SYSTEM OF A DOWN drummer John Dolmayan spoke to Download presenter Kylie Olsson about the band’s failed attempts to record a follow-up to its Mezmerize and Hypnotize records., which came out in 2005.
“It would be so simple for us to go and make an album — we have the music,” Dolmayan said. “We just can’t get out of our own way on that one. I truly believe that if we went into the studio even to record one song, it wouldn’t end with one song, and it would break the ice. But there’s egos involved, and, quite frankly, wisdom isn’t always something you achieve in older age; sometimes you achieve stubbornness. And we just can’t get out of our own way on that one.
He continued: “But I would like to say that it is a band issue. I know that certain members of my band have been blamed in the past, but at the end of the day, it takes four people to make the music we make and it takes four people not to make it.
“So I want the fans to know that as much as I personally want it to happen, or have wanted it to happen in the past, there are things that that are not in anybody’s control, and no one member of SYSTEM OF A DOWN is greater than the other, especially in regards to making an album.
“So unless the four of us get on the same page at the exact same time and the stars align, I think it’s very unlikely that we’ll make new music, which is a sadness, because I think we have a lot to offer still,” Dolmayan added.
You can watch the full interview below.
