During an appearance on the latest episode of the But That 1% With Sona Oganesyan podcast, SYSTEM OF A DOWN drummer John Dolmayan once again spoke about the possibility of the band one day making a follow-up to its “Mezmerize” and “Hypnotize” LPs, which came out in 2005. The Serj Tankian-fronted outfit has toured intermittently since ending its hiatus in 2011 but has yet to record a new full-length album. John said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I told Daron [Malakian, SYSTEM guitarist/vocalist] the secret sauce of how to get an album done.” Asked by host Sona Oganesyan what “the secret sauce” is, John replied: “Bring your songs in last.” Elaborating on how that would work, Dolmayan said: “Well, traditionally when we go in to record, Daron would bring his songs in, ’cause he’d have a lot of them. They were very well thought out. They were the most complete. And what I would do, if I was Daron, if I was giving Daron advice, which I’ve actually given him this advice, and I said, ‘Why don’t you just tell Serj, ‘Bring your songs in first. We’ll go through all your ideas.’ And then Shavo [SYSTEM bassist Shavarsh Odadjian], you bring in all your ideas. And then Daron, you bring in your ideas last. What’s the difference? But that olive branch says ‘I care about your songs more than I care about my own, and I’m gonna have you bring in yours first.'”
Dolmayan continued: “Now, most of Daron‘s songs are gonna end up on the album. He’s the best songwriter I’ve ever seen in my life. And Serj is a prolific lyricist. And believe it or not, many of the songs you like most in SYSTEM first came from Shavo — the riffs, the movements originated with Shavo. So we’ve got a lot of strength there that if we just allow everyone to have their time and not at the last part, ‘We’ve already got 30 songs. Bring in your five, and it’s the last thing we do.’ Well, that belittles that person’s contribution, and then they feel that way after the fact. That’s why I’m saying it’s after the fact that the ill feelings come into play. And that would be my suggestion — just bring yours last. Yours are gonna be great.”
After Oganesyan suggested making a SYSTEM album that had an equal number of songs from Daron and Serj, John countered with: “But what if Serj wrote 12 great songs and they were better than the ones Daron wrote? So make a mediocre album that’s not our best to placate people? What you’re saying is — that sounds like DEI [a diversity, equity and inclusion initiative] to me. If it’s not the best, then why are we using it? We’re the ones that decide what the best is for that album. And our producer, who’s Rick Rubin, and our manager chimes in.”
Dolmayan added: “For example, with [the album] ‘Toxicity’, we all had a list of 44 songs that we recorded, and we all put the ones that we wanted to be on the album. I’d say 80 precent of it we all agreed on. So it’s the last four songs, really, that are up for debate. So if that’s the case, who cares who wrote it?”
Asked by Oganesyan what he would like to see happen if he could have things his way, John said: “We would do the tours that we already have planned, which we’re going to, and then in 2027 we would block off six months. We would go into either Daron‘s house, my mouse or Serj‘s house or Shavo‘s house in a studio that we have in one of those houses, which we all have our spaces, and we would work on a new SYSTEM album with no rules. And I would say, ‘Serj, bring in all your songs first. Then Shavo, bring in all your riffs and songs next, and then Daron, bring all yours last. And I’ll put absolutely no limit on how many songs you can bring in or timeline of how long that’s gonna take. And then we would go in and make a new record.”
In a recent interview with the “Talk Is Jericho” podcast, hosted by FOZZY frontman and wrestling superstar Chris Jericho, Daron spoke about the possibility of a new SYSTEM OF A DOWN album. The 49-year-old Armenian-American said: “Well, we could do it and it might even be good. I don’t know. But if you listen to even those five records that we have, if you listen to the first album to ‘Toxicity’, there is a difference between them. There was an evolution happening. And if I have to say one thing that the hiatus was something that… I wasn’t always down with that hiatus, but whatever — it is what it is. Every band has a different story. There was a time I was a little bit more pissed off about it. Now I kind of am, like, it is what it is. But what I was pissed off about was that we didn’t get a chance to continue that evolution. ‘Cause I think we were capable of that. I think you’ve got some bands that make the same album over and over and over again. We would not have been that band. We kept our sound, but that sound would’ve gone into different places. So that’s my only regret, that we didn’t get a chance to do that. And so that’s why I said what I said [in a previous interview], that making an album 20, 25 years later, where do you pick up from?”
SYSTEM OF A DOWN has only managed to record two songs in the last 20 years, “Protect The Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz”. Released in November 2020, the tracks were motivated by the conflict between Artsakh and Azerbaijan, with all proceeds supporting humanitarian efforts in SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s ancestral homeland of Armenia. Along with other donations from fans on their social pages, they raised over $600,000.
In June 2024, Tankian, who had been promoting his memoir “Down With The System”, was asked in an interview with “The Jesea Lee Show” what it would take for him and his SYSTEM OF A DOWN bandmates to release a new studio album,. He responded: “Egalitarian approach to everything within the band. [In other words] kind of more equality in terms of sourcing of the music, in terms of splitting everything, including publishing, in terms of ideas, in terms of sharing the vision — that kind of stuff.”
He continued: “It’s in the book. We call it a manifesto jokingly because I wrote points down that, years ago when I had some new songs that I thought would be amazing with SYSTEM, and so I played it for the guys. And I said, ‘Guys, I’ve got an idea of a vision, a different way forward that I think would be very beneficial for the band.’ And I presented it — we call it a manifesto in the book almost half jokingly, but bringing a manifesto to rock musicians is… [Laughs] I guess it doesn’t work — it doesn’t work. But I was trying to instill the same type of egalitarian principles as I love as an activist within whatever I do. And at that time, it didn’t work, but maybe it will one day. We’ll see.”
DARON MALAKIAN AND SCARS ON BROADWAY released its third full-length album, “Addicted To The Violence”, on July 18. Malakian helmed the LP as its primary creator — composing, producing, and performing — with contributions from longtime bandmates Orbel Babayan (guitar) and Roman Lomtadze (drums).
