SERJ TANKIAN Discusses 'Prometheus Bound' Rock Musical In New Video Interview

At the beginning of March, Bryan Reesman of Attention Deficit Delirium journeyed to Boston for a 35-minute in-person interview with composer/SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankian and playwright/lyricist Steven Sater to discuss their interpretation of the ancient Greek tragedy "Prometheus Bound". Inspired by the immortal Aeschylus tale, the rock musical — which features music from Tankian and a dramatic narrative from Sater — tells the story of Prometheus, the mythical figure punished by the gods for giving fire to humans. Reesman was also fortunate enough, with Tankian and Sater's permission, to record their dialogue on video for Stage Directions, the magazine Bryan was covering them for.

The clips below include Reesman's introduction to the video as well as the in-depth interview.

"Prometheus Bound" ended a five-week run at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 2.

"[Serj's] brought a sound to the theater like you've never heard before," Sater told AOL's Noisecreep. "We're doing a very ambitious and radical show. We're taking an ancient, classic piece of theater and wedding it to real rock 'n' roll music. But there's much more: there's hip-hop; jazz; scat. I think this show reveals Serj as a composer in ways we've never heard before."

Tankian told Noisecreep that it took some time getting used to the idea of sitting in the audience while hearing somebody else sing his words.

"When you're up [on stage] you have a certain degree of control over what you're doing, of how it's presented, and how to kind of control an audience. But when you're a composer, then you're doing your work ahead of time. [You're] letting go of the moment and seeing how everything pans out," Tankian said. "So, yeah, it's a different set of nerves. In the beginning, I was a bit nervous just because I wasn't performing."

"There are a few scenes where I'm brought to tears at every show," Tankian added. "I'm trying to step back and be the composer and make notes logically, but it drags me in every time which means the show's gotten really good. Even though I know I have to be detached, I can't help but fall in."

Introduction:

Interview part 1:

Interview part 2:

Interview part 3:

Interview part 4:

Interview part 5:

Interview part 6:

Interview part 7:

Interview part 8: