Throughout an look on the January 23 episode of SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, SYSTEM OF A DOWN bassist Shavarsh “Shavo” Odadjian spoke about final month’s announcement that he and his bandmates added second reveals as a part of their one-of-a-kind large stadium occasions this yr. The run of 2025 North American reveals will kick off at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on August 27-28 with particular visitors KORN, in addition to two night time at Soldier Discipline in Chicago (August 31-September 1) with AVENGED SEVENFOLD and a ultimate cease at Rogers Stadium in Toronto on September 3 and September 5 with DEFTONES. Shavo stated (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Actually inside a couple of hours we bought out each present, and it was a shock to us. However I am very glad that the stadiums had been accessible close to these dates. We had a band convention that it bought out. My supervisor hit us up. He is, like, ‘Dude, you guys bought all of it out.’ … It floored me. Persons are, like, ‘Why ought to or not it’s so stunning to you?’ Everybody sees us a sure manner. I nonetheless see us as that band from Hollywood. I am not seeing us as this large band that would promote out MetLife twice, two nights in a row. Soccer stadiums, bro. So, we determined, ‘Let’s add one other present to every.’ And we put it on the market the following day and people bought out too.”
Requested why SYSTEM OF A DOWN is simply taking part in reveals in three cities this time round, Shavo stated: “We have not performed loads collectively for some time. We have been doing one or two reveals a yr since 2017. So, the relationships weren’t as nice as they’re now. It is simply everyone wasn’t on the identical web page. We have been speaking. The whole lot’s nice, knock on wooden. Everybody’s completely satisfied. So we determined to check the waters and play some reveals. And that is what it’s. There isn’t a technique to it, there isn’t any plan to do the remainder of the world simply but. I am not saying it is not gonna occur; I am not saying it is gonna occur. We instructed one another, ‘Let’s play it by ear, do these reveals, see how we really feel afterwards. If we do not wanna do any extra, we do not do any extra. If we wanna do extra, we’ll do extra.’ There is not any heavy duty on anybody, as a result of I really feel like a number of it’s simply considering an excessive amount of, overthinking what might occur.”
Shavo continued: “Dangerous experiences have occurred to sure individuals, and so they form of maintain that as PTSD, I feel. And now that issues are higher, we’re older, we’re, like, ‘Dude, no strain, bro. Let’s simply do it. If we prefer it, we do. If we do not prefer it, we [don’t].’ ‘Trigger you already know what? Serj [Tankian, SYSTEM OF A DOWN vocalist] had a good time at Sick New World [festival in Las Vegas] final yr. We had such a tremendous, enjoyable present and everybody left the stage hugging. And so he known as again, he is, like, ‘Dude, I beloved it. Let’s do extra of those.’ In order that’s the place that occurred. We’re, like, ‘Let’s go.’ So long as everyone seems to be down. Daron [Malakian, SYSTEM OF A DOWN guitarist] was down. So we determined, ‘Let’s take a look at the waters. Let’s not simply go full blast and begin doing months. Let’s simply take a look at the waters with three reveals.’ These three reveals turned to 6.”
Concerning why SYSTEM OF A DOWN selected to play in these three cities particularly, Shavo stated: “We have not been there for a very long time. ‘Trigger we have been doing West Coast stuff loads, as a result of we’ve not been leaving the West Coast. Like I stated, we have been form of dipping our toe within the water, testing the temperature of the water. So, we have been form of upsetting the East Coast. It looks like we do not like going there, however we love the East Coast. We love throughout. We love the whole nation. It isn’t private in any respect. So after we determined to do some additional reveals, we stated, ‘We have to go to the East Coast. That is the place this yr must be.’ In order that’s the explanation — as a result of we the East; we actually do. We discuss it on daily basis — John [Dolmayan, SYSTEM OF A DOWN drummer] and I discuss it on daily basis. We’re, like, ‘We will not look forward to this.’ So we’re trying ahead to seeing the gang, being there and seeing the town and having fun with it with that eye once more. We’re taking part in the town once more. And to play two stadiums in every metropolis is simply — it is a present.”
Requested whether it is powerful to ramp up a machine like SYSTEM OF A DOWN to taking part in at a stadium degree for simply six reveals, Shavo stated: “We will do it. Look, for the previous few years, we have been doing one or two reveals. And we go and we rehearse two weeks for one present. I feel that is not sensible. So six reveals is best than one present to me. I am going to take it. I am going to take it, and I am not gonna ask for extra. I need it to occur organically. I feel our band is that band — we won’t be instructed what to do. The extra we push one another to do one thing, the much less we do. So I determine the much less we push, the extra we’ll do. It must be completed as a result of we wanna do it, we like to do it, and that is why we do it.”
SYSTEM OF A DOWN can even play a run of South American stadium gigs this spring. The seven-show “Wake Up! South America” tour is slated to kick off on April 24 in Bogota, Colombia on the Estadio Nemésio Camacho El Campin, adopted by a present in Cercado De Lima, Peru on the Estadio Nacional. The tour will transfer on to Chile, Argentina and Brazil, wrapping up with a run of three reveals in Curitiba, Rio De Janieiro and São Paulo. The live shows will probably be SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s first go to to South America since 2015.
Final Could, Serj spoke to the Soul Growth With Rainn Wilson podcast about his reluctance to embrace the touring life-style that characterised SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s early years. He stated: “We have had unbelievable, surprising success as a really far-flung form of progressive metallic band with our ‘Toxicity’ document in 2001 and touring and doing what we did. And after a few years of touring, after we had been making the previous few data which we made collectively, ‘Mezmerize’ and ‘Hypnotize’ — these recordings had been completed on the similar time, then launched as two data inside six months of one another in 2005 and 2006 — earlier than these classes, after we first began these classes, I instructed the [other] guys [in the band], ‘Guys, this type of cyclical factor that we’re doing with making data for a yr, touring for 2 years at the moment, doing all this promo publicity,’ it was simply cyclical. It was, like, ‘I’ve gotta cease. And I additionally wanna do my very own factor. I’ve different inventive adventures that I wanna get on.'”
He continued: “A part of it was we had a lot creativity and enter coming into the band, particularly with Daron‘s songwriting and me wanting to herald music as nicely, as a result of, over time, he turned a greater lyricist and I turned a greater musical songwriter, a greater composer, so it turned form of like a push and pull, which is absolutely good for bands, truly, ‘trigger it is a yin-and-yang form of factor — two robust, artistic forces. And it additionally damaged up so many bands. So, earlier than ‘Mezmerize’ and ‘Hypnotize’, I mainly instructed the blokes, ‘Pay attention, I would wish to take a hiatus. I am not saying I by no means wanna do that, however I am saying I can not do that proper now anymore. And I wanna do my very own factor and in addition take break day and have a life, and all of that stuff.’ It wasn’t taken nicely on the time. I will not get into that. However years later, we began touring once more in 2011, and it turned a enjoyable factor, ‘trigger it left… Nothing was completely resolved creatively, nevertheless it turned a enjoyable factor as a result of we a minimum of put every thing to the aspect and stated, ‘Look, we’re pals, we’re brothers. We have recognized one another for a very long time. We nonetheless respect and love one another. Let’s go have enjoyable and tour collectively.’ And we have been doing that since. Not as a lot as they want, as an example, or I am not gonna communicate for each individual of the band, as a result of that would not be honest of me both. However typically I am the least individual that wishes to tour. A part of that’s bodily, as a result of it is tiring. I’ve completed it for 20, 25 years, and I had again surgical procedure a couple of years in the past. I am a lot better now and all of that. However a part of it’s that. A part of it’s that it is artistically redundant after some time, as a result of it is ‘Groundhog Day’; you are repeating your self. David Bowie stated the primary two weeks of each tour is mainly — I am paraphrasing — artistic; after that, it is redundant, form of factor, which is appropriate. So it is that. However I do get pleasure from taking part in with the blokes, and when it is a one-off, it is truly enjoyable, ‘trigger there isn’t any strain to do that entire rigamarang of an extended tour or press or something. You simply rehearse collectively, make your dumb jokes, have meals collectively, after which go and play that one present and it turns into a hoorah. So that is what we have been doing. And I am grateful for that.”
Tankian, who was selling his memoir, “Down With The System”, beforehand addressed how his relationship with Malakian has developed over time, notably because it pertains to their collaborative partnership, earlier that very same month in an interview with Tom Energy, host of “Q” on Canada’s CBC Radio One. He stated: “Effectively, altering the dynamic is mainly years of time and the development of the band, the success of the band, every thing that occurred in between the day that we met and now, mainly, so 25, 30 years. Loads adjustments in that point. And so I feel that is part of it.
“Daron‘s been a lifer and he is extremely critical about his music and he is extremely protecting of his music and susceptible attributable to his music,” Serj defined. “All of these issues form of go collectively. So it is these issues, I feel, that created a few of the artistic variations that we began discovering. And it is also our development. Pay attention, when Daron and I began working collectively, I did not actually write a number of instrumental music — I largely wrote lyrics; I used to be the lyricist; I used to be the singer. And he did not write any lyrics; he simply wrote music. However as time progressed and I performed extra musical devices and I began changing into a songwriter/composer and he began writing extra lyrics, we began form of protecting one another’s territory. And I used to be okay with that. If he wrote lyrics, I used to be making an attempt to encourage him to write down extra, as a result of I imagine in inventive progress. I imagine in development. I do not imagine in issues staying the identical manner, for music’s sake. In any other case the music turns into the identical factor again and again. That development is critical in each artist’s life or in each group’s life. So I used to be very encouraging of that. And I simply want that I acquired a few of that again. And in order that wasn’t the case, and it was disappointing. And it turned a artistic distinction over the band’s path, and whatnot, over time.”
Requested why he needed to write down about this in his ebook, Serj stated: “Lots of it has been publicized in a really sensationalist format by media, music media largely, and I form of needed to place it in a correct perspective and grounding perspective, however with love and with steadiness and understanding that these items occur. That is regular. You could have a relationship and you’ve got variations in opinion as [to] the way you wanna go ahead, whether or not it is a band or a wedding or no matter it’s. And these items occur. And so I needed to take that facet out, I needed to take the sensationalist facet out of the entire thing and be, like, this isn’t solely what occurred, however that is how I see issues.”
Tankian additionally addressed the truth that SYSTEM OF A DOWN has toured intermittently since ending its hiatus in 2011, however has solely managed to document two songs within the final 19 years, “Defend The Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz”. Launched in November 2020, the tracks had been motivated by the battle between Artsakh and Azerbaijan, with all proceeds supporting humanitarian efforts in SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s ancestral homeland of Armenia. Together with different donations from followers on their social pages, they raised over $600,000.
“We have not been making new music,” Serj stated. “We solely put out two songs when the invasion of Artsakh, Nagorno Karabakh occurred in 2020 by Azerbaijan, as a result of we felt just like the Azeri trolls, the government-sponsored trolls had been taking up social media and the information networks, and the victims of those assaults weren’t getting the phrase out. So we turned form of obsessive about getting the phrase out, as a result of we had been seeing our individuals undergo. So we put out these two songs due to that and we donated a number of the proceeds for that to the trigger as nicely.”
Requested how he balances the love and obligation he may really feel towards his followers, those that love SYSTEM OF A DOWN, and the interior struggles throughout the band, Tankian stated: “That is an extremely sensible query. It is actually arduous catering — whenever you’re an artist, it is actually arduous catering. When you’re an entertainer, catering is [what you do], however in the event you’re an artist, then you definitely’re simply creating what involves you. You are nearly unaware of what individuals need. Sure, if it is one thing heavier, you already know individuals are gonna prefer it extra. However in the event you’re an excellent songwriter, you possibly can do each. I do orchestral music, I do movie music, I do rock music — I do all of it. So I get pleasure from ’em all, however I do know that if I do rock, extra individuals are going to take heed to it than a piano, instrumental orchestral piece of music, soundtrack form of music. However it does not imply that you do not do each, as an artist. So it is arduous to essentially cater to individuals’s emotions. What I like is, and I do know that I can communicate for the remainder of the blokes within the band, that it doesn’t matter what’s occurring with our artistic distinction or the band not making new music or not touring absolutely or no matter, everybody’s extremely appreciative of what now we have when it comes to the love that we get from our followers and the best way that individuals react to our music and the best way that we get all these e-mails about the way it’s modified individuals’s lives and all of that stuff, and that’s mind-blowing. It is the most important honor. And after I meet individuals on the road, I am nonetheless extremely honored that somebody would decide me out and take a look at me in a constructive gentle, not figuring out who I’m personally, however figuring out me by means of my music, by means of our music, as an example. And I feel that is an ideal fucking honor. I really feel blessed for it. However it does not imply that that factor ought to proceed ceaselessly both.”