Daron Malakian

37:56Where were you at professionally? Why did you decide that was the time to start the band? Well, I knew System was not going to be making records. I didn't know that we were never going to make records but at the time we were like okay we're taking a hiatus and for me I was like okay at that time I was used to like I have an outlet for my songs and my outlet for my songs was System so Scars kind of started even before I knew there was going to be a hiatus I was like I want to do this second band kind of thing. I tried out a lot of different renditions and different musicians and different things before I got to where I got on the first Scars record.

38:47But when System kind of took the hiatus, I was like, well, I got to do something here. I can't just sit here on my hands. I have songs. And so it just seemed like the natural thing to do It was like, okay, let's take this band that I was kind of working on already and put a little more focus into it. One last break and we're back with the rest of Darren Malakian. In today's super competitive business environment, the edge goes to those who push harder, move faster, and level up every tool in their arsenal. T-Mobile knows all about that. They're now the best network, according to the experts at Ooclas Speedtest, and they're using that network to launch Supermobile, the first and only business plan to combine intelligent performance, built-in security, and seamless satellite coverage.

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42:21Experience amazing at your Lexus dealer. Do you think that the fact that your parents are both artists, how does that influence the way that you make your art? Do you think there's any connection to the way you approach your work as a songwriter, as a singer, as a producer? Did you inherit any approach from your parents? Is there any commonality? Well, I watched my dad paint paintings my whole life. And my dad has never done an art exhibition. He has a house full of hundreds of paintings that he paints, but he paints them for his. He's always trying to like find something new. But it's not about showing anybody else.

43:07And I think that's where I get my thing from is where I would do it regardless because I've seen him do it regardless. Yeah. I mean, the only thing that I'm the one that put his stuff on my album covers or system album covers. Oh, you did? Well, Mesmerize Hypnotize is my dad's stuff. Oh, wow. I didn't know that. All the Scar stuff is my dad's stuff. Oh, cool. But his stuff on his own is very different than that stuff. That's me pushing him in a direction because I'm like, it's an album because his stuff's very abstract. Okay. so his approach is my approach I mean that's just kind of watching the way he does it and it wasn't like well I'm gonna watch him and take that it's just in the house this was how we did things this is how it was my mom when she was in Iraq was a sculptor and she did but when she came to the United States my mom is the responsible one yeah in the thing so she was kind of like uh saving the money and working and my dad worked too but like um you know if it wasn't for my mom like we would have just been like homeless bro bohemian art family luckily she has a side to her that was very responsible and organized so she kind of had to leave her art to the side and uh but you know she's one of those people that will sit there and in like 10 minutes can draw your face wow very um she went to school for art that's another thing where it's a little different with my dad and my mom my dad never went to school for it i never went to school but my mom is more trained as an artist in that way um but through the years like she she is an artist but had to kind of put her art to the side for yeah you understand these people came from iraq with nothing yeah like nothing and uh coming from baghdad to hollywood yeah you know and uh so So they had to make some sacrifices.

45:31And I know this is a crazy fucking thing to say, but it's true, that since I was a kid, what I do now is what I always was like. Since I saw all the early bands that I was into, it was an obsession and it was something that I was interested in. And music was always a big deal in my life. And even as a kid, in my head, I was like, and I guess I had the maturity as a kid to think this way, but it was like I knew what kind of sacrifice my parents had made. I knew that my parents were both artists and it felt like this like was your like it's my destiny like to to become one of the like this musician or the whatever it is.

46:29and then as I got older you know 8, 9, 10, 11 years old I would start telling people like I'm going to be in a band one day I'm going to do this I mean as a really young child anybody who knew me at that time will tell you he's not fucking with me he said that and he kept saying it and as I got older people would say what are the chances that that's going to happen and I go In my head, I was like, this is why my parents moved here. Wow. That's how my head was thinking. This is why this was like, this is all supposed to fucking happen. And yeah, then when they would tell me, oh, that's a long shot, or you're Armenian, no Armenians ever made it, and that kind of thing.

47:22And I was like, just watch. I have this crazy confidence. like even in high school they sent me to a thing or it's like a prophecy it's weird it happened and when it happened I got like panic attacks because I was like Jesus this fucking happened until this day till this day I get on stage and we just went and played South America and it was like 60, 70 thousand people that was insane those crowds in South America yeah but till this day I'm like dude dude, that fucking happened. Who does that happen for? I mean, do you know how many people have that dream? You know, but that's crazy. Like what, how, what was your parents' reaction to your success?

48:09They'll tell you the same thing. They'll say he was always into this. He was always saying he's going to do it. And, and they're obviously when you're like 14 years old and you're telling, and you're dropping out of high school and you're failing all your classes and, you know, you run with a crowd that's like you know fighting and all this shit your parents and then you're telling your mom i'm gonna be a musician and these are two artists that are have been struggling artists their whole life so they know what the artist life is right yeah so they were worried and it's funny because me and my mom talked about this just two or three days ago she's like at some point she told me i realized that this is what you want this is what this is what you are and uh she said i would be be like she's you know she's religious in some ways she said like i felt like i would be like sinning if if if i stood in your way yeah what you felt like this was your calling in life you know your destiny she's like at some point i just let it go and i and i supported and she did i wouldn't be here today without my mom's support she's a good mom oh she's she's amazing uh i owe her everything like she would give me i didn't have a job i didn't have shit and uh when i was 16 i started playing in bands that we needed rehearsal studios you know and i would have to ask her and we weren't rich but she would give me rehearsal studio rent every month so i can do what i do she knew that i loved music so she would let me take her credit card and go to the record store and buy me records because she knows that all i did was sit in my room and listen to records yeah yeah and she supported that man and yeah and so so watching my dad as an artist shaped me in one way but my mother's support is like priceless yeah especially the armenian armenians you know and then at some point i started painting my hair fucking pink and wearing nails on and all this fucking shit these people are from iraq you know like that takes guts on your part though i was you know as an armenian guy there was and even my friends they didn't look like that they didn't yeah that so yeah i mean i just it felt natural to me it felt right uh you know the music i was listening to at the time was like you know in my 18, 19, 20 I was like loving a lot of goth like alien sex fiend and you know when you're young you're kind of looking at people I like that style, I like that that style and that style and that style kind of together and make my own little style I do the same with the songs I write, you know I take I like that Yeah, it's like a pastiche I think the bands that do something unique do that yeah oh even if you listen to like van halen for example you know you hear yeah it's rock it's shredding but like david lee rott's vocals are not your typical fucking rock yeah kind of you know he brought in a lot of different kinds of things in that style and that's part of the reason they're so good yeah and they so you mesh this mesh that mesh that and you make this new thing because everything is inspired by something yeah it's the bands that copy that are kind of like okay i could tell you listen to tool because you sound like tool you know yeah and but the bands that kind of bring their influences and worlds together and create this new thing and you're like well that sounds familiar but that mixed with that i never heard that before and so you make some new thing with that that's exactly what system was it was so new and so different yeah and and we all are very different people in system and i think that also kind of comes out yeah in in this in the dynamic in the band like it's the personalities in our band are completely not each one of us is nothing like the other that's cool i'm glad you guys are able to still tour and still do what you're doing and i know fans are so appreciative of it and you can see that in those massive crowds in south america that was what was that experience for you like being on stage with those crowds the response was going to South America you're always like dude those are probably the best fans in the world I mean the way they are so passionate yeah uh so before I went there I would always tell everyone like dude I'm going from this quiet life to like that and and when it comes to like there's like 200 300 people outside the hotel room really like the second and you stick your head out of the window, it's like, you know.

53:41Yeah, it's – That's like the stuff you'd see from like Madonna and Michael Jackson back in the day. It's like that. It is. It's like that. But this time around, because we'd been there before. Yeah. This time around, the crowd – so they would bring these flares and it was a lot of them. So I posted that and I posted, oh, check out the pyro. I wrote something like the pyromaniacs in Peru or something like that. But every show we did after that, it was like the crowd started one-upping each other with the players and the fires. And then they started seeing footage of people breathing fire into the thing.

54:23So then I made it a thing where I was like, because we never have pyro on stage. So I turned and said, you notice that we don't have any pyro on stage, but our fans, they break the fire. and uh and so by the time we got to that last show in sao paulo it was a it was a scene that i never seen that with my band or i never seen that anyone else's band i've never seen a crowd that big i mean i've seen crowds that big i just never seen that much fire yeah the fire and then It's smoky too, so it creates this really spooky ambiance. It's like you're in hell, but it's like a party. Yeah. It's crazy. I don't know, man.

55:11I mean, we haven't put out an album with the system in so many years. And it feels like when I go outside and I meet the fans, I'm not meeting people that are my age. I'm meeting people that are 18. Wow. four, 30, around that age where some of these people were not even born when our last album came out. That's crazy. So the fact that the music has still you know, it's still lived with people and some people are either rediscovering or just discovering it, you know, it means a lot to me, man. obviously as someone like I told you before dreamt from a really young age that this is my life this is what I'm going to do and it's still happening and I'm this many years in and I have I got two bands that seem like I get a response and we get a response with these bands And it's still something that, you know, sometimes people who do it as long as I've been doing it kind of be like, oh, yeah, that is what it is.

56:35But it's not like that for me, man. For me, I'm like, I still can't believe this is happening. That's so cool. So when you do run into people and you have more time to talk to them beyond like, hey, can I get a picture? What are people asking you about system? Like, what's the most common thing people ask? well when I meet them face to face like that they don't really ask me anything they're I mean South America they were shaking and crying wow and so I'm like I always have to be kind of like you know I would try to ask like what's your name personal make them realize that I'm a human being like because for them I'm like this feels like I'm some cartoon character you know that came to life in front of their eyes just you know try to put them at ease show them i appreciate them but obviously the question that comes the most when it comes to system is like are you guys gonna make another album and you know all that stuff and for now i'm happy we we got those albums like i said people have just discovered it people rediscover it or people have lived with it and it's become the fabric of some of their lives um and that's cool man and and so i don't really entertain the whole like if you talk to me maybe like 10 years ago i might have like a little bit more like oh i wish we should make more yeah how much time has passed i'm kind of like i don't know i i mean if it happens it happens i'm not really pushing for it so much yeah the thing is we really get along as friends.

58:22And we always have as friends. But then when band politics comes into the thing, that's when the resentments come in and all this shit comes in. And we're kind of like hanging out again as a band, which we hadn't done. You know, Serge and I hadn't really hung out that much in the last quite some time. Serge and I text each other. Serge and I see each other. Serge and I feel friendly and friends and have kind of reconnected that. I don't know. I don't want something. I'm enjoying that. That must feel so good. It does because I never hated any one of my band members. We each had certain issues with each other within the band.

59:14but take the band out of the situation I think we all really like each other as people and as friends that's why it's like some bands stay together and make records together but they can't stand each other through all the years we don't have that we've never been the guys that were like well I can't be in the same room with that guy it's never been that way with System and I think fans need to hear that because fans think that Serge and I hate each other and they pick sides. They're like, I'm on team Serge and I'm on team Darren. And it's like, you guys don't realize that we love each other. Like we don't hate each other.

59:59You guys don't need to get on teams. You guys like us both. Yeah. People love conflict. and it becomes the that's the sad thing for me is because it becomes clickbait and it becomes all this crap and i'm like it's not really showing an accurate picture of what we're really like and how we really feel about each other yeah well i'm happy to hear that i'm happy there's love there and that you're reconnecting and i don't know that sounds like a step in the right direction Maybe something will happen. If it doesn't, it doesn't. I mean, you have you're you have a whole nother outlet. And, you know, you've made do.

1:00:42yeah and another thing is when there's so much of a gap between that last record and then something if we it just for me i like to see evolution and when we stopped scars became my new evolution yeah with my writing and those albums will be those albums and they've lived with people for such a long time that anything we do it feels like might even be criticized and be like well it's not as good well it's different time it's going to be compared for sure like there's something nostalgic about the old stuff and you can't fuck with nostalgia yeah no i know it means so much to so many people years have gone by and years of people living with that and so you can't just make up years that that's something that is just organic and in a natural way that things moved you know yeah but you guys have always been so authentic like whatever comes out will be authentic i'm not saying it would suck yeah it might be fucking good it might be i have so many songs that if the band wants to do that yeah i have music that i already know would be on that that's not going to happen I will take that music and put it onto a scars record and the the two songs that we did a few years ago protect the land uh well protect the land was supposed to be on addicted to the violence oh but because there was uh the war in arts off yeah and we wanted to say something because we had a platform and nobody was talking about it so we all got on the phone and we're like well maybe we should release two songs and i was like i have a song that's about that like and i didn't even and i wrote that song before the conflict happened it's just weird yeah that is weird um and so uh out and so i was kind of like willing like okay i'll take that song off the scars record and well we had it recorded i had all my vocals on that song are from my Scars recording.

1:03:05We just had John play the drums and Shavo play the bass and Serge kind of sang with me. But my vocals from that track are all from my Scars session. So the song was pretty much the same. Yeah. Except we brought in different people to perform it. Yeah. You know, I'm proud of that. it's cool that we did that but if i didn't take that to system it would have been a scar song if mesmerized and hypnotized never became system records lost in hollywood lonely day maybe i mean by all of that shit would have been scar stuff i want to ask you speaking of of those albums i want to ask you about soldier side yeah was there a read that's such a beautiful song was there a reason you put that just thinking about the track list was there a reason you put that as the last song well the intro of soldier side comes in in the beginning of mesmerize and then the rest of the song is the last song we didn't know that it was going to be a double album when we were in there recording the songs neither and i didn't know that when i was writing the song i the thing with me is I always brought in a lot of songs to those sessions.

1:04:27Toxicity had Toxicity, but then we had Steal This Album, but all the Steal This Album stuff was from Toxicity sessions. And that's just because I would just bring in so many songs because for me, I was like just writing like crazy, focused, and here, guys, and let's pick the best ones, you know? yeah and um so same with mesmerized hypnotized i came in with like 30 songs or more then we still have stuff that we hadn't even haven't even released off mesmerized and hypnotized that nobody's heard that we listen back to we're like shit we forgot we had this um put it out uh well there you go you got a little at least an ep maybe put that out that's peak system we'll see it's some of it i felt like just wasn't good enough to be on the record you know yeah you know the what we did with steal this album was those songs we felt like weren't as good as maybe the ones on toxicity but then somebody leaked them and they were they were leaked in a way that we're like well we didn't want them that way so what we did was go back in the studio and make them as good as what should have been on toxicity so we rearranged we did that so if we ever did that with the mesmerize and that's something we would have to do with those songs as well because there's something i don't know i look at them and i'm like ah this could be better that could be better so they need to be redone if that's ever gonna happen but going back to the soldier side thing so we have the thought of making a double album came up along the way and so in my head i was like why don't we use the intro portion of soldier side as the intro for mesmerize and then end the album with the song and it yeah yeah yeah yeah so when if you heard both records and then you listen hypnotize and that comes back at the end the way it started in the beginning it just bookended both of the records in a kind of creative in a very if i was a listener i would be like wow that that just came back from that like you know and and the records were also not released together there was months or I don't remember how yeah they were apart so I just thought it was just this cool emotional thing that would happen to the listener yes if if they if it all comes back at the way end of the second one you know I love when artists are thoughtful like that you know because there are a lot of listeners who appreciate that well you're creating a painting at the end of the day and once again going back to my dad and how i see records and how i see albums you're creating this work it's not just okay individual songs but it's this it's an album yeah and i know people nowadays don't have attention spans on but i still make albums I want the album to flow song into song into song, and there's a reason why I ended it that way.

1:07:59Addicted to the Violence is the last song, the title track, but it's the last song on the record. And it's this really kind of, for me, the song has this epic, the keyboards and the mood, but the way the song ends, and it just goes, boom. And it reminds me of the day in the life of the Beatles, where it just kind of ends. And it feels like an ending, like da-da. Yeah. And I wanted the album to end with that vibe. It felt, I don't know, that's just the picture I wanted to paint. Yeah, no, that's cool. We've been thinking about this just at Broken Record, talking to other people I work with, and this is a random question, but curious where you'll go with it.

1:08:46who do you think are the best like the five best american bands jesus van halen for me i i love van halen and it ain't because like it ain't because my favorite part of van halen is alex and dave to be honest and that's weird coming from a guitar player yeah I love Alex Van Halen. I'm a huge fan of his drumming. And David Lee Roth as a vocalist. And it's just, to me, it's such a complete rock. It's what a great rock band should be. It's that energy of all the David Lee Roth stuff. That's a good pick. But then, you know, Grateful Dead. I love the Grateful Dead. Me too. Shit. Even people ask me questions like this.

1:09:43I always walk away and I'm like, shit, I should have mentioned that guy. Yeah, no, it's hard to be put on the spot. But it's also kind of like, yeah, it's an interesting thing because a lot of you go to like British bands usually. But American is a whole different thing. Yeah. Fuck, man. I didn't expect the question. I know. No. And then you could think like, you know, do the Beach Boys count? Oh, yes. Thank you. I don't know do they they do yes they do okay so the Beach Boys and then what about newer bands um does Nirvana is Nirvana one of the best Guns N' Roses you know there's so many places you can go with it Sly and the Family Stone yeah uh Earth Wind and Fire do they count yeah all count yeah I mean I mentioned there is is good stuff it's great but you know everyone has their taste on you know who they think is the best like uh you know nirvana was a great band but yeah did they impact me as much as you know some other people you know i don't know did you great you know but yeah do you go to dead shows did you used to go to dead shows not a lot i wasn't like following them but i would i saw them at the la sports arena when jerry garcia was still alive on and i was on mushrooms so it was really good they're so good they're just like a good band to have just playing in the house like throughout the day american beauty is one of the just one of my favorite albums man yeah from top to bottom is uh i know they're known as a jam band but yeah Those songs on those records, Ripple, Box of Rain.

1:11:33Yeah. Oh, I love that you love that. That's so nice. I wouldn't have expected that. Great, great songs. Some of my favorite songs. But you said the Beach Boys, you know, early Beach Boys. I love the 2020 album is such a good fucking album. I loved it. I know Pet Sounds is the one that everyone talks about, but there's more to the Beach Boys than just Pet Sounds, man. Yeah. Vocal harmonies. I don't know, great bands. I don't know. The Everly Brothers get considered as a band. I don't know. They inspired so many people. Like those, you know, aside from bands, you have just a lot of individuals in American rock that, obviously Elvis Neil Young he's Canadian though when people ask me about some of my favorite guitar players I always bring up Neil Young he's not a shredder he does his thing but I love that thing oh let's not forget the Ramones should be yeah the Ramones are so awesome Ramones definitely should be mentioned in that they're so awesome I love them a lot of great punk bands the Dead Boys the misfits all american bands uh bad brains yeah were you into like hardcore like new york city hardcore or the bands coming out of dc were you into that too sure uh like minor threat yeah like fugazi and all that i love fugazi oh cool um was there anything else you wanted to say or talk about with a new album that we didn't cover?

1:13:17You know, it's just, I don't put out albums a lot, but when I do, it's something I really believe in. Like, for example, if 10 years down the line, people ask me, well, what are some of the most proudest moments you've had as a songwriter? The song Addicted to the Violence will come up, just like aerials or just like anything i've done with system just like babylon is one of those songs uh there's a song called till the end on the second scars record these songs that i i've had these moments where i'm very kind of you know you have a lot of children but some of your children kind of you have this pride i don't have any children but i'm saying but i'm saying if people who have a lot of children you know you have some that you might be a little bit more proud of than so there's stuff on this record like shame game or addicted to the violence or um it's just if you ask me 10 years from now I guarantee I will tell you that those songs will fall into the group of songs that I'm very very proud of in my history or in my you know discography or whatever that's awesome it's awesome you can still do it and that you still have this band and that you have you have so much pride in in the new music that you're making I wouldn't put it out if I didn't have that I second guess myself constantly and I'm very picky about what I put out there dude I have a rolodex of songs I have albums worth of songs that I'm still tinkering with playing with people are like well it takes forever for you to take put out albums and i'm like well when i put out an album that album is forever yeah no that's real so i will take forever to make sure that that song is finished or you know you're cooking food it's ready to eat yeah you know it's it's not half baked it's a It's ready to go.

1:15:50It's ready to be absorbed, taken. And, and I make that decision. Yeah. I see it and I see, well, it's finished and it's ready to record. And if it takes me forever to do it, I will take forever to do it, to put out something that's going to be forever out there. Makes sense. Yeah. That makes sense. Cool. Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you talking. It's been so nice. Yeah. I appreciate you doing this.

1:16:49Our engineer is Ben Tallade. Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries. If you love this show and others from Pushkin, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus is a podcast subscription that offers bonus content and ad-free listening for$4.99 a month. Look for Pushkin Plus on Apple Podcast subscriptions. And if you like this show, please remember to share, rate, and review us on your podcast app. Our theme music's by Kenny Beats. I'm Justin Richman.

1:17:23The more you learn about your favorite artists, the more you want to know. Claude helps you keep digging, finding new threads and rabbit holes to explore. Whether it's discovering deeper meaning behind a detail in an interview or figuring out the influence behind an artist's particular era. Claude thinks with you to find the next clue. If you can't get enough of the stories behind your favorite music and artists, Claude will help you discover new layers you didn't know existed. Try Claude for free at Claude.ai slash Broken Record. This episode of Broken Record is brought to you by Chase Sapphire Reserve.

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