Much like Forrest Gump opening a box of chocolates, artists taking part in a Reddit AMA session are never quite sure what they’re going to get. System of a Down‘s Serj Tankian and John Dolmayan were the latest to take part in the online question-and-answer session and fielded questions both serious and silly along the way.

Given that the band were taking part in the session to promote their “Souls” world tour shining a spotlight on their campaign to have the Armenian Genocide recognized on its 100th anniversary, there were quite a few questions dealing with that topic.

When one fan from Turkey spoke of the idea of his country not recognizing the genocide for fear of reparations made and asked what would bring justice to the tragedy, drummer John Dolmayan stated, “More likeminded people like you who seek out the truth and embrace it regardless of fear of consequence.” Tankian added, “I think you’ve nailed it on the head with the government of Turkey being afraid of reparations or restitutions so I guess when the cost of disinformation and diplomacy becomes larger than that of estimated reparations, we may see some movement. There is also the issue of how does the gov’t explain away to the people of Turkey that they have been lied to all these years? That is also an impediment in Genocide Recognition.”

Another poster asked at what point does the pursuit of having the genocide recognized become an impediment that holds back the Armenian people. Tankian responded, “The Genocide and our quest for justice has now been engrained into the DNA of Armenian culture and has become the most prevalent characteristic and bond among our people. No culture wants to be victimized forever. But does that have to take over our cultural treasures? Isn’t what we’re doing with System Of A Down the perfect marriage of that? To present our cultural assets while fighting for justice. One without the other is an irreversible loss I think.”

As for the inevitable question about when the band might release new music, Tankian humorously responded, “When you’re not looking,” which led to fans asking everyone to look away. But on a more serious note, he later added, “We will be getting together to look at what inspires us today. If that leads to an album, then great, if not, then that’s fine too.”

The guys also discussed some of their side projects as well. Dolmayan revealed that there could be a These Grey Men album this year and he’s working on it as time allows. Meanwhile, Tankian discussed the possibility of bringing Prometheus Bound to Broadway and staging other productions around the world.

And finally, when one fan asked what it was like to be in the greatest band on earth, Dolmayan responded, “I don’t know. Ask Iron Maiden.”

Visit System of a Down’s website to see where the “Souls” tour is stopping and learn more about how you can help bring awareness to the #wakeupthesouls campaign here.

Loudwire