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System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is an Armenian-American rock band from Southern California, formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar), Daron Malakian (vocals, guitar), Shavo Odadjian (bass, background vocals) and John Dolmayan (drums). All four members are of Armenian descent, and are widely known for their outspoken views expressed in many of their songs confronting the Armenian Genocide of 1915 as well as the ongoing War on Terrorism.

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System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is an Armenian-American rock band from Southern California, formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar), Daron Malakian (vocals, guitar), Shavo Odadjian (bass, background vocals) and John Dolmayan (drums). All four members are of Armenian descent, and are widely known for their outspoken views expressed in many of their songs confronting the Armenian Genocide of 1915 as well as the ongoing War on Terrorism.

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The band has achieved commercial success with the release of five studio albums; three of their studio albums debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, and won the award in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song "B.Y.O.B.". On August 13, 2006, the group went on indefinite hiatus, but announced a reunion on November 29, 2010 with several shows planned at European music festivals for the summer of 2011.

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Saturday, December 18, 2010

Serj Tankian

Serj Tankian (Armenian: Սերժ Թանգեան [ˈsɛɾʒ tʰɑnˈkʰjɑn]; born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American singer–songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, poet, and a political activist. He is best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional live rhythm guitarist of the Grammy Award-winning rock band, System of a Down.
During his musical career, Tankian has released five albums with System of a Down, one with Arto Tunçboyacıyan (Serart), as well as two solo albums Elect the Dead and Imperfect Harmonies and a live orchestral version of the former incorporating the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra named Elect the Dead Symphony. In 2002, Tankian and Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello co-founded a non-profit political activist organization, Axis of Justice. Tankian also founded the music label Serjical Strike Records.
Serj Tankian is named as the 26th greatest metal vocalist of all time by Hit Parader magazine.

Biography

Early life

Tankian was born in Beirut, Lebanon on August 21, 1967His father is Khatchadour Tankian. When he was eight years old his family immigrated to Los Angeles, California.In his youth, he attended a school for Armenian-Americans, The Rose & Alex Pilibos School, which was also attended by Tankian's future System of a Down bandmates Daron Malakian and Shavo Odadjian.Doing well academically Tankian attended California State University. This is where Tankian first began to play instruments and write songs.

Soil and System of a Down (1994-2006)

The early beginnings of System of a Down lie in a band named Soil (not to be confused with the Chicago-based band Soil) with Tankian on vocals & keyboards, Daron Malakian on vocals & lead guitar, Dave Hakopyan on bass and Domingo Loranio on drums. The band hired Shavo Odadjian as their then-manager but for him to later join as rhythm guitarist. Loriano and Hakopyan later left the band feeling that it wasn't going anywhere, leading to Soil splitting up.
After Soil split up, Tankian, Odadjian and Malakian formed a new band they called System of a Down, after a poem Malakian wrote called "Victims of a Down." Their original drummer was Ontronik Khachaturian, with whom they had spent time playing with in Soil, though he was later replaced by John Dolmayan after breaking his hand shortly before a gig the band had been booked to play, giving Dolmayan the last-minute call up. The band quickly began touring the Southern California rock clubs, and began to attract a strong following. As a side note, Serj is the only member of System of a Down that has never been seen shirtless in any major performances.

Solo works (2001-present)

Tankian has been a guest vocalist for songs such as "Mushroom Cult" by Dog Fashion Disco, "Mein" by Deftones and "Feel Good" by Hed PE. He produced Enter the Chicken by Buckethead, and provided vocals to the songs "We Are One", "Coma", and "Waiting Hare" that are included on the album. With Serjical Strike Records, he endeavors to offer those musicians often ignored by the mainstream a possibility to release their music and be heard. The first release of Tankian's new label was Serart, an album by Tankian himself, and Arto Tunçboyacıyan, a Turkish-Armenian friend of his.
In 2007, Serj composed and wrote "The Essence of Tequila" and "Chicakong" for the video game soundtrack of John Woo Presents Stranglehold. He also helped with "Stranglehold Rough 2" and "Pianoimprovstrangle 2".
More recently, he sang with Les Rita Mitsouko on the song "Terminal Beauty". Also, he sang with the band Fair to Midland during a live improvisational version of their song "Walls of Jericho", from the album Fables from a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True, which was a massive hit with fans. He often collaborates with his close friend, director Diran Noubar on various projects, including the voice-over of Noubar's Armenia, a Country Under Blockade. Noubar played some guitar on Tankian's Elect the Dead album on the track "Saving Us" and directed the music video for "Baby".
Serj Tankian performing in 2005
Tankian is also politically involved. Together with Tom Morello, he founded the organization Axis of Justice. Tankian is a New Zealand resident and has a secondary vacation dwelling there.[8] There has been a misconception that he intends to stay in New Zealand until the Iraq War is over, but as stated in an interview, Tankian has no intention of doing so. He often speaks publicly against violence and injustice in the world. Tankian released a new song "Fears" in November 2008 exclusively in support of Amnesty International's Global Write-A-Thon.[9]
Tankian told The Pulse of Radio that the highlights of his last eight months on the road may soon be documented in a DVD featuring videos, live performances and behind-the-scenes footage.[citation needed]
On March 16, 2009, Serj performed with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in New Zealand, an orchestral version of the album Elect the Dead. The live performance was captured in a CD/DVD titled Elect the Dead Symphony which was released on March 9, 2010.
Tankian is currently co-writing a musical with the American playwright Steven Sater. It is based on the Ancient Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound. He stated that eight songs have been completed and that there will be a record.[10]
In 2009, Tankian collaborated with the band Viza (previously known as Visa) for their track "Viktor".[11] Viza is signed to Tankian's Serjical Strike label.
On February 15, 2010, Serj Tankian released a new single, "The Charade." The song is available as a digital download on iTunes.
Tankian's second solo album was originally due in 2009. It is said to be more of a jazz and orchestral based sound. Said Tankian of the second album, "I'm structuring the next record kind of like a jazz orchestral. I've got a full orchestra interested, so I want this giant electric guitar in the air to be played by a full orchestra. I want the orchestra to be the electric guitar. I want to make an orchestra do what it's never done before, like a GG Allin type orchestra. Think of that."[12] The album had the working title Music Without Borders, however, the final album title is Imperfect Harmonies. On June 23, 2010, a promo single from his upcoming album Imperfect Harmonies was released called "Borders Are." The first radio single from Imperfect Harmonies, Left Of Center, was released on July 13, 2010. A third single, "Disowned Inc." was released on August 9, 2010. Imperfect Harmonies was released on September 21, 2010. Preceding the album's release, two contests were announced (one consisting of brainteasers related to the album/song titles, the other an art contest) in which fans could win prizes such as Tankian's autograph and merchandise. On August 22, 2010, a music video for Left Of Center was released on Tankian's MySpace account.
The premiere date for Tankian and Sater's Prometheus Bound at the American Repertory Theater is February 25, 2011. The singer has said that collaborating on the show has been a great learning experience for him. “I’ve been using a lot of my archives, a lot of different types of music that I had already put together for underscoring and what not,” he said. “It’s quite diverse, from noise to jazz to electronic stuff to hip-hop songs to rock songs to cool, piano dark underscores, and that’s a whole different bag of tricks there because it’s always evolving. Unlike a film score that’s very linear and you get a scene to score for, this is something where you do another workshop and one song is gone, that underscore changes to 20 seconds and they need something else on the spot. Everything’s always changing until the show comes, so it’s quite interesting.” [13]

[edit] System of a Down Reunion (2011)

On November 29, 2010, following several weeks of internet rumors, System of a Down officially announced that they would be reuniting for a string of large European festival dates in June 2011.[14] Among the announced tour dates included UK's Download Festival, Switzerland's Greenfield Festival, Germany's Rock am Ring/Rock im Park, Sweden's Metaltown, Austria's Nova Rock Festival and Finland's Provinssirock. In their reunion statement posted on their website, the band was unclear as to the extent of their reformation. It read, "We have no master plan of sorts -- we are playing these shows simply because we want to play together again as a band and for you, our amazing fans."[15] It is currently unknown whether or not other dates will be announced.

[edit] Animal rights

In recent years Tankian has taken a stance supporting animal rights. He also has become a vegetarian who has strong feelings against the establishment of industrial slaughterhouses. In an interview with PETA, he also claimed his change due to "touring and its variety of edible crap", and also he felt it was "instinctive somewhat". Furthermore, he also feels the need for respect towards 'mother earth'.[16]
In July 2009, Serj signed a PETA petition against the slaughtering methods of chickens in KFC slaughterhouses.[17]

[edit] The F.C.C.

The F.C.C. (Flying Cunts of Chaos) was Serj's backing band when he played live up until 2009.[18]
Final line-up
  • Mario Pagliarulo  — bass, vocals
  • Erwin Khachikian  — keyboards, piano, synthesizers, vocals
  • Troy Zeigler  — drums, vocals
  • Dan Monti  — guitar, vocals
  • Jeff Mallow  — guitar, vocals (2008–present)
Past members

[edit] Discography

Solo
With System of a Down
With Serart
With Buckethead
With Tony Iommi
With Wyclef Jean

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Awards and nominations

System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, of which has won one in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song B.Y.O.B.. The band has also been nominated for several Kerrang! and MTV awards.
Grammy Awards
Year Nominated work Award Result
2002 "Chop Suey!" Best Metal Performance Nominated
2003 "Aerials" Best Hard Rock Performance Nominated
2006 "B.Y.O.B." Best Hard Rock Performance Won
2007 "Lonely Day" Best Hard Rock Performance Nominated
General
  • In 2005, System of a Down won for Best Alternative Act in the Europe Music Awards
  • 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

Daron Malakian

Daron Vartan Malakian (born July 18, 1975) is an Armenian-American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist, songwriter, and occasional vocalist of the Grammy Award-winning metal band System of a Down and as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, and songwriter of the alternative rock band 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 United States.He placed 30th in Guitar World's List of The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time.

Biography

Daron Vartan Malakian was born on July 18, 1975, in Hollywood, California, the only child to Vartan and Zepur Malakian, immigrants originally from Iraq and Iran respectively. Vartan Malakian is a painter, dancer, and choreographer and Zepur Malakian is a sculptor who used to instruct college-level sculpture At a very early age, Malakian got into heavy metal music; his distant cousin played him a KISS record when he was four years old. Malakian 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.” Daron first picked up a guitar at age 11, saying in an interview, "For the first year and a half, I learned how to play by ear, and did alright. After a few years I gained a reputation as being a guitar player in high school. And by 16 or 17 I actually realized it was a good songwriting instrument, and, over anything, that's what I feel like. I don't pretend to be Mr. Guitar Virtuoso."During his teens Malakian listened to heavy metal bands such as Slayer, Venom, Metallica, Pantera, Sepultura and Cannibal Corpse. Malakian then began listening to The Beatles and cites John Lennon as one of his biggest influences on him as a songwriter. He also cites other British Invasion bands such as The Kinks and The Who as major influences as well folk-rock such as trio Peter, Paul, and Mary and punk pioneer Iggy Pop  Daron went to Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School in the Los Feliz side of Hollywood, which his future bandmates Shavo Odadjian and Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian (System of a Down's original drummer) also attended. System of a Down vocalist Serj Tankian attended the school as well, but he was many years above Malakian and the others. Malakian attended Glendale High School as a teenager.
Malakian met Serj Tankian in 1993, while they both shared the same rehearsal studio in different bands. Tankian was playing keyboard for a band, and Daron was playing guitar and singing for another band. They formed a jam band called Soil with bassist Dave Hakopyan and drummer Domingo Laraino. Shavo Odadjian then became their manager, and then rhythm guitarist. Soil broke up and Malakian, Tankian, and Odadjian (who switched to bass) formed a new band using the name “System of a Down”, based on a poem that Daron wrote. The poem’s title was “Victims of a Down” but Odadjian thought "system" was a stronger word than "victims." They then recruited drummer Andy Khachaturian, who was replaced by John Dolmayan in 1997.
Malakian co-produced System of a Down’s albums with Rick Rubin, as well as albums by The Ambulance and Bad Acid Trip (a band on fellow member Serj Tankian’s Serjical Strike Records). In 2003, Malakian started his own label, EatUrMusic, on which Amen was the first signed band The label is now inactive and its current status is unknown.

Scars on Broadway

In 2003, Daron Malakian (lead guitar and vocals), Greg Kelso (rhythm guitar), Casey Chaos (vocals), and Zach Hill (drums) recorded a demo tape entitled "Ghetto Blaster Rehearsals" credited to the name Scars on Broadway. However, in 2007, an official letter appeared on the band's website that stated that these tracks are not in any way affiliated with Malakian's later project Scars on Broadway. Incidentally, these demo sessions produced "BYOB," which would be a major hit for System of a Down in 2005.
Following System's hiatus, Malakian announced his latest project — Scars on Broadway — a band which would include System of a Down bassist, Shavo Odadjian, and himself. Ultimately, Odadjian was not involved with the band, and instead System of a Down drummer, John Dolmayan became a member. After Malakian and Dolmayan experimented with different musicians (for a period of nine months in 2007 - 2008) the band took form and forged its sound in intense rehearsals and recording sessions (under Malakian’s direction at his home studio and Sunset Sound) with musicians Danny Shamoun on keyboards, Dominic Cifarelli on bass, and Franky Perez on guitar and backing vocals for live performances (in the studio Malakian played nearly all the instruments with the exception of drums which were played by Dolmayan and some overdubs provided by the other members). The group released an eponymous album in 2008, which featured the hit single "They Say" (written by Malakian). However, shortly before the tour supporting the album, Malakian cancelled all scheduled concert and TV appearances, blaming a lack of enthusiasm and that his "heart wasn't into touring." This sudden cancellation prompted speculation and rumors that the band had broken up. It was the last that would be heard of Malakian for more than a year.
In August 2009, Scars on Broadway, minus Malakian, traveled to Iraq for a USO tour across the U.S. army bases. Their setlist consisted of covers as well as a few Scars songs. Guitarist/vocalist Franky Perez stated on his Twitter that "the Scars tunes sound amazing but they're not the same without D..." He also stated before they left that Malakian had given them his blessing. In 2009 Franky Perez mentioned on his twitter that he and the D-Man (Malakian) were going into studio to jam, this was the first news people have heard about Malakian's whereabouts for about a year.
On May 2, 2010 Malakian reunited with Scars on Broadway at the Troubadour in North Hollywood. It was the first time he had performed with the band since October 2008. The group played songs from their album as well as new songs. Odadjian performed with the band for two songs, playing guitar.

Recent activity

Malakian stayed out of the public eye following his cancellation of the tour in support of Scars on Broadway's debut album in October 2008. In 2009 Malakian made a surprise appearance (his first in a year) at Shavo Odadjian's Halloween Party and played "Suite-Pee," "They Say," and an Unknown song with Odadjian, Dolmayan and Scars on Broadway's Franky Perez on guitar. It was the first time that the band members (minus Tankian, who was working on his second solo album) performed together in more than three years.
On November 20, 2009, Malakian played at the Chi Cheng Benefit concert along with Deftones and also performed with Odadjian and Dolmayan. Malakian, Odadjian, and Dolmayan played "Aerials" and "Toxicity."
He appeared on Cypress Hill's 2010 album Rise Up, on one song, "Trouble Seeker", which he also produced.
On July 29, 2010, Scars on Broadway released their first new studio recording in exactly two years, a Malakian-penned song called "Fucking."
On August 20, 2010, Malakian played in Hollywood with Scars on Broadway.
On November 29, 2010, it was announced that System of a Down would reunite for a European tour to take place in June 2011.

Personal life

Malakian now lives in Glendale, California. He has relatives in Iraq and Iran, where his parents were born, and has visited both countries. He dislikes his band being labeled a political band or an Armenian band.

Equipment

He has used multiple guitars and amplifiers in the studio and live.

Guitars

All guitars either have Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion pickups and/or Gibson pickups.
  • Multiple Ibanez Icemans (all in Drop C tuning) - Used during the Early/Mid years of System of a down, each one with different custom finishes and artwork done by his father, Vartan Malakian. His father also did custom graphics on the 1978 Iceman, as well as making the horned bridge replacing the stopbar. The known models Daron Malakian used are two IC-200s, five IC-300s, and an ICX-120. He has also recently used an Iceman for the Scars on Broadway reunion concert at the Troubadour on May 2, 2010.
  • Multiple Gibson SGs - Used during the Mesmerize/Hypnotize Era of System of a Down (2005–2006), along with the 3rd incarnation of Scars on Broadway (2007–2009). Malakian alternated between playing SGs with cherry finish (Drop C tuning) and SGs with white finish (Drop C# tuning). In Scars on Broadway he used a black Gibson SG in Drop C# tuning, which is seen in the video for "They Say".
  • Fender Stratocaster (Drop C tuning) - Used in the earlier years of System of a Down. It was originally black with a white pickguard and 3 single coil pickups. The white pickguard was later replaced with a red pearloid pickguard, 2 white humbucking pickups were installed and the middle singlecoil was removed. Serj Tankian used it to play the rhythm guitar in "Aerials" and "Mr. Jack" during live performances.
  • Gibson ES-335 - Only used once. Was used for the Chi Cheng Benefit concert on November 20th, 2009.
  • Jackson RR5 Rhoads - Used in the studio while recording Toxicity and Mezmerize/Hypnotize. It may have also been used live as a backup, since there have been a few photos with him using it on stage. [9]
  • Gibson 50th Anniversary Flying V Used on stage for his show with Scars on Broadway at the Avalon.

Amplifiers and effects

  • Marshall Amplifiers - He has multiple models. Some known are the ModeFour heads, JTM45 Bluesbreakers, JMP Heads, JTM heads, and 1987XL Plexi heads. He used the ModeFour heads live before Mesmerize and still uses them as a backup, 1987XL heads for Scars on Broadway, the JMP and JTM heads in the studio, and the JTM45 Bluesbreakers live for the Mesmerize/Hypnotize tour and in the studio.
  • Mesa Boogie Dual and Triple Rectifiers - Used in the live and in the studio during System of a down, Toxicity and And Steal this Album albums, but wasn't used in the studio for System of a Down.
  • His only known effects pedals are a Fulltone Clyde Wah Pedal, a Line 6 DL-4 Delay Modeler/Looper pedal and a Boss MT-2 Distortion Pedal.

Discography

System of a Down

Scars on Broadway

Other appearances

Year Artist Song Release and/or explanation
Live performances
2000 Metallica feat. Jonathan Davis and Daron Malakian "One"
Metallica feat. Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian "Mastertarium"
2003 "Creeping Death" Reading Festival 2003
The Ambulance feat. Daron Malakian "Stop"
2010 Cypress Hill feat. Daron Malakian "Trouble Seeker"

Production credits

Malakian has also produced a number of albums.
Year Album Artist Credit(s)
1998 System of a Down System of a Down Producer, credited as System of a Down
2001 Toxicity Producer
2002 Steal This Album!
2004 Death Before Musick Amen Executive producer and A&R
Lynch the Weirdo Bad Acid Trip Producer
2005 Mezmerize System of a Down
Hypnotize
2008 Scars on Broadway Scars on Broadway





History

Soil (1992–1994)

Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, and Shavo Odadjian all attended Rose and Alex Pilibos Armenian School while children, although due to their eight year age difference they did not meet until 1992 while working on separate projects at the same recording studio. They formed a band named Soil with Tankian on vocals and keyboards, Malakian on vocals and guitar, Dave Hakopyan (who later played in The Apex Theory/Mt. Helium) on bass and Domingo "Dingo" Laranio on drums. The band hired Shavo Odadjian (another Rose and Alex Pilibos alumnus) as manager, although he eventually joined Soil as rhythm guitarist. After three years, only one live show, and one jam session recording, Hakopyan and Laranio quit the band, feeling that it wasn't going anywhere.

Demo tapes and signing (1994–1997)

After Soil split up, Tankian, Odadjian, and Malakian formed a new band, System of a Down. The group took its name from a poem that Malakian had written titled “Victims of the Down. The word "victims" was changed to "system" because Odadjian believed that the alteration would appeal to a much wider audience and also because the group wanted to be shelved closer to their musical heroes, Slayer. Odadjian switched from guitar to bass and passed on his managerial duties to Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group and its founder David “Beno” Benveniste.[citation needed] The band recruited drummer Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian, an old school friend of Malakian's and Odadjian's who had played with Malakian in a band called Snowblind during their teens.
System of a Down quickly made what is known as Untitled 1995 Demo Tape, which was not commercially released but appeared on file sharing networks around the time of the band's success with Toxicity about six years later. Demo Tape 2 was released in 1996. At the beginning of 1997, System of a Down recorded their final publicly released demo tape, Demo Tape 3. In mid 1997, drummer Khachaturian left the band due to a hand injury (he subsequently co-founded The Apex Theory, which included former Soil bassist Dave Hakopyan). Khachaturian was replaced by John Dolmayan.
The band's first official release of a professionally recorded song was on a collection called Hye Enk ("we're Armenian" in English), an Armenian Genocide recognition compilation, in 1997. Soon after playing at notable Hollywood clubs such as the Whisky-A-Go-Go and Viper Room the band caught famed producer Rick Rubin's attention who asked them to keep in touch with him. Showing great interest, the group recorded Demo Tape 4 near the end of 1997. Unlike the previous demo tapes, however, Demo Tape 4 was made only to be sent to record companies (although it has since been leaked onto the internet). Rubin signed the group onto his American/Columbia Records, and System of a Down began to record in Rubin's studio, laying down tracks that would eventually be released on their debut album.
Also in 1997, the group won the Best Signed Band Award from the Rock City Awards.

System of a Down (1998–2000)

In June 1998, System of a Down released their debut album, System of a Down. They enjoyed moderate success as their first singles "Sugar" and "Spiders" became radio favorites and the music videos for both songs were frequently aired on MTV. 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 November 1998, System of a Down appeared on South Park's Chef Aid album, providing the music for the song "Will They Die 4 You?" Near the end of the song Tankian can be heard saying, "Why must we kill our own kind?" a line that would later be used in the song "Boom!" Although System of a Down is credited on the album, South Park character Chef doesn't introduce them as he does for all other artist featured on the record.
System of a Down's former drummer, Ontronik Khachaturian, briefly reunited with the band at a show at The Troubadour in 1999, filling in on vocals for an ill Tankian. In 2000, the band contributed their cover of the Black Sabbath song "Snowblind" to the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black 2.

Toxicity and Steal This Album! (2001–2003)

On September 3, 2001, System of a Down had planned on launching their second album at a free concert in Hollywood as a "thank you" to fans. The concert, which was to be held in a parking lot, was set up to accommodate 3,500 people, however, an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 fans showed up. Due to the large excess number of fans the performance was cancelled by police officers just prior to the group taking stage. No announcement was made that the concert had been cancelled. Fans waited for more than an hour for the group to appear, but when a banner hanging at the back of the stage that read "System of a Down" was removed by security, the audience rushed the stage, destroying all the band's touring gear (approximately $30,000 worth of equipment) and began to riot, throwing rocks at police, breaking windows, and knocking over portable toilets. The riot lasted six hours, during which six arrests were made. The band's manager, David "Beno" Benveniste, later said that the riot could have been avoided if the group had been permitted to perform or had they been allowed to make a statement at the concert regarding the cancellation. System of a Down's scheduled in-store performance the next day was cancelled to prevent a similar riot.
The group’s big break arrived when their second album Toxicity debuted at #1 on the American and Canadian charts, despite the events of September 11. The album eventually achieved multi-platinum certification[citation needed] and has since sold over 12 million copies worldwide.[citation needed] It was still on top in America during the week of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the political environment caused by the attacks added to the controversy surrounding the album's hit single “Chop Suey!” The song was taken off the radio as it contained politically sensitive lyrics at the time such as “(I don’t think you) trust in my self-righteous suicide.” Regardless, the video gained constant play on MTV as did the album's second single, “Toxicity.” Even with the controversy surrounding “Chop Suey!” (which earned a Grammy nomination) System of a Down still received constant airplay in the United States throughout late 2001 and 2002 with “Toxicity ” and “Aerials.” In May 2006, VH1 listed Toxicity in the #14 slot in the 40 Greatest Metal Songs.
In 2001, the band went on tour with Slipknot throughout the United States and Mexico. Following a performance in Grand Rapids, Michigan Odadjian was harassed, ethnically intimidated, and was physically assaulted by security guards backstage, who then dragged him out of the venue. Odadjian received medical attention from police and later filed a suit against the security company. Despite the incident, the tour was a success and System of a Down and Slipknot went on the Pledge of Allegiance Tour with Rammstein in 2001.
In late 2001, unreleased tracks from the Toxicity sessions made their way onto the internet. This collection of tracks was dubbed Toxicity II by fans. The group released a statement that the tracks were unfinished material and subsequently released the final versions of the songs as their third album, Steal This Album!, which was released in November 2002. Steal This Album! resembled a burnable CD that was marked with a felt-tip marker. 50,000 special copies of the album with different CD designs were also released, each designed by a different member of the band. The name of the album is a reference to Abbie Hoffman’s counter-culture book, Steal This Book as well as a message to those who leaked the songs onto the internet. The song “Innervision” was released as a promo single and received constant airplay on alternative radio. A video for “Boom!” was filmed with director Michael Moore as a protest against the War in Iraq.

Mezmerize and Hypnotize (2004–2005)

Serj Tankian in 2006
Between 2004 to 2005, the group recorded the follow up to Steal This Album!, a double album, which they released as separate installments six months apart from each other, notably including album cover artwork by Malakian's father, Vartan Malakian, which was designed to connect the two separate album covers. 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.[7] 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.
Whereas on System of a Down's previous albums most of the lyrics were written and sung by Tankian and the music was co-written by Tankian and Malakian (and sometimes Odadjian) much of the music and lyrics on Mezmerize/Hypnotize were written by Malakian who also took on a much more dominant role as vocalist on both albums, often leaving Tankian providing keyboards and backing vocals.
Concert footage and interviews with the band concerning the importance of helping create awareness and recognition of the Armenian Genocide were featured in the 2006 film Screamers, directed by Carla Garapedian. An interview with Tankian's grandfather, a survivor of the Genocide, was also included in the film as well as Tankian's and Dolmayan's meeting with (then) Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert during which the two musicians campaigned for the United States government's official recognition of the Genocide. Footage of Tankian and Dolmayan marching with protesters outside of the Turkish embassy in Washington D.C. was also used in Screamers.
System of a Down was honored at a University of Southern California 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.

[edit] Hiatus (2006–2010)

In May 2006, the band announced they were going on hiatus. Malakian confirmed the break would 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 some rest."
May 2006 also saw the UK publication of a biography of the band entitled System Of A Down: Right Here In Hollywood by writer Ben Myers. It was published in the US in 2007 through The Disinformation Company.
Malakian announced he was forming a band called Scars on Broadway, which was joined by Dolmayan. 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."
Tankian released his debut solo album Elect the Dead in the autumn of 2007 to great critical and commercial acclaim. Malakian and Dolmayan released Scars On Broadway's debut self-titled album on July 29, 2008. Dolmayan, alongside working with Scars on Broadway, formed his own band, Indicator, as well as opened Torpedo Comics, an online comic book store. Odadjian pursued his project with RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, a hip-hop group named AcHoZeN, worked on his urSESSION website/record label, and performed as a member of funk legend George Clinton's backing band.
Shavo Odadjian told Launch Radio Networks in 2007 that System of a Down was "alive and well," but just weren't working together.
In an April 2008 interview with Kerrang! magazine, Malakian and Dolmayan gave their takes on the band's future. When told that many people were wondering what the future of the band was, Malakian responded by stating that "We'll all know when the time is right." Dolmayan added, "It'll just happen."
In an interview with Tankian about Big Day Out 2009 (a show which involved playing his Elect the Dead album live with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and a few songs from his then-upcoming second studio album) Tankian stated, "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, Odadjian threw a Halloween party at the Roxy during which he, Malakian, and Dolmayan performed "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.[12] This performance was followed by another partial reunion of the band on November 20, 2009, at the Avalon in Hollywood during which Malakian, Dolmayan, and Odadjian played at a show benefiting bassist Chi Cheng and played hits "Aerials" and "Toxicity." They were joined by Deftones vocalist Chino Moreno for these songs.
On January 11, 2010, Odadjian posted on his official Twitter account, "Are you guys ready for System?" This statement was picked up by the media and fans as a potential reunion announcement. However, two days after that, in an interview with Billboard, Tankian stated that System of a Down was still on an indefinite hiatus while adding "We always have offers to play, from festivals and stuff, but we have not decided to do anything as of yet".[13]
In July 2010, Dolmayan was interviewed and said the band would most likely tour in 2011, although at the time there were no official or concrete plans. This caused further speculation and rumors of a reunion. [14]
On August 12, 2010, while in Yerevan‎, Armenia for a solo performance, Tankian said that a System of a Down concert in Yerevan may be a good idea. However, in a later interview, he said the band had no plans to reunite.
On August 31, 2010, in an interview with Tankian by Gibson, Tankian said that “If we decide to [reunite], the first people to find out will be our fans, on the website. We’ve all agreed that as a band.” [15] but later Tankian said they had not talked about reuniting.

 Reunion (2011)

On November 29, 2010, following several weeks of internet rumors, System of a Down officially announced that they would be reuniting for a string of large European festival dates in June 2011. Among the announced tour dates included UK's Download Festival, Switzerland's Greenfield Festival, Germany's Rock am Ring/Rock im Park, Sweden's Metaltown, Austria's Nova Rock Festival and Finland's Provinssirock. In their reunion statement posted on their website, the band was unclear as to the extent of their reformation. It read, "We have no master plan of sorts -- we are playing these shows simply because we want to play together again as a band and for you, our amazing fans."It is currently unknown whether or not other dates will be announced.

Style and influences

The stylistic variety and level of experimentation in System of a Down's music has made it difficult to describe, but 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, rock, art rock,experimental rock, hard rock, heavy metal nu metal, progressive metal and progressive rock.[30][31] 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 guitars, 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, Ozzy Osbourne,Dead Kennedys,Frank Zappa, Slayer, The Beatles, and Van Halen.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 don't 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."

Awards and nominations

System of a Down has been nominated for four Grammy Awards, of which has won one in 2006 for Best Hard Rock Performance for the song B.Y.O.B.. The band has also been nominated for several Kerrang! and MTV awards.
Grammy Awards
Year Nominated work Award Result
2002  "            Chop Suey!"           Best Metal Performance Nominated
2003 "                Aerials"          Best Hard Rock Performance Nominated
2006               "B.Y.O.B."          Best Hard Rock Performance Won
2007             "Lonely Day"         Best Hard Rock Performance Nominated
General
  • In 2005, System of a Down won for Best Alternative Act in the Europe Music Awards
  • 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