why doesn't soad tour

System Of A Down Share Brutally Honest Explanation For Lack Of New Music

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System Of A Down are still together — they reconvened in 2010 after a four-year hiatus, and they have a few tour dates coming up in October — but they haven’t actually released any music in 13 years. Their last album, Hypnotize , came out in 2005, six months after its companion album Mezmerize , and their self-titled debut album just turned 20 years old in June. System Of A Down guitarist Daron Malakian is releasing a new album under the auspices of his Scars On Broadway project next week, which contains material that he’d been saving since 2012 for a new System Of A Down album. And in a new interview with Kerrang! , he discusses the reasons behind the long wait for new System Of A Down music — namely, frontman Serj Tankian.

“I don’t want to throw Serj under the bus — he’s my friend and he’s someone that I care about — but I don’t know how to change his mind. We’ve all sat down and we’ve had meetings, and he’s totally set in his way of thinking,” Malakian says. “Serj was never really a heavy metal or a rock guy … I don’t know if he has the same love for this kind of music as I do. I’m the kid that grew up with Slayer and Kiss on my walls … Serj didn’t grow up feeling that way. He didn’t grow up a diehard fan. So I feel like the whole experience of becoming the lead singer in a hugely successful band was different for him than my experience was for me. To be honest with you, Serj didn’t even want to make Mezmerize and Hypnotize . We really begged him to make those records. At that time, he felt like he was out.”

In response to Malakian’s comments, as Rolling Stone reports, Tankian posted a lengthy, brutally honest message on Facebook explaining the lack of new music. “It is true that I and only I was responsible for the hiatus Soad took in 2006,” he begins. “Everyone else wanted to continue at the same pace to tour and make records. I didn’t.” His reasons ranged from artistic — “I’ve always felt continuing to do the same thing with the same people over time is artistically redundant” — to matters of group dynamics — “Daron controlling both the creative process and making the lions share of publishing not to mention wanting to be the only one to do press.”

For those reasons, Tankian says, “I personally don’t feel as close to the music” on Mezmerize and Hypnotize . “There were songs I wanted to bring in but was hampered by unkept promises coupled by my own passivity at the time.” When the band got back together in 2010 after pursuing separate solo projects, Tankian “knew they wanted to make a record, but given the past I was hesitant. At times there would be emotionally tinged outbursts by one band member or another mostly blaming me for the band’s inactivity. After a long time thinking and processing, about 2 years ago, I went to the guys with a proposition for a way forward as a band.”

He suggested a four-pronged approach to moving forward as a band: equal creative input, equal publishing split, the development of a “new concept or theme so that it’s not just a record but a full experience,” and the idea of a “director’s cut” policy, in which whoever writes a song gets to make the final decision about it. “Ultimately I had to draw a line in the sand because I knew I could never be happy going back to how things used to be within the band. And as we couldn’t see eye to eye on all these points we decided to put aside the idea of a record altogether for the time being,” Tankian says. “My only regret is that we have been collectively unable to give you another Soad record. For that I apologize.”

Drummer John Dolmayan also chimed with a post of his own on Instagram . “Each member of the band is equally responsible for both our incredible success on our previous recordings and our unbelievable failure to get along and make music together,” he wrote. “Not one of us, rather ALL of us are to blame. Egomania, eccentricities, megalomania — and sometimes just stupidity all play roles.”

That doesn’t mean that the band members hate each other. “When people don’t see a record, they assume the worst about your internal relationship,” Tankian told Rolling Stone earlier this year. “But the truth is we’re actually better friends — at least I’m better friends with everyone than I’ve ever been. ohn’s my brother-in-law; he’s in my family. We have a great time together touring. But sometimes putting together a record, and that creative output and how things should be done, is different in four people’s heads and it doesn’t always come together.”

Malakian echoed Tankian in another interview with Rolling Stone from earlier this year. “We’re all friends,” he said. “We all still go out. We play the songs live. We enjoy it. But doing an album is a totally different thing than playing the songs we already have live. It takes a little bit more togetherness, a little bit more commitment from everybody, and I’m not sure everybody is ready to commit to that right now. And it is what it is, man. I can’t force anybody to do anything they don’t want to.”

Many theories and much speculation have circulated through the years with blame focused on one member of the band for the lack of new material, if that is true; then why is that? Every action has a cause , every reaction has a cause and the truth is, each member of the band is equally responsible for both our incredible success on our previous recordings and our unbelievable failure to get along and make music together. Not one of us, rather ALL of us are to blame. Egomania eccentricities ,megalomania-and sometimes just stupidity all play roles. To our fans, I’m truly sorry for letting you down , to the songs that could have been-I’m sorry you haven’t. A post shared by John Dolmayan (@johndolmayan_) on Jul 12, 2018 at 3:25pm PDT

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System of a Down Guitarist Explains Band’s Lack of Touring

It's no secret that System of a Down are fairly inactive when it comes to the extended touring circuit. The band have notably capitalized on rock's festival market since their return friom hiatus in 2011, but long, country-wide treks have remained untouched.

Guitarist Daron Malakian has spoken on the topic in a new interview with Metal Hammer , saying, "I’m the only one in the band that doesn’t have kids and I’m the only one who’s not married. So when we do play, we don’t go on these year-long tours; we do three weeks a month in Europe or a couple of weeks here in the States in October. It’s just enough for us to get out and play and have a good time, and then for everyone to come back home to their families and not be gone too long.”

System of a Down will embark on a rare five-date North American tour this fall. These will be the group's first U.S. appearances in three years. Speaking on the band's impact their career has had, Malakian said, "I just feel really lucky. We haven’t released any new music in 10 years, so for people to still appreciate those songs means a lot to me. A lot of the kids that I see at the System shows were either really young or maybe some of them weren’t even born when our band started, so to see that makes me really proud and I think it’s a testament to the songs."

Frontman Serj Tankian recently addressed their current state and new music delay in a tell-all statement . You can check out a comprehensive timeline of the back-and-forth between members regarding their future in the gallery below.

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Why System of a Down Haven’t Put Out an Album in 13 Years

By Kory Grow

The members of System of a Down are finally detailing why they haven’t issued any new music since 2005’s Mezmerize and Hypnotize albums after more than a decade of speculation. First, guitarist Daron Malakian – who is promoting an upcoming album by his side project Scars on Broadway ­– said in an interview that the group had to “beg” frontman Serj Tankian to make those two records since the singer felt like he was “out” at that time. Now the vocalist has posted a lengthy Facebook message  that lifts the veil on what has stopped them.

Malakian, in an interview with Kerrang! (via Revolver ), said he didn’t want to finger Tankian but that the singer is “totally set in his way of thinking.” The new Scars on Broadway LP, Dictator – out July 20th – contains songs Malakian had been shelving since 2012, a couple of years after System of a Down reactivated after a hiatus following its last two albums. He’s since accepted that the group won’t be making an LP anytime soon so he’s releasing the songs.

“Serj was never really a heavy metal or a rock guy,” Malakian said. “I don’t know if he has the same love for this kind of music as I do. I’m the kid that grew up with Slayer and Kiss on my walls … Serj didn’t grow up feeling that way. He didn’t grow up a diehard fan. So I feel like the whole experience of becoming the lead singer in a hugely successful band was different for him than my experience was for me. To be honest with you, Serj didn’t even want to make Mezmerize and Hypnotize .”

Tankian replied Thursday night with an exhaustive explanation of his feelings on the matter on Facebook. “It is true that I and only I was responsible for the hiatus SOAD took in 2006,” he wrote. “Everyone else wanted to continue at the same pace to tour and make records. I didn’t. Why? For numerous reasons.” These include feeling like the music the band was making was sounding redundant and repetitive, the wish for an equal cut of the money (“Daron [was] controlling both the creative process and making the lion’s share of publishing not to mention wanting to be the only one to do press”) and the fact that he didn’t feel connected to the music on the Mezermize and Hypnotize LPs.

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He was in a different place artistically when the band reconvened in 2010, and since the 2006 hiatus, he has put out records in a variety of genres, from rock to classical music, and found a new career as a film composer. He agreed to do a tour with the band and eventually the subject of a new record would come up. “At times there would be emotionally tinged outbursts by one band member or another mostly blaming me for the band’s inactivity,” he wrote. So about two years ago he proposed a four-tiered approach for them to move forward.

First, he wanted equal creative input. “By this time I had released five of my own records and was a better songwriter musically and Daron was getting better as a lyricist,” he wrote. “So I said let’s each bring in six songs that all band members approve fully and work on them along with songs or riffs from [bassist] Shavo [Odadjian].” Second, he wanted the band to split the songwriting royalties equally. Third, he wanted each member to have final approval on the songs he brought to the table. “I did this because in the past, I’d bring in a song that would be morphed into an undesirable version that I myself would withdraw from consideration,” he wrote. And finally, he wanted the band to collaborate on a concept or theme for the record so it would be “a full experience.”

Tankian wrote that he was leaving out other details – “like agreeing on the ‘sound’ of a new record, which we couldn’t do” – and a bit about sending notes to Malakian on many of the songs on Dictator that he felt didn’t fit the mold of system. “They played around with some of my songs,” he wrote, “suffice to say I think we tried.” Ultimately, Tankian decided to “draw a line in the sand” and the group decided to set aside the prospect of making a new LP for now.

“My only regret is that we have been collectively unable to give you another SOAD record,” Tankian wrote. “For that I apologize.”

Drummer John Dolmayan also chimed in on Instagram . “Each member of the band is equally responsible for both our incredible success on our previous recordings and our unbelievable failure to get along and make music together,” he wrote. “Not one of us, rather ALL of us are to blame. Egomania, eccentricities, megalomania – and sometimes just stupidity all play roles.

“To our fans, I’m truly sorry for letting you down,” he continued. “To the songs that could have been – I’m sorry you haven’t.”

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In recent interviews with Rolling Stone , both Tankian and Malakian have said that despite their inability to make a record, everyone in the band is getting along. Late last year, amid Internet rumors that Tankian never wanted to sing again, he revealed he’d been recording vocals for Dolmayan’s These Grey Men side project and he addressed the ensemble’s creative stalemate.

“When people don’t see a record, they assume the worst about your internal relationship. But the truth is we’re actually better friends – at least I’m better friends with everyone than I’ve ever been,” he said . “John’s my brother-in-law; he’s in my family. We have a great time together touring. But sometimes putting together a record, and that creative output and how things should be done, is different in four people’s heads and it doesn’t always come together.”

Malakian echoed Tankian in an interview in April. “We’re all friends,” he said . “We all still go out. We play the songs live. We enjoy it. But doing an album is a totally different thing than playing the songs we already have live. It takes a little bit more togetherness, a little bit more commitment from everybody, and I’m not sure everybody is ready to commit to that right now. And it is what it is, man. I can’t force anybody to do anything they don’t want to.”

At the same time, he also addressed the prospect of a new System of a Down record: “It’s not abandoned.”

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System of a Down Members Finally Break Silence About Lack of New Music Since 2005

System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian and guitarist Daron Malakian are finally breaking their silence about why the rock band hasn't released new music since 2005's back-to-back albums, 'Mezmerize'…

By Mitchell Peters

Mitchell Peters

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System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian and guitarist Daron Malakian are finally breaking their silence about why the rock band hasn’t released new music since 2005’s back-to-back albums, Mezmerize and Hypnotize .

SOAD officially went on hiatus in 2006, but reconvened four years later for live performances around the globe. Since then, the group — consisting of vocalist Tankian, guitarist/vocalist Malakian, bassist Shavo Odadjian, and drummer John Dolmayan — has continued to tour behind hits dating back to 1998.

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Daron Malakian

Serj tankian, system of a down.

In a recent interview to promote a new album by his side band Scars on Broadway , Malakian pointed to Tankian for the reason SOAD hasn’t released new music in more than a decade.

Daron Malakian Previews New Scars on Broadway Album 'Dictator,' Talks System of a Down

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“I don’t want to throw Serj under the bus — he’s my friend and he’s someone that I care about — but I don’t know how to change his mind. We’ve all sat down and we’ve had meetings, and he’s totally set in his way of thinking,” Malakian told Kerrang! (via Rolling Stone ).

Scars on Broadway’s upcoming album, Dictator , is set for release on July 20. The LP contains songs Malakian has held onto since 2012, and with little hope that SOAD will be making an album anytime soon, he decided to release them under his side project.

“Serj was never really a heavy metal or a rock guy,” Malakian said. “I don’t know if he has the same love for this kind of music as I do. I’m the kid that grew up with Slayer and Kiss on my walls … Serj didn’t grow up feeling that way. He didn’t grow up a diehard fan. So I feel like the whole experience of becoming the lead singer in a hugely successful band was different for him than my experience was for me. To be honest with you, Serj didn’t even want to make Mezmerize and Hypnotize . We really begged him to make those records. At that time, he felt like he was out.”

On Thursday (July 12), Tankian responded to Malakian’s comments in a long-winded Facebook post , admitting that he is responsible for SOAD’s hiatus. He defended his decision with numerous reasons, including not wanting to be repetitive with the band’s sound, an equal distribution of money among band members, and his desire to go solo.  

“By the time Mezmerize / Hypnotize came around we were at the diametrically opposite end on both with Daron controlling both the creative process and making the lions share of publishing not to mention wanting to be the only one to do press,” Tankian wrote. “There were songs I wanted to bring in but was hampered by unkept promises coupled by my own passivity at the time.”

Since SOAD’s hiatus, Tankian has released numerous solo albums of different musical genres, and explored a career in composing films. Tankian said he approached SOAD members about two years ago with a proposition of moving forward as a band. Among the conditions he laid out were equal creative input, equal publishing splits, and developing a “new concept or theme so that it’s not just a record but a full experience.”

Tankian said he attempted to work with Malakian on songs from Scars on Broadway’s upcoming album, but things didn’t work out between the two musicians.  

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“I remember sending lots of notes on songs by Daron, mostly from his current Scars on Broadway record, most of which I didn’t consider applicable to Soad etc, they played around with some of my songs-suffice to say I think we tried,” Tankian wrote.

Tankian concluded his Facebook post noting that since SOAD members don’t see eye to eye on many points, the band has set aside the idea of making new music for the time being.

Drummer Dolmayan also shared his thoughts on Instagram . “Each member of the band is equally responsible for both our incredible success on our previous recordings and our unbelievable failure to get along and make music together,” Dolmayan wrote. “Not one of us, rather ALL of us are to blame. Egomania, eccentricities, megalomania — and sometimes just stupidity all play roles.

“To our fans, I’m truly sorry for letting you down,” the drummer continued. “To the songs that could have been — I’m sorry you haven’t.”

Despite all their musical differences, Malakian and Tankian recently told Rolling Stone that everyone in the band still gets along well with each other. 

Read Tankian’s full Facebook post below.

  Many theories and much speculation have circulated through the years with blame focused on one member of the band for the lack of new material, if that is true; then why is that? Every action has a cause , every reaction has a cause and the truth is, each member of the band is equally responsible for both our incredible success on our previous recordings and our unbelievable failure to get along and make music together. Not one of us, rather ALL of us are to blame. Egomania eccentricities ,megalomania-and sometimes just stupidity all play roles. To our fans, I’m truly sorry for letting you down , to the songs that could have been-I’m sorry you haven’t. A post shared by John Dolmayan (@johndolmayan_) on Jul 12, 2018 at 3:25pm PDT

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System of a down bassist shavo odadjian explains why the band hasn't recorded new music yet.

Will we ever hear new music from SOAD?

What is the status of the band now? Would it be safe to say that there’s a level of dysfunction? Would you say that’s accurate? “It could be accurate. I mean, we haven’t made a record for 12 years. We do play live still, we do tour; not as often as I would like to, but I am blessed for being able to still do it. When we’re put together, the four of us, we’re not hating on each other. We hang out, we have a good time. It’s just – we haven’t made music together, which is kind of frustrating; I’ll be honest, ’cause I know we can make the bomb music together.” Are there fragments of songs? “Yeah, there are.” How far did you get? Rough demos, recordings…? “No recordings. Two years ago, we got together, the three of us…” ‘ The three of us,’ minus Serj [Tankian, vocals]?’ “Well, minus Serj because, at the time, he was doing a lot of solo stuff and we were, like, ‘Dude, we don’t wanna wait around. Let’s just get in there and see what we can do.’ And we got in and wrote, like, about 10 or 11 songs. Daron brought, like, seven or eight songs; I brought four or five ideas in that became songs. Minus Serj’s vocals, of course. It was really good. It came out really great. And I hope to one day go back to those and use some of Serj’s stuff. I know Serj’s got some stuff. “In my world, man, why it isn’t happening is a big question. I think we can get over anything ’cause it’s not like someone’s done anything so horrible that we can’t get over it – ain’t nothing like that. It’s just creative differences that are lasting a little too long for me, for my taste. It’s been so long. I don’t even remember why we’re not going in there at this point, you know what I mean?” The thing that’s hard for fans is to understand how a band can get together and play live, but can’t still make a record, or make a song… “I’m one of those fans. [Laughs] I swear to god, dude. [Laughs] I really would love to have done it. I mean, like I said: if it was up to me, we would have never stopped. We would have been on our probably ninth or 10th record now.”

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John Dolmayan: Serj Tankian Hasn't Wanted to Be in System of a Down for a Long Time

In 2020, System of a Down dropped their first songs in 15 years , "Protect the Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz." (The dual singles raised over $600,000 for humanitarian efforts during the conflict between Artsakh and Azerbaijan.) The surprise release only intensified the question that had hung over the nu-metal titans ever since 2006, when SOAD first went on hiatus: When, if ever, will the band release a new album?

In a bombshell interview on the "Battleline Podcast," System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan opened up about the behind-the-scenes drama that has held back the band from recording and releasing new music — even though, according to him, plenty more, as-yet-unheard SOAD songs have been written. As Dolmayan tells it, System — who are rounded out by lead vocalist Serj Tankian, guitarist-vocalist Daron Malakian and bassist Shavo Odadjian — were very close to breaking up in 2006 and maybe even should have.

"Serj hasn't really wanted to be in a band for a long time," Dolmayan explained (as transcribed by Blabbermouth ), speaking of the SOAD singer, who also happens to be his brother-in-law. "And quite frankly, we probably should have parted ways around 2006. We tried to get together multiple times to make an album, but there were certain rules set in place that made it difficult to do so and maintain the integrity of what System of a Down stood for. So we couldn't really come together and agree. And part of that is Serj's fault, and part of that is my fault, and Shavo's and Daron's, as well. But at the end of the day, if you have a majority of the band thinking one way and one person thinking the other, it's very difficult to come together and make music thinking that person is important. And every member of this band is very important to the overall sound of the band. And you'll know this by listening to anybody's side projects; they're never quite that good compared to System. In fact, I think a lot of 'em aren't very good at all. And when you compare that to what we do together as System, you understand why the team matters and having certain talents come together and merge matter and that magic thing captured doing that matters."

Asked to elaborate on his assertion that SOAD should have split in 2006, Dolmayan doubled down: "I think we should have moved on, and if Serj didn't wanna be in the band at that time, we should have just moved on and done it with somebody else," he said. "But that's what happens when you're loyal and you really wanna make it work; you'll put up with things that may be detrimental to the health of the band or the health of the situation. Maybe it would have been better if we moved on and got another singer for an album or two and continued to make music and brought Serj back later if he wanted to come back. That probably would have been better. But as it is, I think we wasted 15, maybe 20 years of our lives waiting."

Dolmayan noted that the chemistry is great when the band comes together to play live, but the rest of the group, other than Tankian, would love to be much more active. "When we're actually on stage, it's great," the drummer said. "It's just getting to that point that is disheartening. We have one show booked for next year. One show. That's it," he noted, referencing May's Sick New World festival.

Dolmayan added, "I think we would like to be working a lot more, but Serj also has a bad back now; he's messed up his back somehow. And he just doesn't wanna tour as much as the rest of us do. Look, if my wife told me that we were gonna have sex once a year, I'd be divorced. So you figure that out for what it is.

"I don't think this is sustainable," the drummer lamented. "The rest of us wanna work a lot more than he does. Now I don't know if that means we're just gonna break up and forget about it and call it a career or if we're gonna move forward with somebody else or if Serj is gonna come around. Ultimately, the best-case scenario for me is Serj comes around and we can do, like, 15, 20 shows a year. Even that would be enough. We'd be able to go to places that we haven't gone in a long time and play in front of fans that have never seen us play. That's important to me."

Dolmayan continued, "I don't know what's gonna happen. Even talking about System kind of bums me out, because I know what our potential is. And I know that if we make an album, it'll be fantastic 'cause we have songs that have been ready for five [or] six years now; we just have to go in and record 'em. And I don't know if that's gonna happen or not."

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“The Truth Doesn’t Recognize Retreat”: The Oral History of System of a Down’s ‘Toxicity’

In 2001, an Armenian American heavy-metal band conquered the charts despite infighting, a riot, and a ban that kept them off major radio stations following 9/11. Twenty years later, System of a Down and others look back on a career-defining album.

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After nearly three years of touring behind their self-titled debut, System of a Down was ready to give the mainstream a wake-up call. In fall 2000, the heavy rockers headed home—a rehearsal space in North Hollywood called The Alley—to work on what would become their masterpiece, Toxicity .

System of a Down had grown from local heroes selling out shows on the Sunset Strip to the most-buzzed-about band across the country. Prime slots on Ozzfest ‘98 and ‘99 alongside metal gods like Black Sabbath, Tool , and Deftones didn’t hurt. Nu metal’s popularity was near its peak, and while System of a Down was tossed into that category, the band was a different beast: They painted their faces, were influenced by Slayer, and proudly sang about their Armenian heritage. The first time famed producer Rick Rubin saw the band perform in front of a sold-out crowd at the Viper Room in 1997, he couldn’t contain his excitement.

“They made me laugh,” Rubin says, mentioning the band’s mix of Armenian folk dancing and heavy guitar riffs. “They blew my mind. They were unlike any hard rock or metal band I had seen previously.”

Though Rubin signed the band to his label, American Recordings, it’s hard to fault him for his initial reaction. Take the band’s first single, “Sugar,” which mixes jazz-style drums and Cookie Monster growls about “Kombucha mushroom people” that combusts into frontman Serj Tankian manically yelling, “How do I feel? What do I say? In the end, it all goes away.”

“Sugar” wasn’t exactly a hit, peaking at no. 28 on Billboard ’s Mainstream Rock chart. A follow-up single, “Spiders,” featured on the Scream 3 soundtrack, reached no. 25. Even without a hit, the self-titled album went gold by February 2000.

Tankian credits nonstop touring for the band’s rapidly growing following. Even as the album cycle wound down, System of a Down was on the road through July 2000 on the Summer Sanitarium Tour with Metallica and Korn.

After that string of dates, drummer John Dolmayan remembers having to turn down Iron Maiden. He was disappointed, but “it was time to make the second,” he says. “We had gone as far as we could with the first.”

To prepare for Toxicity , the band wrote more than 40 songs. In spring 2001, the band went to Cello Studios in Hollywood and recorded nearly all of them. Anticipation grew as rumors about new material leaked to the press . One song was reportedly called “K.I.T.T.,” an allusion to the Knight Rider car with satirical lyrics about the show’s star, David Hasselhoff. Another song was about pajamas.

If fans were worried about the new direction, guitarist Daron Malakian crushed those concerns when he told MTV that the band remained heavy. In the same breath, he compared songs like “ATWA” and “Version 7.0” (later renamed “Toxicity”) to Radiohead and Pink Floyd. As much as the guitarist was aware of the buzz, he was hellbent on avoiding the second album slump.

“I didn’t want to make the first album part two,” Malakian says. “The sophomore record is something I think people pay attention to. It was important for us to deliver. I put a lot of pressure on myself, which maybe made me a little bit hard to deal with. But I felt like I had to take the bull by the horns.”

Studio time was fraught with tension. Some arguments were over a single word in a lyric. Others turned into hospital visits. On the outside, fans were just as impatient. Anticipation boiled over during a free show on September 3, 2001, in a parking lot on Schrader Boulevard. Fire marshals shut down the concert before the band could play a single note. A riot ensued.

As the band escaped to hotel rooms, they watched the events unfold across CNN. Helicopters circled the scene, zooming in on police with riot gear and fans destroying the stage. Dolmayan remembers thinking, “What the fuck?” as he saw people run down Hollywood Boulevard with his drums: “My manager is like, ‘Something big is coming.’”

His manager was right. In its first week, Toxicity sold 220,000 copies. That landed the album at no. 1 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. However, celebrations and upcoming dates with Slipknot would be put on hold as the news of the chart triumph came the same day as the September 11 attacks. Days later, in response to 9/11, Tankian published an essay called “Understanding Oil” as an attempt to understand the attacks as well as confront the United States’ foreign policy problems—a decision the singer would have to defend with the band internally then publicly on The Howard Stern Show .

The album’s hit single, “Chop Suey!”—which included the phrase “self-righteous suicide”—was immediately taken off radio airwaves as part of an infamous list from Clear Channel program directors who felt certain songs shouldn’t be played after 9/11. Other songs on the list included P.O.D.’s “Boom,” Alien Ant Farm’s “Smooth Criminal,” and Phil Collins’s “In the Air Tonight.”

That these events happened within a week of each other was overstimulating to System of a Down’s manager, David Benveniste. More confusing was the band’s popularity continued to rise, Benveniste says: “It all worked to the band’s favor.”

Toxicity ’s singles—“Chop Suey!,” the title track, and “Aerials”—dominated rock charts and crossed over onto the Billboard Hot 100 charts. “Chop Suey!” received a Grammy nomination in 2002 for Best Metal Performance. In 2003, the band received its second Grammy nod, this time for Best Hard Rock Performance with “Aerials.” To date, Toxicity has sold nearly 3 million copies stateside and 12 million worldwide.

Twenty years later, the album has maintained its status as System of a Down’s magnum opus. Metal Hammer named it the fourth-greatest metal album of the 21st century . Metallica loves it , as does Melanie C of the Spice Girls . A scene from a Nigerian wedding in 2020 went viral as guests moshed and sang along to the title track.

“That says everything you need to know,” says Sasami Ashworth, a classically trained singer-songwriter who covered “Toxicity” last year , about the wedding video. “It says so much that, in a completely different continent, people know the lyrics and are raging to it.”

The years since Toxicity ’s release have been fraught with public infighting, prolonged hiatuses, and exhaustion. However, in 2020, System of a Down released the songs “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz.” The first material from the band in 15 years came in response to attacks on the member’s cultural homelands of Artsakh and Armenia. It’s a preview of what could have been had the band not gone on hiatus in 2006.

“It was all about the evolution of the band, and I felt like there was more to go when it came to that,” Malakian says, commenting on the band’s extended break. “That’s the part I’m most sorry about.”

As Toxicity turns 20, SOAD members and others discuss the events that turned Hollywood’s hometown rockers into one of music’s most dangerous bands.

Part 1. “Ministry Used Drills … I Used a Vibrator.”

After System of a Down proved themselves on tour with Slayer, Ozzfest, and Metallica, the band reconvened at their rehearsal space, locking in songs for what would become Toxicity .

The band wrote riffs, songs, and lyrics at home, then showed them to each other during rehearsal. When a group of songs was ready, the band would invite Rubin to hear them. Before recording, Rubin would give his advice. Malakian compared the bearded, guru-like producer to a doctor: “I go to Rick, and he tells me, ‘Try a couple of these and tell me how they feel.’”

The writing and recording process generated a ton of material, and the band grew “tighter and tougher,” Rubin says. However, they would need more than the producer’s magic to deal with some of their pain.

Rick Rubin (producer): From the beginning, we talked about the benefit of over-writing. If you write four albums’ worth of material to make one album, each album released functions as a greatest hits album—the greatest hits from four unreleased albums. The artists who truly love making music enjoy the healthy process.

Daron Malakian (guitarist): There was a lot of music. I’m not comfortable in a situation when you go into the studio with no material.

John Dolmayan (drummer): We had like 44 songs total.

Serj Tankian (singer): I didn’t feel any pressure except time pressure. It’s not like our first record was a great hit, as it didn’t have much radio play. Though, we built a solid following from touring it.

Rubin: From the incessant touring, the band’s playing got tighter and tougher, and Serj grew tremendously as a vocalist. There is no better boot camp for a band to focus their skills than playing often in front of people. Also, getting to open for Slayer is a challenge, nearly impossible for any band to succeed at—a true gauntlet. The System lads rose to the occasion.

Shavo Odadjian (bassist): Serj wasn’t really a singer prior to joining System of a Down. He was a keyboard player. He developed his style and sound with us. He sang and got so much better. All of the sudden, I could see him feeling freer with his voice. He tried things nobody was doing. Rick really got a kick out of that.

Tankian: Rick’s production and confidence in us was essential in our rise as a band from clubs to the world stage. With the first record, his production was based on replication of our live sound. On the second, it was more traditional recording techniques.

Odadjian: Daron took on that role of guiding things through, and you need that in a band. Daron is way more critical than Rick.

Malakian: I liked songs like “Aerials,” “Toxicity,” and “ATWA” that brought an evolution to our sound. It wasn’t just about trying to start mosh pits anymore. I was writing open songs with big choruses.

Tankian: Thematically, my music and lyrics always expounded on egalitarian principles and/or stream of consciousness, especially on [ Toxicity ].

Malakian: There were plenty of heavy, hard-hitting songs like “Needles,” but what works is something that you never know until you play with the band.

Odadjian: I brought in “Toxicity.” I called it “Version 7.0.” At the time, AOL was around, and it was at Version 5.0. I was like, “When this song comes out, it’ll be on Version 7.0, and we’d be telling the future.” Of all the songs, “Toxicity” fell through the cracks. We didn’t work on it. I felt so good about it, and it wasn’t taken well.

Towards the end of writing material, Daron goes, “Remember that song, ‘Version 7.0’? I kinda did my thing to it, and here it is.” And the dude played “Toxicity.” He chopped it up and said, “Drums should go there, and this and this.” All of the sudden, “Toxicity” was really born. The last song that got submitted was the title track.

Dolmayan: I was trying to figure out beats. Shavo was right in front of me and wouldn’t stop talking. I was like, “Shavo, give me a second to try and come up with something.” He was like, “Why don’t you try it like this?” He was moving his arms up and down. To mock him, I did what I thought he was doing. That beat came out of complete irritation. It was very much just, “Get the fuck out of my face. I’m going to do this so you leave.” It ended up being one of the beats I’m most known for.

Odadjian: During pre-production, we thought “Aerials” was perfect. Rick was like, “It’s missing something … You know that riff that goes throughout the song? How come you don’t play that heavy?” The middle part came out of that bom-bom-bom , that part that blows up the song up, and then “Aerials” became that song.

Malakian: I wrote a lot of that stuff at home, when I was still living with my parents. There were some songs that were written on tour, like “Chop Suey!” I wrote the opening riff and pretty much structured the song while we were still touring in an RV.

In February 2001, the band recorded more than 30 songs at Cello Studios. An early standout was “Prison Song,” reportedly about Malakian’s short time in jail after being arrested for traffic warrants and marijuana possession.

Sessions were as intense as the lyrical subject matter, filled with arguments, some of which turned into brawls. The band wanted to sound as huge as possible—even if that meant butting heads or resorting to experimental techniques.

Malakian: I went a little overboard on Toxicity . We had the big budget, this rental stuff … I don’t layer 12 tracks of guitar anymore. I was young.

Steve Appleford (journalist): Daron is clearly influenced by Slayer and other extreme metal acts, but he has a range of surprising tastes. His favorite song is “Sailing” by Christopher Cross. That sounds ridiculous, but it says something about his attraction to melody, shading, and subtlety.

Malakian: You can hear me playing guitar with a vibrator on the intro of “Psycho.” It gave the song a little bit of industrial flavor. Ministry used drills. I used a vibrator. [ Laughs ] We’ve never been shy to be a little wacky.

Tankian: “Bounce” was originally about pajamas, which didn’t fly well with the other guys. Pajamas aren’t tough enough, I guess.

Malakian: The original lyrics were something like, “PJ, PJ, PJ, PJ, Pajamas.”

Rubin: It’s funny in retrospect, but in the moment, band tempers were running high, considering we were all on the same side with the same goal of producing and releasing the best work we are capable of. When there is friction, it only means we haven’t gone far enough to solve the question at hand.

Odadjian: There was that “not knowing what mood everyone’s going to be in” every night. There was the psychological aspect to it, like, “Here I go from being on the road, kind of sick of everything, and now, I have to go back to the studio.”

Dolmayan: Writing and recording wasn’t easy. In the winter, it got a little harder. I was not the easiest guy to get along with at the time.

Malakian: John and I got into it. We’ve always gotten into it through the years. It’s a brotherly love. I think he said something about my personal life, and I was like, “Don’t bring that up anymore!” He brought it up again, and I swung my guitar at him. He swung at me, then an elbow hit my mouth, and I took a microphone stand and hit him in the head. It was kind of stupid. [ Laughs. ]

Dolmayan: There may have been a murder that day if two other band members didn’t come to that person’s aid. We were in two adjoining hospital beds, getting our stitches. We laughed about it while we were in the beds. Would that happen today? No, I’m 49 years old. I wouldn’t allow it to get to that place.

David Benveniste (manager): What makes them incredible is that heat between them. It’s no secret they have inner turmoil as does Rage, Aerosmith, and many of the all-time great bands, but it works. It’s not by design. That’s why they’re so powerful: Everything is real.

Dolmayan: Maybe [the fight] was positive for us because the week after hospitalization, we went in, and “Chop Suey!” and “Toxicity” were completed.

Part 2: “Doesn’t Somebody Own That?”

In summer 2001, the band and Rubin whittled down the tracklist from the more than 30 songs recorded for Toxicity . Sony Music’s in-house art director, Brandy Flower, began working on ideas for the album cover.

Pre- Toxicity , Flower remembers System of a Down being a part of “this nu-metal lump with a zillion other bands.” When he heard an advance of the band’s sophomore effort, he was shocked.

“It was fucking amazing,” Flower says. “Everybody knew that this was going to blow up. There was a lot of internal anticipation. At a corporate label, that didn’t happen a lot.”

As much as the album was a headbanger’s ball, the path to its title and album cover was a frustrating interlude.

Brandy Flower (art designer): Each band member had a different idea of what they wanted for the album cover, and Rick was the fifth band member. Rick came with a photo of a crowd from the 1960s at some political protest. It spoke to the energy of the band’s live shows, but I don’t remember the band liking it.

Odadjian: We tracked all the music in Studio 2. There was a wooden door with a wooden no. 2 on it. I took a picture of that. I was like, “Dude, this 2 looks badass. This is our second record. We should just call the record ‘2.’” That was the first idea.

Flower: Each band member has an aesthetic, and they’re all miles apart. Serj was just like, “We should get [Armenian artist] Vartan to do the cover. Everyone knows Vartan.” Daron wanted some of his father’s artwork for this. John was this comic book nerd. He probably wanted something illustrated.

Odadjian: I was picking a bunch of names, and nobody was agreeing with it. For some reason, our band agreed to be unanimous always—so fucked up.

Flower: One of the guys working with them, Mark Wakefield, had designed a web banner—a lo-res image of the Hollywood sign, but it said System of a Down. It ended up being something that resonated with Shavo.

Odadjian: I walked outside of Cello Studios and saw the Hollywood sign. I ran back in, and I was like, “Guys, I got it.” I brought them outside and said, “Look … what if that said System of a Down? We’re from here. This is our hometown. We’re always L.A.” That was it.

Flower: The problem was Mark’s image was this blob of pixels. As I’m trying to recreate this image, the other bad ideas started gaining traction. So it was like, “We gotta figure this out.”

Eventually, they all got on board for the Hollywood sign idea. Then, my boss says, “Can you do that? Doesn’t somebody own that?” Sure enough, we had to reach out to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, because it was a copyrighted thing. To get the album and merchandising rights was like $20,000.

Odadjian: When the album cover became the Hollywood sign, the art that goes behind the CD is that 2 on the door. The puzzle pieces were all there. We just had to fit them in the little holes.

Flower: It was a perfect album cover because it was something people were familiar with, but they made it their own. There’s a bit of rebellion in it. It was a lot of Photoshopping hours.

As more details surfaced about Toxicity , the release date was pushed from mid-August to Tuesday, September 4, 2001. Changes were made to the tracklist, too, as the label pushed back on the name of the lead single, “Suicide.”

“Daron came in and was like, ‘Chop “Suicide” in half—“Chop Suey,”’” Odadjian says. “I was like, ‘Are you crazy? Yes, you are. I love that.’”

As decisive as Malakian appeared, he was his own worst critic. “I don’t need anyone to tell me it sucks,” the guitarist says. “I’ll tell you it sucks.” By the summer of 2001, however, the then-26-year-old couldn’t avoid public reaction.

Flower: Looking back, you could tell how fruitful this moment was. They wrote a double album, and they wanted to put that out, but the label was like, “You can’t do that. You have to put out just one album.”

Appleford: When a band or artist was finishing an album, they’d invite Rolling Stone or some other publication to check it out. I went down to Burbank where they were mixing. They took me in John’s SUV and started playing some songs from Toxicity .

Daron was in the backseat, and his eyes were getting wider as we were listening. It was an intense experience for him to play this for someone for the first time. Later on, I asked him about it, and Daron said, “A lot of people will read that shit, dude.”

Malakian: I was so focused on doing my part to deliver. I wanted to put out something strong with this band, but I didn’t want to repeat myself. The public, the pressure, the press, and the hype made me become more of a hermit. I just never left my house.

Tankian: We never had anyone else in mind but ourselves when we wrote and recorded.

Dolmayan: The deck was stacked against us. We were not commercially viable. We didn’t fit the mold. We looked different. We’re Armenian. You name it. But there was something undeniable about our sound. We were different enough but pop-centric and melodic enough to break through the barriers.

Tankian: Given our left-of-center music, performance, and inability to fit in, our success is still a mystery.

Part 3: “The Biggest Underground Band Was Launched.”

“Chop Suey!” was a hit, climbing Billboard ’s Hot 100 singles charts. The music video also dominated MTV, much to the band’s surprise.

“At a certain point, ‘Chop Suey!’ was played the equal amount of times as Britney Spears,” Dolmayan says. “This was not the early ’80s or ’90s when rock music was dominant. This was still a very pop-centric market.”

Ahead of Toxicity ’s release, SOAD partnered with KROQ for a show on September 3, 2001. If the response to “Chop Suey!” was any indication, this free show would be truly wild.

Those who had seen System of a Down live knew how fierce their shows could be. Flower remembers when the band was still unsigned, and playing on the Strip, feeling like he had time-traveled to the ’70s punk scene: “Those shows were almost dangerous. It was intense as fuck.”

The September 3 show, to be held in a parking lot on Schrader Boulevard in Los Angeles, was meant to be a celebration of the hometown heroes and a “thank you” to fans. The result was anything but.

Flower: We all went to the album release show, and the tension was thick. Knowing how big these guys had already gotten in a few months, the way that the area was laid out, the presence of the police … it felt like a setup.

Dolmayan: I went to that place the week before and I said to my manager, “This place looks a little small. Are you sure this is big enough?” He was like, “Yeah man, it’ll hold almost 3,000 people.”

The night before our show, I heard there were already some fans there so I went. By the time I got there at 10 p.m., I saw 1,000 people. After signing autographs and greeting fans, I call my manager, and I’m like, “This thing is going to be packed.”

By morning, there were 6,000 people. By the time we were supposed to play, there were 10,000 people in a place that could accommodate 3,000.

Odadjian: It felt like half of L.A. was there, and the fire marshal wouldn’t allow us to play.

Benveniste: I don’t think anyone outside of our immediate cluster realized how powerful this band’s draw was in Los Angeles. It was no longer about music. It was a very rare cultural phenomenon happening.

Appleford: I was in the photo pit. There was never a moment while we were waiting for the band where I was thinking, “Uh-oh, this is dangerous,” until they started bringing the banner down.

Odadjian: We had this banner that was like 100-by-100 that said System of a Down on the wall of this six- or seven-story building. They got rid of that. We were supposed to play 30 minutes before that. The crowd was getting restless. They realized we weren’t gonna play. At that moment, you could tell something was brewing.

Flower: I don’t remember it being violent, but I remember the cops taking it there.

Odadjian: I started talking to the fire marshal: “Please let us play two songs. Let me get up there. .. If you don’t let us up there and talk to them, something bad might happen.” He was like, “Go away. I’m gonna cite you.” I was like, “You’re gonna cite me? I’m in the band. I’m trying to help you. I’m trying to prevent something.”

Tankian: I was ready to get arrested to play the show, but, ultimately, we didn’t want to put any of our fans in danger by our actions, given the fire department had shut down the free concert event. It turned out tragic anyway.

Odadjian: They put us in a van and took us to the Roosevelt Hotel, and the riot started as we’re driving to our rooms. It was just psychotic. Chaos.

Appleford: People started smashing things. Some guy took a swing at me. I ducked. Later on, I saw that same guy had been shot in the face with a rubber bullet by police.

Malakian: We had a full-on fucking riot in the middle of Hollywood where the cops were shooting rubber bullets at our fans. They took us away to some hotel room, and I’m watching it on CNN. It’s on all the channels. I was watching some of our fans walking off with our equipment.

Odadjian: There was one scene on TV where this girl had a hammer and was bashing my rig. They found one of my bass cabinets off Hollywood and Vine—like they took it that far and couldn’t go any farther, and they left it behind.

Benveniste: Could you plan a more perfect storm for CNN and every news channel coming to promote our record release? No. At that point, the biggest underground band in the world was launched.

Odadjian: I remember one of the broadcasters saying, “My son’s been telling me about this. He wants me to go to the store and buy him the CD tomorrow, and I’m gonna go do it now that I know it’s this big.”

Malakian: You could feel that shit was going to the next level with the band. It was like, “Damn, man, we were a club band a year and a half ago. Now, there are riots in the streets of our hometown.”

Our fans and our music are causing some kind of stir. We felt like we were stirring it up. We were becoming, to some people, important. That’s where everything went downhill.

Part 4: “Dude, People Are Taking Us Really Fucking Seriously.”

If the Schrader Boulevard show was any indicator of System of a Down’s burst in popularity, Toxicity had the potential to upend the Billboard 200 album chart. Sure enough, the sophomore album debuted at no. 1. The band received word of its “Hot Shot Debut” on September 11, 2001.

Odadjian: I was trying to sleep a little past 9 a.m. My phone kept ringing off the hook, and it was my mom. She told me to turn on the TV, and I watched a [World Trade Center] tower fall. I was like, “Is this really happening? Is this live?” As I’m watching with my mom on the phone, the phone beeps. It’s my manager, and he goes, “Congratulations, you’re no. 1 on Billboard.”

Dolmayan: Any positivity, happiness and joy got deflated. We were devastated. It’s like your world is turned upside down. You can’t be happy. It’s like losing a family member, and you refuse to be happy. You feel guilt-ridden over it.

Odadjian: It was one of those bittersweet moments for me. Even one of the plaques they gave us says “September 11, 2001” on it.

Dolmayan: Here we were, with the no. 1 album in the country, and here’s this incredible tragedy. How are you supposed to deal with that? How are you supposed to be proud of your work, happy for your success and fearful of what’s going to happen in our country and our society?

Malakian: At this time, the internet was kind of a brand-new thing. [Fans would link 9/11 to our lyrics] like “Aerials in the sky” and “self-righteous suicide,” and song titles like “Jet Pilot.” People thought we wrote this shit about shit that hadn’t happened yet, like we were prophets. We were like, “Dude, people are taking us really fucking seriously.” I was all for it, too, like, “If they think that, fucking go with that.” [ Laughs. ]

Benveniste: It was a storm of events. Through all this, the band got bigger and bigger. It all worked to the band’s favor. I don’t know how or why, but it did.

Dolmayan: You can’t predict that a band like us is going to be no. 1 ever.

Tankian: I didn’t have any doubts about the band or touring at that time, but it was tricky given the threat level. That said, the thought never occurred that we should stop.

After the September 11 attacks, Clear Channel circulated a memo containing a list of songs that were deemed “lyrically questionable” to play on the radio. The list contains “Chop Suey!,” which was subsequently removed. Dates on the upcoming “Pledge of Allegiance” tour with Slipknot were canceled. Two days after the attacks, Tankian took to the band’s website, penning an essay called “Understanding Oil.”

“Terror is not a spontaneous human action without credence,” Tankian wrote. “People just don’t hijack planes and commit hari-kari without any weight of thought to the action. No one in the media seems to ask, ‘Why did these people do this horrific act of violence and destruction?’”

The essay questioned America’s foreign policy in the Middle East and how the short-term economic interest of the United States overrode goals of fostering peace overseas. Tankian was speaking on five decades of history, but later received death threats and had to defend himself and the band on The Howard Stern Show .

“I remember the band got me in a room, and they said, ‘What are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed?’,” Tankian said on Rubin’s Broken Record podcast . “I said, ‘It’s the truth.” They’re like, ‘Yeah, so what?’ I was naive to think that the truth was the most important thing, and I’m still that naive. It’s just who I am.”

Dolmayan: Serj used to do a lot of that shit back then without taking into consideration how the rest of the band would feel about it. You have to commend and applaud him. Although, in some ways, I don’t think he’s right, and he clearly doesn’t think I’m right very often about politics. We have differing opinions.

Benveniste: The band was never afraid to speak their mind. Daron takes an artistic approach to political issues. Serj is more politically inclined and outspoken. That’s also what makes the band incredible: They have different perspectives on how to convey that message.

Malakian: A lot of people see System of a Down as a political kind of band. It’s not my favorite part of it. I never want to be a propaganda artist. The songs never tell you how or what to think. But sometimes, some of us in the band, when we’re outside of the band, talk about what it’s supposed to mean.

Tankian: I have never apologized for that essay, and I’m still proud of speaking truth to power especially when unfashionable. The truth doesn’t recognize retreat nor compromise.

Part 5: “The Only Thing We Really Have in Common Is That We’re Armenian.”

Toxicity racked up critical acclaim. Spin called it the best album of 2001. Further accolades came when the band picked up its first Grammy nomination in 2002 for Best Metal Performance for “Chop Suey!” To Appleford, the album was “the emergence of an important band.”

“They brought an international, folk flavor to heavy music,” Appleford says. “Here it was on MTV and mainstream rock radio, reaching kids outside of L.A. for the first time.”

What Tankian described to The Ringer as “one of the most stressful times of my life” has inspired many, including a folk musician.

Sasami Ashworth (singer-songwriter): System of a Down taps this super-dark energy then puts it towards something they have real rage about, like all the insecurity and political toxicity of their homeland, and the state of human existence.

Rubin: There is nothing else like Toxicity . The songwriting is great. The performances are on fire. The singing is passionate. A tremendous amount of emotion is contained in the totality of what’s in the grooves. The metal power mixed with the traditional folk rhythms is so original. Most people didn’t understand it.

Sasami: It’s the kind of music that could truly be just performed by a four-piece band. There isn’t a lot of glitz and glamour. It’s all about the lyrics and arrangement of these songs. It was inspiring to me because their music is very focused. Nothing is fluff. Every part of every song is essential.

Appleford: When they came out, it was possible to have a record like that at the top of the charts and to generate the kind of excitement that it did. The world is not as rock-focused as it used to be.

The album’s final single, “Aerials,” hit no. 1 on Billboard ’s Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock Tracks charts, and received a Grammy nod in 2003 for Best Hard Rock Performance. When asked if the band would perform at the Grammys, Malakian responded , “That’s something ’NSync and Britney Spears do, not System of a Down.”

As the band toured through 2002, demos of unreleased tracks from the Toxicity sessions were leaked. At the time, Benveniste says the issue of illegally downloaded music was difficult to attack.

“It was tough to think about it financially and how it’s intellectual property and the violation of privacy,” Benveniste says. “On the other hand, when records leak that are fucking incredible, it promoted the band. You couldn’t eradicate the issue. You had to play into and off of it. Hence, Steal this Album! was released.”

Hitting stores in November 2002, the 16-track collection featured tracks like “I-E-A-I-A-I-O” (formerly “K.I.T.T.”) as well as politically charged staples like “Boom!” and “Fuck the System.” Though widely considered a collection of B sides, Steal this Album! went platinum. System of a Down’s rock revolution was all the rage, but it would end sooner than anyone expected.

“We only recorded three times,” Dolmayan says. “We got five albums out of it.”

That third time would be for Mezmerize and Hypnotize . Both albums were released in 2005 and debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard 200 before going platinum. In 2006, the band won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for “B.Y.O.B.” Celebrations would be short-lived, however, as the band announced a hiatus after its summer 2006 tour.

During Ozzfest 2006, Malakian improvised lyrics to the band’s “Lonely Day,” while gesturing to Tankian: “Such a lonely day, hanging out with the band / This motherfucker I can’t stand.”

The band reunited in 2010 and continues to tour, but a new album was repeatedly discussed then dismissed. While Tankian established himself as a solo artist, Malakian went to work with a new band, Scars on Broadway. Attempts to make a new System of a Down record ended in disputes.

By 2018, band tension boiled over across social media and in interviews. In a lengthy Facebook post, Tankian admitted his responsibility for the initial 2006 hiatus as well as wanting to leave the band prior to the 2005 releases. According to the post, Tankian proposed the band have equal creative input and publishing split, the songwriter getting final say on their song, and development of a new concept or theme to create a “full experience.”

“As we couldn’t see eye-to-eye on all these points, we decided to put aside the idea of a record altogether for the time being,” Tankian writes.

However, in November 2020, the band forgot their differences and released two new songs, “Protect the Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz,” in an effort to raise awareness and money for the Armenia Fund and families displaced by war. The release raised nearly $700,000, according to Tankian. The band also came together to celebrate its heritage in 2015 when SOAD performed in Yerevan, Armenia. The free concert was part of the Wake Up the Souls tour, which commemorated and raised awareness of the 100th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide.

Apart from songs and tours, fans expecting new material have heard hints in Tankian’s latest EP, Elasticity , which featured songs written with the band in mind. Malakian says he always had material for the next album, but what happens next with System of a Down is anyone’s guess.

Rubin: I believe their best work could be ahead of them if that was something of interest to them.

Benveniste: I’m the perennial optimist. Even the band will tell you, “Beno won’t let go. He’s a pain in the ass.” Those are four strong personalities. They always have my honest opinion. We’re not scared to fight about something we’re passionate about.

I’ve watched the highest of the highs of a band that has become one of the most important bands in the world, and the lowest of the lows of hiatus. But still, 25 years later, we put up two shows and sell 50,000 tickets in one day.

Dolmayan: I’m so irritated by my band in general. The desire to just put it behind me is greater than the desire to bask in our success and beauty of what we created. It makes me feel like we left so much on the table that we could have accomplished, that we were shortsighted. We stopped in our prime in a lot of ways. It’s like if Tom Brady quit football in 2010.

Appleford: It would be a shame if they never did another album. A band loses something when they stop making new music.

Malakian: Where we’re at right now when it comes to writing a new record, I couldn’t tell you. It’s not something that we really have talked about. The way I see it: We play live. The only thing we really have in common is that we’re Armenian.

Appleford: I’m sure Daron wants to go back to the way things worked before, and they had great success with it, but does Serj? I don’t know. He’s established himself as a solo artist, and he’s not in the same place as he was before.

Dolmayan: Serj basically wanted to quit from like 1998 to today. He’s always had a love-hate relationship with his position in the band. It’s been a difficult ride with him because he is so talented and capable, but, for whatever reasons, he’s tried to distance himself from System.

Tankian: By the end of this year, I will have about 12 releases of varying genres and styles. Regenerating the same genre with changes—even as dynamic as System of a Down’s—has never been my vision. That is not the reason we haven’t made a record in all these years. It is more of not seeing eye to eye creatively and ethically going forward.

Malakian: We are four of the most different people that you’ll find for each other. Even the musical tastes have changed. Where some people want to see the band go is not necessarily where other people want to see the band go, so there are a lot of artistic differences. But we’re still friends. Our differences are within the band, and that has made it a little difficult to move forward when it comes to writing or playing new material together.

Appleford: They just proved—when all the issues between them are swept away, and they focus on a mission as they did for those two new songs to support Armenia—they can be as good as ever.

Tankian: Recording those two songs was pivotal for us as Armenians in doing our part to raise awareness against the unjust onslaught brought forward by Turkey and Azerbaijan against Armenia and Artsakh. I am extremely proud of it and of my band family for it. But it hasn’t changed the dynamics and creative imbalances that ultimately would need to be rectified to make another album together.

Dolmayan: I have no desire to make a new System album. The last two songs were difficult enough for me. I don’t like putting myself through torture. There is a breaking point where you just give up, and I think that I’ve reached that. I don’t want to deal with the bullshit of System anymore. We’re a very dysfunctional band with serious issues. I am very angry about the position we are in.

Benveniste: These guys are all talented in their own right. But when they get in the room as System of a Down, that can’t be replicated in any way, shape or form. I’m going to push when I feel I should. At the end of the day, we’re 50-year-old men. There’s only so much I can do.

Odadjian: I still have hope, you know? We did those two new songs, and look at what we did. It didn’t even sound like we left. I don’t know if we will come back, but I feel like we can. I know we can do just as good, if not better, if we work together in the future musically. We still got it inside of us—that love and passion. It’s part of our DNA now.

Matthew Sigur is a writer, musician, and comedian based in Chicago. These interviews have been condensed and edited for clarity.

‘The Tortured Poets Department’ Wrap-Up, and the Power of “Espresso” | Every Single Album: Taylor Swift

Everything you may have missed in kendrick lamar’s “euphoria”, dua lipa is just here for a good time.

Why Hasn't SYSTEM OF A DOWN Released Any New Music In 15 Years? The Reason Is 'Quite Simple,' Says SERJ TANKIAN

Serj Tankian says that nothing has changed with regard to SYSTEM OF A DOWN 's inability to record a follow-up to its 2005 albums "Mezmerize" and "Hypnotize" .

The singer addressed the band's lack of new music during a May 24 Facebook Live chat with Tumo Center For Creative Technologies .

Asked why SYSTEM hasn't recorded anything new in a decade and a half, Serj said (see video below): "There's been many things said, but it's quite simple. We just haven't been able to see eye-to-eye creatively to go to the next level. And to me, and I know to the other guys in the band, SYSTEM 's very special, and what we've done together is very special. And we can't do something unless we're all really, really into the same direction, into the same goal, into the same vision. And that hasn't happened. We tried. I would say a couple of years ago, we made that effort — songs were written by myself, by the other guys, et cetera, but we just couldn't see eye-to-eye, and that's really it. And that's okay. We're still all friends, we have great relationships, and we tour together, we have fun together, and that's that."

In 2018, guitarist Daron Malakian publicly accused Tankian of not wanting to record, with Tankian responding that creative and financial issues with Malakian led to the stalemate. In a message on Facebook , Tankian wrote that Malakian wanted to control SYSTEM 's creative process, take more of the publishing money and be the only band member to speak to the press.

Last year, Serj told Rolling Stone that the public airing of his dispute with Daron didn't open up any more conversations about SYSTEM 's future. "I think it released a lot of tension and negativity," he said. "Everything became more public and open, and that was that. There were no further discussions."

SYSTEM OF A DOWN played a couple of live shows in May 2019, including headlining slots at Columbus, Ohio's Sonic Temple festival and Chicago Open Air .

The band was scheduled to play a number of European festivals this summer, but all of those shows have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic which is sweeping the globe.

Earlier in the month, Tankian revealed that he will put out a solo EP of what he described as "rock songs" later this year.

Tankian told SPIN that they were first meant for SYSTEM , saying: "Originally, I had these songs in mind for a SYSTEM record if we were to end up doing a SYSTEM record. But as we could not really see eye to eye on how to go forward with that, I decided to finish them off myself and release them as an EP."

Tankian said he's considering calling the EP "Elasticity" , a play on SYSTEM 's massive 2001 album "Toxicity" .

He explained: "I think I'm gonna call it 'Elasticity' just because I wanted to do it with SYSTEM and it didn't happen. For me, it's not 'Toxicity' but it is 'Toxicity' . [ Laughs ] That's what I'm thinking of calling it. I haven't finalized it, but that's what I'm thinking of calling it."

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Metal Shout

Serj Tankian Interview on SOAD’s Fearful Experience with Slayer

Serj Tankian talks about the System of a Down opened for Slayer on tour and played the song “ Baptism of Fire .” System of a Down ‘s frontman Tankian mentioned why they had a fearful experience with Slayer band during the tour. 

With their booming sound and wild stage appearance, Slayer gained a reputation as a powerful force in the thrash metal scene. SOAD were used to playing for big crowds, but they saw the Slayer tour as a test, a musical boot camp where they had to do more than act.

When looking at SOAD ‘s performance through the lens of this partnership, it went beyond what we usually think of as an opening act. Instead, it became a harmonic union of two contrasting musical forms. When System of a Down ‘s complex melodies and Slayer ‘s constant violence met, they made a soundscape that collected fans.

Tankian mentions how things worked inside SOAD and how the Slayer tour had a huge effect on their artistic growth. He also explained that the band’s first fear wasn’t of Slayer’s domination, but of having to match the band’s energy. Fear didn’t stop them; instead, it pushed them to grow as artists by pushing them to explore new areas in their act.

The time SOAD spent working with Slayer wasn’t just an opening act; it was a place where art could grow. The boot camp encouraged them to try new creative styles and ideas, pushing their creativity limits and eventually changing the direction of SOAD’s future work.

During the new interview with Knotfest host Ryan J. Downey, Serj Tankian talked about what opening for Slayer around the release of “System of a Down” really felt like on the tour: 

“We were f*****g scared, bro, on stage. It was boot camp, just surviving, learning how to work an audience. ‘Cause Slayer audiences will hate everyone else, obviously, But that brings back a lot of memories, because it was our first tour as well. And Daron Malakian was all glammed out. I had, like, weird s**t on my face. And they would look at us, like, ‘Who the f*** are these f*****g idiots?’

“And we had to impress from, like, not just base zero point, but negative point. We had to get up there and score points. And that, my friend, was an incredible boot camp as touring artists that really, really kind of made us. It molded us. 

Serj Tankian added how its feel touring with Slayer:

“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. 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.”

Serj Tankian also mentioned how much he misses Jeff Hannemen: 

“I miss Jeff. He was such a good guy. He would share music with us and come hang out with us, and we were just this little band driving around in an RV. We got to know Dave Lombardo as well at the time. He’s a sweet guy, and Paul Bostaph, of course, was a very nice guy, great drummer. Our first tour in the U.S. was with them, and they took us to Europe as well, and it was us, Slayer and Sepultura. What a great trio that was a great experience for us.”

Watch the full interview below!

I'm Yunus Emre Ozdiyar and I'm the founder of metalshout.com I've enjoyed writing listicles, guides, news and doing interviews about heavy metal and rock music ever since 2005 and I'm an official journalist since 2015.

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LIV Golf: Kevin Na goes full NSFW, shows why he doesn’t belong on PGA Tour

LIV Golf provides more of a laid back atmosphere for fans and golfers, but Kevin Na took that too far in Adelaide.

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LIV Golf , the Saudi-backed rival league to the PGA Tour, has trumpeted their laid back approach to golf. Whether that is the music playing in the background, the fans chanting as golfers hit their shot, or the players themselves acting a little more relaxed.

This weekend, LIV Golf hosted its most successful event, LIV Adelaide in Australia .

CEO Greg Norman declared victory after a record-setting week. Television ratings were up and there were attendance records set during the three days for LIV Golf.

But just because the tournament was an overall success, that does not mean there were not still hiccups.

A fan chucked a water bottle onto the course and hit a caddie in the head, sending him to the ground.

Then, there is the matter of Kevin Na, who finished T34 in a 54-man field.

Video surfaced of Na acting like a child Sunday, cursing like a trucker after failing to get out of the woods.

LIV Golf star Kevin Na loses his sh!t in Adelaide “F—king Bullsh-t!!!” (Via: milz_ting/TT | @ziregolf ) pic.twitter.com/vJ0S0Io6Ok — NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) April 29, 2024

The video opens with Na standing, clearly frustrated as his ball lie in a patron sand path left of the fairway.

His caddie asks fans to move, as they are blocking the pathway for Na’s attempted shot.

He then completely chunks his shot, as it moved forward maybe 20 feet.

“F***ing bullsh**,” Na can be heard yelling aloud. He then punches his bag on his caddie’s shoulder as he mumbles more curse words.

Things did not get any better.

Na’s next shot strikes a tree and squirts out to the right. At this point, frustration boils over and the 40-year-old shows no care in the world.

He just walks to his ball and whacks it into the fairway, dropping more F-bombs along the way.

It was unbelievably childish behavior from a former 5-time PGA Tour winner . But this would be completely unacceptable on the big boy circuit.

You can get away with it in LIV Golf though. He obviously has zero concerns about how he is acting. Why would he? He already got his bag joining the Saudi-funded golf league.

Even I can acknowledge that there are certain elements of LIV that are good for the game, and in particular, for the fans. But creating an environment where a professional feels emboldened enough to act like that is not one of them.

Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social media platforms.

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Middle East Crisis Hamas Resists Israel’s Latest Cease-Fire Offer

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• Israeli military vehicles on the border with Gaza. Atef Safadi/EPA, via Shutterstock
• Demonstrators in Tel Aviv demanding the return of hostages on the day that Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and President Isaac Herzog of Israel were meeting. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
• Displaced Palestinians next to a placard thanking pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses in the United States. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
• A funeral for an Israeli soldier in Ashdod, Israel. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
• Walking past the rubble of a destroyed building in Rafah, Gaza, on Tuesday. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Follow live news updates on the crisis in the Middle East .

Hamas says its position is ‘negative’ on Israel’s offer but signals willingness to keep talking.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Wednesday that Hamas leaders could save Palestinian lives by accepting a proposed deal under which they would free 33 hostages in exchange for a six-week cease-fire and the liberation of many Palestinian prisoners.

“We are determined to get a cease-fire that brings the hostages home and to get it now, and the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas,” Mr. Blinken said at the start of a meeting in Tel Aviv with Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel. “There is a proposal on the table, and as we’ve said, no delays, no excuses. The time is now, and the time is now long past due to bring the hostages home to their families.”

But on Wednesday night, a spokesman for Hamas, Osama Hamdan, said in an interview on Lebanese television, “Our position on the current negotiating paper is negative.”

The Hamas press office later clarified Mr. Hamdan’s comments, saying that while Hamas’s leaders would not accept the current Israeli proposals without changes, they were willing to keep negotiating. “The negative position does not mean negotiations have stopped,” the press office said. “There is a back and forth issue.”

Mr. Blinken’s comments were part of a concerted campaign by President Biden and his top aides to press Hamas leaders to accept the six-week halt in fighting and possibly lay the foundation for a longer-term cease-fire.

Mr. Blinken made similar comments to reporters the previous evening outside a humanitarian aid warehouse in Zarqa, Jordan. Earlier this week, Mr. Biden urged the leaders of Qatar and Egypt to push Hamas to accept the terms, after Israel agreed to lower the required number of hostages released in the initial round to 33 from 40.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has said he supports the latest proposed deal, but at the same time he has vowed to carry out a major ground offensive in the city of Rafah “with or without a deal.” Israeli officials say their objective is to eliminate four battalions of Hamas fighters in Rafah.

Mr. Hamdan, the Hamas spokesman, said in his comments on Al Manar television, “If the enemy carries out the Rafah operation, negotiations will stop.”

Biden administration officials are opposed to a major ground assault in Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge during the war.

Mr. Blinken discussed the hostage and cease-fire deal on the table in a nearly three-hour meeting with Mr. Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Wednesday, according to a summary from the State Department. He also spoke about efforts to increase humanitarian aid in Gaza and the U.S. government’s “clear position” on Rafah, the summary said.

Israeli officials said a new crossing into northern Gaza, near the Erez kibbutz, had just opened to allow aid deliveries, and that 30 trucks with goods from Jordan had rolled through the crossing earlier on Wednesday. The opening was promised weeks ago, but the Israeli military said it had to build inspection facilities and pave roads on both sides of the border before the crossing could be used by aid trucks.

Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.

— Edward Wong traveling in the Middle East with the U.S. secretary of state

Israel has softened some demands in cease-fire negotiations, officials say.

After a monthslong standoff, Israel is softening some of its demands in negotiations over a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages held there.

As part of its latest proposal, Israel would allow displaced Palestinian civilians to return to northern Gaza, according to two Israeli officials, which is a sharp reversal on an issue that has been a sticking point in the talks.

For weeks, Israel has demanded that it be allowed to impose significant restrictions on Palestinians going back to the north because of worries that Hamas could take advantage of a large-scale return to strengthen itself. Now, Israel has consented to Palestinian civilians’ going back en masse during the first phase of an agreement, according to the officials, whose account was confirmed by a non-Israeli official familiar with the talks.

One of the Israeli officials said those returning to the north would be subject to no inspections or limitations, while the second said there would be nearly no restrictions, without elaborating. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to share details of the proposal.

It was not clear whether Hamas would accept the most recent Israeli proposal, which is part of negotiations that the two sides are conducting indirectly through mediators from Egypt and Qatar. As of Wednesday afternoon, the group hadn’t officially issued a response.

The cease-fire talks were a focus of Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken as he visited Israel on Wednesday. “There is a proposal on the table, and as we’ve said, no delays, no excuses,” Mr. Blinken said before meeting with President Isaac Herzog. He later discussed the talks and other issues in a nearly three-hour meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Hamas has long demanded that any deal include a permanent end to the war, which has forced most of Gaza’s more than two million people to flee their homes. The Israeli offer, according to one of the Israeli officials, doesn’t include language that refers explicitly to an end to the fighting.

Hanging over the negotiations is Israel’s threat to invade Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza where roughly a million civilians are sheltering, along with what Israel says are thousands of Hamas fighters. But even as it vows to carry out its plan for a ground invasion there, in defiance of pleas from world leaders and humanitarian groups, it is showing some willingness to make concessions in talks to stop the fighting and free hostages.

On Monday, The New York Times reported that, as part of its proposal, Israel had reduced the number of hostages Hamas would need to release in the initial phase of a deal. For months, it had been insisting on the release of 40 hostages, but in the new offer, the Israeli government said it would agree to 33.

That change was prompted in part by the fact that Israel now believes that some of the 40 have died in captivity , one of the officials said.

As details of Israel’s latest offer have emerged, Mr. Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure from his right-wing coalition partners to reject compromise. If they withdraw from the government over a deal, Israel could head to early elections, threatening Mr. Netanyahu’s political future.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hard-line member of the coalition, has said that if Mr. Netanyahu gives up on invading Rafah immediately, a government under his leadership doesn’t have “the right to exist.”

On Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu said an invasion of Rafah would take place, without saying when.

“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” he said in a meeting with the families of hostages, according to a statement from his office. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there — with or without a deal — in order to achieve the total victory.”

If Israel and Hamas strike an agreement, it would be the first cease-fire since late November, when a short-lived pause in the fighting allowed for the release of more than 100 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas and its allies captured roughly 240 Israelis and foreigners in their attack on Oct. 7, which prompted Israel to go to war in Gaza. More than 130 hostages are believed to still be held in Gaza, but some are thought to have died.

Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.

— Adam Rasgon reporting from Jerusalem

Israeli settlers attacked aid trucks headed to Gaza, Jordan says.

Israeli settlers attacked several aid trucks on the way from Jordan to Gaza around dawn on Wednesday, including some that were headed for the newly opened border crossing on the north edge of the Gaza Strip, Jordan’s foreign ministry said.

The ministry said that the settlers dumped some of the aid onto the street . It condemned the Israeli government’s failure to protect the aid as a violation of its legal obligation to safeguard the flow of food and other humanitarian necessities to the devastated Palestinian enclave, and said the attack undermined Israel’s claim that it was working to allow more aid into Gaza.

Asked about the attack, the Israeli military said in a statement that overnight, Israeli civilians had “caused damage” to aid on several trucks from Jordan “secured” by Israeli forces.

Details about the attack, including where it happened and how much aid was dumped or damaged, were not immediately released by the Israeli military or the Jordanian foreign ministry, though both said the trucks ultimately managed to reach Gaza.

Honenu, a right-wing legal aid group that often represents Israeli extremists accused of violent crimes against Palestinians, said that four people had been arrested for blocking aid trucks near Ma’ale Adumim, one of the largest Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The trucks were part of two convoys, one of which was headed for the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza, the Jordanian foreign ministry said. The other convoy was the first to enter northern Gaza through the Erez crossing, according to the Jordanian foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, who called the attack “despicable” on social media and called for global condemnation and international sanctions against Israel.

Israel agreed to open the Erez crossing on Wednesday, after some of its closest allies, including the United States, pressured it to allow more aid into Gaza in the aftermath of the Israeli military’s killing of seven World Central Kitchen workers in April. For months beforehand, United Nations officials and aid organizations had been pleading with Israel to open the crossing to allow aid to move directly into northern Gaza, in hopes of averting famine.

Honenu said on Wednesday that it had provided legal counsel to the four arrested individuals, and that they had been released after being issued a restraining order requiring them to stay away from aid convoys and not participate in illicit gatherings.

Israeli civilians have repeatedly blocked the passage of aid trucks — sometimes as Israeli security forces stand by — with many demanding that no aid reach Palestinians in Gaza until hostages held in the enclave are released.

The U.S. secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, who has been on another wartime tour of the Middle East, was in Jordan on Tuesday at the warehouse where medical and food aid was being loaded onto the convoy heading to the Erez crossing. He praised Israel’s opening of the crossing as “real and important progress,” adding that “more still needs to be done.” On Wednesday, during a visit to Israel, Mr. Blinken included the Kerem Shalom crossing among his stops.

— Anushka Patil and Johnatan Reiss

Blinken’s visit to the Kerem Shalom crossing puts aid for Gaza front and center.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visited an inspection checkpoint at the Kerem Shalom border crossing in Israel on Wednesday, part of an effort to prioritize the issue of humanitarian aid for Gaza during his Middle East tour.

Under pressure from President Biden after an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers , Israel announced last month that it would open more avenues for aid to enter Gaza . Israel has since expedited the flow of aid into Gaza amid intense international scrutiny, though humanitarian organizations say more is urgently needed to alleviate the severe hunger that is gripping the enclave.

Here’s a look at where things stand .

Border Crossings

Israel imposes stringent checks on incoming aid to keep out anything that might help Hamas, which it has pledged to eliminate. Since the start of the war, most of the aid for Gaza has been transiting through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Israel opened the crossing at Kerem Shalom in December after pressure from the United States to speed up the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. However, Israeli protesters have regularly gathered at the crossing, trying to block aid convoys from entering the enclave in the hopes of raising the pressure on Hamas to release the hostages.

The Rafah and Kerem Shalom checkpoints both touch southern Gaza. Aid officials pleaded with Israel for months to add additional entry points — especially in the north, where the risk of famine was deemed greatest by the United Nations.

Under pressure, Israel said last month that it would reopen the Erez border crossing into northern Gaza and that shipments bound for the enclave would be accepted at the Israeli port of Ashdod. On Wednesday, Israel said that the first aid trucks, 30 in total, had passed through the crossing after being inspected.

But the Erez crossing, which was primarily used for pedestrian traffic before the war, was badly damaged during the Hamas-led raid on Israel in October. As international officials and humanitarian agencies looked for signs that Israel was making good on its pledges, Israel said it would be opening another crossing into northern Gaza — not Erez.

Other Efforts

U.S. Army engineers also are working to construct a floating pier off the coast of Gaza. The pier — which Mr. Blinken said Tuesday would be operational in about one week — could help relief workers deliver as many as two million meals a day.

And the Jordanian military and government have in recent weeks increased the amount of aid arriving in overland convoys, which travel from Jordan through the West Bank and across part of Israel before reaching the southern Gaza border crossings. The Jordanian military carries out its own inspections. Government trucks are inspected by Israel.

Situation on the Ground

There are widespread food shortages in Gaza, and the United Nations has warned that a famine is looming . Aid groups and United Nations officials have accused Israel of systematically limiting aid delivery. Israel denies the assertion, blaming the shortages on logistical failures by aid groups, and has recently increased the number of trucks entering the strip.

In recent weeks, Israel’s efforts to increase the flow of aid have been acknowledged by the Biden administration and international aid officials. More aid trucks also appeared to be reaching Gaza, especially in the north.

On Wednesday, Mr. Blinken discussed how aid delivery has improved when he met with Mr. Netanyahu and “reiterated the importance of accelerating and sustaining that improvement,” according to the State Department.

— Cassandra Vinograd

‘Thank you, American universities’: Gazans express gratitude for campus protesters.

Thousands of miles away from the campus protests that have divided Americans, some displaced Palestinians are expressing solidarity with the antiwar demonstrators and gratitude for their efforts.

Messages of support were written on some tents in the southern city of Rafah, where roughly a million displaced people have sought shelter from the Israeli bombardment and ground fighting that Gazan health officials say have killed more than 34,000 people.

“Thank you, American universities,” read one message captured on video by the Reuters news agency. “Thank you, students in solidarity with Gaza your message has reached” us, read another nearby.

Tensions have risen at campuses across the United States, with police in riot gear arresting dozens of people at Columbia University on Tuesday night and officers across the country clashing with pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had erected encampments and seized academic buildings at other institutions. The protesters have been calling for universities to divest from companies with ties to Israel, and some have vowed not to back down.

The protests have come at a particularly fearful time in Rafah, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel vowing to launch a ground invasion of the city to root out Hamas battalions there despite glimmers of hope for a temporary cease-fire.

Palestinians “are very happy that there are still people standing with us,” said Mohammed al-Baradei, a 24-year-old recent graduate from the dentistry program at Al-Azhar University who spoke by phone from Rafah.

“The special thing is that this is happening in America and that people there are still aware and the awareness is growing every day for the Palestinian cause,” he added.

Akram al-Satri, a 47-year-old freelance journalist sheltering in Rafah, said Gazans were “watching with hope and gratitude the student movement in the United States.”

“For us this is a glimmer of hope on a national level,” he added in a voice message on Wednesday.

Bisan Owda, a 25-year-old Palestinian who has been documenting the war on social media, said in a video posted to her more than 4.5 million Instagram followers that the campus protests had brought her a new sense of possibility.

“I’ve lived my whole life in Gaza Strip and I’ve never felt hope like now,” said Ms. Owda.

Nader Ibrahim contributed reporting and video production from London.

— Hiba Yazbek reporting from Jerusalem

Colombia’s president says the country will sever ties with Israel, calling its government ‘genocidal.’

Colombia will sever diplomatic ties with Israel over its prosecution of the war in Gaza, President Gustavo Petro announced in Bogotá on Wednesday, describing the Israeli government as “genocidal.”

His announcement came in a speech in Colombia’s capital city in front of cheering crowds that had gathered for International Workers’ Day.

“The times of genocide, of the extermination of an entire people cannot come before our eyes, before our passivity,” Mr. Petro said. “If Palestine dies, humanity dies.”

Colombia is the second South American nation to break off relations with Israel after Bolivia, which cut ties in November over its strikes in Gaza. On the day that Bolivia made its announcement, Colombia and Chile both said that they were recalling their ambassadors to Israel, and Honduras followed suit within days. Belize also cut diplomatic ties with Israel that month.

The Israeli government denounced Mr. Petro’s move on Wednesday.

“History will remember that Gustavo Petro chose to stand at the side of the most abominable monsters known to man, who burned babies, killed children, raped woman and abducted innocent civilians,” Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, wrote on X . “Israel and Colombia always enjoyed warm ties. Even an antisemitic and hateful president will not change that.’’

Mr. Petro, Colombia’s first leftist leader and a critic of U.S. drug policy toward his country, had threatened to cut ties with Israel in March if it did not comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. And he called on other countries to do the same. In response to that threat, Mr. Katz wrote on X that Mr. Petro’s “support for Hamas murderers” who carried out massacres and committed sex crimes against Israelis was shameful.

“Israel will continue to protect its citizens and will not yield to any pressure or threats,” he added.

In February Mr. Petro suspended Colombia’s purchase of Israeli weapons in February after Israeli forces opened fire while a crowd was gathered near a convoy of trucks carrying desperately needed aid to Gaza City, part of a chaotic scene in which scores of people were killed and injured, according to Gazan health officials and the Israeli military.

“Asking for food, more than 100 Palestinians were killed by Netanyahu,” Mr. Petro wrote on X at the time, comparing the events to the Holocaust “even if the world powers do not like to acknowledge it.”

“The world must block Netanyahu,” he added.

— Genevieve Glatsky reporting from Bogotá, Colombia

Netanyahu’s pledge to invade Rafah could undermine efforts to reach a cease-fire deal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel once again pledged on Tuesday to launch a ground invasion into the southern Gazan city of Rafah, a move that could undermine efforts to negotiate a cease-fire agreement after seven months of war in the Palestinian enclave.

The United States, Qatar and several countries have been pushing to get a cease-fire deal, with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken visiting the region and expectations rising that Hamas and Israel might be edging closer to an agreement.

But with Hamas arguing that any agreement should include an end to the war, and with right-wing politicians in Israel threatening to leave the government coalition if the long-planned incursion into Rafah is delayed, Mr. Netanyahu made clear that Israel would reserve the right to keep fighting.

“The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question,” he said in a meeting with the families of hostages held in Gaza, according to a statement from his office. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there — with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory.”

Israeli officials have said repeatedly that they plan to move into Rafah, but over the weekend, they made clear they were open to holding off if it meant they could secure the release of hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. One official also suggested that Israel was using the threat of an imminent military maneuver to press the armed group into a hostage deal.

In anticipation of an offensive, some families in Rafah have been moving north into areas of Gaza that had already been attacked by Israeli forces, but on Tuesday, the scale of the evacuation remained unclear. As of last week, more than one million Gazans, many of them previously displaced from other parts of the territory by Israeli bombardment, were still sheltering in the city in makeshift tents.

American officials and other allies have been pressing Israel to either avoid an assault on Rafah or develop specific plans to adequately minimize civilian casualties.

On Tuesday, Mr. Blinken met with officials in Jordan to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, and to press for peace and an increase in humanitarian aid. There was no immediate reaction from the State Department to Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain spoke to Mr. Netanyahu on Tuesday, his office said in a statement. The British leader “continued to push for an immediate humanitarian pause to allow more aid in and hostages out” and said that Britain’s focus was on de-escalation, it said.

For weeks, cease-fire talks had been at a standstill. But Israeli officials have said that negotiators have reduced the number of hostages they want Hamas to release during the first phase of a truce, opening up the possibility that the stalled negotiations could be revived.

A senior Hamas official said on social media on Monday that the group was studying a new Israeli proposal.

A Hamas delegation met with officials in Egypt’s intelligence service on Monday, according to a senior Hamas official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about sensitive discussions between Hamas and Egypt.

Adam Rasgon contributed reporting.

— Damien Cave

A father in Rafah whose family survived an airstrike asks, ‘What should we do?’

As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel repeats his vow to launch a ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza and Israeli airstrikes continue to pummel the city, it is a particularly fearful time for displaced families sheltering there.

“What should we do? Where will we go?” said Mohammed Abu Youssef, who spoke on Wednesday in video shot by the Reuters news agency about how he and his children had narrowly survived an airstrike. “I am waiting for a tent so I can leave,” he added as he burst into tears.

Mr. Abu Youssef said his family had recently fled to Al-Shaboura neighborhood in Rafah, seeking safety. He suffered a head injury in the strike, he said, and his brother-in-law, who was sheltering with him, lost two children. Several other relatives were also wounded, he said.

Roughly a million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter in Rafah from the Israeli bombardment and ground fighting that health officials say have killed more than 34,000 people across Gaza. Israel has said that the purpose of the planned invasion is to root out Hamas fighters there.

Mr. Abu Youssef said he was now left grappling with the uncertainty of again trying to find a place where his family could be safe. Some displaced families in Rafah have already been moving north into areas of Gaza that were combat zones earlier in the war.

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System Of A Down have 15 songs ready for new album

System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan says band are "definitely making an album" and that they already have 15 tracks ready to record

System Of A Down drummer John Dolmayan says the band have 15 new songs in contention for their sixth album.

Dolmayan reveals System Of A Down have been working on the follow-up to 2005’s Hypnotize for the last six months and admits they are feeling the pressure as they approach 12 years since their last studio release.

He tells Kerrang : “We’ve been working on a new album for the last six months and there’s about 15 songs that I think are album-worthy.

“We don’t know what’s happening in terms of release, it’s still not 100% as far as plans go.

“I want everyone on board and feeling good about it, that’s what we’re trying to accomplish right now. There’s a tremendous amount of pressure on us, though, because it’s been 11 years – at least 12 by the time it comes out.”

Dolmayan adds that Download 2017 headliners System Of A Down won’t try and create “ Toxicity Part Two” and insists they want to attract a new generation of fans.

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He says: “Our playing ability is better than it ever has been and we’re trying new things. We’re not trying to make Toxicity Part Two, just because it was by far our biggest album.

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“This needs to be something for a new generation of SOAD fans, so everyone can see we’re not resting on our laurels. I’m not gonna put my name on an album I’m not 100% proud of. I know there’s a lot of talk, we read a lot of it – trust me.

“The fans are saying a lot of things, we understand their frustration and the fact it comes from a place of passion, for the most part. SOAD is definitely making an album, we just don’t know what terms it will be made on.”

Last month, SOAD released video footage of them rehearsing . They have a string of festival dates lined up for 2017.

System Of A Down 2017 tour dates

Jun 01: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland Jun 02: Nurnberg Rock Im Park, Germany Jun 04: Mendig Rock Am Ring, Germany Jun 07: Nancy Open Air Zenith, France Jun 09: Download Festival, UK Jun 10: Paris Download Festival, France Jun 12: Prague O2 Arena, Czech Republic Jun 13: Berlin Wuhlheide, Germany Jun 14: Hamburg Barclaycard Arena, Germany Jun 16: Nickelsdorf Nova Rock, Austria Jun 17: Lodz Impact Festival, Poland Jun 20: Nimes Festival, France Jun 23: Madrid Download Festival, Spain Jun 30: Arras Main Square Festival, France Jul 02: Arras Main Square Festival, France

What do old people think of System Of A Down?

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022. 

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