Topic: System of a Down Appearance on Magazines

John Dolmayan likes to play drums a whole lot more than he likes to talk about how he plays the drums. Better qualified is System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian, who relishes the privilege of watching Dolmayan perform from two feet away, night after night after night after night.

"John is very steady and on the money," Odadjian says. "His tempo is perfectly on. He doesn't change speeds, know what I mean? He hits really hard, which I love, because I hit the bass really hard. There's a lot of drummers out there, they could hit a thousand hits per sound but not keep the tempo. He can do it naturally."

SOAD make no secret about their deep respect for each other as people and players, and Odadjian and Dolmayan certainly reflect that mindset.
"When it comes to art, I like to collaborate, and having someone like John is a gift as a bass player. We all get along, but him and I just have a special bond. We started off with music and became good friends. He's the best drummer I've ever played with, and I'll play with him until the end of time. A great foundation of a rhythm seciont is knowing each other. A lot of bands form and they do what they have to do. We do what we want to do, which is be a strong team."

According to Odadjian, jamming is the active ingredient that makes this rhythm section's luv rise. "Look at a band like Deep Purple, that bass and drum combo was amazing, and that band had amazing jams," he points out. "For us, it's more important to jam - you don't know what we're going to do next, and it just works. He's not the most technical player, but that's not a diss, because neither am I. He's more of a Bonham than a Neil Peart. Peart is technical, but Bonham didn't care if he hit a tom or a snare next, as long as he hit it right. That's what John is, my Bonham. And I'm his John Paul Jones."

Inset article from Drum! magazine March 2006 issue

John Dolmayan from System of a Down Searches His Soul.
When we last visited our hero, John Dolmayan of metal eccentrics System of a Down, he was not really very concerned with drums, music, albums, or chart positions.
The year was 2002, and he and his bandmates were preoccupied with slightly larger things, namely The End of the World. Back then, SOAD's conviction that Judgement Day was eminent had wide-ranging impacts, not the least of which was that they were tricky to get on the phone for interviews. Today, Dolmayan is as freaked out as ever, but happily his obsessions with Armageddon are having less of an impact on his day-to-day operations, as he settles in for a winter talk at one of New York City's hippest hotels.
"You're always concerned that the end of the world is coming," he says in his intense, animated manner. "Every generation is concerned with it, as they see the values they have disappear. But some of the sickest societies existed in the past - what happened is that people got tired of living that way, and they developed societies with different levels of depravity, depending on which one you live in.

System Of A Down have overcome all of the odds to become on of the world's biggest bands and they’ve done it on their own terms. Terry Bezer asks them what it's like to be the freak amongst the rock hierarchy.

"We're the biggest little band in the world!" Laughs System drummer John Dolmayan, contemplating the overwhelming triumphs his band have enjoyed over the last seven years. "We have absolutely no right to be selling as many records as we are or playing to as many people as we do when you look at all of the other big bands, but we still do. I guess it's kind of refreshing to be the guys that shouldn't be there but are!"

It’s more than a little hard to believe just how much success System have enjoyed since rising from the Los Angeles unsigned scene seven years ago.

In December Issue of Hit Parader Magazine, Daron been ranked as number 58 in the Heavy Metals All Time Top 100 Guitarists and Daron is number 9 on All Time Top 10 Guitarists of The 90's.


The Magazine says:

"58. Daron Malakian: Each generation needs its own distinctive musical voices. Today's younger fans cant be expected to fully grasp or appreciate the "ancient" musical musings of Hendrix, Clapton, or even Van Helen.
While he's the first to dismiss his own individual achievements, System Of A Down's Daron Malakian is fast emerging as one of the 21st Century's premier guitar voices. Not one for unnecessary solos or faster-than-light displays, Malakian's "for the good of the team" approach has become a signpost of this era's hard rock approach.

 "Since I write most of the bands songs, those come first," he said. "I don't really think about where my guitar fits into everything until we're actually recording that song in the studio."

IN BRIEF: All systems "go" for this multi-faceted marvel.