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System of a Down (USA)
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April 20, 19:00
Olimpiisky Sports Complex 
 Noticed for their discrete styles of dress and goatees, System of a Down presumably stands out in being one of the most unique bands in American music industry. What is more, all four members, who are of Armenian descent, also exploit a wide range of musical appliance which enriches the tunes they have created. Using baritone electric guitars, electric mandolins, sitars, 12-string classical guitars and many other East Asian instruments, they consistently produce unusual compositions about political corruption and injustices that occur in the society.
It was in 1993 when Serj Tankian (born on August 21, 1967 in Beirut, Lebanon) made an acquaintance of another band's member named Daron Malakian (born on July 18, 1975 in L.A., California) during the recording sessions with his former band in a studio. Sharing similar ideas on music, these two talented young men quickly joined forces, thus formed their own band which they called Soil. As both of them befriended a student of private Armenian school in Hollywood named Shavarsh 'Shavo' Odadjian (born on April 22, 1974 in Armenia), they asked him to be the band's manager. After a brief period, however, his status was shifted from that position to the third member of the group.
With Serj in the vocal as well as keyboard, Daron in guitar, Shavo in bass, and later Andy Khachaturian in drum, Soil continued to perform at local clubs while also started to gain more attention which largely was based on strong word of mouth. A great opportunity struck the band during their show at Viper Room in Hollywood as CEO of Maverick Records, Guy Oseary, taking along his friend, Rick Rubin of American Recordings, to the club. Upon witnessing Soil's performance, Rubin got deeply impressed, therefore offered the band a record deal under his label. He afterwards helped the personnel to find a new drummer, replacing Khachaturian who was fired due to the constant disagreements with the other members. John Dolmayan (born on July 15, 1973 in Lebanon) then was appointed to take the seat.
Looking for a new name for the band, they came up with System of a Down after Daron brought out his poem entitled "Victims of a Down" to the other members. This term was based on the idea that if people do not take any actions to make things better, they will lose their feelings and become more animal-like, turning the world into total devastation. However, the true meaning of the name has been left open to everyone's interpretation, as Serj has said: "It means different things to different people. That's the beauty of it. It's like putting art up on a wall, and going, 'what do you think of it?' It's many different things, on a personal, a political level."
By summer 1998, System of a Down released their debut album which was a self-titled one. Containing unique sound blended with strong voices on social, political and religious issues, this piece of work yielded a moderate success for the band. It went number one on Billboard Heartseeker while two of its songs called "Sugar" and "Spiders" smoothly entered the top 40 of Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart. As the band's popularity slowly flourished, they were chosen to be the opening act for Slayer besides participated on Ozzfest tours before returning to the recording studio in late 2000. Exceptionally infused with rare originality, including angular riffs, jagged rhythms, and oblique lyrics, "Toxicity" came up on September 4, 2001.
Through "Toxicity", System of a Down encountered their big break as the album was hugely praised by both critics and music listeners. This resulted to the tremendous sale of the album which reached more than 6.5 million copies worldwide, going multi Platinum in some countries. Furthermore, it also soared to the top spot of Canadian and American charts, particularly The Billboard 200. Some of its hit tracks, such as "Toxicity", "Aerials", and "Chop Suey!" even received incredible amount of national airplay throughout late 2001 and 2002 despite the controversy over the latter song due to the 9/11 attacks. This fabulous attainment unquestionably made System of a Down one of the renowned bands in the world.
Even though some of the members were busy with their side projects, for instance Daron with his record label eatURmusic and Serj with Serjical Strike Records also Serart project, the band continued releasing their next work, Steal This Album! on November 22, 2002. A collection of tunes which had already been recorded but did not fit in the previous two albums, it resulted very well although could not surpass the massive success of "Toxicity".
System of a Down spent much of 2004 working on a new record, a process that again yielded so many songs that they decided to release a double album, albeit one with two halves spaced six months apart. It was a somewhat unusual move, but as Malakian told Gavin Martin in London's Times newspaper, "if we were living in the 1960s, when people were on acid and could listen to a double album ten times in a row, they'd be released together. But we just don't have that attention span in the world of iPods."
The first installment, Mezmerize, was issued in May of 2005. Again, the band did not hesitate including political messages in their music, most notably on "B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bomb)," which posed the questions, "Why don't presidents fight the war?/Why do they always send the poor?" The song earned the band its first Grammy Award, for Best Hard Rock Performance, in 2006. The cover art for Mezmerize was done by Malakian's father, but the lyrics criticizing the U.S. war in Iraq since 2003 had an even deeper personal resonance: some of the family's relatives still live in Iraq.
The other half of the double album, Hypnotize, was released in November of 2005, and carried on the politically critical message. Its opening track, "Attack," featured the lyrics, "Bombs illustrate what we already know/Candles cry towards the sky/ Racing your flags along polluted coast/Dreaming of the day that/We attack." Though the band's songs were notably critical of geopolitical events of recent years, Malakian told Chris Riemenschneider of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, they didn't plan on naming names. "I don't believe in complaining about George Bush," he explained. "That's like getting hurt on a ride at Disneyland and complaining to Mickey Mouse about it. There are people behind the mouse."
Both 2005 releases marked a slight shift in the System of a Down line-up, with Malakian taking over lead-vocal duties on some songs from Tankian. The main songwriting duties were still shouldered by Malakian, but he relied heavily on input from others. Tankian, in particular, provided a more introspective voice, and the former software executive has published collections of his mystical poetry. He also collaborates with Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave guitarist, on a nonprofit foundation they formed called Axis of Justice, which also has a website that promotes social-justice issues. The Axis group also produces a monthly radio show heard on terrestrial radio in the Los Angeles area and nationwide by subscribers of the XM satellite-radio service.
System of a Down announced they would join the 2006 Ozzfest, and in some dates where organizer Ozzy Osbourne was not scheduled to play due to health issues, they were slated to appear as the headlining act. They also said, however, that after that tour they planned to take a hiatus to pursue some individual projects. "There's no rule that says you have to make records constantly, like clockwork, to continue being who you are," Malakian told MTV's Chris Harris. "We want to live our lives, because being in a band] really consumes a big part of your life, and sometimes you just want to stop and slow down. We started being just these guys in a band, and the next thing you know, everyone's asking for autographs. It plays with your head."
In May 2006, the band announced they were going on hiatus. Malakian confirmed the break would probably last a few years, which Odadjian specified as a minimum of three years in an interview with Guitar magazine. He told MTV, "We're not breaking up. If that was the case, we wouldn't be doing this Ozzfest. We're going to take a very long break after Ozzfest and do our own things. We've done System for over ten years, and I think it's healthy to take some rest." System of a Down's final performance before their hiatus took place on August 13, 2006 in West Palm Beach, Florida. "Tonight will be the last show we play for a long time together," Malakian told the crowd during Sunday's last performance. "We'll be back. We just don't know when."
May 2006 also saw the UK publication of a biography of the band entitled "System of a Down: Right Here in Hollywood" by writer Ben Myers. It was published in the US in 2007 through The Disinformation Company. Also in 2006, concert footage and interviews with the band concerning the importance of helping create awareness and recognition of the Armenian Genocide were featured in the film Screamers, directed by Carla Garapedian. An interview with Tankian's grandfather, a survivor of the Genocide, was also included in the film as well as Tankian's and Dolmayan's meeting with (then) Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert during which the two musicians campaigned for the United States government's official recognition of the Genocide. Footage of Tankian and Dolmayan marching with protesters outside the Turkish embassy in Washington D.C. was also used in Screamers.
Malakian announced he was forming a band called Scars on Broadway, which was joined by Dolmayan. Tankian released his debut solo album Elect the Dead in the autumn of 2007. Malakian and Dolmayan released Scars On Broadway's debut self-titled album on July 29, 2008. Dolmayan, alongside working with Scars on Broadway, formed his own band, Indicator, as well as opened Torpedo Comics, an online comic book store. Odadjian pursued his project with RZA of Wu-Tang Clan, a hip-hop group named AcHoZeN, worked on his urSESSION website/record label, and performed as a member of funk legend George Clinton's backing band.
On November 29, 2010, following several weeks of Internet rumors, System of a Down officially announced that they would be reuniting for a string of large European festival dates in June 2011. Among the announced tour dates included UK's Download Festival, Switzerland's Greenfield Festival, Germany's Rock am Ring/Rock im Park, Sweden's Metaltown, Austria's Nova Rock Festival and Finland's Provinssirock. The reunion tour commenced on May 10, 2011 in Edmonton, Alberta. System's first tour through Mexico and South America began on September 28, 2011 in Mexico City, ending in Santiago, Chile on October 7, 2011. From late February to early March 2012, they headlined five dates at Soundwave festival. This was the band's first visit to Australia since 2005. The band have continued playing around the world. On August 11 and 12, 2012, they played the Heavy MTL and Heavy T.O. music festivals in Montreal and Toronto, respectively.] On February 4, 2013, it was announced that System of a Down would play the UK's Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2013, among other festivals and venues.
In mid-March 2013, via their Facebook Page, the band hinted at an announcement of a show by posting pictures of famous Los Angeles Landmarks and asking fans to figure out "where all roads lead". Several days later, it was announced that System of a Down would play their only US Date in 2013 at the Hollywood Bowl on July 29, 2013. Tickets sold out hours after going on sale on March 22.
Asked in August 2012 whether System of a Down will record a new album, frontman Serj Tankian said that the members of System of a Down have not "really discussed another record as of now", although he later added, "when it's the right time, it'll materialize, like everything else in the universe".[20] Also in August, Dolmayan said that he would like to do a new System of a Down album in 2013.
On May 20, 2013 bassist Shavo Odadjian criticized Tankian on Facebook, accusing him of stopping the band from recording a sixth studio album. Odadjian stated, "It's not us (Daron, John or Shavo). It's Serj, who doesn't want to do a new album. So please stop harassing us about it! We are just waiting for Serj. Now He might hate me for exposing the truth but i had too. Sorry folks! We're trying to get a new album out, its just not passing Serj's rules. Kinda funny, since we started the band and now he's holding us back!" He also went as far as to comment on the possibility of replacing Tankian to get an album out sooner.
While he has since removed the posts from his page, System of a Down's official Facebook page later responded to the posts. The statement said that his statements "do not reflect the sentiments of System Of A Down as a collective band" and that they came from "a temporary state of bad judgment on his part alone". Regarding a new album, it also read "although we have not agreed on a timetable for a new album, we all believe that having the four of us do it together is the way to be true to the band and our fans." Later, while commenting on the possibility of new System of a Down material, singer Serj Tankian stated that he "can't write a forced record", an action he described as "romancing someone at a time you don't want to be romantic." He added that an album cycle requires three years and it is not "something [he] can do right now."
On September 26, 2013, Dolmayan revealed on Twitter that he had begun work on a covers album, which "should be good practice" for a new System of a Down album "sometime in the future."
In early July 2014, Dolmayan touched on the topic of new music again in an interview with Loudwire magazine, saying there are some good reasons behind why the band has not entered the studio and recorded new music. However, despite this fact, he's not entirely happy with the current state of the band.
On November 23, System of a Down announced the "Wake Up The Souls" world tour to commemorate the Armenian Genocide. It will mark 100 years since the event occurred. The tour will also feature a free show in Republic Square in Yerevan, Armenia on April 24, 2015, their very first show in Armenia.
In an interview with Rolling Stone on on January 8, 2015, regarding the "Wake Up The Souls" tour, Tankian commented on the possibility of a new album from the band, stating that there had been talk amongst the band, and that they intend to return after touring and see where they are. He continued on to say that if the band could find songs which work for them, they may begin work on a new album at that time, but had no particular plans which he could announce.
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