System of a Down Members Disagree About Bernie Sanders
It would appear that musical direction isn’t the only issue on which System of a Down members don’t see eye to eye: while SOAD frontman Serj Tankian recently took to social media to celebrate Bernie Sanders’ recent success in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, drummer John Dolmayan took to social media to make it clear that he is not one of Bernie’s admirers.
First, Dolamayan posted a message on Instagram not-so-tacitly comparing Sanders to totalitarian governments like the Nazis, which has become all the rage recently, both amongst musicians and members of the media:
“Childcare / free , healthcare / free, university/ free. Fuck it , if everything’s going to be free and it’s all going to come from the rich anyway then why work at all? Why not just live off the work and profits of the rich? I’m a millionaire and so is Bernie but I only have two houses so maybe I can share this hypocrite’s ‘summer camp’. Don’t believe the indoctrination, don’t believe Hollywood/ music elites , and don’t believe communism disguised as democratic socialism will do anything but strip you of your freedoms and make everyone equally destitute. Venezuela, China, North Korea , Nazi Germany, Cambodia (Pol Pot) , Italy ( Mussolini ) , etc. It doesn’t work , it will not work , and it always leads to poverty for the working class. The same elites pushing this agenda will be well taken care of while the rest of the people starve.”
Then, just about an hour later, Tankian took to the same platform to share a Newsweek headline — “BERNIE SANDERS BECOMES FIRST CANDIDATE, DEMOCRAT OR REPUBLICAN, TO WIN POPULAR VOTE IN ALL 3 EARLY VOTING STATES” — along with the following message:
“Oh yeah!!!
“We have an enormous amount of work in front of us. If we stand together, if we don’t allow Trump and his friends to divide us up, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. This country has an extraordinary future. Let’s make it happen.”
Putting aside my own feelings about all of this (specifically, that comparing Sanders to the Nazis is really fucking dumb, whether he’s your candidate of choice or not)… I have to wonder if Tankian was aware of Dolmayan’s post when he released his pro-Sanders message. Despite recently teaming for a cover of David Bowie’s “Starman,” Dolmayan hasn’t exactly been kind to Tankian in the press as of late, tacitly blaming the singer for SOAD failing to release new music for so many years. System of a Down have always been an overtly liberal band, and disagreeing so dramatically about Sanders feels a bit like they’re taking passive-aggressive stabs at one another through the Internet. That’s obviously speculation on my part, though.
You can check out both SOAD members’ messages at the bottom of the post. Meanwhile, the band has a string of live dates lined up for this May and June. Those are as follows:
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 The PRP]
