![]() When it came to picking a first single, the decision was unanimous: Chop Suey!. “I was in my early 20s and there was a lot of experimentation of substances. “There were late, late hours,” says Daron of the sessions. The band and Rick Rubin worked on the album at Cello Studios, Hollywood. If the song’s meaning was slippery, there was no denying the power of its hymnal cornerstone lyric: ‘Trust in my self-righteous suicide.’ That was the line that unlocked the song, and also gave it its working title: ‘Suicide’. I was probably smoking weed or something…” ![]() For some reason, that thought was weird to me. “If someone died in a car accident, you’d say, ‘Oh, poor thing.’ But if they died in a car accident while they were drunk, that would change your whole perception of how they died, and judging his or her death a in a different way. “It occurred to me how we are judgmental towards people, even in death,” explains Daron. Precisely what ‘Why’d you leave the keys upon the table?/Here you go create another fable’ means is still up for grabs. Like many of System’s songs, the finished lyrics were vivid but opaque, designed to be shouted along to but not necessarily understood. While the initial version had a recognisable shape, Daron’s original lyrics were completely different: ‘Tell me/Tell me what you think about tomorrow/Is there gonna be a pain and sorrow/Tell me what you think about the people/Is there gonna be another sequel?’ System singer Serj Tankian would alter song’s opening, turning it into an memorable clarion call: ‘Wake up/Grab a brush and put a little make-up.’ Even at that early stage, it could only have been a System Of A Down song. It shifted from broken-glass riff to quasi-rapped mutant-funk verses to a simple two-line sunburst of a chorus. Where the songs from System’s first album were designed to set off depth- charges in moshpits everywhere, this new song was simultaneously more experimental and more melodic. It was one of a batch of ideas that the guitarist spent the best part of a year working on in private before he presented them to his bandmates and producer Rick Rubin as contenders for Toxicity. ![]() It didn’t tumble out fully formed, nor was it the only song he had flying around his head. I just started playing that acoustic guitar, and that’s when I started writing Chop Suey!.” “There was an acoustic guitar I used to take around with me. “I was just hanging out by myself on a bed at the back,” says Daron. The band recently shared its cover of Mariah Carey’s holiday classic “All I Want For Christmas Is You.Modern metal’s greatest song was born in the back of an RV travelling down some long- forgotten highway between stop-offs on the tour for System’s debut album. ABR also graced the cover of the Spring 2020 issue of Revolver. 1 on the Billboard Hard Music Albums chart, the Rock Albums chart, and the Vinyl Albums chart upon release. We haven’t done much clean singing in our music and this song showcases our vocalists in a whole new way.”ĪBR’s latest full-length, Guardians, is out now through Fearless Records. I’m especially proud of our singer Jake and our bassist Dustin. “This is truly one of the most legendary rock/metal songs of all time and it was so much fun to cover. “After years of playing ‘Chop Suey!’ over the PA system right before we took the stage at our shows, we decided to take a crack at the song ourselves,” says Brubaker. The original video for “Chop Suey!” just crossed a BILLION views, so there’s no time like the present for this cover to arrive. They have put a very ABR spin on the beloved ’00s track. Today, the band has dropped its cover of the song. AUGUST BURNS RED - JB Brubaker, Brent Rambler, Matt Greiner, Jake Luhrs, and Dustin Davidson - have been playing System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!” before taking the stage at their always-packed live shows for several years now.
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