SERJ TANKIAN To Release EP Of Rock Songs That Were Originally Intended For SYSTEM OF A DOWN

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SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankian has revealed to SPIN in a new interview that new will be putting out a solo "EP of rock songs" later this year. He stated about the effort: "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." Asked why these songs remind him of SYSTEM, he said: "I always have random rock tracks done at different times and I sit on them. And then one day the right project or right idea for releasing them will come along. They all have piano or synthesizers, which is a little different than the four-person crew with SYSTEM, although we had some synths as well. It's got stuff that's really heavy, heavy and there's a funny aspect and then there's a song about my son. It kind of runs the gauntlet on diversity of thematic expression: political, non-political. I guess that's always been me, all over the place. 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. We'll probably put it out later this year." SYSTEM OF A DOWN hasn't released any new music since the "Mezmerize" and "Hypnotize" LPs, which came out in 2005. 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 last May, 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 appear to have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic which is sweeping the globe.