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Sometimes it's better to have a benign dictator than a dumb democracy, to be honest.

Serj Tankian

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Serj Tankian
Age: 57
Born: 1967
Born: August 21
Bassist
Environmentalist
Essayist
Guitarist
Keyboardist
Lyricist
Peace Activist
Pianist
Poet
Record Producer
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Dumb
Honest
Democracy
Better
Sometimes
Benign
Dictator

More quotes by Serj Tankian

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The best way to do that is to pick up a new instrument or an instrument that you don't typically write on and see where it takes you. Whether it's using an acoustic guitar, or piano, or electronics as tools, all of these lead to creating different types of songs and I used all of these methods for this record.
Serj Tankian
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With 'Elect the Dead,' I learned how to make a rock record without a rock band and make the rock record I've always wanted to make.
Serj Tankian
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Science fails to recognize the single most potent element of human existence...faith.
Serj Tankian
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I've got my own studio, and I've got four- to five-hundred unreleased tracks. I've got stuff that's electronic, orchestral, jazz, I've got rock, I've got metal, you know, I don't have polka.
Serj Tankian
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In America, there's more of the question, should music be political or should it just be for entertainment purposes, whereas around the world that's not even an issue. I think people just assume that music should be everything.
Serj Tankian
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To deny a genocide because of convenience and expediency having to do with an illegal war or occupation in Iraq to me, is double hypocritical.
Serj Tankian
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Touring and putting out records is fun and cool, but I've been doing it for a long time.
Serj Tankian
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I've always thought of the sky as, like, an open canvas. When I was a kid and I looked at the sky, I always remember being able to daydream, just looking at the sky, being creative, being able to design things. What would happen if we had no sky? Where would we be? Well, obviously, scientifically, without an atmosphere, we'd all be dead.
Serj Tankian
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I don't want to spend all my time working as an activist. I don't get satisfaction out of it. I'd rather be doing something else. I'm a musician.
Serj Tankian
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I hate injustice, and I can't help but speak against it. But I don't want to get involved in politics.
Serj Tankian
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I really feel like civilisation's already over. It's not ending but it's already done. We're all addicted to the concept that humanity equals civilisation and that's not the case. We need a global conversation to be able to decipher how we can live from this point forward. We have to redefine our relationship with our environment.
Serj Tankian
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Harout Pamboukjian is one of the biggest Armenian folk singers in the world. In the '70s, he was making these records that were really Zeppelin-influenced.
Serj Tankian
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Life is that perfect fine line between ironies.
Serj Tankian
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I don't find most people to be as politically engaged as I am. I do find people that appreciate eye-opening events and words, and who want to learn more about what's going on. I do find people with a lot of opinions. And I get a lot of people who come up to me and give us props for what we do.
Serj Tankian
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I'm a huge Beatles fan, but I've only really gotten into them as an adult.
Serj Tankian
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I believe very firmly that indigenous populations had a really good, intuitive understanding of why we're here. And we're trying to gain that same understanding through psychology and intellect in modern civilization.
Serj Tankian
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As an artist, you never want to write the same song again, you always want to challenge yourself to writing in a different way.
Serj Tankian
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Sometimes a good love song can change the world and create positive energy more than any political song can.
Serj Tankian
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If you're using live bass versus orchestral bass, you've got to make sure that you're not stepping on the toes of the other elements, so you've got to balance it out.
Serj Tankian
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I have a more direct avenue to expression as an artist than I ever would as a politician.
Serj Tankian