While they remain functional as friends and as a live unit, System Of A Down‘s longstanding creative impasse has kept them out of the studio for any meaningful amount of time for roughly two decades. Internal conflicts and differences of opinion on how the band operate both creatively and financially are to blame for that, as vocalist Serj Tankian himself revealed back in 2018.
While Tankian proposed a more egalitarian approach to the band’s songcraft and business practices, it was not an idea his bandmates were entirely receptive to. Back in 2017, facing increasing issues with a back injury and a desire to tour less to the chagrin of his bandmates, Tankian suggested that the band find a suitable replacement for him and move forward.
It’s a situation Tankian addressed in his 2024 memoir, ‘‘Down With The System‘:
“I wanted them to be happy. I wanted them not to have to depend on my health, my back, or my willingness to spend months on the road each year for them to have this band that they wanted so much. These three guys meant more to me than System of a Down had ever meant — and they still do.
Of course, I wanted me to be happy, too. It seemed like the solution was to ease myself out of the band while they invited in a replacement. I told them I’d even help train a new singer.
‘Think about it,’ I said. ‘We can be the unique band that’s able to make this transition amicably, where the member of the band who’s leaving is 100 percent on-board with the new direction. I’ll do press and talk about it positively. I’ll make it clear that I support you guys.’ I don’t think the guys were totally shocked by my announcement.
In fact, I almost sensed they’d expected it, or at least something like it. They didn’t dismiss the idea outright, but their collective response at the time was for me to essentially pump the brakes. They asked me not to announce that I was leaving the band. They promised not to pressure me into touring anymore. Management would merely present show offers as they came up. If I said yes, we’d do them. If I said no, we wouldn’t. End of story.
It sounded reasonable enough to me. I sort of thought they’d forgotten about the whole idea of hiring a new singer, but a year or so later, John, Shavo, and I were at a fundraiser in Glendale, and this singer I knew got up and sang this beautiful Armenian song. Shavo was sitting next to me at the table. He leaned over and tapped me on the shoulder.
‘By the way,’ he nodded toward the singer, ‘we tried this guy out as a singer. The only problem was that he couldn’t scream and growl.’ I was taken aback. Not that they had been auditioning replacements, but that they’d kept it a secret.
‘Why didn’t you guys ever tell me?’ I whispered. Shavo shrugged. ‘I dunno.’ I turned toward Shavo, now looking directly at him. ‘Listen, he’s a good singer,’ I said. ‘I can literally take him in the parking lot right now and teach him how to growl. You should really consider him.’
In more recent years, I pitched another friend to them as a potential replacement that they ought to seriously consider. But I don’t think they ever did.”
Now the band’s primary songwriter, guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian has spoken about the band’s time spent auditioning for a replacement for Tankian. Speaking with Ultimate Guitar‘s ‘On The Record‘ podcast, Malakian stated of that somewhat awkward period in the band’s history:
“It was something that I never really wanted to do. For me, System Of A Down is us four. If one of us four isn’t doing System Of A Down, I don’t really wanna do System Of A Down. Did we think about that? Sure. But did we really pursue it deeply? No. We tried. I don’t wanna get into names. We tried, and whoever we tried, he sounded good.”
He added:
“People would think, ‘Oh, Daron is the one that would want that.’ I was the one that was most against it. I was, like, ‘I don’t wanna look to my left and see other people.’ System is System, and if that’s not gonna be System, then I don’t know if that’s the System I wanna be a part of.”
After going on to explain that various conflicts have emerged throughout the band over their decades together, and were not solely involving himself and Tankian, Malakian went on to say of the failed attempts to fid a new singer:
“So yeah, I’m not interested or really kind of never was interested [in having a different singer in System Of A Down]. I think Serj might have said something in his book about [how the guy we tried out not ended up not working out] because the guy couldn’t do the growls or something, and that’s why we didn’t [pick him to replace Serj], and that’s not true.
[Serj] and I have never had this conversation of why it didn’t happen. But really the reason why it didn’t happen is I kind of was the one that was, like, ‘I don’t think I wanna pursue this. I don’t wanna do this without him.’ … Looking on the outside of the band. I’m a fan of that. I’m not trying to change that. Never was.”
Malakian just released the third studio album from his Scars On Broadway project, “Addicted To The Violence“, last month. System Of A Down meanwhile have a string of arena shows booked for the coming weeks.
With Korn, Polyphia & Wisp:
08/27 New York City, NY – Metlife Stadium
08/28 New York City, NY – Metlife Stadium
With Avenged Sevenfold, Polyphia & Wisp:
08/31 Chicago, IL – Soldier Field
09/01 Chicago, IL – Soldier Field
With Deftones, Polyphia & Wisp:
09/03 Toronto, ON – Rogers Stadium
09/05 Toronto, ON – Rogers Stadium
