System of a Down are “testing the waters” with their upcoming tour but there are no firm plans for an album.
The ‘Chop Suey’ rockers recently announced their first extended run of back-to-back shows since 2017 with upcoming stadium shows in South America in April and May, and North American in August and September.
Bassist Shavo Odadjian told SiriusXM’s ‘Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk’: “We haven’t played a lot together for a while. We’ve been doing one or two shows a year since 2017.
“So, the relationships were not as great as they are now. It’s just everybody wasn’t on the same page. We’ve been talking.
“Everything’s great, knock on wood. Everyone’s happy. So we decided to test the waters and play some shows. And that’s what it is.”
He insisted SOAD – completed by Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan – have “no strategy” to this run, or any plans to tour “the rest of the world just yet” as they all look to “play it by ear”.
He added: “There’s no heavy responsibility on anyone, because I feel like a lot of it is just thinking too much, overthinking what could happen…
“So we decided, ‘Let’s test the waters. Let’s not just go full blast and start doing months. Let’s just test the waters with three shows.’ Those three shows turned to six.”
Shavo also addressed the prospect of new music, and while he admitted the band will “always” have conversations about it, they haven’t planned anything yet.
He explained: “We always will talk about it here and there, but I don’t know if this will happen or not.
“I mean, if it does, beautiful. But if it does, it needs to be amazing. It can’t just be us riffing. ‘Cause we’ve got a lot to live up to, bro.
“It’s a little nerve racking, a part of it. 20 years [ago], the last thing we did, won a Grammy. It needs to really be the greatest it could be. And I’m not saying it can’t be or we’re not up to it — we are.”