John Dolmayan

I find it really difficult to keep my mouth shut when I see injustice.

Most of my friends are liberal.

Although I think Serj is a very open-minded guy, I think this derangement regarding Trump and this hate of Trump - he's this vilified character for a lot of people - has taken away some of that common decency, has taken away the ability for people to have their listening ears on and just taking things for what they are.

As much as I don't like the Marxist agenda and communism and socialism in general, because they don't work, and I love America and I want America to be successful for everybody, to have the ability to succeed in it, I will never oppose their right to voice their opinion, because I believe in the Constitution.

I have no problems with Black Lives Matter and Antifa if they did it peaceably.

I have a very open mind about things. I don't think it comes off that way always on my Instagram posts, because usually when I'm posting that, it's in the heat of the moment - something has upset me. And at the end of the day, these are my opinions.

If you're a System fan and you gravitate towards the music, you enjoy the music, but you don't necessarily agree with the perceived message, well, where do you go? If you think that Serj is the mouthpiece of the band, which he is, as far as vocally, but not necessarily for ideology, then you have nowhere to go.

You're supposed to have diversity of opinion even within your own mind, and you should judge things based on information that's presented to you.

There's four individuals in the band. I don't speak for any of the individuals except for myself, and neither does Serj. But because he had that platform of writing lyrics, the perception was out there that that's how the band felt at all times, where I don't even think Serj necessarily felt those ways at all times.

System of a Down has a legacy of being left-leaning, which isn't always the case.

It's hard to take a stand. Most people are just trying to earn a living, take care of their families, give their kids a little bit of a better life than they had, and that's their focus - trying to stay on top of credit card bills and their mortgage and rent, or whatever it is.

I took a lot of flak, I lost a lot of followers, I lost financial opportunities, and primarily because I supported Donald Trump as president.

The question I like to raise to people is at the end of the day, if the richest and biggest corporations think one way, shouldn't you at least research the other way of thinking?

I'm a conservative, as some people may or may not know. But at the end of the day, I change my opinion on things based on information. So if I get new information, I re-evaluate, I look at things, and I make a decision based on that.

The bottom line is the bigger you get as a band, the more people tell you how great you are in the band and how your role is the most important role, and some people listen a little more than others and become enamored with their own ideas and kind of have to have an identity outside of the band, and other people don't.

We have four very distinct members in System... We're very different - not better or worse; just different.

Why do marriages break up? Why do friendships that you've had for 20 years dissipate? It just happens. Especially when you're talking about four individuals that are artistic-minded, you're gonna have rifts.

The reality is none of us should have time to do other projects. We should be so focused on the band and working on the band and exploring our talents within it, making music that people can listen to within the confines of System of a Down that we shouldn't have time for anything else.

Even talking about System kind of bums me out, because I know what our potential is.

You only get one shot at life. Make the best of it.

No matter what, Daron is one of the best songwriters I've ever seen in my life.

We tried to get together multiple times to make an album, but there were certain rules set in place that made it difficult to do so and maintain the integrity of what System of a Down stood for.

If you force someone in the studio ahead of when they're ready for it, then you're probably going to make something mediocre.

I wouldn't want to go in and make an album that doesn't represent the best that we have to offer.

Fans want new music. We're the same way. We have bands that we like, and whether they release it or not, we're interested in hearing new material from them.

I've never written songs, I've never brought any songs to System, but as far as arranging, I've always had arrangement ideas.

Toxicity' was one of those songs where we hadn't done anything like it before. It required something completely different than any other System song did.

I don't know anything for the most part.

Don't believe everything the famous people tell you - they don't know anything for the most part.

I see a lot of very famous people saying a lot of things, and I'm not sure if it's coming from the heart. But I will always fight for what I think is right. Even if I'm later found out to be wrong, I will judge it then, and I am not afraid to change my position on things.

People shouldn't sit there and allow their moral superiority in their heads - because you really aren't morally superior to anyone, although you may think you are; you really aren't.

John Bonham is one of the greatest drummers of all time. Feel, power, simplicity - you name it, John Bonham had it.

Truth And Soul' is the first Fishbone album I purchased.

Ringo is a phenomenal drummer, one of the greatest of all time. He took perfectly crafted songs and did exactly what they needed, but he did different stuff for each song.

I have something like 10,000 songs on my phone, everything from Madonna to Radiohead to you name it. And, of course, I've got the classics.

One of the things I don't like about drum solos is a lot of times, if it's a written drum solo its kind of the same thing every night. I'm not a fan of that, I like drum solos that are impromptu, short but show-like; a technique that the drummer isn't capable of showing within the songs because it'll ruin the songs.

Everything I'm going to release is going to be exceptional or else I'm not going to release it.

The only thing I demand of HBO is when 'Game of Thrones' is done, they need to do 'The Silmarillion' by J. R. R. Tolkien. It's basically the history of Middle Earth. The history of the Elves, where they came from, how everything was created.

I wake up happy to go to work. I guess I'm lucky because I have the same experience in music that I do with Torpedo Comics.

I will fight to the death for a communist's right to say what they want to say here in the United States. And I couldn't be more opposed to the ideology.

People are hypersensitive and it's to the detriment of all of us really.

Look, at the end of the day, I just want everybody to have equal opportunity to be successful in whatever that success is. And I want people to be motivated by doing the right thing in life, not rewarded for doing the wrong thing.

I think AOC is a moron. I just have to put that out there; I like to say that in every conversation.

Anytime you don't reach your potential, it's a sadness.

The definition of a band is the selflessness. That's what a society is, isn't it? We're all thinking, like, together we make something great. Alone, we might not even survive.

I never wanted System to take a hiatus. I think it was a disastrous move for us, because we never reached our peak.

Yeah, if my bandmembers listened to me and put everything to the side and just said, 'Okay, let's just go in and make the best album we can make and not care about where the music comes from or who wrote the lyrics or what this person did in the past.' I'm willing to put all that aside. I'm not in a band that'll do that, unfortunately.

That's like the worst - having the ability to do something and not doing it is, I think, the worst thing in the world as far as in the perspective of being an artist. You're just hurting yourself.

I don't like big government.

I want what's best for everyone, but I want everybody to have the freedom to do these things.