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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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Serj Tankian
Age: 57
Born: 1967
Born: August 21
Bassist
Environmentalist
Essayist
Guitarist
Keyboardist
Lyricist
Peace Activist
Pianist
Poet
Record Producer
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Always
Rocks
Band
Records
Dead
Learned
Wanted
Elect
Without
Rock
Make
Record

More quotes by Serj Tankian

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People get so attached to a position which they identify themselves with that they just spurt it out, but they can't really give you a viable reason why they feel that way.
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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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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A lot of pop music is based on trying to make people remember it so that they'll buy it. To me, it was not about that.
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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I like African music, and I'm a huge Ravi Shankar fan.
Serj Tankian
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People always ask me 'do you think there should be more bands doing political music?' and I say 'absolutely not.'
Serj Tankian
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I think music has the ability to inspire people and to change hearts, and the heart has the power to change the mind, and the mind has the power to change the world.
Serj Tankian
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Political statements are usually more direct, and it works with the upbeat music as well, for some reason, the directness of your statements.
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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Spirit moves through all things.
Serj Tankian
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Awareness in our society has flipped all types of injustice on its head.
Serj Tankian
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It's probably a combination of personal and non-personal matters that have led us to where we are musically.
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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I think as consumers Europeans are a lot more artist loyal irrespective of the genre of music or the type of project or the collaborative effort, and Americans are more media-loyal, because they need to be fed that media to know what's going on, because we're so inundated with promotion and marketing and everything that's going on - advertising.
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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Sometimes it's better to have a benign dictator than a dumb democracy, to be honest.
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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Science fails to recognize the single most potent element of human existence...faith.
Serj Tankian
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The living ideas of the dead are more powerful and effective than the dead ideas of the living.
Serj Tankian