{"id":111610,"date":"2025-09-01T20:54:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T20:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/111610\/"},"modified":"2025-09-01T20:54:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T20:54:12","slug":"nobody-wanted-to-sign-us-because-we-didnt-sound-like-korn-or-limp-bizkit-how-daron-malakian-went-from-nu-metal-misfit-to-international-metal-star-with-system-of-a-down-and-scars-on-broadw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/111610\/","title":{"rendered":"“Nobody wanted to sign us, because we didn\u2019t sound like Korn or Limp Bizkit.” How Daron Malakian went from nu metal misfit to international metal star with System Of A Down and Scars On Broadway"},"content":{"rendered":"

For someone who has written some of the wildest and weirdest music of the last 30 years, Daron Malakian is a man of remarkably simple pleasures. When Hammer asks the System Of A Down<\/a> and Scars On Broadway guitarist (and singer in the latter) what he does outside of music, there\u2019s a long pause.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot much! I watch some sports with my father-in-law, play a bit of golf,\u201d he says with a laugh, aware of the apparent mundanity of it. But then music has been Daron\u2019s major obsession ever since he began collecting Kiss<\/a> albums at the age of four.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Los Angeles to Armenian parents, he cut his teeth on the mid-90s club circuit with his first band, Soil, who would evolve into System Of A Down. A string of successful albums followed, including 1998\u2019s self-titled debut and 2001\u2019s multi-platinum Toxicity<\/a>, before the band went on hiatus in 2006.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

System have periodically resurfaced since then, though they haven\u2019t made an album since 2005\u2019s Mezmerize and Hypnotize one-two (he brushes off talk of new System music today). Instead, Scars On Broadway have become his main creative outlet, albeit a sporadic one.<\/p>\n

Launched as a solo project in 2008 during SOAD\u2019s initial break, they\u2019ve just released their third album, Addicted To The Violence<\/a>. Some of the songs date back years, but the record\u2019s themes remain relevant, from society\u2019s desensitisation to violence (Killing Spree) to frustration at divisive, dogmatic politics (Your Lives Burn). As he puts it: \u201cThe world keeps evolving and continues to be more and more ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"A\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been seven years since the last Scars On Broadway album. What inspired you to resurrect the band and release a new album?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing was just right. I don\u2019t sit down and think about writing an album; I write songs, and sometimes inspiration just hits you, and you feel like some of these songs that are floating around in your consciousness are ready to be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Were the songs all written with Scars On Broadway in mind?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo. Some of these songs are really old, some of them are new and collaborations with Orbel [Babayan, Scars On Broadway guitarist]. I can\u2019t tell you, \u2018I\u2019m gonna go home and write these great songs tonight!\u2019 When a song comes, it\u2019s something that impresses me. I\u2019m like, \u2018Hell yeah! Another one happened!\u2019 I just try and listen and be sensitive, and when the time is right, let people hear them. The time for Scars felt right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The themes of songs such as Your Lives Burn and Killing Spree seem very relevant right now. <\/p>\n

\u201cKilling Spree I wrote a long, long time ago. Now, you see someone on a subway being taunted, abused or hurt and you\u2019ll see people recording it instead of helping them\u2026 you\u2019ll see a kid walk into his school and shoot his classmates\u2026 you\u2019ll see riots in the streets \u2013 all this is happening. And a song like Killing Spree to me is not for or against any of it, it\u2019s just \u2018This is the world I live in.\u2019 Some people are afraid to talk about certain things like that, so I\u2019m just not editing myself. It\u2019s just the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

You grew up in an artistic household. What was that like?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, both my parents are artists. My dad paints abstract-style paintings and art was always around me. My approach to art is very inspired by my dad. My dad has never given an art exhibition; his stuff has never been in museums or galleries or anything. He paints for himself. He has decades\u2019 worth of paintings in his house that he doesn\u2019t even care to show anybody, but they\u2019re great. And he doesn\u2019t do it for anybody else. He does it for him. And whether I was in System Of A Down or Scars, if I had a fanbase or not, I\u2019d be doing what I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did your upbringing encourage you to go into an artistic direction?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, nobody pushed me into the musical direction, as far back as I could remember. Music has always been important to me. There\u2019s never any memory I have in my life that music wasn\u2019t a part of. I started collecting records at four, five, six years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

What were you like at school?<\/p>\n

\u201cI was kind of like the class loudmouth, kind of the clown. Me and my friends were like the dudes that got into fights. I was the one guy that liked metal \u2013 all my friends were into gangsta rap and shit. I dropped out of high school, but my friends now are all my friends from 30 years ago, and most of them are plumbers. Honestly, I don\u2019t really have like this artsy crowd that I hang out with or anything like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

System Of A Down came up through the mid-90s LA club scene. As four Armenian guys, how different did you feel to the other bands at the time?<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first nobody wanted to sign us, because we didn\u2019t sound like Korn<\/a> or Limp Bizkit<\/a>, and we were four Armenian guys! I mean, what the fuck is an Armenian to somebody that lives in Kentucky?! They don\u2019t even know what Armenians are! And we looked like we were just fucking aliens to people, the way our stage presence was and the way our look was at the time. Serj [Tankian, SOAD singer] is a very different, unique kind of frontman, I\u2019m the guitar player who sings and screams and does all the crazy stuff. People didn\u2019t get it at first, but we got it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What changed?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just went out and did what we did. We were young and hungry, we believed in what we were doing. You\u2019ve got to understand, we were an army before we were signed, we were fucking tearing down the Sunset Strip. Our shows were packed when we weren\u2019t signed. It started with our group of friends, but that shit grew and grew and grew, and we became the biggest band on the Sunset Strip.\u201d<\/p>\n

You were lumped in with the nu metal<\/a> scene, but that doesn\u2019t really feel accurate for what System Of A Down were doing. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe were lucky that there was a scene. We were able to play, and play in front of audiences that came to see those other bands. But I don\u2019t think anybody sounds like we did. I don\u2019t think we felt like we didn\u2019t belong and I don\u2019t feel like we did belong. But there\u2019s so many fucking genres and then there are subgenres of the subgenre, it just gets lost.<\/p>\n

System Of A Down and Scars, that\u2019s what I do. I don\u2019t look at what other bands are doing and say, \u2018Well, I\u2019ve got to do that to fit in with those guys.\u2019 But for some reason we fit into that whole [nu metal] thing. That\u2019s just the time that we existed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some great bands came from that scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll say one thing about the original nu metal<\/a> bands \u2013 Deftones, Korn, all the ones that were the first, and add us to that list \u2013 they were all doing something unique.<\/p>\n

We were all the kids that grew up listening to Metallica and Slayer, all that fucking thrash<\/a> stuff, but we weren\u2019t copying it. We were taking that influence and we were bringing in other things, other influences, and creating something new with that heavy sound.<\/p>\n

All those copy bands, I don\u2019t give a shit about any of them. The ones that came out and started their own thing and did their own thing, those bands deserve credit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daron Malakian and Scars On Broadway – Killing Spree (Official Video) – YouTube
\n\"Daron<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking of thrash bands, one of your first big tours was with Slayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur first tour in the US and our first tour in Europe were both opening for Slayer. Some people got it, some people didn\u2019t. We would get booed off the stage in some of those countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

You certainly had a polarising effect.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe approach I took to those Slayer shows was that if they didn\u2019t start chanting \u2018Slayer!\u2019 while we were playing, I would make them start chanting \u2018Slayer!\u2019 We just didn\u2019t let that faze us. I remember we were in Poland and people didn\u2019t get it at all.<\/p>\n

They booed us off the stage, they threw things at us, they threw coins, they threw a bagel at Serj! But we just kept doing what we do and moving forward. Like, if I was a comedian, I find my jokes funny \u2013 if everyone else isn\u2019t laughing, I don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny you mention comedy. System Of A Down were pigeonholed as a political band, but there\u2019s humour in a lot of your songs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate you saying that, because what you\u2019re saying is what I feel. People would get really stuck on the politics. The bandmembers, we don\u2019t all agree on one thing when it comes to politics. I think when there\u2019s members of the band that are a little outspoken about their politics, people think that everyone\u2019s politics are the same as what Serj is saying or whatever John [Dolmayan, SOAD drummer] is saying. But there are more layers than just politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of your lyrics that are clearly not political! <\/p>\n

\u201cSure. I write whatever is spat out of me at that moment. I didn\u2019t actually sit there and write on a piece of paper \u2018My cock is much bigger than yours!\u2019 [from SOAD\u2019s Cigaro]. I just said that while I was riffing and I was like, \u2018OK, I don\u2019t even know what the fuck that means.\u2019 But that\u2019s how I felt at that fucking moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those different moods are what so many people love about your work in System and Scars On Broadway.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause life is not one topic. Life has moments when you\u2019re happy, when you\u2019re sad, when you\u2019re funny, when you\u2019re an asshole, where you\u2019re serious. It\u2019s got to have all of that because, in me, all of that exists, and if I can\u2019t express those sides of me, then I feel like I\u2019m in a box as an artist.<\/p>\n

I think the one thing System and Scars both share is the different layers of emotions, character and feelings that come out in the music that I write. That\u2019s because I don\u2019t sit there and say, \u2018Well I gotta be heavy metal<\/a>\u2019 all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did the songwriting dynamic work when you were creating music for SOAD?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s hard for me to answer, because I feel like my songwriting process is quite different to a lot of artists. Chop Suey!<\/a> for example, I wrote that on tour in the back of the bus. I had a guitar, an acoustic guitar, and I just wrote that arrangement. I don\u2019t write riffs, I write songs. Chop Suey! I brought in with the vocals.<\/p>\n

Sometimes Serj would use that melody and write different lyrics \u2013 for example the original lyrics for Chop Suey! were: \u2018Wake up \/ Tell me what you think about tomorrow \/ Is there gonna be a pain in sorrow? \/ Tell me what you think about the people \/ Is there going to be another sequel?\u2019 That was my line. But then it\u2019s Serj saying \u2018Wake up, grab a brush\u2026\u2019.<\/p>\n

We would collaborate in that way, but I\u2019d say 85 to 90% of the time it was me bringing in the whole thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did you know that you were on to something special with those songs?<\/p>\n

\u201cI wrote all of the Toxicity record while I was still living with my parents. They would hear me playing my guitar in my room, and when Toxicity came out, they would hear Aerials or Chop Suey! on the radio or MTV and they\u2019d be like, \u2018Oh that\u2019s the one we heard you playing in your room all the time!\u2019 So I think they knew more than me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toxicity was a hugely successful album when it was released in 2001. How weird was it for you when it all blew up?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019d have asked 14-year-old Daron what he was going to do when his dreams came true, he\u2019d have said, \u2018Fuck yeah! I\u2019m gonna party! I\u2019m gonna be like M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce!\u2019 Then it happened, and I actually became even more focused on my writing. I didn\u2019t really want to leave the house when I was off tour, I still don\u2019t. Being recognised in public, it was weird \u2013 people walking up and wanting their picture with me. I just knew I needed to write songs, that\u2019s what was gonna continue this train, not my fucking picture in a magazine.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOAD went on hiatus in 2006. Was Scars On Broadway an important outlet for you at that point?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen System took the hiatus, I\u2019m not gonna lie, it was difficult for me at first because that\u2019s not really what I wanted. But I can\u2019t force other people to do something just because I wanted it. But my first thing was, \u2018OK, if I release music, I need an outlet for that\u2019, and Scars became that outlet. I\u2019ll be honest with you, man, I\u2019m just as proud of the Scars stuff as anything I\u2019ve done. I think some of my best shit is on Scars.\u201d<\/p>\n

System haven\u2019t made an album since 2005, and you\u2019ve made three Scars On Broadway albums, but presumably you never stop writing. How many songs are you sitting on?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know about thousands, but I\u2019ve got a few. If I had a nine-to-five job, I would probably still come back home and write music for myself. But even though we\u2019re not making records with System after all these years, I still do write because it\u2019s an itch and I just got to itch it. It\u2019s like a child plays with his toys. You don\u2019t play with your toys because you\u2019re playing for somebody else, right? You\u2019re playing for your own amusement.\u201d<\/p>\n

So many people would love to hear those songs. <\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I\u2019m very aware that there\u2019s an audience out there and there\u2019s people that want to hear from me and that\u2019s amazing. Honestly, I\u2019m very blessed, my life is fucking like\u2026 I got to pinch myself. But I\u2019m also kind of lazy too when it when it comes to making an album.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe there\u2019s a big box set of unreleased Daron Malakian songs waiting to be released one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cHa ha ha! Trust me, I tell myself, \u2018Dude, you really need to start releasing more music.\u2019 I even tell my guitar player in Scars On Broadway, \u2018Remind me that I need to start recording, man!\u2019 I just wish that was my motivation, because if that was my motivation, then I would. I get caught up in my own head, in my own world, and it\u2019s not a priority to me. So, I got to make it a priority and start recording my shit. I just need to motivate myself to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addicted To The Violence is out now via Scarred For Life. <\/p>\n

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