Daron Malakian

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Daron Malakian
Daron Malakian, CCA 2005
Daron Malakian, CCA 2005
Background information
Birth name Daron Vartan Malakian
Born 18 July 1975 (Age 31)
Origin Flag of United States Hollywood, California, USA
Genre(s) Alternative rock
Occupation(s) Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s) Vocals, guitar
Years active 1993 – present
Website http://www.systemofadown.com/

Daron Vartan Malakian (born 18 July 1975 in Hollywood, California, USA) is the Lead guitarist in the Armenian-American band System of a Down. Malakian has written most of the band's music, and, more recently, has taken on a large share of the vocal and lyrical work for the band as well. Like the rest of the Hollywood-based band, he is of Armenian ancestry, but is the only member to actually have been born inside the U.S. (Los Angeles). He placed 30th in Guitar World's List of "The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists Of All Time."[1]

Contents

[edit] Early life

Daron was born on July 18, 1975 in Hollywood, California, USA as an only child to Vartan and Zepur Malakian. At a very early age, Daron got into heavy metal music; his distant cousin played him a KISS record when he was four years old and he was hooked. Daron started listening to Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motörhead and Ozzy Osbourne among others. He always wanted to play the drums, but his parents got him a guitar instead because "You can't turn the drums off." By the time he was a teenager, he got into heavier metal bands such as Slayer, Venom, Metallica, Pantera, Sepultura and Cannibal Corpse. At around 17 he started getting into The Beatles and cites John Lennon as one of his biggest influences on him as a songwriter. Daron went to Rose & Alex Pilibos' Armenian school in Little Armenia, Hollywood, which bandmates Serj Tankian and Shavo Odadjian also attended. Daron is still a big Slayer fan, as is band member Shavo Odadjian who sometimes wears Slayer t-shirts to shows. In his childhood, he also became a fan of the LA Kings Hockey Team.

[edit] System of a Down

Main article: System of a Down

Daron met Serj Tankian in 1993, while they both shared the same rehearsal studio in different bands. Serj was playing keyboard for a band, and Daron was singing lead vocals for another band. They formed a jam band called Soil. Shavo Odadjian then became their bassist. They later changed their name to "System of a Down", based on a poem that Daron wrote. The poem's title was "Victims of a Down", but Serj Tankian thought the word System was a much more powerful word. They then recruited Andy Khachaturian for the drums, who was later replaced by their current drummer, John Dolmayan.

Malakian co-produced System of a Down's albums with Rick Rubin, as well as The Ambulance and Bad Acid Trip (a band on fellow member Serj Tankian's Serjical Strike Records). He recently started his own label, EatUrMusic, on which Amen is the first signed band. Malakian is also involved in a project called Scars on Broadway, with Amen-singer Casey Chaos and Zach Hill from Hella and Team Sleep. In 2003 Daron Malakian played with a variety of celebrities in the Celebrity Baseball Game in Hollywood. He wrote a song about the experience, "Old School Hollywood", which appears on Disc 1 of System of a Down's double album, Mezmerize/Hypnotize.

[edit] Personal life

Malakian now lives in Glendale, California in a home by himself; he also has families in Iraq and Iran. He sometimes visits his family in Iran but only goes there to visit his family and enjoy the excellent food. He also likes to collect candles, Persian rugs, Middle Eastern smoking devices, instruments, and skulls. Daron has been voted fourth best guitarist of the year by Metal Edge Magazine. Daron has stated in an interview that he hates the nu metal label more than anything, saying

“ A lot of bands followed Korn. We're not one of those bands but I have respect for Korn for being original. I just think it’s a shame that so many people felt they had to go and mimic that. Everyone tells us we have our own sound. I think that we have enough trust in our fans from touring for enough years to know that they're expecting something different from us, which is cool because it leaves the door open for us to go anywhere we want. ”

[edit] Side Projects

In December of 2005, Daron said in an interview that he "could release ten solo records tomorrow.'". He also said, "I have tons of material laying around. After these albums," (Mezmerize and Hypnotize) "I'm gonna go off and do something on my own, just like Serj. And no, System of a Down are not breaking up. We're just gonna do like KISS and put out our own solo records or something like that."

Malakian is currently in the early stages of forming a new group "Scars on Broadway." He has stated that he's still getting the band together but some music should be surfacing by Summer 2007. [2]. In a live performance of "Hypnotize" at KROQ Acoustic Christmas, Daron said "not all the money in Israel can buy this band".

On what direction his album will take, Malakian states: "It will probably be something electronic mixed in with traditional Armenian and thrash/death/black and doom metal influences. When, or even if, the music comes out it will still be structured, just like System of a Down's music is." This solo album, possibly named Scars on Broadway, should be launched just after Hypnotize's tour. This electronic idea was demonstrated in all 2005 concerts in which Malakian, instead of merely singing the chorus to the song Sugar or War?, as well as "Old School Hollywood" from Mezmerize, distorted his voice electronically with a Vocoder.

Malakian is looking forward to working with guitarist D-man Daviot (David Crowe) from Australian band Mental Link.

[edit] Musical equipment used

From System of a Down's formation, up until their third album, Steal This Album!, Daron used Drop C (from sixth string to first, C, G, C, F, A, D) tuning on his guitars. On the band's double album "Mezmerize/Hypnotize", Daron changed to Drop Db (from sixth string to first, Db, Ab, Db, Gb, Bb, Eb) tuning. (except for the tracks "Dreaming" and "Question!", which are played by Daron in Drop C, while the acoustic guitar in "Question!" was played in Standard Tuning as well.) He gave the reason for the change in tuning as to give the new songs "more kick".

[edit] Guitars

  • Various Ibanez Iceman IC300 guitars, with custom graphics done by his father, Vartan Malakian, as well as using Gibson Burstbuckers and Duncan SH-6 Distortion pickups on all of the guitars.
  • Various Gibson SG guitars
  • Gibson SG\Les Paul 61' Reissue
  • Les Paul Standard
  • Jackson Randy Rhoads Flying V
  • Hardtail Fender Stratocaster
  • For a list of all the guitars he used and when their appearance was click here

[edit] Effects pedals

[edit] Amplifiers

  • Marshall Bluesbreaker
  • Marshall Super Lead

[edit] Other

  • Jim Dunlop Custom-made .88mm Triangle plectrums
  • Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom guitar strings.

[edit] External links

System of a Down
Serj Tankian | Daron Malakian | Shavo Odadjian | John Dolmayan
Andy Khachaturian
Discography
Albums/EPs: Sugar EP | System of a Down | Toxicity | Steal This Album! | Mezmerize | Hypnotize | Lonely Day EP
Demos: Untitled 1995 Demo Tape | Demo Tape 1 | Demo Tape 2 | Demo Tape 3 | Demo Tape 4
Singles: "Sugar" | "Spiders" | "War?" | "Prison Song" | "Johnny" | "Chop Suey!" | "Toxicity" | "Aerials" | "Innervision" | "Boom!" | "I-E-A-I-A-I-O" | "B.Y.O.B." | "Cigaro" | "Question!" | "Radio/Video" | "Hypnotize" | "Lonely Day" | "Kill Rock 'N Roll"
Related articles
Axis of Justice | Cool Gardens | Vartan Malakian | Screamers | Category:System of a Down songs

Bands: Serart   Labels: Serjical Strike Records | EatUrMusic
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