Before morphing into a fully-fledged band, System Of A Down bassist Shavo Odadjian‘s Seven Hours After Violet existed more as a studio project between himself and Michael Montoya (Winds Of Plague). As that vision for that group evolved, so too did the scope of the material the band had been working on for it.
Among the casualties of the transition to band’s final form was a guest appearance from Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis, among others. A new interview with Skratch N Sniff found Odadjian explaining why that collaboration never made the cut.
Odadjian relayed that the initial idea for Seven Hours After Violet found it existing as “a DJ Khaled of rock”, with multiple features fleshing out the record. However, as Odadjian locked in members of Left To Suffer and more and the group became a more singular entity, Odadjian retooled the material. He stated:
“What happened was the music became really interesting and I started wanting to play this live. I was, like, ‘We should play this live,’ and at that point having just features on the record wouldn’t work out because then how do you play live?”
While he and his bandmates attempted to repurpose some of the parts Davis had tracked for a song, they ultimately walked away from it after being unhappy with their attempts. Odadjian explained:
“[The changed version] wasn’t as good as it should be, because I think Jonathan is amazing. I even spoke to him [and] we decided if we ever do [another collaboration], we’ll write together, not use something that he already had [recorded] under another rhythm.”
Other rumored guests for the early version of the project included System Of A Down vocalist Serj Tankian and ex-Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones. Per Odadjian, The latter cameo may eventually surface on a sophomore album from Seven Hours After Violet.
[via Blabbermouth.net]
