SYSTEM OF A DOWN Bassist SHAVO ODADJIAN Is Working On 'Really Heavy' New Solo Project

Earlier this month, Music Connection's Atomic Seyum spoke to SYSTEM OF A DOWN bassist Shavo Odadjian at the Hall Of Flowers cannabis industry trade show in Palm Springs, California. Asked about his plans for new music in the near future, Shavo said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "SYSTEM's taking a little break, until next year, so I've been working on the NORTH KINGSLEY record. It's almost done. That's my side project. We've got six songs done. You can check it out on Spotify. It's a new project, so it's continuously growing and evolving. And as I evolve, I drop what we just did and we move to the next style. It's fun. It's freedom of music. It's really cool. And I also have some music I'm doing as a side project — just me alone solo. It's called THE SHAVO PROJECT and it's really heavy. That's all I can say right now."

SYSTEM OF A DOWN has toured intermittently since ending its hiatus in 2011, but has only managed to record two songs in the last 17 years, "Protect The Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz". Released in November 2020, the tracks were motivated by the conflict between Artsakh and Azerbaijan, with all proceeds supporting humanitarian efforts in SYSTEM OF A DOWN's ancestral homeland of Armenia. Along with other donations from fans on their social pages, they have raised over $600,000.

In 2018, guitarist Daron Malakian publicly accused singer Serj 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 bandmember to speak to the press.

In an interview with Guitar World magazine, Malakian was asked about the chances of more new music from SYSTEM OF A DOWN in the near future. He responded: "I never say never, but at the same time, I'm not expecting to do any more with SYSTEM OF A DOWN right away or immediately after [these two songs]. It really does seem like our fans like these new songs. That's important to me."

He continued: "We've added two new songs to the SYSTEM catalog that are on the level with everything else that we've put out and our fans have accepted it that way, which means a lot to me. That's kinda where we're gonna leave it for now. If more happens later on, then we'll talk about that, but for now I will continue doing what I'm doing and everyone else will just continue what they're doing. It's all cool though, I'm really pleased with the response we got."