Final yr, Serj Tankian revealed in his memoir that System of a Down auditioned a brand new singer to exchange him, together with his blessing. Now, bandmate Daron Malakian has admitted that the potential vocalist “sounded good,” however that it simply didn’t really feel like System of a Down with out Tankian.
In his ebook, Down With the System, Tankian wrote that he informed his bandmates in 2017 that they need to discover a new singer, as his need to tour waned. Because it turned out, the band did certainly check out a brand new singer throughout the subsequent yr, however apparently bassist Shavo Odadjian informed Tankian the man “couldn’t scream and growl.”
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Malakian, in a brand new interview with Final Guitar’s podcast On The Report (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), provided up some new particulars pertaining to the state of affairs.
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“It was one thing that I by no means actually wished to do,” insisted Malakian, “For me, System of a Down is us 4. If one among us 4 isn’t doing System of a Down, I don’t actually wanna do System of a Down. Did we take into consideration that? Positive. However did we actually pursue it deeply? No. We tried. I don’t wanna get into names. We tried, and whoever we tried, he sounded good.”
He continued, “Individuals would assume, ‘Oh, Daron is the one that will need that.’ I used to be the one which was most in opposition to it. I used to be, like, ‘I don’t wanna look to my left and see different folks.’ System is System, and if that’s not gonna be System, then I don’t know if that’s the System I wanna be part of.”
Malakian added, “So yeah, I’m not or actually type of by no means was [in having a different singer in System of a Down]. I feel Serj may need mentioned one thing in his ebook about [how the guy we tried out not ended up not working out] as a result of the man couldn’t do the growls or one thing, and that’s why we didn’t [pick him to replace Serj], and that’s not true. [Serj] and I’ve by no means had this dialog of why it didn’t occur. However actually the rationale why it didn’t occur is I type of was the one which was, like, ‘I don’t assume I wanna pursue this. I don’t wanna do that with out him.’ … Wanting on the skin of the band. I’m a fan of that. I’m not attempting to vary that. By no means was.”
Whereas it’s been practically 20 years since System of a Down launched an album, the band continues to play sporadic exhibits, with Tankian remaining as their lead singer. Later this month, SOAD will launch a six-date North American stadium tour, taking part in two-night stands in East Rutherford, New Jersey (with Korn); Chicago (with Avenged Sevenfold); and Toronto (with Deftones). Tickets can be found right here.
Watch Daron Malakian’s full interview with Final Guitar’s podcast On The Report under.