SYSTEM OF A DOWN Bassist: 'I'm Not Sayin' We Are Back'

January 14, 2010

According to The Pulse of Radio, SYSTEM OF A DOWN may not be getting back together after all. Although bassist Shavo Odadjian instantly got fans excited on Tuesday (January 12) when he tweeted, "Are u guys ready for System?", he may have deflated their hopes by later writing, "About my 'are u guys ready for System?'... I'm not sayin we are back but, if so, U guys ready? Sorry for gettin u guys amped. I'm just seeing."

Neither Odadjian nor the other three members of the band have addressed the matter any further.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN has been on hiatus since 2006 while its members have pursued various personal projects. Vocalist Serj Tankian released his first solo album, "Elect The Dead", in 2007 while Odadjian recorded with members of the WU-TANG CLAN and launched a new online music initiative. Meanwhile, guitarist Daron Malakian started a new band called SCARS ON BROADWAY, also featuring SYSTEM drummer John Dolmayan.

Asked in a 2007 interview when SYSTEM will get back together, Tankian said it wasn't really on anyone's radar. "I don't know," he replied. "That's the truth. I mean, we've taken an indefinite hiatus and we just said, you know, when we're all ready to come back and take time from our own things and do something together we will, if and when we want to. And it's been left at that."

Three members of SYSTEM OF A DOWNMalakian, Odadjian and Dolmayan — plus SCARS ON BROADWAY's Franky Perez performed three songs (including SOAD's "Suite-Pee" and SCARS ON BROADWAY's "They Say") at Shavo's Halloween party at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California on October 31, 2009. Check out photos by ErikVoake.com at this location.

In October 2008, Malakian announced via SCARS ON BROADWAY's web site that the band's headlining tour — which included an appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" — was being cancelled, with no plans of rescheduling. Malakian cited his lack of enthusiasm and "his heart not being into touring" as the chief reasons behind the decision to call off the trek. "The music of SCARS will live on, but now is a time when aspects of my life need to be tended to," he said in a statement.

SCARS ON BROADWAY sold just under 24,000 copies of its self-titled debut album in the United States during its first week of release to debut at position No. 17 on The Billboard 200 chart. This number represented roughly 36 percent of the 66,000 opening tally registered by "Elect the Dead", which came out in the fall of 2007 through the Warner Music Group.

The brief excitement about a SYSTEM reunion is similar to the buzz created on New Year's Day (January 1) when ex-SOUNDGARDEN frontman Chris Cornell posted a vaguely worded message online that many took to mean that band's return was imminent. There has been no further news on that front and sources have hinted that the message did not actually signal a reunion.

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