Daron Malakian Mug

The most talented guitarist on the face of Earth. Daron Vartan Malakian was born on July 18, 1975 in Hollywood, CA as an only child to Vartan and Zepur Malakian. Like all members of the greatest band in the world, System of a Down, he has Armenian ancestry. His love for music started when he was 4 years old. His cousin played him a KISS record and, like most people in their right mind, he loved it. Daron originally wanted to be a drummer, but his parents bought him a guitar so that they could sleep at night. He started liking heavy metal bands like Cannibal Corpse when he was a teen, but at about 17 he was listening to The Beatles. Daron was also a fan of the LA Kings hockey team. In 1993, something happened that would lead to the best thing ever. Daron met Serj Tankian. They shared the same rehearsal studio but they were in separate bands at the time. Daron played lead guitar for one band, and Serj played keyboard for the other. The beginning of System of a Down was then created. They had named this new band "Soil". Soon after, they accepted Shavo Odadjian as their bassist. Soil's name was changed to System of a Down after a poem Daron wrote named Victims of a Down. Andy Khachaturian was their drummer who was replaced by John Dolmayan. Daron wrote half of the lyrics and most of the music for System of a Down's songs. Some songs could be about the Armenian Genocide (look it up... it's terrible), crazy random stuff, and anything in between. System's debut album was released in 1998, Toxicity in 2001, Steal this Album in 2002, and Mesmerize and Hypnotize in 2005. System was a successful and unique metal band for about 13 years. They disbanded in 2006 to do "side projects". Serj went solo and Daron and John formed a band called Scars on Broadway. Neither Scars or Serj will ever be as great as System because of the perfect harmony that Daron and Serj's voices made together. *sigh*... Oh well. Daron Malakian lives in Glendale, Cali now and he collects candles, skulls, instruments, Persian rugs, and Middle Eastern smoking devices. He hates the Nu Metal label more than anything. He often plays his Ibanez Iceman which has custom graphics by his father.