According to loudwire.com, Serj Tankian has revealed in his new memoir, Down With the System, that the band actually auditioned a musician to fill his role but it came after Tankian had previously broached the idea of moving on so that the group could continue without him holding them back. System of a Down famously went on hiatus after 2005’s Mezmerize and Hypnotize albums and while they have gotten back together to play occasional tours and one off dates, an attempt at creating new music together ended with artistic differences.

Also the band has scaled back on touring in recent years as Tankian has shown less interest in lengthy tour runs and suffered a back injury that required surgery. Some of the issues lead up to Tankian‘s revelation in his book that the idea of moving forward without him has come up amidst himself and the band members.

In an excerpt of the book shared by Rolling Stone, the singer mentioned that “Daron [Malakian], Shavo [Odadjian], and John [Dolmayan] were always pushing to do more with System of a Down. I’d been the one holding them back, mostly because I didn’t really want to tour.”

Tankian goes on to reveal that at one point in the band, he felt so strongly about it that he suggested that if any of the band members had left, they simply would not use the group name anymore. But when Tankian suggested making it a legal document, the rest of the band resisted the idea.

“Probably because they sensed I was looking for a way out of the band at the time, and they weren’t ready to kiss it goodbye,” he explains, adding, “I’d initially been upset that they didn’t see System the same way I did, but after a while, I stopped being so precious about it, and just thought of these three guys not as my bandmates but as my close friends.  That’s who they are to me still.” said Tankian.

Back in 2020, the band released the songs Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz,” which displays how serious life has been for them and other people in this world. Then in at last and this year’s Sick New World Festival, System Of A Down surprised their fans with a performance of one off shows. Although they are not touring together, the band still is not afraid to make their fans happy with a small musical oerformance.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat