* Terry “Geezer” Butler (BLACK SABBATH)
* Glenn Hughes (DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH, BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION)
* M. Shadows (AVENGED SEVENFOLD)
* Serj Tankian (SYSTEM OF A DOWN)
* Tom Morello (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE)
* Lzzy Hale (HALESTORM)
Draiman revealed the existence of the project last March, saying it would be in the vein of industrial acts like NINE INCH NAILS and MINISTRY. He later announced that Lenardo was joining the group, although further members’ identities have yet to be unveiled.
DISTURBED went on an open-ended hiatus in 2011, with Draiman saying at the time that all four members wanted some time to pursue other endeavors. “We’ve got other things that each of the band members wanted to pursue individually, outside of DISTURBED,” he said. “There’s other businesses we have, there’s other interests. We’ve got futures hopefully to help cultivate for our families and our children, and they can’t all revolve specifically around DISTURBED.”
DISTURBED has not indicated when it plans to return, although all four members say they’re likely to come back.
Aside from Draiman, DISTURBED bassist John Moyer has branched out recently by joining ADRENALINE MOB, a new group also featuring ex-DREAM THEATER and AVENGED SEVENFOLD drummer Mike Portnoy.
Musik Universe conducted an interview with singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, poet and political activist Serj Tankian (SYSTEM OF A DOWN) on August 11 at this year’s edition of the Heavy MTL festival at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. You can now watch the chat below.
Tankian and his SYSTEM bandmates have made it clear in recent interviews that no plans have yet been made for the group to begin work on a new studio album. However, the singer says that he would be receptive to the idea of issuing a “best-of”-style collection with several previously unreleased songs from the SYSTEM archives.
“I think we have about four or five unreleased tracks that we finished before,” Serj said. “We need to talk about what to do with them, etc. But I would be very open to releasing, like, a greatest-hits record with a few [previously] unreleased tracks. However, we haven’t really discussed it, so I don’t wanna make a promise.”
Tankian is spending much of his time this year promoting his third solo album, “Harakiri”, which debuted at No. 29 on the Billboard album chart last month, selling 12,000 copies in its first week of release.
Asked if he misses writing music in a band-type situation while he is working on his solo material, Tankian said, “It’s an interesting dynamic, I think, writing by yourself and writing with people. When you have a very focused idea, a very concrete kind of understanding of what you wanna present and have the skills and the ability to completely present it the exact way that you want to, it’s much more conducive to do it yourself. If you have ideas that require other people’s input to kind of make it something else than what you have, then a collaboration — whether it’s with SYSTEM or anyone else for that matter — would be much smarter.”
SYSTEM OF A DOWN last released new music in 2005 on the “Mezmerize” and “Hypnotize” albums, going on hiatus the following year.
The band reunited in 2011 for touring purposes and launched a new run with DEFTONES on August 2 in Philadelphia.
Tankian told Loudwire that SYSTEM‘s recent tours have been a “blast,” adding, “I think we’ve played better because of it. There was new excitement in playing together and all of the shows have been really great. Everyone’s told us that we sound better than we did in 2006 when we left off, so I think it’s great.”
Steve Dallaire of the Canadian blog Boulevard Brutal recently conducted an interview with SYSTEM OF A DOWN bassist Shavo Odadjian. You can now listen to the chat HERE. A couple of excerpts follow.
On how the SYSTEM OF A DOWN “reunion” came about:
Shavo: “Well, it was not really a reunion. We never said we were broken up; we were on a hiatus. We shouldn’t have even said anything [about taking a break]. There’s a lot of bands that don’t release an album every year. There’s a lot of bands that take three, four or five years off here and there, but they don’t say ‘hiatus,’ so no one really notices it. They just anticipate the next record. Well, we just mentioned it, we said it, so it seemed like a breakup, but it really wasn’t. It was just that we wanted to do something different for awhile and then come back and hang out again and be friends again. And that’s all it was, really. There’s a lot of misconception. That’s why I get tired of the ‘come-back-together’ Twitters I get and messages I get. Because we are together. Like, enough with it. We’re just not making an album right now — that’s all. That doesn’t mean we’re broken up. Just because we’re making other albums with other people doesn’t mean that we’re broken up. We’ve been a band since 1993. I don’t think we’re ever gonna be broken up. [laughs] Whatever happens, we’re always gonna be together. We can go [for five years without doing anything with the band] and then come back and play shows and maybe make a record, maybe not — who knows? Maybe make ten records. Maybe tour for five years. I don’t know. I’m just saying we’re just good friends that are in a band together, and we’ve grown to a level where we now wanna do whatever we wanna do. And I hope everybody understands that. But we’ll never break up. . . I’m one of the most, like, ‘wanting-to-tour’ guys in the band. Actually, the three of us [Shavo, guitarist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan] really wanna tour a lot more and do a lot more. [But] Serj [Tankian, vocals] has got a lot on his plate right now, which is cool.”
On the criticism that has been leveled at SYSTEM OF A DOWN producer Rick Rubin by some other bands for allegedly not spending enough time with the artists in the studio and letting the engineer do all the work:
Shavo: “Whoever talks shit and says bad things about [Rick Rubin] needs help [in the studio], needs someone who’s gonna be there telling them what to do. But if a band is good and they already have the material, all a producer [has to do] is get more out of them or give them a little bit of a recharge or give them a little hint of, like, ‘Do this eight times, do that four times, rearrange a couple of things’ — not really have to write songs for the group. Rick Rubin has ears, so when he hears this part, he says ‘Double that part.’ That’s a real producer — someone that is listening to the music and making it better. That’s what a producer does — make it better; help make the song better and make the band better. Not write music for the band or tell a band what to do. And Rick Rubin doesn’t tell you what to do; that’s why some people don’t like him. They think that a producer has to come in and be like, ‘Do this, do that.’ If you’ve already got it, why have someone come and tell you that? That’s my view it. I think he’s a great producer, since he doesn’t tell you what to do. He hears things and we’ll talk about it and we’ll try it, of course — all of us could have ideas — and try it. And if it works, beautiful; and if it doesn’t, then we don’t do it. Period.”
On whether he would consider using Rick Rubin again for the next SYSTEM OF A DOWN album:
Shavo: “I definitely think so, but I couldn’t say that, ’cause [I can’t speak for] every bandmember. But, of course, I would. And I don’t see how we wouldn’t. He’s produced every record, you know. He’s part of the whole SYSTEM OF A DOWN recording adventure. Rick has always been there, so I don’t see us being really comfortable without Rick there.”
SYSTEM OF A DOWN and DEFTONES have posted cryptic messages on thier Twitter accounts, seeming to imply that they will announce a joint tour next week. The SOAD message reads: “Important announcement coming Monday. Stay tuned…” The tweet is accompanied by a picture of SYSTEM bassist Shavo Odadjian holding a DEFTONES all-access pass. Meanwhile, the DEFTONES have posted a photo of their frontman Chino Moreno holding a SYSTEM OF A DOWN tour pass, along with the message, “Announcement coming Monday.”
During an interview with Brazil’s Multishow after SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s performance at the Rock In Rio festival last October in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, the band’s drummer, John Dolmayan, was asked if SOAD fans can expect to hear a new studio album from the group following its current reunion tour. “We’re gonna take it day by day,” he said. “For the people who are waiting for an album — I know there’s a lot of people waiting for an album; I’m waiting for an album just like they are. It’s gonna happen when it’s right and when we can make something that tops what we’ve done in the past. Because we don’t really wanna rest on our laurels — where what you’ve done in the past is what you depend on. Well, I don’t wanna do that, and I know the rest of the guys don’t wanna do that. Instead of resting on our laurels, we wanna throw them away and create something new and specific for this generation that they can say that’s their SYSTEM OF A DOWN.”
Dolmayan previously told Straight.com about SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s five-year hiatus, “I personally don’t like breaks — I like to continue playing. But it was nice to go off and be John Dolmayan, as opposed to John from SYSTEM, for a while. I think everybody had similar feelings.”
The drummer explained that a desire to pull off the road for a while and reconnect with their lives is what led SYSTEM to take an extended vacation from each other, saying, “When you’re on the road and in the studio all the time, it’s kind of like traveling at light speed. When you come back, it’s like 20 years have passed by, and you’re only one or two hours older . . . You’re living a nomadic life, and you lose touch with people because they have grown away from you. People get older, get married, die — life is still going on.” Source: Blabbermouth.net
SYSTEM OF A DOWN, SLIPKNOT, MARILYN MANSON and LAMB OF GOD are the first confirmed bands for the Heavy T.O. and Heavy MTL festivals, set to take place August 11-12, 2012 at Downsview Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, respectively.
The complete lineup for both festivals will be revealed at noon tomorrow (Friday, March 16).
