System Of A Down bassist Shavo Odadjian have named the song by his own band that has confused him the most – thanks to frontman Serj Tankian‘s famously zany lyrics. In a new interview with Metal Hammer, Odadjian is asked by System fan Ariel Colton whether there were any lyrics from Tankian that made him go, quite simply, ‘WTF?’.
“Bounce,” he replies straight away. “I wrote that song musically and Serj wrote the vocals, and it was called ‘PJs’. Instead of ‘Jump! Pogo pogo pogo pogo…!’, it was like, ‘Da! Pisha pisha pisha pisha…!’ I was like, ‘What the fuck are you saying, bro?!’ Actually, every album has shit where I say, ‘What the fuck is he talking about?!’ Ha ha ha! But that’s part of the beauty of Serj. He does that but there’s always something there for everyone to read into.”
Speaking on his Patreon page a few years ago, Serj Tankian described of his approach to lyrics: “I usually start with the music first, and then I’ll look for inspirations. ‘What is this music saying to me? What is it talking about? Is it talking about a bird? Is it talking about the Earth? Is it talking about a love? Is it talking about politics?…Once you’ve figured that out, then you have your theme. Your theme’s important because it gives you focus.’
System Of A Down recently made headlines for some truly awe-inspiring footage emerging from their South American tour. Discussing why System Of A Down are touring again after seven years, Odadjian notes: “We’re older now, and we respect each other, and we’ve talked. We’ve noticed how social media, and the media in general, has swayed us. We’ve just turned everything off and… we’re grateful for each other. We love each other. Anything that has happened between us is minuscule. We’re just playing, doing what we feel like doing.”
Read more from Shavo Odadjian’s interview with System Of A Down fans in the new issue of Metal Hammer, out now.