2020 will mark 15 years since the release of System Of A Down's final outputs, both Hypnotize and Mesmerize. It's well known at this point that guitarist Daron Malakian's Scars On Broadway ended up using some material that was meant for the System Of A Down record that's basically never going to happen, and bassist Shavo Odadjian would still really love to do a new one.
Now in a new interview with Billboard, vocalist Serj Tankian says nothing has changed in the new music holdup. Tankian says the band hasn't "been able to see eye to eye to continue as far as creating new music together," though they still enjoy hanging out and touring together.
“The status has not changed. We tour. We do shows together. We haven’t been able to see eye to eye to continue as far as creating new music together. Maybe one day that will change, maybe that won’t, but we’re all close friends and we enjoy each other’s company and we’re like family at this point, after 25 years. We’ll be announcing some new shows soon.”
This is basically the exact same sentiment Tankian voiced back in 2018, so it's not too surprising. At the time, Tankian said he values the band's friendship more than new music.
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.
System Of A Down is currently plotting a 2020 tour.
