SERJ TANKIAN Wants To Take His Sound In 'More Orchestral' Direction

SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankian has told MTV.com that he'd like to take his sound in a more orchestral direction with his second solo album, with jazz numbers interspersed throughout.

"I have some songs written and recorded for it, and I think it will be a more jazzy, orchestral record, which is kind of what I wanted to do with this [Tankian's solo debut, 'Elect the Dead']," he said. "If you strip down all these songs from 'Elect the Dead' into their original form — with pianos, strings, acoustic guitars — they're very classically written songs, but they kind of asked for the rock instruments. I kind of ended up with a rock record without even anticipating it myself because the songs asked for those dynamics — of drums and guitars. So I started arranging them that way, and when I was done, I was like, 'Damn, I came up with a rock record again.' For the next one, I think I want it to be a really heavy, guttural record without the heavy instruments. That's the next challenge for me."

Tankian's political musings aren't anything new; he's long been one of the artists whom fans have relied on to take a stand on political issues. These days, speaking out is in vogue, with several artists finally publicly chiming in with their views and ire over the current state of the world. But why did it take so long for others to join the crusade?

"Part of it is the backlash from commercial culture on people that speak out, and I felt a lot of that after September 11 when I wrote 'Understanding Oil,' " an essay he posted on SYSTEM OF A DOWN's Web site soon after the attacks on New York, he said. "We had a lot of people dropping [SYSTEM single] 'Chop Suey' from radio at the time because of that essay. There was a strong reactionism prevailing in the country, based on what happened on September 11, which is understandable. Years later, when we can look at things with more intellect, in a more balanced way, and see how our democracy's been hijacked into abusing our patriotism to do things in other countries — like occupying other countries, wreaking havoc in other places based on oil concerns or strategic geopolitical concerns — then we're a little more aware. People are saying, 'Yes, our name was abused to do all of these things, but I am not for those things anymore.' And that's where we're at right now. Public opinion has drastically changed, and a lot of artists are speaking out, which is encouraging. But it's always easier to speak out when public opinion is on your side."

Read more at MTV.com.