System of a Down (sometimes
simply referred to as SOAD or
System) is a Grammy
Award-winning Armenian
-American
rock band from Glendale,
California
, formed in 1994. System of a Down consists
of
Serj Tankian (
lead vocals,
keyboard and occasionally
rhythm guitar),
Daron Malakian (
vocals
and
lead guitar),
Shavo Odadjian (
bass) and
John
Dolmayan (
drums).
The band has released five studio albums and have sold over 20
million records worldwide . They have been nominated for four
Grammy Awards, of which they have won
one in 2006 for
Best Hard Rock
Performance. The group went on indefinite hiatus August 13,
2006.
History
Soil (1992–1994)
Daron Malakian met
Serj Tankian in 1992, while they both shared
the same rehearsal studio in different bands. They formed a jam
band called Soil (Serj on vocals/keyboards and Daron on guitar; not
to be confused with the Chicago band
Soil) with Domingo Laranio (drums) and Dave
Hakopyan (bass). Around this time, they also met
Shavo Odadjian. After about a year, with one
supposed jam session recording and one live show, Dave and Domingo
left, thinking the band wasn't going anywhere (Hakopyan would later
co-found the band The Apex Theory which, in 2007, changed their
name to
Mt. Helium).
In the beginning (1994–1997)
The band later broke up and Tankian and Malakian, along with Shavo
Odadjian and Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian, formed a new band
"System of a Down," adapting the name from a poem Daron wrote
entitled "Victims of the Down". Shavo Odadjian thought that the
word System appealed to a much broader audience than "Victims," and
they wanted their albums to be stored near the band
Slayer. Odadjian was the band's original manager and
promoter, but joined as the
bassist, and
managerial duties were taken over by the Velvet Hammer Music and
Management Group and founder David "Beno" Benveniste.
System of a Down quickly made what is known as their early
Untitled 1995 Demo Tape, which had very early recordings
of "Mr. Jack" (called "PIG"), along with a song called "Flake," and
an early recording of "
The Metro," a
cover of the
Berlin song of the same name. It is rumored
that there are other tapes made, which contain early recordings of
"Friik," "36" (called ".36"), and "Roulette." After this, the band
recorded three public demos, which have been numbered as Demo Tape
1 to 3, as the early 1995 demo was not discovered until much later.
Many of the songs featured on the demos would eventually make their
way onto the band's debut album. In mid 1997, Khachaturian left the
band due to a hand injury (he subsequently co-founded The Apex
Theory, which included former Soil bassist Dave Hakopyan). Soon
after playing at the Whisky-A-Go-Go and Viper Room with new drummer
John Dolmayan, the band caught the
attention of producer
Rick Rubin, who
asked them to keep in touch with him. Showing great interest, they
recorded yet another demo near the end of that year. This demo,
however, was made only to be sent to record companies. The tape was
not released to the public until years later when it was leaked
onto the Internet. After Rick helped them get signed onto
American/Columbia Records, System of a Down began to record in his
studio. In 1997, the group won the Best Signed Band award from the
Rock City Awards.
Debut album (1998–2000)
In the summer of 1998 (June 1998), System of a Down released their
debut album,
System of a
Down. They enjoyed moderate success with their first
single "
Sugar"
becoming a radio favorite, followed by the single "
Spiders." After the release
of the album, the band toured extensively, opening for
Slayer and
Metallica before
making their way to the second stage of
Ozzfest. Following Ozzfest, they toured with
Fear Factory and
Incubus before headlining the
Sno-Core Tour with
Puya,
Mr. Bungle, The
Cat and Incubus providing support. In 2000, the band contributed
their cover of the
Black Sabbath song
"
Snowblind" to the Black Sabbath
tribute album
Nativity in Black
2.
Toxicity (2001)
On September 4, 2001, the band rose to fame by releasing their most
successful album,
Toxicity. Toxicity
received mass critical acclaim, making many end-of-year "best of"
lists (such as being named SPIN Magazine's #1 record of the year),
and earning a Grammy nomination for lead single "Chop Suey!".It is
the only System of a Down album not to feature the Parental
Advisory label, with only minor profanities. However, a limited
edition of the album containing a bonus CD with behind the scenes
footage of the making of the album does feature the Parental
Advisory label, while a different limited edition containing a DVD
with the "Toxicity" music video and live footage also does not
feature the label.
Mezmerize and Hypnotize (2004–2006)
From 2004 to 2005, the group produced a
double album, with the two parts released six
months apart. The first album,
Mezmerize, was
released on May 17, 2005, to favorable reviews by critics. It
debuted at #1 in the United States, Canada, Australia and all
around the world, making it System of a Down's second #1 album.
First week sales rocketed to over 800,000 copies worldwide . The
Grammy Award-winning single "
B.Y.O.B.," which questions the integrity of
military recruiting in America, worked its way up the Billboard
Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. The next single, "
Question!" was released with Shavo Odadjian
co-directing the
music video.
Following
the release of Mezmerize, the band toured extensively
throughout the United
States and Canada
with
The Mars Volta and Bad Acid Trip supporting.
The second part of the
double album,
Hypnotize, was released
on November 22, 2005. Like
Mezmerize, it
debuted at #1 in the US, making System of a Down, along with
The Beatles,
Guns 'N Roses, and rappers
2Pac and
DMX, the only
artists to ever have two studio albums debut at #1 in the same
year. In February 2006, System of a Down won the Grammy for Best
Hard Rock Performance for "
B.Y.O.B.," beating out other established
artists such as
Nine Inch Nails and
Robert Plant. Their second single off
the Hypnotize album, "
Lonely Day" was
released in March in the United States. System of a Down released
"
Kill Rock 'N Roll" and "
Vicinity of Obscenity" as their next
promo singles. The band
headlined
Ozzfest 2006 in cities where tour
founder
Ozzy Osbourne opted not to
appear or wasn't playing on the main stage.
System of a Down's songs were used in the 2006 film
Screamers, directed by
Carla Garapedian. They appeared in the
movie, in an interview talking about the importance of helping
create awareness and recognition of the
Armenian Genocide.
Screamers
debuted in theaters in large city markets such as New York City,
Detroit, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Fresno, Providence, and
Boston. An earlier engagement started exclusively in Los Angeles on
December 8, 2006. Also, "
Lonely Day"
appeared on the soundtrack for the 2006 movie
Disturbia.
System of a Down was honored at the USC v.
Cal game at the
Los Angeles
Coliseum
in Los Angeles, California in 2006. The
Trojan Marching Band, along with Dolmayan and Odadjian, performed
three System of a Down songs: "
Toxicity", "
Sugar", and "
Hypnotize". System of a
Down's song "
Lonely Day" was nominated
for Best Hard Rock Performance in the
49th Grammy Awards
in 2007, but lost to "
Woman"
by
Wolfmother.
Hiatus and future of the band (2006–present)
In May 2006, the band announced they were going on hiatus. Malakian
has confirmed the break will probably last a few years, which
Odadjian specified as a minimum of three years in an interview with
Guitar magazine. He told MTV, "We're not breaking up. If
that was the case, we wouldn't be doing this Ozzfest. We're going
to take a very long break after Ozzfest and do our own things.
We've done System for over ten years, and I think it's healthy to
take a rest."
During
their performance in Houston, Texas
, Malakian also took a moment to say, "There's been
a lot of rumors about us breaking up. Well, don't listen to
them. Us four right here, we will always be System of a Down!"
However, Malakian announced he was forming a band called
Scars on Broadway, which was joined by
Dolmayan. Their
debut
self-titled album was released on July 29, 2008. Odadjian will
be working on a project with
RZA of
Wu-Tang Clan named
AcHoZeN as well as his urSESSION website/record
label. Tankian plans to keep recording as a solo artist/producer.
"
Empty Walls" is his first single off
his debut solo album
Elect the
Dead, which was released on October 23, 2007. Dolmayan, as
well working with
Scars on
Broadway, planned to open a comic book store online by November
2007.
System of
a Down's final performance before their hiatus took place on August
13, 2006 in West Palm
Beach
, Florida
.
"Tonight will be the last show we play for a long time together,"
Malakian told the crowd during Sunday's last performance. "We'll be
back. We just don't know when."
Shavo Odadjian told Launch Radio Networks in 2007 that System of a
Down is "alive and well", but just aren't working together.
In an April 2008 interview with Kerrang magazine, guitarist
Daron Malakian and drummer
John Dolmayan gave their takes on the band's
future. When told that many people are going to wonder what the
future of the band is, Malakian responded by stating that "We'll
all know when the time is right." Dolmayan added, "It'll just
happen." Malakian went on to say:
In an interview with Tankian about
Big Day
Out 2009, a show involving playing his
Elect the Dead album live with the
Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, and his upcoming second studio
album. "Every few months I am honored to hear interesting rumors
about whether the band is going to tour or break up permanently. I
find them all to be very entertaining."
On October 31, 2009, Shavo threw a Halloween party at the Roxy in
which three of the members (Shavo, Daron, and John) played three
songs including "Suite-Pee" (off
System of a Down), Scars
on Broadway's "
They Say", and an unknown
song. Franky Perez from Scars on Broadway joined them for these
songs.
On November 20, 2009, at the Avalon in Hollywood Daron, John, and
Shavo joined the Deftones on stage at the show benefiting bassist
Chi Cheng and played hits "Aerials" and "Toxicity".
Style and influences
The stylistic variety and level of
experimentation in System of a Down's
music has made it difficult to describe. Though they have evolved
their sound with each album, System of a Down has, for the most
part, maintained a single style throughout their body of work. This
style has variously been termed
alternative metal,
alternative rock,
art
rock,
experimental rock,
hard rock,
heavy metal,
nu
metal,
progressive metal and
progressive rock. Malakian has
stated that "We don't belong to any one scene" and that "I don't
like the nu-metal
drop-A 7-string guitar sound; it is not my
thing, at least not yet". According to Tankian, "As far as
arrangement and everything, [our music] is pretty much
pop. To me, System of a Down isn't a progressive
band. [...] But it's not a typical pop project, obviously. We
definitely pay attention to the music to make sure that it's not
something someone's heard before."
The band has used a wide range of instruments, including
electric mandolins,
baritone electric guitar,
acoustic guitars,
ouds,
sitars and
twelve string guitars. According to
Malakian, he would often write songs in
E♭ tuning, which would later be changed to
drop C tuning in order to be performed
by the band. Malakian states that "For me, the drop-C tuning is
right down the center. It has enough of the clarity and the crisp
sound—most of our riffy stuff is done on the top two strings,
anyway—but it's also thicker and ballsier."
The band's influences include
Middle Eastern music,
The Beatles,
Frank
Zappa and
Slayer. The band's musical
style has often been compared to that of Zappa. Malakian has stated
that "I'm a fan of music. I'm not necessarily a fan of any one
band." Dolmayan stated "I dont think we sound like anybody else. I
consider us System of a Down." Odadjian stated "You can compare us
to whoever you want. I don't care. Comparisons and labels have no
effect on this band. Fact is fact: We are who we are and they are
who they are."
Band members
- Current members
- Former members
- Touring musicians
Awards
- In 2005, System of a Down won for Best Alternative Act in the
Europe Music Awards
- In 2006, System of a Down won their first Grammy for Best Hard
Rock Performance for "B.Y.O.B."
- In 2006, System of a Down won the "MTV Good Woodie Award" for
their song "Question!"
- In 2006, System of a Down's song "Toxicity" was #14 on the VH1 Top 40 Metal
Songs list
Discography
References
External links
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