Most of the gig was a hot, sweaty blur, aside from that one vivid memory. \u201cRight as we started, I\u2019m holding this big bass chord and I realise, \u2018Shit, there\u2019s no guitar,\u2019\u201d says David. \u201cI look over, and Daron has fallen off the stage and was on the ground. He had completely lost himself in the intensity of the performance, and hadn\u2019t realised the stage rug ended where it did. He finally climbed back up, and we went straight back in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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What the audience at that gig didn\u2019t realise was that they were witnessing an early flicker in the history of one of modern metal\u2019s most successful and acclaimed bands. The Daron who ended up face-first on the floor that night was Daron Malakian<\/a>, and the singer he was onstage with was a gesticulating, wild-eyed dervish named Serj Tankian<\/a>. Within a few months, Soil were over, and Daron and Serj had built a new band from the ashes of their former group: System Of A Down<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were a good band,\u201d says Domingo Laranio, Soil\u2019s drummer during their short lifetime and the fourth man onstage that night. \u201cI thought those guys would become big, but never as big as they are.\u201d<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n I thought those guys would become big, but never as big as they are<\/p>\n Domingo Laranio<\/p>\n David Hakopyan was 15 when he met Serj Tankian. Both men were part of the Armenian diaspora spread across East Hollywood and nearby Glendale, though they didn\u2019t know each other. David was auditioning to play bass in a local new wave-inspired band named Forever Young. Serj was Forever Young\u2019s keyboard player. He was eight years older and a university graduate who had abandoned plans to become a lawyer to play music after an early midlife crisis.<\/p>\n \u201cI was unloading my truck and Serj came up with a big cigar in his mouth and said, \u2018Hey kid, do you need some help?\u2019\u201d recalls David, who got the job as Forever Young\u2019s bassist. \u201cI was the young, punk kid they took in. They showed me how to smoke cigarettes and be an idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n Forever Young wrote their own songs and had gigs lined up. Just as important to David was the fact that they had a rehearsal space. He had put together another band on the side, Snowblind, featuring his brother Jack and another Armenian friend, drummer Andy Khachaturian.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the weekends, the guys from Forever Young would never show up to this rehearsal space, so I started sneaking my guys in,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a hustle.\u201d<\/p>\n Within the small Armenian community was an even smaller group of kids who liked rock and metal. David was one, as was his schoolfriend, a lanky guy named Shavo Odadjian. Another was Daron Malakian, an aspiring singer and guitarist David had met at a party and soon recruited for Snowblind.<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n \u201cI told him Daron needed a guitarist and a singer, and invited him to come by,\u201d he says. \u201cHe came in the following Tuesday. He was a shredder at the time, but he had a very high singing voice that almost sounded like Geddy Lee from Rush<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n David wasn\u2019t the only one who wasn\u2019t focussed on Forever Young. Serj was getting restless: he wanted to sing and write his own songs rather than just play keyboards. He\u2019d recently written his very first song, titled Waco Jesus, a reference to the 1993 siege at a religious compound in Waco, Texas, in which 76 members of the Branch Davidian cult died.<\/p>\n David and Serj began playing together outside of Forever Young, along with Daron Malakian. They found a garage to rehearse in and soon named their new project Soil.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember a cousin of mine attended one of our first jams and said, \u2018Man, this guy is a terrible singer, but he has so much heart that I think something is going to happen,\u2019\u201d says David. \u201cAnd he was right. Serj truly meant what he sang. He was incredibly passionate.\u201d<\/p>\n Domingo Laranio was the odd man out in Soil, at least culturally. He was originally from Hawaii, and had already played in a string of bands both in Honolulu and LA. Like Serj, he was nearly a decade older than the teenage David and Daron. His entry into Soil came via a \u2018band needs drummer\u2019 ad in local LA newspaper Music Connection.<\/p>\n \u201cI got to their rehearsal garage and set up my drums, but we didn\u2019t start playing right away,\u201d Domingo says. \u201cSerj insisted on playing me a cassette of this song he had written about Waco \u2013 it wasn\u2019t the usual stuff about girls and cars. I could see that Daron and Dave were really young and pretty green, but they had that excitement to them.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, the talk stopped and the four of them started playing. Domingo was closer in age to Serj, but he recalls feeling an instant musical connection with Daron.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like this lightbulb went on: \u2018I can really get a connection with this guy and feed off him,\u2019\u201d says Domingo. \u201cWe were just bouncing ideas of each other really fast. It was just the riffs and the energy of the guitar.\u201d<\/p>\n That first jam seemed to be a success. Domingo began taking down his kit, expecting he\u2019d get a call in a few days letting him know their decision.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m packing up my stuff and Daron looked at me and said, \u2018What are you doing?\u2019 I said, \u2018I\u2019m leaving because I\u2019m done, right?’\u2019\u2019 And they went, \u2018No, no, no, you\u2019re in the band. Stay. Leave everything here.\u2019 That\u2019s not how an audition normally works \u2013 you usually get a callback.\u201d<\/p>\n Soil were prolific from the start. Daron shouldered much of the songwriting burden. \u201cHe\u2019d sit at home all day watching the soap opera As the World Turns and just write riffs,\u201d says David. \u201cBecause Daron was also a singer, he tended to bring in more structurally complete songs. Serj spent every day writing poetry to channel his frustrations.\u201d<\/p>\n It was riff after riff, with Serj shouting<\/p>\n David Hakopyan<\/p>\n The songs Soil were coming up with were a wild clash of unlikely influences. But even at that early stage, the roots of System Of A Down\u2019s music were audible.<\/p>\n \u201cDaron was heavily into Slayer<\/a>, whereas I was into Frank Zappa,\u201d says David. \u201cIt was riff after riff, with Serj shouting. We loved it. I remember one specific song that had 11 distinct parts. It was self-indulgent and a bit goofy, but the lyrics were incredibly strong.\u201d<\/p>\n The job of shaping this mad sound fell in part to Domingo, the most musically experienced member of Soil. \u201cHe would construct beats against our parts and push us to write riffs in that style,\u201d says David of the drummer. \u201cTo this day, Daron cites him as one of his biggest influences.\u201d<\/p>\n The LA music scene at the time was in a period of transformation. Hair metal\u2019s imperious reign over the Sunset Strip was long over, replaced by an emerging strain of alternative metal \u2013 Rage Against The Machine<\/a> were the new kings of the scene, while Tool were making waves.<\/p>\n Soil themselves were creating their own mini-scene, centred around their North Hollywood rehearsal space. \u201cWe\u2019d smoke weed, get wasted, and write music every single day for months on end,\u201d says David. \u201cWe would just invite people to come hang out at the studio.\u201d<\/p>\n One of those people was David\u2019s old school friend, Shavo Odadjian. \u201cShavo was there the very first time we jammed,\u201d says David. \u201cHe watched us play and said, \u2018Dude, this is dope. What you guys are doing is great. I want to be a part of it and help push it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Shavo played rhythm guitar at the time, but he was never a member of the band. Instead, he took on the role of de facto manager and hype man. It was a role he took seriously. \u201cShavo was like our cheerleader,\u201d says Domingo.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t just Soil\u2019s buddies who recognised they had something going on. \u201cWe had this roll-up door at the rehearsal garage, which we kept up while we played,\u201d says Domingo. \u201cOne day we were jamming and this older white guy stopped outside and just stood there. We all stared at him, and he went, \u2018Wow, that sounds really good.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n They never found out who the passer-by was. But his instincts were on the money.<\/p>\n \n (Image credit: Bob Berg\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n No one involved in Soil can remember exactly how long the band lasted. Serj Tankian has put it in previous interviews at eight months. David Hakopyan says it could be a year or even a little longer. The only thing people agree on is that they played just one show, that gig at Fais Do-Do where Daron fell offstage.<\/p>\n Soil ended when both Domingo and David left. The drummer\u2019s departure was precipitated by a massive 6.7 earthquake that hit the San Fernando Valley in early 1994 that left 60 people dead.<\/p>\n \u201cMy wife was pregnant and it scared the shit out of her,\u201d says the drummer. \u201cShe wanted out of LA. I had to prioritise my family. Serj was, like, \u2018What do I need to do to keep you here? Find you a place to live?\u2019 It wasn\u2019t a matter of not wanting to stay. It was either leave the band or get divorced.\u201d Domingo and his wife eventually moved back to Hawaii.<\/p>\n David had little choice in the matter of leaving Soil either, though for different reasons. \u201cI was asked to leave,\u201d he says. \u201cI remember them telling me, \u2018You aren\u2019t angry enough, you don\u2019t play angry.\u2019 I was, like, \u2018I\u2019m sorry, I’m not that angry a person.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI was sad,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt was like being a kid and your friends ask you to stop coming to the clubhouse. But I called Shavo and said, \u2018I think you could step in as bass player, you\u2019re incredibly excited about the project as well as just managing it,\u201d he says. \u201cHe thought it was a cool idea.\u201d<\/p>\n David quickly landed in a new group, Middle Earth, whose line-up included another Armenian kid, a drummer named John Dolmayan. Daron, Serj and Shavo, meanwhile, recruited Andy Khachaturian, who had played with David and Daron in Snowblind, to replace the departed Domingo.<\/p>\n I was sad. It was like being a kid and your friends ask you to stop coming to the clubhouse<\/p>\n David Hakopyan<\/p>\n The newly christened System Of A Down \u2013 a name taken from a poem Daron had written titled Victims Of A Down \u2013 played their debut gig on May 28, 1995, at Sunset Strip club The Roxy. That show featured several tracks that would eventually appear on System\u2019s self-titled 1998 debut album, including Sugar<\/a>, Suite-Pee, P.L.U.C.K and the song named after their previous band, Soil.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a Sunday night, and we had just finished recording a demo for Middle Earth,\u201d says David, who was at that first show. \u201cI told John that we needed to go support my friends’ new project. John just did not like their performance at all. He had this look on his face like he was constipated.\u201d<\/p>\n As with Soil, System would throw open the doors of the rehearsal space they shared with Middle Earth to friends and fans. \u201cWord-of-mouth spread among local kids that you could grab some beers and spend the entire night hanging out at the System or Middle Earth studio while we jammed,\u201d says David.<\/p>\n System began playing gigs in Hollywood and beyond. The buzz was turbocharged by Shavo, who hustled their name around town, helping secure gigs at venues such as the Whisky A Go-Go and the Coconut Teazer as well as passing out flyers and copies of their first two demos tapes to fans to circulate. \u201cThose kids were incredibly prominent in that early scene, handing out flyers everywhere,\u201d says David.<\/p>\n By 1996, Shavo had handed over the reins to hotshot young manager David \u2018Beno\u2019 Benveniste, becoming his first clients. Labels began circling, among them American Recordings. The latter\u2019s boss saw them play at the Viper Room.<\/p>\n \u201cI laughed the whole show,\u201d American Records boss Rick Rubin told YouTuber Rick Beato. \u201cIt was ridiculous! But I loved it. But any thoughts of, \u2018This could be big,\u2019 you can\u2019t have that thought. It would be insane.\u201d<\/p>\n Word had filtered through to Domingo Laranio in Hawaii that his old bandmates were on the verge of getting a deal.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first inkling I got was when people back then started telling me, \u2018Somebody from a record company is taking them out to steak and lobster dinners and pitching to them.\u2019 I was thinking, \u2018All right!\u2019 I was happy for them.\u201d<\/p>\n There was one problem, namely issues with drummer Andy Khachaturian. \u201cI immediately told John that he needed to step in because they were preparing to showcase for Rick Rubin,\u201d says David. \u201cJohn was reluctant, but I insisted he do it because they needed his calibre of drumming.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"System](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/uVcYScAxUVMRW6JFvkmB4A.png\")
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