System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian has partnered with apparel brand HEX to release a line of “musical backpacks” that contain exclusive access to some of his unreleased solo work.
That’s right—its a musical backpack. On the surface, it appears to just be a normal, two-hundred-dollar backpack. However, when using the augmented reality app Arloopa on a smartphone, the user can access the bag’s “own song.”
“I like the idea of listening to physical objects and having a musical score to them,” Serj Tankian said of the new backpack in a press release. “It’s just a new and interesting thing that I’ve been working on.”
While this may seem like a far-out idea, it’s one that Tankian has been pursuing for several years through his paintings. For the past four years, anything physical Tankian has created has also contained an accompanying sound or musical score, accessible through the Arloopa app.
“I was interested in seeing what my music looked like,” Tankian said. “So all of my pieces are musically scored… So you can actually walk into a gallery or wherever with your smartphone, point it at a particular painting and be able to hear it.”
The backpack has a steel grey nylon finish with a lining featuring Tankian’s signature “Space Clock” logo, a Space Clock pin, and horizontal black stripes on the front pocket. The bag itself was designed by Tankian based on his own international travel experiences and the needs of a producer and performer on the go, but he also says it’s for anybody who needs to travel. He equipped it with specifically designed pockets for everything from laptops to tablets to earbuds to passports.
“We don’t need to put categories on ourselves as human beings, I think that’s ridiculous,” Tankian said. “When you wake up and you’re excited about something, do it. That’s what you need to do.”
The HEX x Serj Tankian Backpack is available to order here.
[H/TÂ Consequence of Sound]