Sobriety, knick-knacks and pooping on porcelain: Life on the road with Shavo Odadjian

Last year, Shavo Odadjian launched his new band Seven Hours After Violet, and told us there’d be some “special shows” in the pipeline. But, really, the System Of A Down bassist has played special shows for the past 30 years. And, with both SHAV and SOAD back in action in 2025, we get the ultimate lowdown from Shavo on three decades’ worth of touring…

“I need my computer and my selection of books for when I’m alone. Other than that, I’m very health-conscious now, so I need to find a gym every day, and nice food. I also need to be able to contact my family daily.”

“We’ve made very long and crazy journeys. In ’98, we were on our first tour in Europe and we were going to go to Turkey, but we didn’t because we were told we wouldn’t be safe there [because of SOAD’s Armenian roots]. We journeyed all the way there and stayed in a nearby country. Slayer were headlining and they said, ‘I’m glad you guys didn’t come because people were looking for you,’ because we speak against out injustices and [the Armenian genocide] is one of those injustices. We would have loved to have been there, but they could have arrested us.”

“We played a festival in Spain and there was a storm, and the second stage’s roof flew off in the middle of the night. It was so crazy. But everyone waited and we played at 5am as the sun was coming up. It was crazy! Nobody was hurt, thank god.”

“I work out daily. I have free weights at the shows and before we play I get a little bit of a pump, a little bit of endorphins and dopamine. Back in the day, we’d stay at motels, but now we stay at hotels that hopefully have a gym. So we just work out and eat good. Eating is most of it, but it’s tough to find healthy food on tour.”

“Back in the day in 1998, when there was still an Eastern Bloc, the toilets there had this thing where it would collect your poop and the water was separate. So you’d poop on porcelain and then the water would flush it away. That’s just not right.”

“It’s called something else now, but I used to love The Flying J. I’d stay awake and wait to get there and go buy old trucker race car T-shirts, cut them up and wear them onstage. But they had everything. When you’re on tour for a long time, you get bored, so I’d spend money on knick-knacks from all over the place. And then I just had a bunch of stupid things when I got home!”

“We actually had trailers! But I like when we play sports venues because then we have the locker rooms or suites. That’s pretty cool. Seven Hours… played São Paulo and I’m back to having the smallest room. But it brings me so back to reality. It feels old-school again, it’s great.”

“There’s a moment when the crowd and the band clicks, and there’s this energy that’s unexplainable. It’s the best thing in the world. And I love doing it sober, because when you’re sober, the adrenaline you feel is better than any high I’ve ever had.”

”I’m full of those! One time we were doing the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas and I’d drank a lot. My family was there and I noticed my grandpa. As I was saying ‘Hello, gramps!’ I walked offstage – as in, I ate it! I walked like there was a floor, but there was no floor. I fell a good five or six feet with my guitar! That felt pretty stupid…”

This article originally appeared in the winter 2024 issue of the magazine.

Seven Hours After Violet’s self-titled album is out now via Sumerian. The band play Download Festival in June – get your tickets here.

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