Why I Love: Them Bloody Kids on System Of A Down

By Special Guest on 12th April 2021 • ( Leave a comment )

Them Bloody Kids will release their new album, Radical Animals, on April 23rd 2021.

Radical Animals is a politically charged album that’s fitting with current times. Musically, it fuses stoner doom-edged rock riffs, groovy nu-metal rhythms with world music influences and is full of catchy hooks and chant-along choruses, reminiscent of stadium rock bands like Foo Fighters and System Of A Down. Lyrical themes explore politically-incited hatred and violence, humanity’s growing lack of empathy, fear, inequality, and distrust of the system and those who run the world.

We welcome Them Bloody Kids to the site as they write for our Why I Love column. Each member of the London based trio gives us their take on why they love the mighty System Of A Down and how they have influenced their band.

System Of A Down Just Released Their First New Music In 15 Years - Music Feeds — ***System Of A Down***

As a band, we actually formed due to our shared love of SOAD. We used to work together in Camden and became friends when we realised we loved SOAD and immediately made a band with that kind of influence in mind.

Darren (Dummer) – Them Bloody kids

I was in the group of friends that were essentially the class clowns, always goofing around and having a laugh, ya know… being a little naughty and such. As we were also into the rock / metal scene once we heard System Of A Down for the first time, it immediately jumped out to us as a group due to their crazy lyrics, silly voices and screaming and noises. We all learnt all the lyrics to the song from the first 2 albums (Self-Titled and Toxicity) and would sing them everywhere we went. SOAD brought a seriousness to their music while still being goofy. This spoke to us all and also worked as a gateway to heavier music from the Nu metal scene.

System of a Down: Toxicity Album Review | Pitchfork

As a drummer I was heavily influenced by the world music and dance variety of drumming used throughout their tracks and developed my own style based on this, groovy funky metal rhythms with cheeky beats and fills. I even went on to perform Toxicity and Chop Suey in my school and college finals on drums.

Seb (Vocals & Guitar) – Them Bloody Kids

I discovered System Of A Down at Leeds Festival waiting for Green Day to perform and they blew me away; catchy choruses and crazy political lyrics just had me from the start, I was an addict. From then on I was in a group of friends that smashed SOAD and Scars on Broadway albums.

The thing is, it’s music for all times! You can listen to it whatever mood you’re in… happy, sad, melancholy… it really didn’t matter and they would always make me feel whatever I wanted to feel. My music taste changed as I drowned myself in SOAD records and it started to influence the music I was writing eventually morphing itself into Them Bloody Kids. During my time at University, I had a reharmonization assessment. I fully changed the instrumentation of the song Toxicity using an open tuning I created myself for the folk vibe I was trying to achieve with the track.

Antonio (Bass) – Them Bloody Kids

While discovering new bands and genres in my teenage years, System Of A Down stood out for me for their eclectic personality and the incredibly wide range of emotions they are able to convey. The different influences they incorporate in their songs are capable to connect so many people with many tastes and backgrounds. Tracks like BYOB and Chop Suey are the perfect example of deep lyrics and powerful riffs with genius arrangements. They make you feel the energy and the excitement of this genre but at the same time connect you with the deep and meaningful messages behind their ideals. For me it was such a fresh and original change of pace from the ordinary, but with a familiar and vibrant blend.

Watch the video for Do What You Do from Them Bloody Kids below. Radical Animals will be released on 23rd April 2021. You can find more information on the release through the bands website, and follow Them Bloody Kids on Spotify, here.