System of a Down Members Finished Writing Music for 12 New Songs Without Serj Tankian
The four members of System of a Down get along just fine when it comes to performing — they’ve got a European tour lined up for this summer and just announced a one-off stadium in L.A. for the fall — but new music under the SoaD moniker remains elusive. The reasons for that have been endlessly dissected in the press over the years so we won’t do so again here, but if you’d like a refresher you can catch up here.
That hasn’t stopped the band’s members from writing new music, though, both for other bands and for intended SoaD tunes. Now, in a new interview with Alt Press, drummer John Dolmayan — who is currently promoting a new record by These Grey Men, featuring a number of high-profile musicians collaborating on cover songs — revealed that he, guitarist Daron Malakian and bassist Shavo Odadjian have written basically an entire album’s worth of new System of a Down music. He didn’t state it explicitly, but he expressed not-so-subtly that the holdout, as usual, is Serj Tankian.
When asked “Are we any closer to a new System of a Down album?” by the interviewer, Dolmayan responded:
“We’re further away. We were getting close for a little while. Shavo, Daron and I were in the studio – this is two, maybe three years ago now. We finalized the music for 12 songs. They were very good. But due to internal problems and rifts, I don’t see that happening.”
Yikes. Like we’ve been saying, don’t hold your breath for new System music soon. But I believe this is the first we’re hearing that the three non-Serj members not only gathered to jam, but got as far as writing at least the skeletons for 12 entire songs! That’s serious and, frankly, kind of depressing — an entire album’s worth of material is just sitting there waiting for Serj’s special sauce. I’m not casting him as the villain because his reasons for holding out make total sense to me… it just stinks for everyone involved, and especially the band’s fans.
These Grey Men’s self-titled album will come out on February 28.
Upcoming System of a Down live dates:
May 22 Los Angeles, CA — Banc of Hollywood Stadium [tickets]
May 23 Los Angeles, CA — Banc of Hollywood Stadium [tickets]
June 3 Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome [tickets]
June 5-7 Nurburg, DE – Rock am Ring [tickets]
June 6-7 Nuremberg, DE – Rock im Park [tickets]
June 8 Berlin, DE – Waldbuhne [tickets]
June 10-13 Nickelsdorf, AT – Nova Rock Festival [tickets]
June 14 Donington, UK – Download Festival [tickets]
June 16 Prague, CZ – O2 Arena [tickets]
June 17 Budapest, HU – Laszlo Papp Sports Arena [tickets]
June 19 Zurich, CH – Hallenstadion [tickets]
June 23 Stockholm, SW – Ericsson Globe [tickets]
June 25-27 Seinäjoki, FI – Provinssirock Festival [tickets]
June 30 Krakow, PL – Tauron Arena [tickets]
June 1-4 Viveiro, ES – Resurrection Fest [tickets]
June 2-3 Lisbon, PT – VOA Heavy Rock Festival [tickets]
[via Ultimate Guitar]
