In a recent interview on SiriusXM radio's Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk , Shavo Odadjian , bassist for System Of A Down , spoke about the band's new tour, which will take them through North and South America, including shows in Brazil.
In the conversation, he revealed that the tour will serve as a "test" for the band's future plans. "We haven't played together in a while. We've been doing one or two shows a year since 2017. So, the relationships weren't as good as they are now."
“We’ve been talking. Everything’s great (…) So, we decided to test the waters and do some shows. And that’s it. There’s no strategy for this, there’s no plan to do the rest of the world yet. I’m not saying it won’t happen; I’m not saying it will happen.”
He continued: “We said to each other, ‘Let’s improvise, do these shows, see how we feel afterward. If we don’t want to do more, we won’t. If we want to do more, we’ll do more.’ There’s not a great responsibility for anyone, because I feel like a lot of it is just overthinking, overthinking what might happen.”
The shows, all sold out, will mark the first time since 2017 that the band has played consecutive shows for an extended period, having only done one or two shows a year recently.
Regarding what this might mean for the new music, Odadjian clarified to Blabbermouth that nothing is set in stone: “We’ll always talk about it here and there, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen or not. I mean, if it happens, great. But if it happens, it needs to be incredible. It can’t just be us improvising. Because we have a lot to live for, man. It’s a little stressful, part of it. 20 years [ago], the last thing we did, won a Grammy. It really needs to be the best it can be. And I’m not saying it can’t be or that we’re not ready for it—we are.”
The band hasn't released an album since their two 2005 releases: Mezmerize and Hypnotize , and speaking to Metal Hammer last year, vocalist Serj Tankian revealed that he "became very passive" during the songwriting and recording process for those albums.
However, recently he seemed more open to the idea of new material, saying that a new SOAD album would be a "fresh start in a whole new way".
In an interview with NME in December, however, Odadjian revealed that he wasn't sure what the singer meant by the comments and said that hopes for new music were still slim.
