Daron Vartan Malakian (born July 18, 1975) is the lead guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist in System of a Down. The band has been on a hiatus since 2006. He is currently 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 U.S. as an only child to an Iraqi-Armenian father Vartan Malakian and 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 wanted to play the drums , but his parents got him a guitar instead because they said "You can't turn the drums off." By the time Daron 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 1992, 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. In 1994, after one supposed jam session recording and one live show at a bar called Whiskey a Go Go, Dave and Domingo left, thinking the band wasn't going anywhere. Daron became a very famous member because of his famous double beard, crazy acts, weird faces, and instruments used.
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; he also has relatives in Iran and Iraq since his parents were born in those countries but immigrated to America. He has visited both countries. He enjoys collecting candles, Persian rugs, Hookahs, instruments, and skulls.
Equipment
Guitars
* Gibson SG - Various models used during later work with System of a Down and with Scars on Broadway.
* Gibson Les Paul Standard
* Fender Stratocaster
* Jackson Randy Rhoads RR1T
* Fender Jazzmaster Meet with the Blue Oyster Cult to play "Don't fear the reaper" as well as a show with Cyanide Accident.
* Special Edition Alex Fernandes Standard
* Ibanez Iceman IC200
* Ibanez Iceman IC300
* Ibanez DMM1
Effects
* BOSS Metal Zone MT-2
* Fulltone Clyde Wah-Wah
* Line 6 DL-4
Amplification
Malakian oftened experimentes with different combinations of heads combined with either a Marshall or a Mesa Boogie cabinet.
* Marshall MF 350 "Modefour"
* Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier
* Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier
* Mesa Boogie Cabinet
* Marshall 1987X "Plexi"
* Marshall Cabinet
* Matchless Amplifier
* Orange Amplifier
* VOX Amplifier
* Ibanez Amplification
* Soldano Amplifiers
* Carvin Amplifier
Other
* Ernie Ball "Skinny Top Heavy Bottom"
* Dunlop Delrin 2.0mm Triangular Picks
* Various Seymour Duncan Pickups
Discography
System of a Down
For a more comprehensive list, see System of a Down discography
* System of a Down (1998)
* Toxicity (2001)
* Steal This Album! (2002)
* Mezmerize (2005)
* Hypnotize (2005)
Scars on Broadway
For a more comprehensive list, see Scars on Broadway discography
* Scars on Broadway (2008)
Collaborations
Live performances
* 2000: Metallica featuring Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian - "Mastertarium"
* 2000: Metallica featuring Jonathan Davis and Daron Malakian - "One"
* 2003: Metallica Featuring Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian - "Creeping Death" - Reading Festival 2003
* 2003: The Ambulance featuring Daron Malakian - "Stop"
Awards
* In 2002, System of a Down were nominated for a Grammy Award in Best Metal Performance for their song Chop Suey!
* In 2003, they were nominated for a Grammy Award in Best Hard Rock Performance
* In 2005, Daron Malakian won the award for Best Alternative Act with System of a Down 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, they won the "MTV Good Woodie Award" for their song "Question!"
* In 2006, they were #14 on the VH1 Top 40 Metal Songs with "Toxicity"
* In 2007, they were nominated for a Grammy Award in Best Hard Rock Performance for their song Lonely Day
Quotes by Malakian
“ I have no interest in murder, and I have no interest in people dying. But I'm interested in people's minds, and sometimes Manson puts thoughts together that I find really interesting. Have you ever seen his unedited videos? He starts making a lot of sense. I'm sure people are scared of that, but to me, it's scarier to watch George Bush try to make sense. ”
“ System of a Down are one of the most misunderstood bands around. I mean, Armenian rock? What the fuck is that? Political? I could name so many more of our songs that aren't about politics than ones that are. And for a long time, everyone thought Serj wrote all of our tunes. Until this album came out, people thought he wrote all the lyrics. So there are so many different misunderstandings of System of a Down that I don't even let it bother me anymore. I'm just kind of used to it. Our first bio said something like 'four guys based out of LA who are Armenian and political,' and, well, it wasn't really right at all. I mean, we are all Armenian, but we didn't plan that. ”
“ It's important not to take yourself too seriously, ... and I think sometimes people take us a lot more seriously than we take ourselves, especially when it comes to politics. Politics, for me, is a reflection of the world I live in. But love is just as important as politics to me. They both exist in the world, you know? And if you don't reflect the entire world around you, then you're leaving something out.
(from Wikipedia)
