Serj Tankian “totally open” to System Of A Down continuing with new singer: “Absolutely”

System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian has said he’d be open to the band continuing with a new lead singer.

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While appearing on the Broken Record podcast, the ‘Toxicity‘ singer was asked if he would be OK with the band going on without him and replacing him with a new singer, to which he replied: “Absolutely. I’ve offered them that opportunity and been very supportive of it many years.

“If they wanted to do that, if they wanted to continue in a way that I didn’t – for example, if they wanted to tour a lot and I just want to do a couple of shows here and there, because I’m not into touring a lot, to be fair to them, if they wanted to do that, I’m totally open to it, still. I’m not sure they want to do that.”

He continued: “They haven’t until now, and I think it would take something away from the prestige and legacy of the band itself, but as friends and as someone who cares very much about my partners, I would be OK with it.”

Tankian has touched on his dislike of extensive tours before, telling Rainn Wilson they were “physically exhausting” back in May. “I love performing,” he clarified in their interview for the LiveSigning YouTube channel, before explaining why it was so gruelling for him.

“I think when you do a long tour, it’s not just physically exhausting, but it’s artistically redundant after a while, repeating the same thing,” he continued.

“That’s why we’re really enjoying doing these one-offs. They’re special events, special occasions. We can’t do them everywhere. We can’t do them all the time. But performing becomes fun again in a way.”

The same month, an excerpt of his new memoir, Down With The System: A Memoir (Of Sorts) was shared by Rolling Stone, and revealed System Of A Down auditioned a new singer in 2018 after he offered to quit the band.

Discussing the memoir with NME, Tankian said: “There’s a lot of interesting lessons in my own life, and I hope it sparks something in young creators or would-be creators.”

Elsewhere, Tankian announced a new solo EP, ‘Foundations’ earlier this year.