System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan believes his bandmates are “wasting” their talents by not collaborating on new music, and says the LA band’s creative stasis is “an insult” to musicians who aspire to a breakthrough in the industry.
Dolmayan made the claims when speaking to YouTuber Sona Oganesyan in a new interview posted online last week, in which he also said that System was “growing in popularity despite our best efforts to ruin it.”
Asked by the host to elaborate, Dolmayan said: “We haven’t made an album since 2005, we barely tour, we don’t do interviews, we don’t do press, we’re almost completely separated. of the music industry and yet we have more and more effort to play every year.”
“Obviously we still have something to give to the world,” the drummer continues. “We have this gift, don’t we, which comes from God or elsewhere, and we waste it… It’s an insult to anyone who tries to do this in any effort that they’re trying to do. And here we are – we’ve been successful, we’ve got the talent, we’ve got the ability, we’ve got an adoring fanbase, we’ve sold, I don’t know, whatever – 30 million albums or more – and they crave it, and we just don’t.
“It’s like the worst; having the ability to do something and not doing it is, I think, the worst thing in the world about being an artist. You’re only hurting yourself.”
When asked if he could imagine a way forward for the band, Dolmayan replied, “If my band members would listen to me, put everything aside and just say, ‘OK, let’s go and do it. best album possible, and it doesn’t matter where the music came from, or who wrote the lyrics, or what that person has done in the past. I’m willing to put all that aside, but I’m not part of a group that will do that, unfortunately.”
System Of A Down has released two new songs, protect the earth and Genocidal humanoidzin November 2020 – their first new music in 17 years.
While the band is currently inactive, vocalist Serj Tankian recently recorded a new song titled Not tomorrow for the soundtrack of the upcoming video game Metal: Hellsinger – The Gods Of Metal, due later this year.
Watch the full hour-long interview with John Dolmayan below:
