System Of A Down creative visionary and founder of premium lifestyle brand 22 Red, Shavo Odadjian has today officially launched North Kingsley, his long-awaited and hotly anticipated new musical collaboration with producer, Saro Paparian and lyricist/vocalist Ray Hawthorne. The band just dropped their new video today for “Die For The Pic” from their debut release, Vol. 1, out today. News on Vol. 2 is coming soon! Watch the clip here.
Purchase and stream the album here: https://outnow.io/t/nkvol1
“We’re giving you songs you can marinade on, instead of 12 songs all at once. There’s going to be a clip for every song, something visually for you to vibe on. I directed videos for System, I do stage production visuals for the band so that’s important to me. Saro has an incredible eye for creating new things visually and I act almost how a producer would on that and we are going to drop merch with every release, so it’s more than just music.”
When Shavo began experimental studio sessions with producer Saro Paparian and New Jersey lyricist Ray Hawthorne, he had no idea that it would turn into anything more than a creative outlet to jam with like minded musicians. The result was a genre-bending mix of deep, cinematic instrumentals and thought provoking, socially charged words.
“I love to collaborate,” says Odadjian.“ I love to hear my ideas come through other people. There is strength in numbers. Saro would make the beats, and I would play guitar and bass – and not in a way that you’d usually hear in rock. When Ray came in, he was very turned on to what’s going on socially and politically. They both know their way around the studio with what’s new and fresh. I played hard to get for a little while with them, but the vibe and what we were working on was so cool that it became the start of North Kingsley .”
Capitalizing on a musical legacy that includes musical collaborations with the likes of funk master George Clinton, spiritual hip-hop guru RZA and legendary production accomplice Rick Rubin, Odadjian’s sonic blueprint for his new project takes in everything from crisp and hard trap beats to gritty rock flavors.
“I’m known for playing metal but you can’t say it’s just metal – it has a lot of other influences in there,” Odadjian points out. “I did Achozen with RZA and that was straight hip-hop. North Kingsley is right in the middle. The kick and the hi-hats and the snare sounds punk. To me punk rock isn’t a style of music, it’s something you live. It’s a lifestyle and it means going against the grain and I heard that there, and we are putting it all together to create something exciting and new for today.”