Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
The recently released joint song “ADJOURN IT” by System Of A Down vocalist Serj Tankian, Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello, and his teenage son Roman now has additional background, as per theprp. In the interview below, the three musicians/activists described above sat down to talk about how the song came to be. Tom mentioned the lyrics’ source of inspiration.
The idea to create a song like this came up during the DHS and ICE raids in Los Angeles, when the streets of L.A. were being terrorized by Gestapo-like tactics, people combing through the neighborhoods, businesses having to shut down, children being abducted from school — an absolute reign of terror on our city. And I thought, ‘We have to do what we can while we can with what we can.’ And with us, that’s making music.
In addition to publicly opposing the aforementioned immigration raids in California and other actions by DHS and ICE in the United States over the previous year and a half, Morello has often criticised the strategies employed by DHS and ICE under the current Trump administration. Tankian continued discussing the song.
Like [Tom] said, we’ve done a lot of songs together, a lot of projects, and been friends for a long time. And this disturbed all of us. It’s still disturbing all of us, the kind of tactics that have been used by the administration in cracking down on families, separating families, and children without parents. I mean, I read that there’s 27,000 children whose parents have been deported. And it’s really a trauma for this country. And we have to learn how to deal with these things the right way. We have to learn how to stand up to fascism in the right way. And so this is a great way for us to do [it]. This is what we do. We do music.
Morello continued:
I think the idea of “ADJOURN IT” is one that is… it means to end something, to dismiss something, to get rid of something. And so, in this day and age, we want to get rid of the rising tide of fascism. We want to get rid of these horrible Gestapo tactics. We want to get rid of this rule of billionaires. We want to get rid of this white supremacy, which is this terrible fog that’s choking us all right now. We want to adjourn it, adjourn it, adjourn it. And I think that’s a brilliant lyric to go with Roman‘s kickass riff.
Tankian stated:
It’s also adjourning a lot of those court trials — people were showing up to court, and they were getting handcuffed and taken away, not allowing the judges to actually adjourn their case. So it’s almost like, adjourn it. Let’s let these people who have been living in the country for so long, contributing to our society — culturally, morally, financially — stay.
And then Morello said:
‘ADJOURN IT‘ is a song to rile up our base. It’s to rile up people who are willing to standup for justice. This is a song which is the next single from my upcoming solo rock record. It will be my 22nd record that I’ve made. And it’s 22 records of riling up the base, doing what we can, while we can, with what we’ve got, and we’ve got quite a lot.
Before their common interests drew Tom and Serj closer together in the early 2000s, their mutual passions for activism and social justice were already widely known. The two started the non-profit organization Axis Of Justice in 2002. In addition to promoting grassroots political activism, that organization aimed to increase awareness of social justice concerns within the hard rock and metal communities. Tankian and Morello will both perform at the forthcoming “Power To The People” festival, which Morello is planning for October 3rd at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland.
