 |
Daron Vartan Malakian (born 18 July 1975) was
the lead guitarist, songwriter and sang the
sub-vocals in System of a Down until their
hiatus in 2006 and is now the lead singer and
guitarist in Scars on Broadway. Like the rest
of the Hollywood-based band (System of a
Down), 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."
Early life
Daron was born on July 18, 1975 in Hollywood,
California, U.S. as an only child to an
Iraqi-Armenian father Vartan Malakian and an
Iranian-Armenian mother 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 Peter, Paul and
Mary as two 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, which can be
seen in the video of 'Toxicity' and the
booklet of the album with the same title.
System Of A Down
Daron Malakian 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 (Serj on
vocals/keyboards and Daron on guitar ; not to
be confused with SOiL) with Domingo Laranio
(drums) and Dave Hakopyan (bass). Around this
time, they also met Shavo Odadjian. Years
later, in 1994, after one supposed jam
session recording and one live show, Dave and
Domingo left, thinking the band wasn't going
anywhere.
The band later broke up and Tankian and
Malakian formed a new band "System of a
Down," based on a poem that 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's. 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. Daron then asked his friend
Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian (whom had played
in his first band with Daron at age 15) to
join the band as the drummer. Andy was later
replaced by their current drummer, John
Dolmayan, due to a hand injury.
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 band
called Scars on Broadway, with John Dolmayan.
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 System of a Down's album,
Mezmerize.
Daron has stated in an interview that the
band doesn't follow anybody: "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."
Personal life
Malakian now lives in Glendale, California in
a home by himself; he also has relatives in
Iran and Iraq since his parents were born in
those countries but migrated to America. He
has visited both countries. He enjoys
collecting candles, Persian rugs, Hookas,
instruments, and skulls.
Music=3005,Cute Machines
Photo=www.soadfans.com
Tags : daron malakian the best system of down scars on broadway tribute photo 3005 cute machines sob fabrock93 moments |
