System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian has provided a deeply positive update on the band’s internal dynamic, revealing in a new interview with Kerrang! magazine that the members are currently “having the best time of our lives.”
Tankian explained that the band’s personal relationship is the best it has ever been, and this has allowed them to adopt a new, friend-focused approach to their career, prioritizing their personal desires over the grueling demands of a “professional band.”
“Right now … we’re having the best time of our lives as a band,” Tankian told the magazine. “We’re really enjoying each other on tour. It’s so, so welcoming — we’re very deeply involved with each other’s lives, personally. It’s what I’ve always wanted the band to be.”
This improved relationship is the driving force behind their highly selective new touring model, which led to the recent announcement of a 10-date European stadium tour for 2026.
“We don’t play that many shows. We pick and choose what we want to do, and we actually talk about what we want to do,” Serj said. “We don’t do tours. We just go, ‘Hey, where do you want to go?'”
Tankian offered a specific example of how this new “attitude” works in practice: “For example, we’re starting in Stockholm, and that wasn’t something that we were going to do originally, but Daron [Malakian, guitarist] recommended it because he wanted to go there. And I’m, like, ‘Bro, you want to go there? Let’s start there!’ He was, like, ‘Really?’ and I’m, like, ‘Yeah! Because my friend wants to go there!’ That’s been our attitude, and it’s been amazing. It’s more caring about what we each think as friends, rather than what a professional band is supposed to do.”
Serj emphasized that this approach is about protecting their identity as artists, not “selling widgets,” and that the band is continually shocked by the massive demand that allows them to be so selective.
“We play 10 to 15 shows a year now and we’re doing stadiums instead of arenas, which is mind-blowing to us. We never even thought that that would happen in our careers,” he admitted. “We disappeared for so many years for our own personal reasons, and then we reappeared, and there’s this huge demand, and we’re just shocked by it. We just want to be careful and make people happy with our performances but not overdo it.”
The upcoming European run, featuring support from Queens Of The Stone Age and Acid Bath, will be System Of A Down‘s first tour of the continent since 2017.
