System of a Down fans shouldn’t expect new music. Although they still tour, the band members reportedly disagree on creating new material. Despite being friends, another album is unlikely. Fans can still see them live, but their existing discography will likely remain their studio legacy.
Drummer John Dolmayan recently spoke with Lilian Tahmasian about the possibility of new System of a Down music. His answer was a firm no, followed by this explanation (via Ultimate Guitar): “I don’t know if I want it at this point. There’s just too much drama involved. And I like going out and having a good time with my friends and playing shows, and I don’t want that to disappear. There would have to be very strict guidelines for me to make another record with System again.”
Dolmayan also acknowledged some deeper problems in the band regarding Serj. While recognizing “justice” as a core theme, the band didn’t want political commentary to overshadow other elements of System of a Down, noting Serj‘s tendency to focus on it live.
He said: “We had problems with that because Serj is very outspoken. He has one way of thinking, some things we agree with — the rest of the band — and some things we don’t. Some things we’re exactly on par with. With Serj — we don’t want that to be the only thing because we don’t feel like that’s the only element of System of a Down. It’s a big part of the band.”
“Justice is a big part of the band. Justice has no politics. It’s either just or unjust. It has no political affiliation. It either is or it isn’t. But there’s a lot of things that come into play, like morality, so we just didn’t want it to be the only focal point, and that was… Serj spent a lot of time talking about political stuff on stage.”
Dolmayan wants to be clear: he values Tankian‘s strong feelings, even if they don’t always align. His point is that System of a Down‘s music delves into more than just political issues.
“Now, I personally love it. The more crazy he got and into it…I believe anything that’s passionately displayed is worth listening to, even if I completely disagree with it. If you’re really passionate about it, I want to know what you think. So I like that part of it, but the rest of the band and I too felt like it was just too much of our focus.”
“We don’t just sing about politics. We sing about love, death, hate, stupid things, inane things, artistic things, insane things. It’s all these things that make System of a Down so unique. We didn’t want the focal point to be politics, but that’s what Serj wanted to talk about at the time. We’re in a weird situation where I don’t want to limit what he has to say, but I don’t want to limit what people think of me either.”, he concluded.
You can watch the interview below.
