Shavo Odadjian talks Seven Hours After Violet and future of System Of A Down: “I’ve got nothing I need to prove”

nme.com:

System Of A Down bassist Shavo Odadjian has spoken to NME about his new band Seven Hours After Violet‘s debut album, performing at Download 2025 and what the future holds for System.Seven Hours After Violet – a play on Shavo’s name – comprises vocalist Taylor Barber, guitarists Alejando Aranda and Morgoth Beatz, Odadjian on bass and Josh Johnson on drums.

The project’s a markedly drastic turn from the music that System Of A Down fans are used to from Odadjian; it’s much heavier, at times leaning mostly into the stylings of metalcore.Earlier this month, the band were announced to perform at Download 2025 – something Odadjian is particularly excited and “so grateful” for.

However, Seven Hours After Violet’s existence doesn’t mean the end for System Of A Down. In fact, Odadjian told NME that the legendary band were “always talking” and would likely “never break up”.When asked if the often-political group had convened to discuss the state of the world, Odadjian said that outside of different political views (drummer John Dolmayan has been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump), System Of A Down are usually in sync: “We believe in free speech, we don’t judge each other.

We agree on 90 per cent of things, but no one’s ever going to agree on things 100 per cent.”He also spoke of bandmate Serj Tankian‘s recent comments that potential new material from System would be a “fresh start” for the band, and what it would take for them to record new music – check out NME‘s full chat with Odadjian below.NME: Hello Shavo.