System Of A Down guitarist Daron Malakian recently said in an interview that frontman Serj Tankian never wanted to make Hypnotize or Mesmerize, let alone a new album in recent years.
Tankian responded with a lengthy Facebook post and that was pretty much that. There may be a new record eventually but I wouldn't hold my breath.
Now in an interview with Forbes, Tankian says not making a new record has taken the stress off the band and made playing live a lot more fun.
"That's the thing, over all these years, maybe we're better friends because we haven't made a record in 12 years. I think creating the record brings a lot of these intricate personality complex into writing, to the surface. But when we're playing live, we're, like, 'Hey, how have you been? I haven't seen you in a couple of months. How's the family?' And we have fun, we're out there. It's like playing basketball together playing a live show together. There's no brain thing going on; it's just enjoying it and doing it. That's why we have a lot of fun. And we've become better friends because of it. Over the years, touring here and there, a month here, two months, we've become better friends and closer with each other because of it."
He also says "there's no law that says a band should be together for a million years and have a million records." Which is true – System Of A Down owes nobody anything. Ultimately, the book is not totally closed on doing new music, but only IF the time is right:
It’s gotta be organic, it’s gotta feel right in every way. But also there’s no law that says a band should be together for a million years and have a million records. Actually, if you look over the years as a musicologist or a fan of music would, in any way, it’s probably regressive thinking.
Let's see who does an album first – Tool or System Of A Down. My bet is on the sun exploding.
