If lately it seems that every time you walk down Jasper Avenue you’re looking at a new poster for System of a Down, you’re onto something.

Whether it’s for the double album the band decided to release in two parts spaced months apart, or for the seemingly unending tours that followed, System of a Down have been making their presence felt in Edmonton almost as much as girls with their Oilers jerseys pulled up around their ears have been lately.

System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan, who actually lived in Canada for some time after his family fled Lebanon because of civil war, explains that he and the band are always thrilled to tour in Canada.

“I lived in Toronto for four years and really enjoyed it. I love coming back,” he says. “We’ve developed a really nice following in Canada.”

That “really nice following” the band has developed must have been dismayed to learn recently that, following the band’s Canadian dates and headlining tour with Ozzfest, System of a Down will be taking an indefinite hiatus to work on solo projects.

For most of the band’s members, these solo projects will be of a similar nature to their previous work; Dolmayan’s project, however, is decidedly un-musical.

“I have ideas to do a small comic book-based business,” explains Dolmayan, who will most likely also play drums on a few tracks of each of his bandmates solo efforts.

On another non-musical topic, much ado has been made of System of a Down’s Armenian ancestry and their push to have Turkey finally recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

While stressing that these issues are of grave importance to the band, Dolmayan laments that “the press made a much bigger deal of us being Armenian than we ever did.”

The press “couldn’t explain us,” he says, because System of a Down didn’t totally fit in with the embarrassing nu-metal movement they were unlucky enough to be lumped in with. And when System of a Down outlasted the nu-metalheads, the Armenian connection received more ink.

“When people started asking [about our shared ethnic backgrounds],” Dolmayan explains, “our reaction was to bring up the issue of the genocide,” in an attempt to use the press to spread their message.

Fans can expect that the band’s political views, which also include a definite anti-war/anti-Bush stance, to be on full display Sunday night, along with the heavy and intelligent music the band is known for.

By BRYAN CARROLL  Vueweekly

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