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 12 months. The run of 2025 North American reveals will kick off at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on August 27-28 with particular company KORN, in addition to two night time at Soldier Area 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 number of hours we bought out each present, and it was a shock to us. However I am very glad that the stadiums had been out there 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. Individuals are, like, ‘Why ought to it’s so stunning to you?’ Everybody sees us a sure means. I nonetheless see us as that band from Hollywood. I am not seeing us as this big band that might 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 rather a lot collectively for some time. We have been doing one or two reveals a 12 months since 2017. So, the relationships weren’t as nice as they’re now. It is simply all people wasn’t on the identical web page. We have been speaking. All the things’s nice, knock on wooden. Everybody’s completely happy. So we determined to check the waters and play some reveals. And that is what it’s. There isn’t any technique to it, there is no 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 advised 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 no heavy accountability on anybody, as a result of I really feel like lots of it’s simply pondering an excessive amount of, overthinking what might occur.”
Shavo continued: “Unhealthy experiences have occurred to sure folks, and so they sort of maintain that as PTSD, I believe. And now that issues are higher, we’re older, we’re, like, ‘Dude, no stress, bro. Let’s simply do it. If we prefer it, we do. If we do not prefer it, we [don’t].’ ‘Trigger what? Serj [Tankian, SYSTEM OF A DOWN vocalist] had a good time at Sick New World [festival in Las Vegas] final 12 months. We had such a tremendous, enjoyable present and everybody left the stage hugging. And so he known as again, he is, like, ‘Dude, I cherished 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 check the waters. Let’s not simply go full blast and begin doing months. Let’s simply check the waters with three reveals.’ These three reveals turned to 6.”
Relating to 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 rather a lot, as a result of we’ve not been leaving the West Coast. Like I stated, we have been sort of dipping our toe within the water, testing the temperature of the water. So, we have been sort of upsetting the East Coast. It looks as if we do not like going there, however we love the East Coast. We love throughout. We love your complete nation. It is not private in any respect. So once we determined to do some additional reveals, we stated, ‘We have to go to the East Coast. That is the place this 12 months needs to be.’ In order that’s the explanation — as a result of we the East; we actually do. We discuss it each day — John [Dolmayan, SYSTEM OF A DOWN drummer] and I discuss it each day. We’re, like, ‘We won’t await this.’ So we’re trying ahead to seeing the group, being there and seeing town and having fun with it with that eye once more. We’re taking part in town once more. And to play two stadiums in every metropolis is simply — it is a reward.”
Requested whether it is powerful to ramp up a machine like SYSTEM OF A DOWN to taking part in at a stadium stage for simply six reveals, Shavo stated: “We are able to 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 believe that is not sensible. So six reveals is healthier than one present to me. I will take it. I will take it, and I am not gonna ask for extra. I need it to occur organically. I believe our band is that band — we won’t be advised 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 carried out as a result of we wanna do it, we like to do it, and that is why we do it.”
SYSTEM OF A DOWN may also 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 likely be SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s first go to to South America since 2015.
Final Might, Serj spoke to the Soul Growth With Rainn Wilson podcast about his reluctance to embrace the touring way of life that characterised SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s early years. He stated: “We have had unbelievable, surprising success as a really far-flung sort of progressive steel band with our ‘Toxicity’ report in 2001 and touring and doing what we did. And after a few years of touring, once we had been making the previous few information which we made collectively, ‘Mezmerize’ and ‘Hypnotize’ — these recordings had been carried out on the identical time, then launched as two information inside six months of one another in 2005 and 2006 — earlier than these periods, once we first began these periods, I advised the [other] guys [in the band], ‘Guys, this type of cyclical factor that we’re doing with making information for a 12 months, 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 effectively, as a result of, over time, he grew to become a greater lyricist and I grew to become a greater musical songwriter, a greater composer, so it grew to become sort of like a push and pull, which is basically good for bands, truly, ‘trigger it is a yin-and-yang sort of factor — two robust, inventive forces. And it additionally damaged up so many bands. So, earlier than ‘Mezmerize’ and ‘Hypnotize’, I principally advised the fellows, ‘Pay attention, I might wish to take a hiatus. I am not saying I by no means wanna do that, however I am saying I am unable to do that proper now anymore. And I wanna do my very own factor and likewise take break day and have a life, and all of that stuff.’ It wasn’t taken effectively on the time. I will not get into that. However years later, we began touring once more in 2011, and it grew to become a enjoyable factor, ‘trigger it left… Nothing was completely resolved creatively, nevertheless it grew to become a enjoyable factor as a result of we no less than put every little thing to the facet 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 converse 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 carried out it for 20, 25 years, and I had again surgical procedure a number of years in the past. I am significantly 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 principally — I am paraphrasing — inventive; after that, it is redundant, sort of factor, which is appropriate. So it is that. However I do take pleasure in taking part in with the fellows, and when it is a one-off, it is truly enjoyable, ‘trigger there is no stress to do that entire rigamarang of a protracted 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 advanced over time, significantly 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: “Properly, altering the dynamic is principally years of time and the development of the band, the success of the band, every little thing that occurred in between the day that we met and now, principally, so 25, 30 years. Lots adjustments in that point. And so I believe that is part of it.
“Daron‘s been a lifer and he is extremely severe about his music and he is extremely protecting of his music and weak attributable to his music,” Serj defined. “All of these issues sort of go collectively. So it is these issues, I believe, that created among the inventive 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 lots of instrumental music — I principally 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 turning into a songwriter/composer and he began writing extra lyrics, we began sort of masking one another’s territory. And I used to be okay with that. If he wrote lyrics, I used to be attempting to encourage him to jot down extra, as a result of I consider in inventive progress. I consider in development. I do not consider in issues staying the identical means, for music’s sake. In any other case the music turns into the identical factor over and over. That development is important 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 bought a few of that again. And in order that wasn’t the case, and it was disappointing. And it grew to become a inventive distinction over the band’s path, and whatnot, over time.”
Requested why he wished to jot down about this in his e book, Serj stated: “Lots of it has been publicized in a really sensationalist format by media, music media principally, and I sort of wished 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 have got 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 wished to take that facet out, I wished 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 report 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 on social media and the information networks, and the victims of those assaults weren’t getting the phrase out. So we grew to become sort of obsessive about getting the phrase out, as a result of we had been seeing our folks endure. So we put out these two songs due to that and we donated lots of the proceeds for that to the trigger as effectively.”
Requested how he balances the love and obligation he may really feel towards his followers, those that love SYSTEM OF A DOWN, and the inner 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. Should you’re an entertainer, catering is [what you do], however in case you’re an artist, then you definately’re simply creating what involves you. You are virtually unaware of what folks need. Sure, if it is one thing heavier, persons are gonna prefer it extra. However in case you’re a superb songwriter, you may do each. I do orchestral music, I do movie music, I do rock music — I do all of it. So I take pleasure in ’em all, however I do know that if I do rock, extra persons are going to take heed to it than a piano, instrumental orchestral piece of music, soundtrack sort of music. However it does not imply that you do not do each, as an artist. So it is arduous to actually cater to folks’s emotions. What I like is, and I do know that I can converse for the remainder of the fellows within the band, that it doesn’t matter what’s occurring with our inventive distinction or the band not making new music or not touring totally 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 folks react to our music and the best way that we get all these e-mails about the way it’s modified folks’s lives and all of that stuff, and that’s mind-blowing. It is the largest honor. And once I meet folks on the road, I am nonetheless extremely honored that somebody would choose me out and take a look at me in a constructive mild, not understanding who I’m personally, however understanding me by means of my music, by means of our music, as an example. And I believe that is an amazing fucking honor. I really feel blessed for it. However it does not imply that that factor ought to proceed ceaselessly both.”
