John Dolmayan, drummer for the Armenian-American metal band System of a Down, has opened up about the group’s lack of musical output in an interview on military and pro-gun podcast Battleline.
It’s been 17 years since the band released their last album Hypnotize. According to Dolmayan this is primarily due to a lack of interest from lead singer Serj Tankian. “Serj hasn’t really wanted to be in the band for a long time,” Dolmayan said in the interview. “And quite frankly, we probably should have parted ways around 2006.”
System of a Down – ‘Protect the Land’
When asked to elaborate on what he meant by “parted ways,” Dolmayan suggested the band ought to have found a new lead singer. “I think we should have moved on, and if Serj didn’t want to be in the band at that time, we should have just moved on and done it with somebody else.”
Dolmayan theorised that band loyalty may have contributed to their inability to move forward. “Maybe it would have been better if we moved on and got another singer for an album or two and continued to make music and brought Serj back later if he wanted to come back.
“That probably would have been better. But as it is, I think we wasted 15, maybe 20 years of our lives waiting.”
The interview with John Dolmayan was conducted on Battleline, a military and 2A community podcast hosted by former army ranger Kris “Tanto” Paronto and Ian Scotto. A transcript of the interview was posted on Blabbermouth.
Further Reading
Machine Gun Kelly Covers System Of A Down’s ‘Aerials’
Watch System of a Down Debut ‘Genocidal Humanoidz’ and ‘Protect the Land’ Live
