Earlier this month, System of a Down bassist Shavo Odajian caused quite a stir when he seemed to suggest, via tweet, that everyone’s favorite band whose lyrics make no sense but are apparently political was ready to reunite after more than three years away. Then, the next day, he basically sent out another tweet taking it back, which just made things more, y’know, confusing. Was he really just taking an informal poll over Twitter as to whether or not people wanted a SOAD reunion? Did he let the cat out of the bag too early? Is the poor guy just sad and bored and waiting to be in the spotlight again?

We don’t really know what the Odajian was thinking when he sent out that first tweet – but now System vocalist Serj Tankian has explicitly said that there’s no reunion planned… for now, at least. He tells Billboard:

“We always have offers to play, from festivals and stuff, but we have not decided to do anything as of yet,” Tankian explains. “We’re in touch. We talk. We call it an indefinite hiatus, and that’s how we still look at it. Nothing’s really changed.”

Of course, Tanakian could also just be trying to cover up for Odajian announcing the band’s reactivation before all the t’s were crossed and i’s were dotted. But I don’t think so. Tanakian probably has the least reason to want to go back to SOAD right now: his solo career is actually going quite well, while Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan’s Scars on Broadway project was a pretty epic fail, and the most noteworthy thing Odajian has done since ’06 has been, well, to send that tweet.

That’s not to say that I think System are dead and buried. Ultimately, I think System will eventually reunite for the same reason every band seems to eventually reunite: money. So three cheers for greed. Without it, this generation may never have seen David Lee Roth reunite with half of Van Halen.

-AR