Yesterday, bassist Shavo Odadjian gave us hope. Today, Serj Tankian took it away.
While yesterday, Shavo said "it's just a matter of time" until we hear a new SOAD record, today Serj spoke to Rolling Stone and made it clear there has been no progress on a new album, but at least the air is clear with decade-old drama coming out in the public.
Rolling Stone asked Tankian what happened after Daron called him out publicly, and Serj responded, and Serj indicates that it was actually the best thing for their relationship to get it out in the open:
We got together to rehearse, said hi and had a conversation and just carried things forward as we’ve always done. We’ve been friends and together for 25 to 30 years. That’s a long time. The difference between business and bands are people know when they’re working within a business, but when they’re in a band, it’s confusing because you’re also very close friends. There are times when you have to say, “OK, this is not working on the business end but I love you.” With bands, you rarely see that happening.
The reason I posted what I did is because I didn’t want any negative security threats against any of us, in terms of, “Fuck you. You’re the reason that no System record’s being made.” For me, it was just saying, “Look. I’ve tried. We’ve tried. We just haven’t been able to see eye to eye. It’s not because we’re lazy. We’re still friends. We still tour.” This is the truth.
Asked if the spat opening any more conversations about the band's future, Tankian responded:
The reason I posted what I did is because I didn’t want any negative security threats against any of us, in terms of, “Fuck you. You’re the reason that no System record’s being made.” For me, it was just saying, “Look. I’ve tried. We’ve tried. We just haven’t been able to see eye to eye. It’s not because we’re lazy. We’re still friends. We still tour.” This is the truth.
Elsewhere in the interview, Tankian revealed he's working on a new documentary "looking through my eyes at how message becomes reality through the arts" tentatively titled Truth to Power.
Tankian says the songs he was hoping to write for System would eventually be included on the soundtrack for this doc: "I recently finished mixing a lot of the songs I was hoping we could do with System. I want them to be part of my music film, so I’m waiting for that. I have finished five rock songs."
Tankian's most recent project is scoring the film Spitak, which he also talks about in-depth during this excellent interview.
So we are basically back where we started with SOAD.
Maybe in 2020.
