Serj Tankian talked to Revolver magazine about his career, both as a solo artist and with System of a Down, ahead of his upcoming EP, ‘Foundations.’
When the outlet asked the ‘toughest band to open for,’ he revealed, “Slayer, hands down. No one on the planet is as scary to open for as Slayer. When we opened for them, their fans were giving us the death sign.”
System of a Down toured with Slayer in 1998, around the release of their self-titled debut album. The ‘War Ensemble’ band treated SOAD more softly than their fans during the shows, according to a past interview from John Dolmayan.
Asked if they faced any challenges as an Armenian band in their early years, the drummer once told ‘Let There Be Talk,’ “No. Our first tour was with Slayer, and after you play in front of a Slayer crowd, everything else is easy. And they were very accepting of us, very supportive, and the people were super nice to us, and they would actually listen.”
“Slayer audiences can be brutal,” he shared. “[Slayer singer/bassist] Tom Araya came up to us and said, ‘Let me know if you have problems,’ and they would watch us every night. They were so good to us and supportive and nice people, and I miss them dearly.”
System of a Down last performed live at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in August. The band’s future plans are now unclear as they have not mentioned any new material since their 2020 singles, ‘Protect the Land’ and ‘Genocidal Humanoidz.’