System of a Down’s Serj Tankian Says Many Fans Have ‘Adventurous Spirit’

Hard rock fans are a fickle bunch. So when a singer of a beloved hard rock band -- like, say, System of a Down -- makes a musical shift to the left and steps out of the hard rock box, they don't always follow him into his solo endeavors. Former System of a Down singer Serj Tankian thinks that the "adventurous spirit" of his former band's fans will lead them to his solo efforts, including the CD/DVD set, 'Elect the Dead Symphony,' which features songs from his solo effort, performed with an orchestra!

"Doing what I have done for years," Tankian told Noisecreep. "I've realized that we in the music industry unconsciously undervalue the adventurism of modern fans or consumers of music."

Tankian continued, "Our radio stations, marketing programs, promotional efforts are extremely focused on genre, while most fans of music today, especially since the advent of the Internet and file sharing, listen to all sorts of music, more than ever before in history. I think that's a discrepancy worth exploring. I've also realized that a great portion of SOAD fans have an adventurous spirit when it comes to their music, otherwise they probably would have never been listening to System in the first place."

To that end, Tankian says he is "honored to be interacting with those types of aficionados of music" and that people have been open-minded about his vast experimentations in his solo project. He said, "When I did the show with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, I was delighted to see all these rock fans cheering for a classical styled performance, though mind you, I don't think the 'Elect the Dead Symphony' is classical music. It is my music presented with classical instruments -- not the same. People stuck on a genre are people stuck on a genre, but most music fans seem to have a wider palette than our commercial release structuring gives them credit for."