System Of A Daron - Malakian Talks SOAD, Scars & Stadiums

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Here with Darren Malakian and lots to discuss. But the first thing we have to discuss Edmonton Oilers, man. Oh, I remember that you're a big Oilers fan. Yeah. And I was like. So what happened? When I saw that Florida picked up Marchant, I was like, we lost to Hyman. That hurt. That was a big player. I mean, what are you going to do, man? It's such a drag because obviously Canada hasn't won a Stanley Cup in 33 years. I know. So the last two years, you know, by proxy, I've become an Euler fan.

because I'm just begging for Canada to win again. And, you know, even this year, the Jets finished number one in the league, and then they're gone so early. It was just so disappointing. I was so bummed out. Canada loses and Florida. Of all the places. I know. And I live in Florida, so I should be happy. But I'm like, no, I'm not happy. I'm not happy at all.

But like you said, that's the ups and downs of sports for sure. I'd like to see McDavid win one, man. I mean, with the Oilers. I feel like he's eventually going to win one, but I don't know where he's going to be. And like Gretzky said on the panel afterwards, if you're replacing your goalie in game five of the Stanley Cup final, you know you've got a problem. Yeah. I remember when the Kings were in the finals.

Jonathan Quick was just on fire. I was at all those games and every night Quick made a save that... just save the game, save the series. Like it's just a different, you can't be trading backup and your main guy in the Stanley cup finals. It's right. It is what it is, man. It's tough. Being an Oilers fan, that's where it should be. And how did you end up an Oilers fan to begin with? I mean, I grew up in Los Angeles. I was born in Hollywood, grew up in Hollywood. Right.

But I was always into sports. And at some point when I was a kid, like seven years old, eight years old, I had my mom get me a subscription to Sports Illustrated. And in those days, we didn't have cable. We didn't have nothing. I never saw an Oilers game on TV, but I always read that like, oh, these guys keep winning the cup. As a kid, you know, you kind of.

gravitate to that team that's winning and Gretzky and that whole team. So it's stuck. You know, I cheer for the Kings too, but I'm an Oilers fan first. Like you said, it's tough. It's a drag, but hopefully next year. That's what everybody says. Yeah, right? One of the chances, but we'll see. We'll see. So lots of cool stuff going on for you.

I think the last time we spoke was the last time you had a Scars on Broadway album. You've got a new one coming out, Addicted to Violence. And I just watched the Killing Spree video. Great tune, man. It's got the System vibe, but it's more rocking. I don't know. It's very, very cool, especially with you on lead vocals. When people compare Scars to System.

you're going to hear the system dna and next i mean i wrote right a lot of that if not i mean i'm just a lot of huge 90 95 of the system stuff vocals included i mean you know vocals guitars arrangements in system The way I explain the scars kind of leans more into a rock direction and it always kind of has. And I don't know if that's because my writing kind of went into that direction.

i don't know if we continue to do system would system have gone into more of a rock direction that's how i at that point when i did the first scars record second scars or this one i don't know it's just Like you just said, it kind of has that rock vibe to it. My shit's got all kinds of shit going on. Well, like you said, you're the principal songwriter of the systems stuff. So when you're doing a scars, it's going to have that, that style, the beat in, in, in killing spree.

It's frantic. It's got that weirdness to it in the best possible way, by the way.

I'll take that. When did you decide to do a third Scars record? Because it's been a while, like we said, since the second one. I don't know. I don't know when I really decided to do it. I started recording around the pandemic. i don't know i never really pick like these songs or i write songs i don't really write albums through the years i write all these songs and at some point i feel like you know i think you've played around with this enough to where you feel like it's good

I think it's time to release it. And I just kind of roll the wheel and see where the thing lands. Okay, let's record that one. Right, right, right. Because sometimes people want to be like, you know, there's...

It's a theme to this album. And maybe there is, but the theme might be just me and my life and how the world that I'm living in. I don't really write albums with themes and say, I'm going to write these like... five or six seven group of songs and they're all going to have this theme whatever i write through the years at some point ends up on an album i don't know when i decided to make an album or not i mean like so many years have gone since i started recording it

So I don't, I don't really remember what I was thinking, but that's the thing though. I mean, obviously with system. not recording new material. And as a songwriter, you got to keep writing. That's just what we do. So I'm sure that you have always a multitude of different ideas that you kind of keep in mind for either Scars or whatever it may be.

i would be writing if there was no system and if i didn't get to where i got in my life with music i would still be writing it's just something that i do it's something that i've done since i was really young

So if it wasn't there, something would be missing. It's my outlet. It's kind of how I kind of... channel my thoughts and put something out or the universe put something through me and i put it back out i mean it's just something that's always been there i've collected records i love listening to music is a big deal to me

i started collecting records when i was like four or five years old it's just music's just always been there and i'm very blessed that i've been able to get some recognition and make living and have a fan base and all that stuff. But that's all just kind of like a bonus. I'm grateful for it. But when I'm writing my song, the last thing that goes into my head is like, what's everyone else going to think about it?

Or I can't wait till everyone hears this. I kind of just do it for my own amusement. It's like my toy that I play with. And it's a total bonus that like turned into whatever it is. turned into you know the live shows are a bonus people actually giving a shit about it you know me here talking to you about it right these are all i'd be doing it regardless

When you do a Scars record, do you have other musicians in the band or do you play everything? On the second record, I played everything, the Dictator album. On this one, there's a drummer and another. I played most of the bass and the guitar, but then there were some bass lines that I felt like my guitar player Orbel played better than me. I was like, you do that song. You're just a better guitar player than me.

but um and then some keyboards that are on the records or bell did that and i also for the first time collaborated with my guitar player or bell on writing two or three songs that's also a first for scars

Well, that's great to be able to collaborate with different musicians as well. Yeah, well, you know, someone shows me an idea and I hear it and I'm like, some of the stuff that he showed me were not songs yet. It was like some... synthesizer line or some keyboard thing and i listened to it and i was like we got to make that into a song and that's my thing is i write songs i compose songs i'm not some guitar virtuoso i'm not my

i always tell people i don't even care about the guitar it's a tool that i use to write songs songwriting composing for me comes first before any instrument so if there's someone i'm with and it seem to work out where we can collaborate and make even their idea into a song, that's what I come in and do. I think that's my strength in a band situation.

well that's something from you know the era where system got massive there wasn't a lot of guitar solos in those songs it was all about the song writing and the riff and like you said the complex four-minute arrangement when they felt like they should be there. Right, right, right, right. Not obligatory though, right? I think in the 80s, you had to have a guitar solo. I can solo. I give with the song.

what it what the song wants right you know the song is like a crying baby and you know you you know you don't give the crimey what you want you give the crimey what it wants again it stops crying and so i i give the song what the song wants, not what I want to force it in to the song, you know? But that's also part of being a great songwriter. Like you said, all that matters is the song itself. Yeah. Not the moment in the song where I get to show off what I do. The song...

It was me showing off what I do because I wrote the song. Right, right. Yeah, you came up with the melodies and the chorus and everything. But that's even something that I learned over the years. You know, when we first started Fozzy, I'm the singer, so I have to write the lyrics because that's how it works.

works and then after a while you realize you don't have to it doesn't matter who writes what part and it just matters on how good the song is that's all that counts that it's great i mean in a rush yeah neil pert wrote all the lyrics in a rush yeah geezer wrote a lot of the lyrics in sabbath with system serge and i shared uh lyrics like he he would write lyrics i would write lyrics so

When you hear a system song, it's both of our lyrics. Sometimes in one song, it's both. But in Scars, I wrote all the lyrics in Scars. You know that feeling when you're trying to snag tickets to that must-see concert? logging on early, stuck in virtual queues, hoping your internet doesn't bail on you. Going to a concert should be about making memories, not getting stuck in a digital waiting room. That's why I'm telling you about game time. This app makes getting tickets even faster and easier.

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record that I had was, and I kind of took it from someone else's house and it just stayed with me. It wasn't even a kiss. It was Paul Stanley's solo. Okay. Yeah. And I think Ace and Paul had the best solo. Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. And then I had a Saturday Night Fever record that I also took from somebody. I stole all my first records.

album that i i took my mom to the store and she bought me was uh and i was probably around six or seven at this point was um deaf leopards pyromania and that was really big around 1982 83 yeah that was the first one and it just went from there man i mean uh i just was always into it man it was just something that i i can't remember a time in my life my earliest recollections are of

Kiss and Aussie. It's always been in my life. It's always been important to me, really important to me. And it's just always been there. What made you start to play guitar? Was it the infamous Kiss influence? I always wanted to be a drummer when I was a kid, but we lived in this one-bedroom apartment in Hollywood.

And I share the same bedroom with my parents until I was like 11 years old. Oh, wow. I could never have an instrument or have a driver to speak too loud to have an instrument in a one-bedroom apartment off Santa Monica and Vine.

yeah we were you know i didn't come from money we eventually moved to the suburbs in glendale california and finally i had my own room we had a garage and it was like my 12th birthday and i took my parents and we went to the music store and i'm like yes i'm gonna i'm gonna get my drum set i've always wanted my drum set my parents went to the corner and they talked to each other and they said

You know, you can't turn off the drums. They went and bought me this tiny amp with a guitar. I was like, all right. okay i wasn't like that amped about it that's why i always tell people i don't really care about the guitar i accidentally became a guitar player and like that man i just next thing you know i just you know spent a lot of time i was in my own bedroom now

And so I would spend a lot of time and I would just sit there and I would learn riffs off. I never had a lesson. I would learn the riffs off like Sabbath or whatever. I was a Slayer, whatever, Metallica.

whatever i was getting into as i was getting older 12 13 14 15 years old and next thing you know i'm playing guitar and but just even in those years though i was always trying to like write my own shit right it kind of worked out because i don't know drums because my passion is songwriting so the drums would probably be a little bit more difficult to bring out melodies and types of things

You must have listened to so many different types of music when you were growing up though, because the system sound and scars as well, there's so many different...

genres and styles. Sometimes in the course of a four-minute song, you'll hear five or six or seven different influences of musical styles. I grew up around a lot of different kinds of music. I still listen to everything and anything from the beach boys to black metal to miles davis to craft work it's just all over the board what my taste is growing up you know i'm armenian

So growing up, there was a lot of Armenian music. My family's from Iraq. So we listened to, I heard a lot of like, you know, Arabic music, Egyptian music. Then there was the music that was in the Armenian church, Armenian Orthodox Church, that they would sing these church types of songs. All this affected me along with...

being extremely obsessed with heavy metal. But then I told you Saturday Night Fever was something that, so I had cousins that never listened to rock, but they were all about disco. and pop music so i was exposed to that and i just whatever was good man whatever i felt i never like put a rule on oh you can't listen to this and you gotta just be this music is music man

I mean, it's just different people presented in a different way. But, you know, your notes on the guitar, your notes on a piano, your notes on a track, they're all the same. notes right the chords but it's just how you present it how you it's like a chef you know like you know you got a piece of beef

And the guy who's making Mexican food is making the Mexican food for the Italian guys. It's all the scrubs of the same cow, you know? Right. That's the best analogy for music I think I've ever heard. Yeah. I always thought it was interesting, too, when System first came out, and you mentioned being from Armenia. I think all four of the guys in the band are Armenian. Was there a whole scene? Did you guys all live close to each other in L.A.? Was it kind of little Armenian?

I'm not from Armenia, but my background is Armenia. That's what I mean, Armenian background. Yeah, yeah. Well, Los Angeles, there's a big Armenian community. Outside of Armenia, Los Angeles is the biggest Armenian community. Oh. Okay. Yeah. So all my friends that I grew up with were always Armenian. From kindergarten to sixth grade, I went to Armenian school.

And, uh, Sarah Chavo and I all went to that same school, but we were at different ages. So we weren't really friends, but we all went to that school. And it was later on after I left that school and I was in high school that I kind of. met somebody else that was kind of still hanging with them. And I, it's a long story, but I kind of reconnected with some of those people from that school later on.

it's just you can't avoid armenian people if you live in la or is there any other big bands with an armenian background rock bands no you're the only ones right yeah when i was growing up That's another thing. It's just crazy. My life's crazy in that way where I always told people when I was like 11, 12, any age you met me, I was like, one day I'm going to start a band and I'm going to like...

being on the sunset strip and we're going to be this big man on the sunset strip. And one day I'm going to, that's what I'm going to do with my life. And they would all look at me and say, yeah, but what, you know what? armenian guy ever made it in music and you know in a rock band and i said just watch i was so cocky and confident

I always thought, okay, I'm going to make it someday, but I'll be probably the only Armenian guy in the band. I never thought I would make it with three other Armenian guys. There's, you know, certain pride also that's involved with that with, you know, our Armenian people are very proud of us and we've never shied away from.

saying we're armenian and these kinds of things changing our last names or you know and they kind of made it even more unique though because then all you guys's names are different yeah no different from the norm yeah but people even when we were aside from the story I just told, even whenever we were a really big band on the Sunset Strip, the biggest band on the Sunset Strip, when we were playing there, we got signed, we had the biggest audiences. Really?

For a second, people didn't want to sign us because they thought, OK, these guys do well in L.A., but who's going to get them in like Texas? Right, right. Places where they don't even know what Armenians are. And so bands that weren't drawing as much as we were, we're getting signed quicker than we were until, you know, Our hype got so big that like, you know, then there was a bidding war at some point back when, you know, labels actually meant anything.

That's really interesting, though, Darren, talking about being big on the Sunset Strip, because obviously we hear the stories from the 70s and 80s, but I'm assuming this is probably kind of in the early to mid-90s. What was the scene like then? Because the heyday of the Sunset Strip had kind of... passed at that point well you had the hair metal bands in the late 80s early 90s yeah and then seattle came and wiped that out but as a kid i was always like

driving by all those hair metal, you know, Whiskey, Roxy, when all the hair metal bands and the scene was just booming. But then Seattle killed that off. But then a group of us, I guess the bands that they call Nu Metal. which we came up in, but I always feel like we just don't sound like any of them. We came up in that. To me, that's the scene that kind of revived L.A.

Till this day, I think that was really the last rock metal scene that wasn't. Because after that, everything kind of died out again. Right. But there were bands like Coal Chamber, Static X.

Even though the Deftones weren't from LA, but I'm sure they came down and played LA a lot. Korn, Incubus was part of that back in those days. There was just, you know, a group of, and there was many more snot. I don't know if you... about snot they were there we played a lot of shows with snot in those days so yeah man we came up in that scene and that was a really fun time man in in la and in my life but just

as like a rock scene and a metal scene nothing's happened in la since to be honest you're right that was kind of the last the last vestiges of that right yeah yeah

I'm Kristen Press. And I'm Tobin Heath. We're World Cup winners, Olympians, and the hosts of The Recap Show. Every week, we sit down with the icons, disruptors, and game changers on the field and beyond it to talk victories, heartbreaks, and everything in between. We've built a space where athletes, change makers, and people creating the future of women's sports can show up and show off as their full unapologetic selves. Follow and listen to The Recap Show wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for selling your car to Carvana. Here's your check. Whoa, when did I get here? What do you mean? I swear it was just moments ago that I accepted a great offer from Carvana online. I must have time traveled to the future. It was just moments ago. We do same-day pickup. Here's your check for that great offer. It is the future. It's the present and just the convenience of Carvana. Sorry to blow your mind. It's all good. Happens all the time.

Sell your car the convenient way to Carvana. Pickup times may vary and fees may apply. I remember when System came out, I mean, very early on in my first record, you guys got a really big push.

on MTV, obviously you're on Ozfest. Did you realize it at the time that you guys really made, you made it fairly big right out of the gate with System of a Down? I don't know if we made it right out of the gate, but we had this slow... upward. The first album, there was a lot of underground hype. Whoever was interested in that kind of thing was giving us attention. We got on tour with Slayer.

in the united states and our first tour in europe was with slayer and we just got up there and did our thing and sometimes the slayer audiences didn't get what we were doing on the first record and we were all makeuped out and we just you know we looked just completely different. And our sound was different. Sometimes I would heckle the Slayer audience if they didn't yell Slayer before we played. You know that I'm a wrestling fan. Of course.

i get some of my stage presence because someone asked me that in south america recently they were like you know you you have this way on stage where you're kind of like you're a certain way with the fans and i turn to him i go i love wrestling i get it from that just getting the crowd hyped or just you know being on the mic you know because i'm almost playing a character

I'm that guy in between songs. I'm the guy who's talking to the audience. So I'm the guy who's getting audience hype. I'm the guy. And, you know, this is the thing where I always tell people, like, even with wrestling, you could be a great wrestler. And you know this. That doesn't mean you're going to be great on the mic. Right. Being great on the mic is not something you can teach somebody, I don't think. It's just something that they got. Right.

I'm the guy that kind of has that in the band. So I kind of do that, but I always attribute it to my, because I love wrestling since I was a kid. But that's kind of, you're playing the character on stage, like you said, of being the MC for the band. Yeah, but it's not a character. It's this alter ego that just kind of flips on. Tell me, well, you're really different offstage and you're onstage. Something happens to me when I get up there.

And I turn into a much more confident version of myself. Yeah, just once I get out there, this guy comes out. He's very different than me. This version of me. But those are the best type of front men. I mean, you talk about Ozzy or Alice Cooper or somebody like that. When they go on stage, they become this other character, this other persona, like you mentioned. And that's kind of what people are so excited to see.

I mean, don't you feel that when you go into the ring? Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, I see that with you. Absolutely. It's not something you can necessarily teach somebody. You could teach someone how to wrestle. You could teach someone how to play the guitar. You could teach the technical stuff, but the feeling and that stuff that just is in somebody, you can't really teach that.

you're right what was it like uh being on oz fest fairly early on in your career dude i was like i said when i was a kid loving all that shit yeah now all the dudes that were like on my wall in my room i'm around and it was in this oz fest was like this summer camp that used to go to you know i remember uh

Mickey D was playing for Motorhead at that time. And I remember one time I sat there and was having... lunch and mickey d was i don't know if he remembers this i mean i haven't seen him for years but like i remember this and and i was just kind of like dude i'm a huge king diamond fan and you played that intro for king diamonds like them the song and it's and i was like dude you don't know what that means to me and it's so nice to be able to say that to somebody that

you were such a fan of and and get a chance to let them know that like dude you really meant a lot to me or we would tour with Slayer then you know you'd be in the room with Ozzy When I was six, seven years old, Ozzy would come into my dreams and having dinner with my parents. And I'm like, dude, I'm in the room with Ozzy and Zach Wild. And I was just tripping. And I still trip. I haven't gotten over that. It's still a trip.

to be around when i am it's a trip for me to still be around people like that i don't know and then you get these fans that now like they treat me like that and that's even a bigger trick this guy looks at me the way i look at that guy I appreciate it, man. I really do. I'm very blessed. Very, very blessed. That's a good way to be, though, man. It's good to stay and have that fanboy mentality. It's good for us to still be fans of people that we admire. Yeah.

i i am i'm a fan of yours bro thank you sir let's let's talk about uh about chop suey i always say like if i brought this song to a radio programmer They'd be like, this is the weirdest song ever. Like, there's no way we're going to play it. It's so unconventional in so many different ways. And it becomes just a massive hit.

To this day, rock radio plays it constantly. Talk about writing that song, because once again, it's very unorthodox with the whole structure of it. Well, let me start by saying one thing. I think it was Rick. Rick Rubin that took the song to whoever the head of K rock radio was in LA at that time. And he turned around and told him that. K-Rock will never play this song. This has no chance. We'll never play K-Rock. So that's a funny story in itself.

I don't know, man. When I write songs, I can't sit there and say, well, how I planned this out or whatever. I was sitting in back of the, I don't know if we were still in an RV or we were on a bus at that point touring for the first album.

and i had a guitar and i remember being in the back of the bus or wherever i was and and just jamming the guitar and i wrote the intro and i wrote the riffs the vocals kind of go with the riff like but i had different lyrics my lyrics used to sing wake up tell me what you think about tomorrow is there going to be a pain and sorrow tell me what you think about it and it was this different lyric and then um

But I wrote the chorus lyrics. And so it all just kind of led into each other in a natural way and kind of came out of me that way. I know people see it as kind of like, oh, there's these different parts, but shit just kind of spits out of me.

way sometimes man yeah and and the parts that don't necessarily come from the same worlds just come from me so they sound like they belong all of a sudden and so yeah when i took the song into the band when we were uh writing for a toxicity record i brought it in you know with the whole arrangement that i had

And Serge changed the lyrics to wake up, grab a brush, put a little makeup. Till this day, I don't really know what that means to what he's singing. But it didn't change the song for me. So I wasn't stuck to my lyrics. The chorus lyrics stayed what I wrote, self-righteous suicide. I cry when angels deserve to die. Yeah. And it became our biggest song. I mean, you know, when you write a song, you don't expect, well, this is going to be the hit or, you know, it just.

turned out that way mtv started playing the video and next thing you know i'm walking through the mall and people are like, hey, there's the guy. Your whole life changes, man. How did Chop Suey become the title? It was originally called Suicide. And if you listen to Toxicity, the album, before the song starts, I think Serge says, we're rolling suicide. That's not on the radio, but if you listen to the record right before Chop Suey, it says, rolling suicide.

That means, you know, we're rolling. We were recording onto tape at that time. We were rolling suicide. So somewhere down the line, when we decided we were going to release this as a single, we...

talked about it and were like, I don't know, would the radio play a song called Suicide? I don't know. Pretty soon, right away, I was like, okay, call it Chop Suey. Even though it has Suey in it, that wasn't my... thought my thought was remember in the old movies from like the 40s the gangsters were like we're gonna kill him and turn him into chop suey you know yeah yeah that's kind of why i was like chop suey like you know old 40s movies and uh that's how it became

chop suey that's amazing and did they ever play it on k-rock they did till this day you know i mean they played it and played it and played it until they just played it too much proud of the song because we've never done anything to for mainstream like to conform to the mainstream like this is we want to do this because we want to this is what everyone else is doing and this is what the radio is playing and

We did everything our way. The mainstream came to us because we built such a big buzz off the first record and then Toxicity came out and I feel like... I wrote these songs and I feel like we delivered with a really strong second record. And it just snowballed and snowballed and snowballed to the point where...

The radio, the MTV, the whatever was making bands at that time couldn't avoid us. Right. Because, yeah, it's interesting, too, because when you put out Mesmerize and Hypnotize. So close together, I think it was six months or whatever it was. And then the band kind of took a hiatus after that. Did you put so many...

ideas into these two records at the same time? Was it kind of a little bit of an overload? You needed a chance to step back for a bit? Well, Mesmerize and Hypnotize were written at the same time. Right. I write a lot. For toxicity, I brought in like 20, 30 songs. That's why you have steal this album. Steal this album was toxicity sessions that we didn't release. Oh, okay.

and they got out there in some way but not in the way we wanted them so we went in and re-recorded songs that didn't get on the chop suey record but we made them better and we made steal this album but those were from Toxicity and Steal the Sound were both from the same recording session, and that's because I wrote so many songs, and I always like to bring in a lot of songs to choose from so we choose the best.

mesmerize and hypnotize uh once again i just brought in a lot of songs to one recording session and we still have leftover songs from those sessions that haven't been used or released We didn't walk into it thinking we're going to make a double album. Right. You know, I just, like I said, it just comes from me bringing in a lot of songs.

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Is it seem crazy to you 20 years later now that that was the last system record was hypnotized? What's crazy to me is people still give a shit and we're like about, we just came from South America. We sold out every football stadium that was there. I don't know if you've seen any of the footage from that, but it's nuts. It's insane. Yeah, it was nuts. Fires in the crowd.

I mean, I've been doing this a while and I never experienced anything like that before. You know, we're about to do East Coast shows and it was just, you know, the band's playing stadiums and we haven't released a record in...

20 plus years, you know, Rick, Rick was talking to me about, I did when I did Rick's podcast, we talked about like, We're playing in front of 60,000 people and he was like, I don't think I've ever seen anything like it where a band that doesn't regularly put out records is... I think part of it is we left off on a peak.

you know we've had are they going to ever play are they not going to play and it's all this kind of thing that happens and then when we do play people feel like oh this might be the last time they're going to play None of that has been done on purpose. That's just the natural way things have gone. I also think it's the songs. The songs have lived with people.

And it's become some of the fabric of their lives in some cases because so many years have gone by. Because when we're playing in front of these audiences, I don't see 50-year-olds in there. I see 18-year-olds. I see... 25 year olds all like kids that probably were born maybe even after we were right rise and hypnotize you know but they're there and they're passionate and they're into it

And it's new to them. Sure. Once again, man, it's very, very blessed. I was reading something that you said recently about, and I thought it was very interesting. about somebody that asked you if system would do another record and you were saying it'd be very hard because.

the transition that a band would naturally have from, you know, your sound moves and changes over the years. It'd be hard to pick up in 2025 without having those albums in between to lead you to the next level. I thought that was a very interesting comment. we could do it and we might even be good. I don't know. But if you listen to even those five records that we have, there is a difference between them. Yeah. There, there was an evolution happening.

If I have to say one thing that the hiatus was something that I wasn't always down with, that hiatus, but whatever it is, what it is, every band has a different story. There was a time I was a little bit more pissed off about it. Now I kind of like, it is what it is. But what I was pissed off about was that we didn't get a chance to continue that evolution. Right.

I think we were capable of that. I think you've got some bands that make the same album over and over and over again. We would not have been that band. We kept our sound, but that sound would have gone into different places. That's my only regret, that we didn't get a chance to do that. And so that's why I said what I said, that making an album 20, 25 years later, where do you pick up from?

No, that's a great comment. Yeah, I thought that was very interesting. You were mentioning, you know, doing the shows you just played in South America and then the upcoming dates that you have in August 6th and September 6th, stadium shows all sold out. Does it blow your mind that, you know, System was never playing stadiums back in those days? And here you are now, one of the biggest bands in the world from a live standpoint. It's incredible.

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how to answer that. You know, we walk in front of these audiences and I'm blown away. I appreciate it. I think it's something that's tough to explain. It's cool. There's our headline. It's cool. I'm lucky to be in a band. like that do you do you think it's because the band was gone for such a long time and like you mentioned people think well this might be the last chance we ever get to see them do you think that's part of the appeal or

I mean, of course, if we knew the answer, we could put it in a bottle and sell it. But it just blows my mind in the best possible way that you have so many people coming to your gigs. I think that has, like I said, I think that has something to do with it. You're not going to get System of a Down from anywhere else.

I'm like, I have a certain style of writing. Serge is a certain type of front man. I'm a certain type of singer myself. You know, we both have a style that compliments you. I don't know. It's just, it's what we do. And if you like it.

i mean some people really love it and some people hate it it is it's it's us and and if you really love it and that experience at the concert or our songs and i'll even say you know scars still has that vibe like if that's the vibe you're into you know it does yeah i don't know where else you're gonna get it right it does have something unique about it i think that

I think we go through a lot of different kind of, like with my writing, I try really not to like use only like three colors. Sometimes I hear bands and they just have these. Same kind of everything moves the same way in the same formula. I mean, with me, I'm not afraid to use humor. I'm not afraid to use sadness. I'm not afraid to use anger. I'm not afraid. It's all part of.

what we are, who we are as humans. So if I kind of say, well, I can't express that side of my emotion because that's not heavy metal. I don't do that with my writings. Whenever you go to our show. system or scars you're gonna feel moments in that show that are gonna make you dance that are gonna make you pit that are gonna make emotional that are gonna make you sad that are gonna make you laugh

I don't mind making people laugh. And I don't think there's that many bands that do that or pull it off. No, like you said, we talked about Killing Spree. It has that sound to it. that only you can create being the writer of all these great tunes. So it's still there. Riffs like this heavy riff, but I'm singing it very cartoon-like. Yeah. Pow, wow, raw, raw, these kinds of things.

That's just it's just all me. It's all my personality. It's all my character. It's all me coming out in the song. And I'm not trying to say, well, you sound stupid doing that. No, I sometimes stupid is.

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As we start to wind down, playing stadiums, how do you like that? Because once again, there's a different way to play a stadium than there is playing an arena than there is playing a club. You don't have the same... the stadium is like you're in awe you know you're just in awe of this like what the am i in front of here you know i'm on the mic and i'm just like you you know and and and i get this response and there is like

This power. I don't know. And you have them like in the palm of your hands and you're just, you know, it's, it's crazy. It's a crazy feeling that like. I'm very aware that not very many people get to experience. Right. Right. Yeah. And then, you know, on a smaller place and I'm very lucky because scars play smaller places and stadiums. Sure. But.

I really love the smaller places. It's intimate. You get to see the last person up there or that you're very close to the first person up there. They're both different, but I give it the same energy when I go out there. yeah one is just you're standing in front of the ocean man like whenever you know and and the power of the ocean is in front of you and yeah the waves are like coming back at you and

You know, but it's also nice to go to the lake. I always notice doing stadiums that the sound travels up. because it's open air so it's never quite as loud as you might think it might be as it would be when there's a rooftop that's the biggest thing I noticed for sure yeah vocals kind of travel in a kind of a way in the state like this natural reverby thing that

Last few things, man. You mentioned being a big wrestling fan. You were in the, the, the timeless Tony storm shirt. Who are you into watching these days? Well, I watched both WWE and AEW. I think there's. good stuff happening in both. I love her character. I think she plays it well. Yeah. I think it's unique. That's why I'm repping her right now. You know what? I bought this shirt is when she went.

through the transition where she forgot who she was right and then she was like that for a couple of weeks yeah so i was like what are they doing with this i go because tony storm that character was just so original so unique and then that day that she what's the other girl's name she was walked that's the girl she had the rivalry oh mariah yeah she was walking out of the ring and and then on the mic she turned around she says

You think I forgot who I am? And I got like goosebumps, bro. I was like, yes. And I went online and I bought this t-shirt. I was like, I am now a fan. Yeah, that's great, man. But her character is great. You guys have some really good guys at AEW, man. MJF obviously goes without mention. I think the wrestling is like at a... high quality wrestlers that, you know, a lot of good guys that are in AEW. And I watch, I watch both. I, you know, I like Gunther and WWE.

It's always hard to remember, like, off the top of my head. Yeah, you got some good ones, though. I mean, yeah, Gunther's very hard-hitting. He's exciting to watch as well. I like what they've done with Chad Gable, with Lucha. Yeah, El Gran American. I think that's funny. I think that's cool. I watch a lot of wrestling. My girl will tell you, like, I just, I enjoy it. I always have. I always have. Cause I love sports, but wrestling to me brings.

Art and sport together in a way because you create this character and that's art. But what they're doing is athletic. And there is nothing else in the world like it. there's just nothing else in the world like it it's this kind of weird thing that it's just wrestling is wrestling and it's this world that mixes reality with Not reality and I don't know it's always been something that's I've been into

Since I was a kid, Saturday morning wrestling. My favorite wrestler of all time is George the Animal Steel. Oh, yeah, that's right. It's just like you believed it. That's why I like her because she plays it well. Yeah. It's such a deep, complex character. But like you said, that's the most important thing in wrestling is the characters by far.

Because you've reinvented your character. I mean, you're always Chris Jericho, but you're a different version of Chris Jericho all the time. Right. Do you have to go through people to get their approval on that? Or maybe it's... in WWE than it is in AEW. Would she be able to do Timeless Tony Storm in WWE? I don't think so because AEW probably owns the rights to the character just by proxy of the fact that...

You know, she did it on that show, like intellectual property, they might call it. But yeah, most of the time, for me, I just know when it's time to try something new. In WWE, it was a little bit more. Maybe you'd have to run it past Vince or work with Vince. But in AEW, just do it. Nobody knows how to play System of a Down or Scars on Broadway riff better than you, so no one's going to tell you really what to do. Same thing. No one knows how to play Chris Jericho better than I do.

So I kind of know when it's time to switch things up and try something new or pull something back or push something forward. It kind of becomes instinct after a while. Yeah. Honestly, it's not easy to always reinvent.

and be interesting well a lot of that comes from bowie i know you're a bowie fan as well so i always loved how he changed his persona every album But it was like you mentioned, it was still always David Bowie, but just different inflections and characters or musical styles or whatever it was. You've been able to do that. Oh, thanks, man. Thank you. Last few things. Scars on Broadway. The record comes out July 18th, I think it is. My birthday.

Oh, happy birthday to a great present. Are you going to go do more shows with Scars or kind of what's your overall plan? There's a plan to do shows, no tours so far, but I'd like to get on some festivals to start with. see where it goes from there scars kind of like system is kind of like very we play and then we don't play we play we don't play i put an album out every like five years so it's kind of like that where um

We did some shows in September. We did Aftershock Festival. We headlined the second stage, Great Response. Korn had an anniversary show in LA. We did that with them. And once again, it amazes me that Scars... Because I don't go out there and promote scars. Right. But when we do play, there are people there that really are into those scars records that trips me out just as much as.

how the system plays the 60 thousands and it's kind of like whoa they actually care because i'm thinking you know 100 kids are going to show up for scars and like a couple thousand a few thousand do and i'm like jesus christ they actually give a shit yeah it's a good feeling man it's it's good

Cause I don't always walk around with like, Hey, I'm, you know, for sure they're going to show up kind of vibe in my head. I'm very like, does anyone give a shit? Yeah, of course. Of course. Yeah. And so it's really cool when they do. Last question for you. What's your favorite song to play live when you do the system shows? Ooh. Because you guys play so long. It's like 30, 35 songs on a set.

One of the ones that I've always loved playing is one off the first record called Suggestions. I always loved playing that song. It's one of my favorites to play live. It's great, man. Well, congratulations once again. Some big shows coming up for you in a few months. New record coming out. So, dude, it's always good to talk to you, man. Congratulations.

If you're in New York, Chicago, or any, I mean, if you ever want to come out to a show. Yes. We exchanged numbers last time. Is it still the same one? Mine is the same. If yours is the same, I don't know. Let me just make sure that we got it here. Here we go. I'm actually going to text Darren whilst on the air. There it goes. My number might be different. So we got you. Got it. Perfect. We're locked in.

Well, maybe I'll come down and see you guys with AW. Anytime, man. Whatever you need. I always wanted to hit you up. No. Anytime. Anytime. I would love to. I would love to. Thanks, man. I appreciate that. Alright, dude. We'll talk to you soon, man. See you down the road. Alright, brother.

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