John Dolmayan: System of a Down Would Make a New Record “If My Band Members Listened to Me”
We all know that System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan is very vocal about his political beliefs, from saying he’d vote for Trump again despite the January 6th hearings to claiming he’d figured out the cause of COVID while brushing off the invasion of Ukraine. Now, however, Dolmayan has taken a moment to explain why System of a Down aren’t releasing more new music — and guess what, the problem is everybody but him.
Speaking to Sona Oganesyan (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), Dolmayan spoke about the band’s two recent new tracks, “Genocidal Humanoidz” and “Protect the Land.” Dolmayan explained that they were all for charity — and then took a moment to shit on his bandmates:
“Well, there’s positives and negatives of it, because the road of getting somewhere is also important; how you achieve something is part of the process. So that wasn’t the greatest for me. But at the end of the day, because it wasn’t for me… I’ll never make a dollar off those songs. I’ve given my lifetime publishing for those songs, any royalties, it all goes to Armenian causes.
“So it was never about the financials for me. So in that way, it was incredibly successful for me personally. And although it was nice to have something come out, that also reminds you of the potential, ’cause, obviously, we still have something to give to the world. And when you put something out that actually makes an impact, you’re, like, ‘Why aren’t we doing this all the time?’ And then I go down the rabbit hole of frustration and anger.”
“I’m a sensitive person, so I can’t just hold this stuff in; it has to come out one way or the other. And it takes me a long time to deal with it and to cope with it, because I also am realistic in that life is finite; you only have a certain amount of time. And here we are. We have this gift that came from God or wherever, and we’re squandering it. It’s an insult to everybody else that tries to make it in whatever endeavor they’re trying to make.
“And here we are — we’ve made it, we have the talent, we have the ability, we have an adoring fanbase, we’ve sold, I don’t know, whatever it is — 30 million albums or more — and they’re hungry for it, and we just don’t do it. That’s like the worst — having the ability to do something and not doing it is, I think, the worst thing in the world as far as in the perspective of being an artist. You’re just hurting yourself.”
And as for a new full-length album? Well, again, it’s his bandmates’ problem:
“Yeah, if my band members listened to me and put everything to the side and just said, ‘Okay, let’s just go in and make the best album we can make and not care about where the music comes from or who wrote the lyrics or what this person did in the past.’ I’m willing to put all that aside. I’m not in a band that’ll do that, unfortunately.
BWAHAHAHAHAH, the dude who takes every moment to support some insane right-wing conspiracy theory wants his bandmates to just forget what this person did in the past. Classic.
Check out the interview below, but here’s a tip: if you’re in a group of people working together, and you think the problem is EVERYONE BUT YOU, guess what, sweetheart, you’re the problem.
