System Of A Down and Serj Tankian have not precisely seen eye to eye through the years. Tankian has made it clear that he’s not interested in touring anymore and is the holdup for new material from the band. Although within the studio and on stage (for many of their profession), System Of A Down has at all times been Tankian, guitarist and vocalist Daron Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian, and drummer John Dolmayan. So a brand new model of the band both dwell or within the studio with none of these 4 members is likely to be too bizarre… but it surely virtually occurred.
In line with Tankian in an excerpt from his new e book Down With The System over at Rolling Stone, he really supplied to stop the band in 2017. System Of A Down secretly tried out a brand new vocalist (or vocalists), and regardless of Tankian saying he’d even train the particular person to scream and growl, the substitute by no means fairly got here to be. Tankian additionally notes that he steered a good friend as a substitute, which System Of A Down did not take him up on.
“Towards the top of 2017, we had a band assembly at [System manager] Beno‘s workplace. Once I arrived, I advised everybody that I had an merchandise I wished so as to add to the agenda. We went via the rigamarole of normal enterprise discussions, after which it got here time for my merchandise.
“‘So, who’s going to throw me a going-away social gathering?’ I requested the group. ‘Do considered one of you guys need to be the grasp of ceremonies?’ I laughed just a little, however I used to be critical. ‘Look guys, I have been very clear that I am not eager about touring each attributable to my again and since it is simply not one thing inside my imaginative and prescient.
“‘The factor is, although,’ I continued, ‘I do not need to maintain you guys again. That is your dream. That is what you’ve got labored on your complete life. You should have this.’ I checked out Daron, Shavo, and John, understanding what I mentioned subsequent would hit laborious. ‘I feel you guys ought to discover a new singer.’
“For the longest time, System Of A Down was in regards to the 4 of us. We might constructed it up from nothing, we might been via all of the battles collectively alongside the way in which, and if any considered one of us left, it merely would not be the identical factor anymore. A few years earlier, I might even tried to codify this with a authorized doc that acknowledged that if somebody left the band for any purpose — apart from, God forbid, dying — that the remaining members could not use the band title with out him.
“Everybody else resisted that concept, in all probability as a result of they sensed I used to be searching for a approach out of the band on the time, and so they weren’t able to kiss it goodbye. I might initially been upset that they did not see System the identical approach I did, however after some time, I ended being so treasured about it, and simply considered these three guys not as my bandmates however as my shut mates.
“That is who they’re to me nonetheless. Shavo is without doubt one of the nicest, happy-go-lucky guys I’ve ever met in my life. He will get together with everybody, even on the worst of occasions. I can bear in mind using at the back of a bumpy camper van as soon as with a nasty flu, and as quickly as I began to really feel sick, he insisted on giving me his seat on one other band’s extra snug bus so I may get well. That is Shavo: joyful, hopeful, useful.
“Once I first met John, we acquired alongside attributable to our mutual sensibilities. We each appreciated studying and purpose. By the point all of us sat down collectively in Beno‘s workplace in 2017, John and I weren’t simply mates and bandmates; we had been brothers-in-law. In a reasonably unlikely flip of occasions, he’d married [my wife] Ange‘s sister, Diana.
“In a considerably extra regarding improvement, he’d additionally grown right into a fervent Trump supporter. But despite the fact that I used to be on the far reverse finish of the political spectrum, backing Bernie Sanders on the time, we may at all times sit on the dinner desk and snort with one another. It doesn’t matter what occurred, John at all times had my again, and I had his.
“And Daron and I … properly, we’ve at all times had a protracted, difficult relationship. The love of music welded our distinctive friendship early on regardless of our age distinction. Artistically and even politically, we had been like-minded companions at first. We each had a punk-rock ethos from totally different sources and experiences.
“Musically, we might typically end one another’s sentences and had this unimaginable harmonic resonance in our voices. However it was virtually inconceivable to separate our private relationship from our inventive one. It acquired messy at occasions, although neither of us ever let it disintegrate.
“He had a possessiveness I did not at all times perceive or recognize, particularly when it began affecting my relationships with others. I feel he seen me like an older brother, and I used to be protecting of him, as I felt he was emotionally susceptible. He has at all times made music the precedence in his life and stays stubbornly true to his personal creative imaginative and prescient.
“Though that has typically put us at odds, I’ve numerous respect and love for him. So what did I need for these three folks whom I used to be nearer with than anybody exterior my circle of relatives? I wished them to be completely happy. I wished them to not must depend upon my well being, my again, or my willingness to spend months on the highway annually for them to have this band that they wished a lot. These three guys meant extra to me than System Of A Down had ever meant — and so they nonetheless do.
“After all, I wished me to be completely happy, too. It appeared like the answer was to ease myself out of the band whereas they invited in a substitute. I advised them I might even assist prepare a brand new singer.
“‘Give it some thought,’ I mentioned. ‘We may be the distinctive band that is capable of make this transition amicably, the place the member of the band who’s leaving is one hundred pc on-board with the brand new route. I am going to do press and speak about it positively. I am going to make it clear that I help you guys.’ I do not assume the blokes had been completely shocked by my announcement.
“In reality, I virtually sensed they’d anticipated it, or no less than one thing prefer it. They did not dismiss the concept outright, however their collective response on the time was for me to primarily pump the brakes. They requested me to not announce that I used to be leaving the band. They promised to not stress me into touring anymore. Administration would merely current present provides as they got here up. If I mentioned sure, we might do them. If I mentioned no, we would not. Finish of story.
“It sounded cheap sufficient to me. I kind of thought they’d forgotten about the entire thought of hiring a brand new singer, however a 12 months or so later, John, Shavo, and I had been at a fundraiser in Glendale, and this singer I knew acquired up and sang this lovely Armenian music. Shavo was sitting subsequent to me on the desk. He leaned over and tapped me on the shoulder.
“‘By the way in which,’ he nodded towards the singer, ‘we tried this man out as a singer. The one downside was that he could not scream and growl.’ I used to be stunned. Not that that they had been auditioning replacements, however that they’d stored it a secret.
“‘Why did not you guys ever inform me?’ I whispered. Shavo shrugged. ‘I dunno.’ I turned towards Shavo, now wanting instantly at him. ‘Hear, he is an excellent singer,’ I mentioned. ‘I can actually take him within the parking zone proper now and train him the way to growl. You must actually think about him.’
“In more moderen years, I pitched one other good friend to them as a possible substitute that they ought to noticeably think about. However I do not assume they ever did.”
