BLACK SABBATH’s TONY IOMMI And SYSTEM OF A DOWN’s SERJ TANKIAN Team For New Charity Single

Gibson has announced the launch of the GIBSON BAND, which features a revolving collective of Gibson artists. The official lyric video for the GIBSON BAND‘s first single, “Deconstruction” which was co-written by Serj Tankian of SYSTEM OF A DOWN and Cesar Gueikian, CEO of Gibson, and features Tony Iommi of BLACK SABBATH on guitar, can be seen below.

In addition to fronting SYSTEM OF A DOWN and co-writing “Deconstruction”, Tankian is an accomplished painter. The cover artwork for the “Deconstruction” is based on an original work of art by Serj titled “Our Mountains”.

Gibson Records, Gueikian, Tankian and Iommi will donate all proceeds from the sale of “Deconstruction”, as well as the funds raised from an auction of Serj‘s original painting “Our Mountains” in addition to a unique Gibson Les Paul Standard guitar customized with the “Our Mountains” artwork, via Gibson Gives. Corporacion America and the Eurnekian family will match all funds raised which will be donated directly to the Armenia Fund‘s Artsakh Refugee Initiative.

The exclusive global auction will run from Friday, December 8 through Monday, December 18, closing at 11:00 a.m. PST, via Julien’s Auctions.

“We asked ourselves how to use this song to bring awareness to Armenia and the Armenian situation and raise funds for Armenia,” Gueikian told Rolling Stone. “In addition to making music, Serj is an activist in service to Armenia, and Tony has ties to Armenia because many years ago, he was part of a group that funded a music school there. So the three of us have pledged any income the song makes to go to Armenia through the Armenia Fund.”

Regarding his initial reaction to the song when Gueikian first sent him the music close to a year ago, Tankian said: “I thought it was really cool. It sounded like a very SABBATHy kind of song, like an old-school, classic-rock vibe. When he said, ‘I want you to sing on this,’ it was like, ‘Okay, I’m in.’

“The funny thing was as I was singing it, I got the Layne Staley vibe, like ALICE IN CHAINS — that really deep, dark thing with harmonies like Jerry Cantrell‘s,” he continued. “There’s a certain aspect of what I did that reminded me of [Layne], almost like paying him homage, because it’s slow but hard. And then the second part was more trippy, almost poetry. But Cesar liked it.'”

When Serj heard the fully mixed version of the song with his vocals and Iommi‘s guitar, “It sounded kicking,” Tankian said. “I was really happy to be a part of it,” he says. “It’s something different, and it’s good that it’s for a good cause.”

Photo credit: Gibson