Daron Malakian

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Daron Malakian is the guitarist and vocalist for the heavy metal band System of a Down. His awesome and complex guitar riffs, along with his singing, have greatly helped the band become successful in the mainstream. He is also involved in many other projects.

Bio

Early Life

Daron was born on July 18, 1975 in Hollywood, California, as Vartan and Zepur Malakians son and only child. At a very early age, Daron got into heavy metal musi]; 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. 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. He 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.

Personal life

Malakian now lives in Glendale, California in a home by himself; he also has families in Iran since his mother is an Armenian-Iranian and in Iraq. He enjoys collecting candles, Persian rugs, Hookas, instruments, and skulls. Daron has been voted fourth best guitarist of the year by Metal Edge Magazine. He is also the owner of a record company, EatUrMusic Records, who currently has signed Amen. He recently joined the band Scars on Brodway as the guitarist, along with Casey Chaos, who is Amen's singer; Zach Hill; and Team Sleep.

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 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. They then recruited Andy Khachaturian for the drums, but because of a hand injury, he was replaced by John Dolmayan.

Malakian, along with Rick Rubin, co-produced albums by [[System of a Down, The Ambulance, and Bad Acid Trip.

External Links

• System of a Down Official Site
• Daron Malakian Rocks
• SOADFans
• SOADomized
• SOAD's performance of B.Y.O.B. on SNL
• SYSTEM-THEBEST
• Dutch System of a down website!