System Of A Down has played nine shows this decade, ten if you're including their upcoming Californian show with Deftones and The Mars Volta. So what're the chance we get a proper System Of A Down tour sometime in the future? It might be a short tour, but it's possible!
According to System Of A Down vocalist Serj Tankian in an interview with actor Rainn Wilson for LiveSigning, the prospect of shorter tours or a handful of one-off shows is way more interesting.
"I love performing, but especially the long [tours]… I think when you do a long tour, it's not just physically exhausting, but it's artistically redundant after a while, repeating the same thing. That's why we're really enjoying doing these one-offs. They're special events, special occasions. We can't do them everywhere. We can't do them all the time. But performing becomes fun again in a way. And I had kind of lost that.
"And not just because of that reason, but I also had some back problems, back surgery and things that were hindering me from performing. I'm much better now. I exercise better, all of that stuff, so a lot of that's been worked out. As far as touring somewhere in the near future? Possibly, I would say. I mean, I'm open to looking at stuff, but not thrilled about doing long tours at all, anywhere, just one-offs, or maybe a handful of one-offs with dates in between, personally."
Tankian also touched on his relationship with everyone else in System Of A Down, noting that they all still respect each other despite some nasty comments surfacing in the press over the years.
"Let me first say that [Tankian's upcoming book Down With The System] goes into very detailed explanations of our relationships. But it also talks about some of the origination of songs and all of that. But one thing that I wanna clarify is, despite some of our creative differences, which has happened over the years, which is quite normal within a band, and the push and pull of songwriting and thematics and direction and all of that stuff — again, all creative differences — we have immense respect for each other.
"We just played a show called Sick New World in Las Vegas this last weekend. We had a blast. And it's one of those things where life is complicated, and relationships, partnerships are complicated. They don't work perfectly. But there is a certain special thing, bond, especially with System Of A Down, that I can never replicate elsewhere."
