System of a Down vocalist Serj Tankian and bassist Shavo Odadjian recently spoke to Apple Music about everything to do with the band, including their two new songs "Protect The Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz". Tankian and Odadjian initially began discussing the band reuniting in the mid-2000s, and then turned to discussing potential new music.
Long story short, Tankian isn't saying no.
"Personally, man, from day one, even when we disbanded for a little while in '05, '06, I'm always a supporter," said Odadjian. "I'm always on the side of like, this needs to be going on forever. We never we'll call it quits. I will refuse. I don't care. I'll refuse if anyone else does, we're calling it quits. I'm not going to call it quits. As long as we're all still alive, we're going to be the unit that we are. I am still in. I think I'll always be in.
"Look. I'm 47 years old. This has been a part of my life more so than not. We started when I was 21. The majority of my life, this is involved. I've worked my heart out for this. So has everyone else, and I feel like we're a forest and it just shows by us coming back, doing two songs, how we inspired or how we're inspiring and helping inspire a nation and people. How such little does so much. Like I said, beggars can't be choosers. I'm very happy and satisfied with what we have. It'd be great to go further and inspire more and do more in our way. There's no set rules. I always have said this, it's not like if we do more, it's going to require this much other stuff. It is what it is at this point.
"We do what we feel. We can not do nothing for the next 10, 15 years. We don't know. We might be able to do something next year. I don't know. I'm just saying, I'm there. The thing is, is that for it to come out as good as it did and as good as it might in the future, we all have to be on the same wavelength and be as content and happy with what we're doing. If one of us is not, it won't be what it should be or what it needs to be. That's the deciding factor of if we should or not. In 15 years have we had, and we did it with someone less heartened, if someones heart wasn't as much as the other two or the other three or the other one, it wouldn't be what it needs to be. I say everything I'm saying, in the mind state of, hopefully we all feel the same again, to do it again. If we don't, I'm not going to take this much. I'd rather take the full thing."
"Absolutely. No, it felt beyond special," added Tankian. "It felt very natural and it's something we've done for so long together and especially having a cause that, for me, that was the most important thing. It's one thing, like I said, it's one thing to do something for yourself and for your band and for music itself or whatever you want to call it, for your career or for your business. Or it's another thing to do it for something completely outside of yourself in every way, donate the proceeds and the song or the group of the songs become a part of the activism, a strong part of it. I think that's unique that we've done that with this band.
"We've done it in the past throughout our music, with different songs. Obviously, we have songs that are not necessarily socio-political and are fun and, and, and all sorts of stuff. I think when we have done this, we've done it really well. This time, it's exceptional in that sense, not to praise us or anything like that. The fact that we used it exactly, we used it as a weapon, unapologetically, and that's what it should've been. I'm really proud of what we've done. It felt really great. The future is unseen. We will see what happens. The vibe is very positive. As long as we're on the same page, we can continue doing stuff, if we're on the same page."
Tankian added that touring was the main hesitation for him getting back together. "For me personally, it has become harder and harder to tour physically. The actual … the shows are the best. I wish I could just play shows in the same place. But the travel gets gets to you physically and body and we're not getting younger. That kind of a thing, that's a part of it for me, to be honest. But I totally love touring. But when it comes to the actual creation part, it's not personal, just as you stated, Zane. It's philosophical. It's the way you see things and see the way you see the music going forward, what it means to you, what System of a Down might mean to you. There has been a discrepancy in that. But that obviously didn't stop us from jumping on board for doing something for our people, which is beautiful. I don't know what else to say. I think that's that's where it's at."
Tankian is set to release a new EP in February with five songs intended for the System of a Down album that never was, but also recently made comments alluding to potential new System of a Down music in the future too.
