Serj Tankian might work on a new System of a Down album under one condition.
In a new conversation with The Jesea Lee Show, the singer talked about what it would take for the band to make a new album:
“Egalitarian approach to everything within the band. [In other words] kind of more equality in terms of sourcing of the music, in terms of splitting everything, including publishing, in terms of ideas, in terms of sharing the vision — that kind of stuff.”
Tankian Further Speaks On Their Creative Process
Tankian reflected on how he suggested a new direction for System of a Down:
“It’s in the book. We call it a manifesto jokingly because I wrote points down that, years ago when I had some new songs that I thought would be amazing with System, and so I played it for the guys. And I said, ‘Guys, I’ve got an idea of a vision, a different way forward that I think would be very beneficial for the band.’”
The musician is still open to bringing fairness to the band in the future:
“And I presented it — we call it a manifesto in the book almost half-jokingly, but bringing a manifesto to rock musicians is… [Laughs] I guess it doesn’t work — it doesn’t work. But I was trying to instill the same type of egalitarian principles as I love as an activist within whatever I do. And at that time, it didn’t work, but maybe it will one day. We’ll see.”
System Of A Down’s Songwriting Method
It has been almost twenty years since System of a Down released their latest albums, ‘Mezmerize’ and ‘Hypnotize.’ In a March interview with LiveSigning, Tankian discussed how he writes songs. When asked about collaborating with bandmate Daron Malakian on music, Serj explained:
“Originally when we started System of a Down, I was primarily a lyricist and he was primarily the musical songwriter. Shavo [Odadjian] also brought in some riffs, to be fair, that he and I would work on. As time went by, I became a better instrumentalist, playing and composing, and [Daron] became a better lyricist, so we started bringing in more full songs ourselves, and then whatever we were lacking, the other would compensate.”
Serj also revealed that when Daron brought a song idea, he would work on the verses, middle part, and contribute musical arrangements along with the band. Similarly, when Serj brought his songs, they were more complete musically and lyrically, but the band would sometimes suggest changes thematically. This collaboration process evolved over time.
You can watch his entire chat below.