SOAD drummer weighs in on band's inability to make new records

January 30, 2020 - 18:09 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan has expressed his frustration over the band's failure to record a new album after "Mezmerize" and "Hypnotize" came out in 2005.

Speaking to Kerrang! magazine, Dolmayan said: "Unfortunately, it's not something that's in my control. I wanted to make an album in 2007… and 2009… and 2012… and 2015… and 2018, and we'd have been making an album now if it was up to me. As long as we were making music that we felt was of the same quality, there was no reason to stop making records, but not everybody in the band shares my mindset for whatever reason."

"I've said in the past that we've got to put our egos aside when it comes to this type of stuff," he said.

"We started as a band that struggled; none of us had money, and tried to make it, not because we wanted money but because we had a passion for what we were doing. We wanted to make that into our careers, whether that made us enough money to survive or into multimillionaires, whatever got us to the point of making a living as an artist, that's what we were pursuing. The mistake that many of us make is that you start to believe the hype about yourselves, you start to believe how wonderful you are and anything you do is gold. If you listen to your fans on Instagram, you can drive yourself nuts, as the vast majority on there are telling you how great you are, but then there are others telling you you're shit. Once you start believing anyone but yourself, you've already lost and you can't recover from that."

In summer of 2018, System Of A Down guitarist Daron Malakian and frontman Serj Tankian traded accusations over the “hiatus” the band took in 2006 and their subsequent inability to make new records.

Daron specifically pointed out Serj as the one responsible for the band dragging their feet on a new release, and that the lead singer has been hesitant about new System music for longer than people realize.

Tankian hit back at Malakian in a Facebook post, in which the musician admitted that he and only he “was responsible for the hiatus SOAD took in 2006.”

While he admitted that “continuing to do the same thing with the same people over time is artistically redundant even for a dynamic outfit like” System, Tankian did name the lack of egalitarianism as a reason behind such a decision.

All the members of the band share Armenian heritage.