Shavo Odadjian shares feelings about playing again with System Of A Down – but what is the band teasing now?

In a recent interview with the Essential Watches podcast, System Of A Down bassist Shavo Odadjian discussed the band’s enduring commercial prominence despite the absence of a studio album since 2005. The band continues to sell out stadiums worldwide and maintains over 26 million monthly listeners on Spotify, establishing their status as one of the most widely listened-to rock and alternative bands globally. Following an observation from an interviewer regarding the average price of System Of A Down concert tickets, which ChatGPT estimates to be between $70 and $125, Shavo addressed this point.

[Those are] good seats. We still have the floor seats. We try to bring [the prices] down as much as we can, that the promoters will let us. ‘Cause our band is always like that. And when they raise the prices, actually, I don’t like it. I’d rather make a little less and have more people enjoy the shit and just add more shows. I don’t care. You know what I’m saying? I’ll play more and make less, just for everyone to get to see us.

When asked whether the increase in concert attendance is due to a new generation of fans, he provided his perspective.

Bro, it’s all kids. And then it’s like kind of having our old audience — they’re in the front. The ages of our old audiences that we started with, they’re the same age in the front. And then the dads that were around and moms that were around back then are sitting in the seats. So that’s what contributes to it.

Shavo referenced the band’s sporadic touring since ending their hiatus in 2011, noting that they have yet to produce a full-length album following their 2005 releases, “Mezmerize” and “Hypnotize.” He elaborated on the band’s ongoing live performances and their sustained popularity despite the lack of new studio recordings.

Okay, there’s many things [at play here]. We haven’t been around for a while. We don’t do full tours. We’re in the market of, like… We make events happen now. We’re just doing events. We’re not gonna do vast touring. We don’t know if we’ll stop for a while after this. We don’t know. We don’t know. We’re just kind of doing it as we go, and we’re having fun again, and that’s number one, because it wasn’t fun for a while, and that’s why the gap existed.

We could have banked out and made all that money and did fake tours and pretended like we were happy up there, but we didn’t. [We took a hiatus], and it wasn’t because people didn’t want us and we had to take a hiatus. Bro, we stopped after winning a Grammy. We stopped. Instead of taking that and running, we said, ‘It’s not…’ It kind of broke us down, bro. Everyone was in another head space. So it was hell at the time, but it was meant to be.

Shavo expressed enthusiasm about performing with System Of A Down once again, highlighting that they are now playing at the largest venues of their career.

When you look back and say everything happens for a reason, it literally was perfect for… And I’ll speak for myself. To me, it was perfect even though I was the one pushing for us to play as much as possible together. I was the one grasping at every member. I was that person, and you can ask any one of them. They’d be, like, ‘Yeah, Shavo was the one.’ Because I was hurting because I love doing this. I felt, like, ‘Why the fuck did we get so famous and then we can’t do it now?’ I didn’t wanna get famous and not do it. Fuck the fame — I wanna do it. I’d rather do it without fame than have fame and not do it. That’s the passion, ’cause I love what I do. It’s not like I do it because it makes money. So, yes, I’m very grateful for all that stuff, but it’s because we’re having fun again, bro. We’re having fun.”

I could have died, bro, ’cause I was in a bad place when it was ending [two decades ago]. I was drinking, I was doing stuff. I was using substances because I was unhappy thinking that the thing that we built is ending, and that was hurtful, bro. It was like a marriage that you were still in love with [the partner], but there’s four people, and they’re not in love with each other, and it’s, like, fuck. You can’t help their love. You try, but… But it wasn’t love that was ending. It was exterior forces that were built. And shit happens, right?

This week, the band commemorated the 25th anniversary of their influential album Toxicity through a pop-up store and installation featuring artifacts and memorabilia from that period. In addition, there are indications of an even larger event being planned within the city. Recently, fans have observed posters displaying the band’s name, a rose symbol, and the year “2027,” which has led to speculation about an upcoming significant event. The presence of the rose symbol has fueled rumors that the band may be performing at the renowned LA venue, The Rose Bowl, in the following year.

The band has previously employed similar methods to hint at significant announcements. In July, logos for System of a Down and Faith No More appeared in Australia and New Zealand shortly before the bands announced stadium concerts scheduled for January and February 2027.

This will mark System of a Down’s first performance in Australia since 2012. The announcement followed a successful summer tour across the UK and Europe, which included two consecutive nights at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Regarding the Rose Bowl, no official confirmation has been provided, and the band has not clarified the significance of the posters. Nonetheless, a performance at a hometown stadium would serve as an appropriate conclusion to the celebration of the album “Toxicity,” which also features a recently announced 25th anniversary vinyl reissue.

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