What's preventing a System of a Down ? One of the biggest names in metal to emerge in the late 1990s, the band hasn't released new albums in over 15 years – and according to John Dolmayan in a new interview, a large part of the blame lies with vocalist Serj Tankian .
The drummer spoke about the band's inactivity in an interview with the Battleline Podcast , in which he says that the best decision the band would have made would have been to separate from the vocalist when SOAD's first hiatus occurred in 2006.
“Serj hasn’t really wanted to be in the band for a long time. And frankly, we should have split up back in 2006. We tried to get back together several times to make an album, but there were some rules in place that made it difficult and also made it hard to maintain the integrity of what System of a Down stands for,” Dolmayan said (via Blabbermouth transcript ) .
It is public knowledge that the band has internal tensions, ranging from political disagreements between Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan to intense arguments over songwriting , factors that contribute to the lack of new releases from System, but are not the only ones.
“We couldn’t agree. And part of it is Serj’s fault, part of it is my fault, and also Shavo [Odadjian] and Daron [Malakian]’ . But ultimately, if you have most of the band thinking one way and another person thinking another way, it’s very difficult to make music thinking that that person is important. And everyone in this band is important to the band’s final sound,” he continued.
The drummer pointed out that the side projects of the other System of a Down members "are never as good" as the band itself, demonstrating the importance of combining the talents of each member in the group to arrive at the final formula of the sound that the public knows, even though each musician has individual talent. "That's why the team matters, and bringing certain talents together matters, and that magical element captured when we do it is what matters," he explained.
Does System of a Down intend to continue without Serj Tankian?
John Dolmayan's comment about thinking it would have been better for System of a Down to have moved on without Serj Tankian in 2006 caught the attention of the podcast host, who asked for a more elaborate response on that point.
The drummer was candid in his response: “I think we should have moved on and, if Serj didn’t want to be in the band at that time, we should have moved on and done [the songs] with someone else,” he said.
Despite being brutally honest, Dolmayan's statement doesn't seem to indicate SOAD's next steps. “But that's what happens when you're loyal and want things to work, you accept situations that can be detrimental to the band's health. Maybe it would have been better if we had moved on and found another singer for one or two albums, bringing Serj back when he wanted to come back. Maybe that would have been better. But as things stand, I think we wasted 15, maybe 20 years of our lives waiting,” he concluded.
System of a Down hiatus and new music
System of a Down's last studio releases were the albums Mezmerize and Hypnotize , released six months apart in 2006, featuring hits like "Lonely Day" and "BYOB". Between 2006 and 2010, the band did not perform any more shows, and only reunited for a few festival appearances between 2010 and 2013.
Currently, the members of System of a Down deny the band's end and continue working on side projects. In 2020, the band released the previously unreleased songs "Protect the Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz" for the first time in fifteen years. The two songs raised $600,000 for the people of Artsakh, Armenia.
READ ALSO: Serj Tankian reacts to the System of a Dilma meme: “At least they didn’t use Bolsonaro”
