JOHN DOLMAYAN HONORED TO PLAY ON SERJ TANKIAN ALBUM DURING SYSTEM OF A DOWN

Drummer John Dolmayan talks about how honored he was to perform on Serj Tankian’s solo album while they both take a break from System of a Down.

John Dolmayan, who is currently working in the studio on his new project Scars on Broadway with fellow System of a Down guitarist Daron Malakian, also performed drums on a few songs on Serj Tankian’s solo album ‘Elect the Dead.’ Serj’s first solo album, which peaked at #4 on the Billboard Rock Chart on the strength of the hit singles ‘Empty Walls’ and ‘The Sky is Over’ also features former Primus drummer Brain as well. As Serj continues to tour in support of ‘Elect the Dead’ to sold out shows around the world, Malakian and Dolmayan are readying their debut album from Scars on Broadway, which is being produced by Rick Rubin and will hopefully be released by the Summer of 2008. So with Serj’s ‘Elect the Dead’ already a huge success and with Scars on Broadway’s album certainly sure to follow, we caught up with John Dolmayan to find out if there is any friendly rivalries between the members of System of a Down as each member releases new work from a new band.

So with Serj’s ‘Elect the Dead’ already a huge success and with Scars on Broadway’s album, certainly sure to follow, we caught up with John Dolmayan to find out if there is any friendly rivalries between the members of System of a Down as each member releases new work from a new band.

“There’s no rivalry. We support each other. We are friends outside of System, so it’s not like we hang out together every day or anything like that. I don’t want to bull shit people. We care about each other. We’re always there for each other and that’s why I played on his album, you know. It’s not my band, it’s Serj’s solo project. It was an honor for me to play on it. Anything I can do to help him or Shavo or Daron I’ll always endeavor to do so.”

Another one of John Dolmayan’s side projects is Torpedo Comics, which is a comic book and memorabilia warehouse that John has invested both his time and money and wouldn’t have been able to happen if System of a Down were still working together instead of being on a hiatus. Dolmayan also went on to talk about how great it is for each member of System of a Down to pursue their own interests during the bands hiatus.

“If you’re in love with a girl, you go out with a girl and you break up with her it doesn’t mean you should disassociate with her. You know, you still have ties. And in this situation System never really broke up, it’s just that we need to pursue our own interests for a little while. For example Torpedo Comics never could have existed if I had to put full time into System. I just wouldn’t have the time. So it was nice to get to do this. You know it’s nice for Serj to put out an album strictly of his vision and it’s nice for Daron to get to do the same also because the bottom line is artistically I usually defer to Daron. So, he’ll bring in the songs and I’ll handle other aspects of it.”

After a brief tour of the Southwest with up and coming band Fair to Midland, Serj Tankian will hit the road with The Foo Fighters beginning Febuary 18th in Worchester, Massachusetts and concluding March 6th at the Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, California. Dolmayan, Malakian and Scars on Broadway will be playing live at this year’s Coachella Festival in Indio, California on Saturday, April 26th. Look for the band’s debut album to be released in the summer of 2008. Fans of System of a Down will also find bassist Shavo Odadjian in the studio with RZA of Wu Tang Clan on an upcoming side project called Achozen as well as spear heading UrSession which is an online musical community devoted to helping the careers of unsigned bands.