Band of Zhys: 2009

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Biography Synyster Gates

Brian Elwin Haner, Jr. (born July 7, 1981), better known by his stage name Synyster Gates or simply Syn, is an American musician. He is currently the lead guitarist for Heavy Metal band Avenged Sevenfold.

Early

Haner went to Mayfair High School in Lakewood, California and also Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach, California.

Haner attended, but did not graduate from, the Musicians Institute in Hollywood as part of the GIT program, studying jazz guitar. Up until that time he was primarily self taught by watching music videos and reading books, which is surprising because his father was/is a songwriter and guitar player, having played with Frank Zappa during his career. After six or so months of being there, he got a phone call from The Rev (and the rest of the current line up of Avenged Sevenfold) asking him if he wanted to join the band as lead guitarist. Haner joined up with them rather than continuing his education and becoming a studio musician.

Avenged Sevenfold

Brian joined Avenged Sevenfold when he was 18 at the end of 1999, right before the recording of the band's first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. He was featured on their EP, "Warmness on the Soul", and on the reissue of their first album. He also plays piano for the band on songs such as "Beast and the Harlot" and "Sidewinder", though a friend of the band, bassist Justin Meacham, played the piano on Warmness on the Soul.

In the Avenged Sevenfold DVD All Excess, to emphasize the seemingly random placing of names, Brian stated that his name was thought of on a drunken drive through the park with The Rev. His exact words were: "I am Synyster Gates, and I am awesome!"

He has won numerous awards, including the "Young Shredder" award of the year in the Metal Hammer awards in 2006 and the "Guitarist of the Year" Award for Total Guitar Magazine in 2006.

Pinkly Smooth

Haner was also a member of the "Avant-garde Metal" band Pinkly Smooth with The Rev and Justin Meacham. Pinkly Smooth was disbanded because Haner and The Rev wished to focus full-time on Avenged Sevenfold, although when asked recently, they both revealed there is a new side project being planned, featuring the two playing older Pinkly Smooth tunes.

Personal Life

Brian has a younger brother Brent and a younger sister McKenna. His father, Brian Haner Sr., is a musician and comedian known as "Guitar Guy", and is currently on tour with Jeff Dunham. He has a fiance named Michelle DiBenedetto, Valary DiBenedetto's twin sister and M Shadows wife.

Haner cites Django Reinhardt, Dimebag Darrell, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, John Petrucci, Adam Aparicio and Francis Canavan as his favorite guitarists and major influences[citation needed]. In June 2008 Guitar World magazine interviewed Brian, reader Shawn Butterfield asked "You're one hell of a guitarist. But who do you really look up to?" to which he responded "Definitely Slash, the Ozzy guitar dudes, Alexi Laiho from Children of Bodom, Jimi Hendrix of course, Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin, a lot man!".

Equipment

Gates is endorsed by Schecter Guitars, as is Zacky Vengeance, almost all of his guitars are customised and fitted with Seymour Duncan Invader pickups. He has his own custom, The Schecter Synyster Custom and Schecter Synyster Standard, both of which are avalible for sale to the public. Also through his time with Schecter Guitars he has had made several variations of his custom model that are not available to the public but can be seen on music videos, the A7X dvds, and in youtube videos as well. He has also used a White 2003 Schecter C1-FR which specifications are as follows per Schecter Guitars. In the Unholy Confessions video he is seen playing a white Gibson Les Paul. Synyster Gates and Zacky Vangeance use Marshall amps on tour.

Aside from his guitar he plays onstage, here is the list of the variations of his custom model.

The Original Synyster Custom (Black with Silver Pimp Stripes)
The Afterlife Synyster Custom (White with Gold Pimp Stripes: As seen in the Afterlife Music Video.)
The American Flag Synyster Custom (American Flag on the Body with no pimp stripes and a white headstock)
The German Flag Synyster Custom (The German Flag on the body with no pimp stripes and a matching headstock)
The First Synyster Custom (Not released to the public, Black with Red Pimp Stripes: As seen in the Beast And The Harlot video)
The Rebel Flag Synyster Custom (Rebel Flag without pimp stripes with a matching headstock)
The Red Synyster Custom (This guitar is very rare to see, theres a video on youtube with it, Synyster Gates - Let Me Be Your Wings Video, it is completely red with black pimp stripes and a matching headstock.)

White 2003 Schecter C1-FR

Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom strings
Mahogany body
Set Maple Neck
Rosewood Fingerboard
Black Hardware
Original Made in Germany Floyd Rose Recessed bridge
Master Volume Master Tone (push/pull pot on time control for tap on both pick ups)
3 Way Toggle Switch
Side football jack plate
Schaller Strap locking System
Floyd Rose R2 locking Nut
Grover Tuning peg
Gray Pearl Binding on body
Dot inlays
USA Duncan Invader pickups in white
Black pickup mounting ring
Black head stock
Solid White body
Black Dome knobs on Control

Biography Johnny Christ

Jonathan Lewis Seward, (born November 18, 1984), better known by his stage name Johnny Christ, is the bassist of the band

Avenged Sevenfold. Johnny Christ was the fourth bassist to join Avenged Sevenfold in 2002 replacing former members Dameon Ash and Justin Sane. He grew up in Huntington Beach, California. Johnny is the younger brother of a schoolmate of Synyster Gates and recalls The Rev and Synyster picking on him as a child in high school.

Early years

Johnny Christ attended Marina High School in Huntington Beach, California. He proceeded through high school and eventually formally met M. Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, Synyster Gates, and The Rev (the later of the two which he already knew from school) through his older brother. He is also friends with Zacky Vengeance's younger brother Matt Baker formerly from the band The Dear & Departed. He is married to Lacey Seward.

Musical career

Johnny initially took a few weeks off from high school during his senior year to fill in for Avenged Sevenfold's previous bassist, Dameon Ash, during one of their tours. These few weeks would become permanent as Johnny dropped out of high school to become the band's current bassist. When the band was practicing in M. Shadows's parent's garage, Johnny would walk down the street and tell them that their bassist was inadequate and that they should let him play with them instead. Johnny has known The Rev since he was in kindergarten. His two biggest influences are Cliff Burton (now deceased bassist for Metallica) and Duff McKagan (the bassist from Velvet Revolver and formerly Guns N Roses). The person that inspired him the most to pick up a bass was Les Claypool, the bassist and vocalist from Primus. His playing style varies by song. While he primarily finger picks, he also is adept with a pick for faster songs, such as Beast and the Harlot and Bat Country. Johnny first recorded on their second album Waking the Fallen. He used to write only Johnny on his autographs until Zacky came up with the name 'Johnny Christ', and in All Excess he said, "That sounds... really ballsy. Everyone's gonna hate that, so... I should definitely go with that!" He resides in Huntington Beach, Orange County.

Equipment

Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray Custom Black W/ Steel Pickguard
Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray W/ Custom "Mr.Death" Graphic
Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray Custom Grey Burst W/ Matching Head Stock
Ernie Ball Musicman Sterling (2H) Bass
Ernie Ball Musicman 30th Anniversary Stingray
Seymour Duncan Pickups
Gallien Krueger 412 Neo cab
Gallien Kruger 410RBH Cabs x2
Gallien Krueger 2001 RB Head x2
Ernie Ball 2831 Power Slinky Bass Strings

Also Seen In Recording:

Visual Sound H20 Chorus & Echo
Tech 21 SansAmp RBI Bass Driver DI
Ampeg SVT CL Head
Dunlop CryBaby Bass WAH
Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray 5 Red w/ White Pick Guard
Line6 Bass Pod

Old Setup:

Ernie Ball Musicman Sterling Bass Black/Black
Ampeg SVT 8x10 Cab
Gallien Krueger 1001 RB Head
Ernie Ball 2831 Power Slinky Bass Strings

Biography The Rev

James Owen Sullivan, (born February 10, 1981) is better known by his stage name, The Rev, or The Reverend Tholomew Plague is the drummer and secondary vocalist for the metalcore band Avenged Sevenfold, and lead vocalist in the Avant-Garde Metal band Pinkly Smooth with fellow Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Synyster Gates.

Early

In his years at school, The Rev was expelled five times. One of the schools was a catholic school which he attended with M.Shadows(A7X lead vocalist), but were both kicked out in 2nd grade. Also, The Rev has been arrested a total of 7 times for incidents such as bar fights. This is the reason he has a pair of handcuffs tattooed on his neck, to remind him of his arrests. Some of The Rev's other tattoos consist of a football shirt(actual size) on his back with "Sullivan" and the number 0 on it. He also has a zombie Virgin Mary on his left arm. He had been raised Catholic so it seemed a good idea to get one. This was his first tattoo at the age of 18. His own version of the Deathbat is tattooed on his right arm. He has "FICTION" tattooed down the middle of his chest. His reason for this is: "If I told you a story of my life, you would never believe it. So it is like fiction". He has many other tattoos creating two full sleeves on both arms, one more on his chest, and one which he says he can't show to anybody. "I claw at this tattoo some nights to try and get it off. I think I might have it covered up soon, I don't know why I had it done in the first place." He also has a tattoo on his left ring finger in honor of his fiance former porn star Leana Silver.

Avenged Sevenfold & Pinkly Smooth

Recognized for vocals and piano in side project Pinkly Smooth, Jimmy is utilized as a back-up vocalist in Avenged Sevenfold. Besides screaming with lead vocalist M. Shadows in songs Chapter Four and Eternal Rest, the song Critical Acclaim features Sullivan on lead vocals during the bridge of the song, both singing and screaming. His vocals are also featured in other songs from the Avenged Sevenfold eponymous album, such as "A Little Piece of Heaven", "Brompton Cocktail", "Afterlife", and "Almost Easy". The Rev is known for his "drumstick spinning" and amazing ability to write songs such as Afterlife.

Biography Zacky Vengeance

Zachary James Baker, (born December 11, 1981) is better known by his stage name Zacky Vengeance, is the rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist for the American Hard Rock band Avenged Sevenfold.

Biography

In the Avenged Sevenfold DVD All Excess he recalls that before Avenged Sevenfold, he was in a one time punk band called MPA*, which stands for Mad Porno Action. He implies that they were not successful. He and M. Shadows (who at the time was singer for a band named Successful Failure) formed Avenged Sevenfold. He was also responsible for the creation of the acronym "A7X". He is left-handed. He taught himself how to play the guitar when he was thirteen.

The guitar he first learned on was actually his dad's, who was right-handed. He learned by watching his favorite bands and other people he knew who played and practiced as much as he could. He would also read each edition of Guitar World cover to cover, learning the tabs of the songs published in there and watching the professionals perform it until he got it right. His influences in his style are Rancid, Misfits and Bad Religion. Zacky's favorite bands also include Pantera, Metallica, ELIXIR, and Guns N Roses.

Personal Life

Zacky V. Presents... logo

Zacky released a clothing line called "Vengeance University." He just released a new site called Vengenz.com. The line currently features t-shirts, hoodies, and belt buckles. Many, if not all of the shirts in the line include his trademark "Est. 6661". The site is updated weekly with photos of travels and a "Gangster of the Week". He has a sister named Zina Baker, who is now named Zina Pacheco. His sister has two kids named Gianna and Gavin. He has a brother named Matt Baker, who was with the band Dear & Departed. His parents are named James and Maria. Taught himself to play guitar on his fathers guitar when he was thirteen years old.

Equipment

Guitars

Zacky uses Schecter Guitars, and endorses the company.

The Vengeance custom S-1
The Vengeance Standard model
The ZV special
The ZV Blade
"Gynecologist"(blood splatter)
Zacky has many custom shop S-1 models made exclusively for him.
All models are loaded with Seymour Duncan JB Pickups

Zacky has been seen using 2 Fender Telecasters in recent live performances.

Amplifiers

Bogner Ubershall and Caveman Head
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Head
Marshall JCM-2000

Speaker cabinets

Bogner Uberkab 4x12 Cabinet
Mesa/Boogie Rectifier Cabinet

Effects units and accessories

Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner
Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor
Visual Sound H2O Liquid Chorus
Line 6 Tonecore Coise Constrictor
Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler
Line 6 PODxt Pro
Seymour Duncan SFX-01 Pickup Booster
Voodoo Lab PEDAL POWER 2
Voodoo Lab GCX Audio Switcher
Ernie Ball "Skinny Top, Heavy Bottom 10-52" strings
Dunlop Tortex Yellow plectrums 0.73mm (Avenged Sevenfold logo)
White Get'm Get'm Sergeant Stripes Strap

Biography M. Shadows

Matthew Charles Sanders, (born July 31,1981) is better known by his stage name M. Shadows, is currently the vocalist for the American band Avenged Sevenfold.

Biography

In his youth, Shadows was notorious for his disorderly conduct and misbehavior. He was quoted as saying "I was in between a good kid and a terrible kid - I had a good heart, but a terrible attitude." He attended Huntington Beach High School and was expelled from his middle school in the eighth grade. As the band was just starting out, he was the darker kid of the band (hence the name "Shadows") but he also wanted to incorporate his name, Matt, into his stage name. Matt was reduced to "M" because it had a better ring when combined with his stage name and ever since he has been known as M. Shadows.

Early

Matt used to play the piano before he began to sing in his first band, "Successful Failure". When he was growing up, he listened to a lot of punk rock such as H2O and The Misfits and got into the metal scene when his father bought him Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses after he had seen them on MTV's Headbanger's Ball.

In following years, Shadows formed a number of bands with Avenged Sevenfold's rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance. Zacky was previously a member of a punk group called 'MPA-(Mad Porno Action)'. Shadows was in a band called Successful Failure in which The Rev was slotted to play drums (but was admittedly too good). While in this band he penned the song "Streets," which would later be recorded after Avenged Sevenfold was formed, and released on the first album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet. The album was a mix of metalcore and Punk rock but also includes a softer, more ballad-like song (Warmness On The Soul).

In Decemeber 2008, he married his longtime girlfriend, Valary DiBenedetto.

Avenged Sevenfold

Shadows has stated that he feels a strong support for the troops serving the United States, having very close friends who are currently in service in Iraq. The song "M.I.A." ("Missing In Action") was reportedly written in tribute to these friends. The song "Gunslinger" from Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album further expresses these feelings (though it was stated in the album's extra MVI that it's not just about troops - "It can be about anyone away from home, missing their families.") The song "Critical Acclaim" can be interpreted as an attack to those who criticize the soldiers fighting in Iraq.

Shadows has made guest appearances on numerous albums by numerous different artists. He also produced The Confession's 2007 album, Requiem, which, according to an interview, was one of the first steps which led to Avenged Sevenfold self-producing their 2007 self-titled album.

Vocal style

In the band's debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, M. Shadows' vocals had a heavy metalcore influence and consisted mostly of screaming and guttural growls. This style gradually decreased in later albums into more conventional clean singing and had been almost completely jettisoned (with the exception of backing introduction screams) by the release of City of Evil, the band's major label debut. Despite having admitted minor throat surgery this was not a cause for the change and in an interview on All Excess, manager Larry Jacobson states that Shadows had decided several years before the making of City of Evil that it would be an all singing album. He had made it clear to their producer, Mudrock, that the album they were working on at the time Waking the Fallen would be half singing and half screaming, and that the next would be all singing. Because of his unique style, the Philadelphia Eagles have contacted him about singing the national anthem for Andy Reid's birthday at Lincoln Financial Field in 2009. In the past Shadows would sing on all parts of the songs during live performances, supporting the theory that he was no longer able to scream or growl. Perhaps becoming fed up with those claims, Shadows has resumed screaming again during live shows, this can be seen in the band's new live DVD "Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough" In almost all of the songs in the DVD, he does a 5 to 7 second long scream, and does some screaming vocals for Second Heartbeat and Unholy Confessions. Some of Shadows' biggest musical influences are Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, Mr. Bungle, Queen and Guns N' Roses.

Band members Avenged Sefenvold

M. Shadows — lead vocals, keyboards, guitars, synth, organ
Zacky Vengeance — rhythm guitar, acoustic guitars, backing vocals, piano
The Rev — drums, percussion, backing vocals, piano
Synyster Gates — lead guitar, backing vocals, piano, keys, synth, organ
Johnny Christ — bass, backing vocals

Avenged Sevenfold

Avenged Sevenfold is an American rock band from Orange County, California, formed in 1999. The band has achieved mainstream success with their 2005 album City of Evil, which included singles such as "Burn It Down", "Bat Country," "Beast and the Harlot" and "Seize the Day." The band's success followed with their self-titled album, with singles such as "Critical Acclaim", "Almost Easy", "Afterlife", "Scream", and "Dear God".

History

Inception (1999-2004)

The band was formed in 1999 in Huntington Beach, California with original members M Shadows, Zacky Vengeance, The Rev. and Matt Wendt. In the band's first few years, they released two demos in the years 1999 and 2000, entitled 1999 Demo and 2000 Demo. "These demos were to be used to help them get signed to a record label", so says M. Shadows[citation needed], on the All Excess DVD. Avenged Sevenfold's debut album, Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, was recorded when the band members were just eighteen years old and in high school. It was originally released on their first label, Good Life Recordings in 2001. After lead guitarist Synyster Gates joined the band, the introductory track "To End The Rapture" was re-recorded with the removal of the piano track. The album was subsequently re-released on Hopeless Records in 2002. Having settled on their fourth bassist (Johnny Christ), a follow-up album, entitled Waking the Fallen was released on the same label in 2003. Shortly after its release, Avenged Sevenfold was signed to Warner Bros. Records.

City of Evil (2005–2007)

City of Evil, the band's third album, was released on June 7, 2005. Propelled by the success of the first single "Bat Country" and its accompanying music video, the album sold well and became Avenged Sevenfold's first gold record. City of Evil strayed away from the band's previous metalcore sound and M. Shadows chose to abandon the screaming vocals from the first two albums. Although Shadows acknowledges that he sustained throat and vocal cord damage after Waking the Fallen and later required surgery to help correct the problem, he states that the change in vocal style was not a result of this issue. In their DVD All Excess, Mudrock, producer of Avenged's second and third albums, said prior to Waking the Fallen, Shadows had stated that he wanted a CD with half-screaming, then one with no screaming, which was achieved in City of Evil.

Avenged Sevenfold (2007-2008)

Avenged Sevenfold's mainstream success got them an invitation to 2006's Ozzfest tour on the main stage, alongside other well known hard rock and heavy metal acts DragonForce, Lacuna Coil, Hatebreed, Disturbed, and System of a Down. That same year they also completed a worldwide tour, including the US, The United Kingdom (as well as mainland Europe), Japan, Australia and New Zealand. After canceling Fall and Winter 2006 tour dates, the band announced that they were planning their fourth studio album, a self-titled album. M. Shadows has stated that it would not be a City of Evil Part 2 or Waking the Fallen Part 2, but he says it will attract fans of both original albums while still being a surprise. They played their first tour dates of 2007 on an Asian tour with stops in Indonesia, Singapore, and Japan. To "tide fans over" until the release of the new album, Avenged Sevenfold released their first DVD, All Excess, on July 17, 2007. All Excess debuted as the #1 DVD in the USA which included a documentary and live footage dating back to 1999 along with music videos and the making of the Seize the Day music video.

Before the self titled album was released, two tribute albums, that were composed by various artists as Instrumental cover albums were released. On October 9, 2007, the cover albums entitled, Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: Bat Wings and Broken Strings, and Strung Out on Avenged Sevenfold: The String Tribute were released to the public by Vitamin Records & Copycat Records. The self titled album was then released out on October 30, 2007 to early success, debuting at #4 on the Billboard 200 with approximately 94,000 copies sold. Two singles, "Critical Acclaim" and "Almost Easy" along with its music video, were released prior to the album. An animated video was made for "A Little Piece of Heaven" and was going to be included on the MVI, but due to the song's subject matter (i.e. Necrophilia), Warner Brothers released it to registered MVI users over the internet in December 2007. The third single, "Afterlife" and its video was released in January 2008. Avenged Sevenfold has confirmed that their fourth single is the country rock style song "Dear God".

Recent events (2008-present)

They recently headlined the Taste of Chaos tour with Atreyu, Bullet for My Valentine, Blessthefall and Idiot Pilot. Guitarist Zacky Vengeance confirmed in an interview that the band had recently entered the studio to record two new cover songs from metal giants Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath. On July 16 (Issue 1219), Kerrang! released a free CD, Maiden Heaven: A Tribute to Iron Maiden as a tribute album to heavy metal band, Iron Maiden. It features Avenged Sevenfold covering the song "Flash of the Blade". "Maiden are by far the best live band in the world and their music is timeless," quoted by vocalist M Shadows. "This also gives us a chance to expose this great song to some of our younger fans who maybe aren't as familiar with Iron Maiden." Avenged Sevenfold was awarded "Album of the Year" at the Kerrang! Awards. M. Shadows said this to the fans: "Receiving such an honor in the United Kingdom means so much to us because England has become like a second home. This summer has been the best of our career. We've seen so many of you in so many countries and you've all touched us. We're so proud of how much love our fans in the US have always shown us. And now it means the world to us to know how many of you around the globe have been touched by our music. Thanks you from the bottom of our hearts."During a recent festival performance in Leeds & Reading, UK, of which was sold out, the band were forced to shorten the Leeds performance and canceled the Reading performance altogether due to M. Shadows being told by his doctors in Los Angeles and the UK to rest his voice due to vocal strain. A few days later, the band was forced to announce the cancellation of the remaining September shows, with the tour set to resume again on October 15.

Avenged Sevenfold's most recent release, Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough, a two-disc B-sides CD and live DVD, was released on September 16, 2008.

On January 12, 2009, Metal Hammer.com announced that Avenged Sevenfold would be covering the song, "Paranoid" By Black Sabbath, as part of a compilation album that will be released by Warner Bros. Records. The compilation album is entitled, Covered, A Revolution in Sound. The band originally wanted to cover, Strubb (A Dub) By Mr. Bungle, however was not able to once given a list of songs they could cover by Warner Bros.

On January 17, 2009, in an interview with Avenged Sevenfold, Metal Hammer.com was told by M. Shadows that the band will begin to write a follow up album to Avenged Sevenfold within the upcoming months. Covered: A Revolution In Sound will be available to download and purchase on March 10, 2009, with the track, "Paranoid".

On February 6, 2009, according to Metal Hammer.com announced that Lick Library has announced that they will be releasing a Guitar Tutorial DVD, which include the five tracks, Afterlife, Almost Easy, Bat Country, Beast and the Harlot, and Trashed And Scattered, breaking down the guitar solos and riffs in each song.

On February 13, 2009, Avenged Sevenfold posted a new article on their official site confirming that they will be playing at "Rock On The Range," from May 16-17, 2009.

On February 16, 2009, Avenged Sevenfold cancelled their performance in Fort Wayne, due to M. Shadows having a vicious case of food poisoning (As said on the bands website).

Musical characteristics

Band name and lyrical content

The band's name is a reference to the Book of Genesis in the Bible - specifically Genesis 4:24, where Cain is sentenced to life in exile for murdering his brother. God marked him so that none would kill him on account of his sin; the man who dared to kill Cain would suffer "vengeance seven times over" (KJV). The exact words "avenged sevenfold" can be found on line 24 of the fourth chapter of Genesis of the King James Bible: "If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold." The abbreviation for Avenged Sevenfold came from Zacky Vengeance as A7X. The title of Avenged Sevenfold's song "Chapter Four" refers to the fourth chapter of Genesis, in which the story of Cain and Abel takes place. The song's subject also appears to be this story. "Beast and the Harlot", yet another song derived from the Bible, comes from the book of Revelation only it is written in the first person and refers to the punishment of Babylon the Great, world empire and seat of false religion. The album "Sounding the Seventh Trumpet" also derives its name from the book of Revelation, specifically referencing chapter 11 and the sounding of the last (seventh) trumpet, signifying the end of the world. Another biblical reference occurs in the song "The Wicked End". In this song, several times it is said "dust the apple off, savor each bite, and deep inside you know Adam was right." making reference to Eve eating the forbidden fruit. Although the band's title and members' stage names make references to religion, Shadows stated in an interview that they are not a religious band. "Anyone that reads the lyrics and really knew anything about us, they would know we're not promoting either," he said. "That's one thing about this band that I love is that we never really shove any kind of, like, political or religious beliefs on people. We just, the music's there to entertain and maybe thought-provoking on both sides, but we don't try to, like, really shove anything down anyone's throat. There's too many bands that do that nowadays, I think." The band has a few songs that are somewhat political in nature like "Critical Acclaim", "Gunslinger," "M.I.A." and "Blinded In Chains". The song "Betrayed" off of their album "City of Evil" was written about the death of "Dimebag" Darrel, of Pantera and Damageplan.

The Deathbat

The band sports a logo known as the "Deathbat". It was originally designed by an artistic high school friend of Avenged Sevenfold, Micah Montague, as seen on the bands first DVD, All Excess, though Cameron Rackam has done many more pieces for the band's albums. The deathbat has developed from not just being a skull with batwings, to sometimes appear as a full "man size" skeleton with batwings, as it can be seen at the cover of City of Evil. The Deathbat has appeared on all of the bands album covers. On Sounding the Seventh Trumpet, there are pictures of two people (Presumably Cain and Abel), another angel-like human, and a semi-opaque Deathbat below it. It is also on covers of a number of singles such as "Bat Country", "Warmness on the Soul" and "Critical Acclaim."

Public controversy has it that the Deathbat was inspired by Chaly, the winged-skull which serves as the logo for the American thrash metal band Overkill.

Genre

In general, Avenged Sevenfold is classified as an important and influential band in the New Wave of American Heavy Metal (NWOAHM). Their material ranges across many genres - including several crossover genres - often leaving the concept of genres altogether (especially in their most recent albums). For example, Avenged Sevenfold's debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet consisted almost entirely of metalcore sound, however consisted of several deviations to this genre, most notably in "Streets" which adopts a punk style, and "Warmness on the Soul," which consists of mainly piano, and could be considered soft rock. On Waking The Fallen, the band displayed a much more refined and fluent metalcore album that was able to harness the rawness of the first album, and add more mature and intricate musical elements. On City of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold's third album, the band has chosen to abandon the metalcore genre, developing a more punk metal/thrash style, very much like bands such as Bullet for My Valentine and Trivium. Also, the drumming on both these albums is played in a more thrash-influenced alternative metal style, similar to that of Slipknot. Avenged Sevenfold's self-titled album, again, consists of several deviations to less consistent genres and styles from the album's main hard rock and heavy metal songs, most notably in "Dear God", which adopts a country style, and "A Little Piece of Heaven", which includes elements of Broadway show tunes, using primarily brass instruments and stringed orchestra to take over most of the role of the lead and rhythm guitar. The band has changed considerably since its first album, which since then they have been characterized as a heavy band with screams and growls combined with clean vocals that one can expect from the metalcore genre. Since the release of Live in the LBC & Diamonds in the Rough, the band has resumed screaming vocals during live shows.

Biography John Dolmayan

John Dolmayan (born July 15, 1973 in Beirut, Lebanon) is a musician, best known as the drummer for the Armenian-American alternative metal band System of a Down, and current drummer for the band Scars on Broadway. John currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was first interested in drums at the age of 2. His father was a saxophone player. When his mother would take him to watch his father play, he would mimic his father's drummer.

System of a Down

So far, he has recorded five albums with System of a Down: System of a Down (1998), Toxicity (2001), Steal This Album! (2002), and, most recently, Mezmerize (2005), and Hypnotize (2005). His style of drumming has influenced an emerging generation of drummers, and this has attracted a significant portion of SOAD's audience.

John's facial expressions are famous for being constantly foreboding and angry-looking. Lead singer Serj Tankian was quoted in Kerrang magazine as always trying to make John crack a smile on stage, to which John replied that he had to make an extreme effort to keep a straight face and not get put off beat. Although, on very rare occasions he would try to entertain the fans in unique ways during performances.

Dolmayan won "DRUM!" Magazine's 2006 Drummer of the year. In addition to winning this award, Dolmayan was the feature story in the September edition of "DRUM!" magazine.

Personal projects

In Summer 2006, right before Ozzfest tour, John told the press in several interviews his intention to make an online comic company, "I've got over 5 and a half million comics right now, and I'll probably have about 20 million comics in a year's time. But it's not really a collection. The reason I'm accumulating all these books is I'm starting an Internet-based comic-book company called 'Torpedocomics'. That'll be up in November 2007, probably." Dolmayan said. In an online auction in March 2009 he purchased a very rare copy of the first comic book featuring Superman for $317,200. John recently sent Howard Stern and Robin Quivers rare Spider Man comics.[citation needed] Recently John has been playing live shows with a newly designed drum kit, featuring drawings from many famous comic book artists.

Dolmayan also said he may at some point write a movie script and might be involved in drum work regardless of SOAD's status. John has played alongside Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Wayne Kramer for the song Bombs Over Paris., on the Serj Tankian solo debut, Elect the Dead, and joined Tool on stage for a few shows

Biography Shavo Odadjian

Shavarsh Shavo Odadjian (born April 22, 1974) is the bassist for the Los Angeles-based nu metal band, System of a Down.

Early life Odadjian was born in Yerevan, Armenian SSR. In his youth, Shavo used to spend all his time skateboarding and listening to punk rock and heavy metal music. Among others, he names Dead Kennedys, KISS, Slayer and Black Sabbath as his favorite bands with great influence on his future musical development. Odadjian moved to Los Angeles, California at a very young age, where he was raised in large part by his grandmother, after whose death he claims to have lost faith and to have stopped praying every night as he did before. He attended the Alex Pilibos Elementary School in Los Angeles, an Armenian parochial school, along with his future bandmates Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian, although they were not acquainted at the time due to the age difference.

Career

System of a Down

While working in a bank, he started managing Soil, the band of Malakian and Tankian in 1993 after meeting them in a recording studio, where he was recording with his own band. In 1995, Shavo became the permanent bassist of the band. They then named themselves System of a Down after a poem titled Victims of a Down, which was written by bandmate Daron Malakian. Shavo Odadjian plays both guitar and bass, and claims to play guitar better than he does bass. Apart from playing bass, Shavo sings backing vocals live on the song, "Bounce", with a strange high pitched voice, along with other songs such as "Needles," "Sugar," and "Lost in Hollywood". He usually plays bass with a dick, but he can be seen using his fingers during certain songs. Without knowing, Shavo became famous for his long large braided beard, spiked arm bracelet, large height, bald head, and freaky faces. Bandmate Serj Tankian had mentioned to him that he should have one like his. In 2006 the band all had beards that reached past their shoulders.

AcHoZeN

Odadjian has started a side project with The RZA from The Wu-Tang Clan, and they have already begun recording. They have plans for tours and a movie. They recently picked up a name for the band, Achozen, and their first live show was at the Key Club in L.A in December 1st, 2006.

Other projects

In addition, Odadjian is a popular DJ in the LA area, taking part in such events as the "Rock/DJ Explosion" on March 2nd 2001 at The Roxy in Hollywood, CA and collaborating with bandmate Tankian on SerArt, the singers side project with multitalented Armenian musician Arto Tunçboyacıyan. He goes by the name DJ Tactic. Recently, Shavo has appeared playing as part of the backing band of George Clinton (of Parliament/Funkadelic). In September 2008 he appeared (playing guitar instead of bass) in a live performance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno with Clinton. Shavo also appears on Clinton's 2008 album George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love, which features many guest musicians, including Shavo's Achozen bandmate RZA, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Carlos Santana. Shavo is also the executive producer for the band, Onesidezero. Shavo is currently helping the band Chameleon Conductor record their debut album. Shavo's brother Dave plays bass in this band.

Film work

Stating himself to be a "very visual person," he has also directed music videos for System of a Down (being Aerials, Toxicity, Question! and Hypnotize), and Taproot (Mine), creating surreal atmospheres and using innovative methods in filming. On May 15, 2007, it was revealed that Shavo Odadjian would be directing the first video from Bad Brains's album Build a Nation. Director Shavo Odadjian makes an appearance at the end of the concert video with frontman H.R. The two are seen charismatically walking stageside, passing and smoking a marijuana joint. Shavo also appeared in the 1993 "Big Gun" video by AC/DC, standing alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the crowd, sporting a backwards baseball cap.

Biography Serj Tankian

Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967) is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American singer, songwriter, poet, activist, and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the lead vocalist, keyboardist and (occasionally) rhythm guitarist of the Grammy Award-winning rock band System of a Down. In 2002, Serj and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello co-founded a non-profit political activist organization, Axis of Justice. During his musical career, he has released five albums with System of a Down, one with Arto Tunçboyacıyan (Serart), as well as Tankian's debut solo album Elect the Dead. He was named the 26th greatest heavy metal vocalist of all time by Hit Parader magazine.

Early life and career

Tankian was born on August 21, 1967, in Beirut, Lebanon. He and his family immigrated to Los Angeles in 1975 where he later started his own software company before beginning his music career; he began performing music in 1992.

Soil and System of a Down

The band later broke up and Tankian and Malakian formed a new band "System of a Down," based on a poem that Daron wrote entitled "Victims of the Down". Shavo Odadjian thought that the word System appealed to a much broader audience than "Victims," and they wanted their albums to be stored near the band Slayer's. Odadjian was the band's original manager and promoter, but joined as the bassist, and managerial duties were taken over by the Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group and founder David "Beno" Benveniste. Daron then asked his friend Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian (who had played in his first band with Daron at age 15) to join the band as the drummer. Andy was later replaced by their current drummer, John Dolmayan, due to a hand injury.

Other works

During System of a Down's days, Tankian was the vocalist in other bands for certain songs such as Mushroom Cult by Dog Fashion Disco and lent his vocals to the song Mein by Deftones. He also sang backup vocals on a song for Hed PE called "Feel Good". He produced "Enter the Chicken" by Buckethead, and provided vocals to the Buckethead songs We Are One, Coma, and Waiting Hare. With Serjical Strike Records, he endeavors to offer those musicians often ignored by the mainstream a possibility to release their music and be heard. The first release of Tankian's new label was Serart, a project consisting of Tankian himself, and Arto Tunçboyacıyan, an Armenian friend of Tankian's.

More recently, he sang with Les Rita Mitsouko on the song "Terminal Beauty". Also, he sang with the band Fair to Midland during a live improvisational version of their song "Walls of Jericho", from the album Fables from a Mayfly: What I Tell You Three Times Is True, which was a massive hit with fans. He often collaborates as well with his close friend, director Diran Noubar on various projects, including the voice-over of Noubar's "Armenia, a Country Under Blockade". Noubar played some guitar on Tankian's Elect the Dead album on the track "Saving Us" and directed the music video for "Baby".

Tankian is also politically involved. Together with Tom Morello, he founded the organization Axis of Justice. Tankian is also a vegetarian. Tankian is a New Zealand resident and has a secondary vacation dwelling there. There has been a misconception that he intends to stay in New Zealand until the Iraq War is over, but as stated in an interview, Tankian has no intention of doing so. He often speaks publicly against violence and injustice in the world.

Tankian is at work on a second album, due in 2009. It is said to be more of a jazz and orchestral based sound. A new song, "Sounds of War", has shown up in recent concert setlists, it has a jazz fusion style, it is unknown if it will be on the second record. Said Tankian of the second album, "I'm structuring the next record kind of like a jazz orchestral. I've got a full orchestra interested, so I want this giant electric guitar in the air to be played by a full orchestra. I want the orchestra to be the electric guitar. I want to make an orchestra do what it's never done before, like a GG Allin type orchestra. Think of that." Tankian released a new song "Fears" in November 2008 exclusively in support of Amnesty International's Global Write-A-Thon

Tankian told The Pulse of Radio that the highlights of his last eight months on the road may soon be documented in a DVD featuring videos, live performances and behind-the-scenes footage. Serj is also set to release a DVD of his upcoming performance with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. Whether these are two separate DVDs is unknown. Although the live DVD with the APO is said to be released later in 2009. Tankian is currently co-writing a musical with the American playwright Steven Sater. It is based on the Ancient Greek tragedy Prometheus Bound. He stated that eight songs have been completed and that there will be a record.Serj Tankian has also cooperated with Michael Farantakis who is a great personality from the country of Greece.

Biography Daron Malakian

Daron Vartan Malakian (born 18 July 1975) is the lead guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist in System of a Down. The band has been on a hiatus since 2006. He is currently the lead singer and guitarist in Scars on Broadway. Like the rest of the Hollywood-based band System of a Down, he is of Armenian ancestry, but is the only member to actually have been born inside the U.S. (Los Angeles). He placed 30th in Guitar World's List of The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time.

Early life

Daron was born on July 18, 1975 in U.S. as an only child to an Iraqi-Armenian father Vartan Malakian and Iranian-Armenian mother Zepur Malakian. At a very early age, Daron got into heavy metal music; his distant cousin played him a KISS record when he was four years old and he was hooked. Daron wanted to play the drums , but his parents got him a guitar instead because they said "You can't turn the drums off." By the time Daron was a teenager, he got into heavier metal bands such as Slayer, Venom, Metallica, Pantera, Sepultura and Cannibal Corpse. At around 17 he started getting into The Beatles and Peter, Paul and Mary as two of his biggest influences on him as a songwriter. Daron went to Rose & Alex Pilibos Armenian school in Little Armenia, Hollywood, which bandmates Serj Tankian and Shavo Odadjian also attended. Daron is still a big Slayer fan, as is band member Shavo Odadjian who sometimes wears Slayer t-shirts to shows. In his childhood, he also became a fan of the LA Kings Hockey Team, which can be seen in the video of 'Toxicity' and the booklet of the album with the same title.

Daron Malakian met Serj Tankian in 1992, while they both shared the same rehearsal studio in different bands. Serj was playing keyboard for a band, and Daron was singing lead vocals for another band. They formed a jam band called Soil (Serj on vocals/keyboards and Daron on guitar ; not to be confused with SOiL) with Domingo Laranio (drums) and Dave Hakopyan (bass). Around this time, they also met Shavo Odadjian. In 1994, after one supposed jam session recording and one live show at a bar called Whiskey a Go Go, Dave and Domingo left, thinking the band wasn't going anywhere. Daron became a very famous member because of his famous double beard, crazy acts, weird faces, and instruments used. The band later broke up and Tankian and Malakian formed a new band "System of a Down," based on a poem that Daron wrote entitled "Victims of the Down". Shavo Odadjian thought that the word System appealed to a much broader audience than "Victims," and they wanted their albums to be stored near the band Slayer's. Odadjian was the band's original manager and promoter, but joined as the bassist, and managerial duties were taken over by the Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group and founder David "Beno" Benveniste. Daron then asked his friend Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian (whom had played in his first band with Daron at age 15 ) to join the band as the drummer. Andy was later replaced by their current drummer, John Dolmayan, due to a hand injury. Malakian co-produced System of a Down's albums with Rick Rubin, as well as The Ambulance and Bad Acid Trip (a band on fellow member Serj Tankian's Serjical Strike Records). He recently started his own label, EatUrMusic, on which Amen is the first signed band. Malakian is also involved in a band called Scars on Broadway, with John Dolmayan. In 2003 Daron Malakian played with a variety of celebrities in the Celebrity Baseball Game in Hollywood. He wrote a song about the experience, "Old School Hollywood", which appears on System of a Down's album, Mezmerize. Daron has stated in an interview that the band doesn't follow anybody: "A lot of bands followed Korn. We're not one of those bands but I have respect for Korn for being original. I just think it’s a shame that so many people felt they had to go and mimic that. Everyone tells us we have our own sound. I think that we have enough trust in our fans from touring for enough years to know that they're expecting something different from us, which is cool because it leaves the door open for us to go anywhere we want.

Band members

Current members

Daron Malakian — vocals, guitars ¹ (1994 - 2006)
Serj Tankian — vocals, keyboards ² (1994 - 2006)
Shavo Odadjian — bass ³ (1994 - 2006)
John Dolmayan — drums (1997 - 2006)

Hitory System Of a Down

Soil (1992–1994) Daron Malakian met Serj Tankian in 1992, while they both shared the same rehearsal studio in different bands. They formed a jam band called Soil (Serj on vocals/keyboards and Daron on guitar ; not to be confused with SOiL) with Domingo Laranio (drums) and Dave Hakopyan (bass). Around this time, they also met Shavo Odadjian. After about a year, with one supposed jam session recording and one live show, Dave and Domingo left, thinking the band wasn't going anywhere (Hakopyan would later co-found the band The Apex Theory which, in 2007, changed their name to Mt. Helium).

In the beginning (1994–1997)

The band later broke up and Tankian and Malakian formed a new band "System of a Down," adapting the name from a poem Daron wrote entitled "Victims of the Down". Shavo Odadjian thought that the word System appealed to a much broader audience than "Victims," and they wanted their albums to be stored near the band Slayer's.[citation needed] Odadjian was the band's original manager and promoter, but joined as the bassist, and managerial duties were taken over by the Velvet Hammer Music and Management Group and founder David "Beno" Benveniste. Daron then asked his friend Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian (who had played in his first band, Snowblind, with Daron at age 15 ) to join the band as the drummer.

System of a Down quickly made what is known as their early Untitled 1995 Demo Tape, which had very early recordings of "Mr. Jack" (called "PIG"), along with a song called "Flake," and an early recording of "The Metro," a cover of the Berlin song of the same name. It is rumored that there are other tapes made, which contain early recordings of "Friik," "36" (called ".36"), and "Roulette." Two other songs, "X" (called "Multiply") and "Honey" were live demos at the time and were played at very early shows. After this, the band recorded three public demos, which have been numbered as Demo Tape 1 to 3, as the early 1995 demo was not discovered until much later. Many of the songs featured on the demos would eventually make their way onto the band's debut album. In mid 1997, Khachaturian left the band (before the recording of the third demo tape ) due to a hand injury (he subsequently co-founded The Apex Theory, which included former Soil bassist Dave Hakopyan). Soon after playing at the Whisky-A-Go-Go and Viper Room with new drummer John Dolmayan, the band caught the attention of producer Rick Rubin, who asked them to keep in touch with him. Showing great interest, they recorded yet another demo near the end of that year. This demo, however, was made only to be sent to record companies. The tape was not released to the public until years later when it was leaked onto the Internet. After Rick helped them get signed onto American/Columbia Records, System of a Down began to record in his studio. In 1997, the group won the Best Signed Band award from the Rock City Awards.

Debut album (1998–2000)

Shavo Odadjian

In the summer of 1998 (June 1998), System of a Down released their debut album, System of a Down. They enjoyed moderate success with their first single "Sugar" becoming a radio favorite, followed by the single "Spiders." After the release of the album, the band toured extensively, opening for Slayer before making their way to the second stage of Ozzfest. Following Ozzfest, they toured with Fear Factory and Incubus before headlining the Sno-Core Tour with Puya, Mr. Bungle, The Cat and Incubus providing support. In 2000, the band contributed their cover of the Black Sabbath song "Snowblind" to the Black Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black 2.

Breakthrough and success (2001–2003)

The group's big break arrived when their second album Toxicity debuted at #1 on the American and Canadian charts, eventually achieving multi-platinum certification. The album has since sold 7 million copies worldwide. It was the top album in America on the week of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the political environment caused by the attacks added to the controversy surrounding their hit single "Chop Suey!" causing it to be taken off the radio as it contained politically sensitive lyrics at the time such as "(I don't think you) trust in my self-righteous suicide." Regardless, the video gained constant play on MTV as did the second single, "Toxicity." Even with the controversy surrounding "Chop Suey!", which earned a Grammy nomination, System of a Down still received constant airplay in the United States throughout late 2001 and 2002 with "Toxicity " and "Aerials" which also earned a Grammy nomination in 2003. In May 2006, VH1 listed Toxicity in the #14 slot in the 40 Greatest Metal Songs.

In 2001, the band went on tour with Slipknot in the United States. After seeing the success of the tour, System and Slipknot went on a Pledge of Allegiance Tour with Rammstein, Mudvayne, and No One in 2002. In late 2001, a few unreleased tracks made their way onto the Internet. The group released a statement that the tracks were unfinished material. Soon after, the band released the final versions of the songs, which were recorded at the same time, but hadn't been used for Toxicity. The result was Steal This Album!, released in November 2002. The cover of Steal This Album! resembled a burnable CD that was marked with a felt-tip marker. 50,000 special copies of the album with different CD designs were also released, each designed by a different member of the band. The name of the album is a reference to Abbie Hoffman's counter-culture book, Steal This Book and as a message to those who stole the songs and released them on the Internet. The song "Innervision" was released as a promo single and received constant airplay on alternative radio. A video for "Boom!" was filmed with director Michael Moore as a protest against the War in Iraq.

Mezmerize and Hypnotize (2004–2006)

Serj Tankian

From 2004 to 2005, the group produced a double album, with the two parts released six months apart. The first album, Mezmerize, was released on May 17, 2005, to favorable reviews by critics. It debuted at #1 in the United States, Canada, Australia and all around the world, making it System of a Down's second #1 album. First week sales rocketed to over 800,000 copies worldwide[citation needed]. The Grammy Award-winning single "B.Y.O.B.," which questions the integrity of military recruiting in America, worked its way up the Billboard Modern Rock and Mainstream Rock charts. The next single, "Question!" was released with Shavo Odadjian co-directing the music video. Following the release of Mezmerize, the band toured extensively throughout the United States and Canada with The Mars Volta and Bad Acid Trip supporting. The second part of the double album, Hypnotize, was released on November 22, 2005. Like Mezmerize, it debuted at #1 in the US, making System of a Down, along with the Beatles, Guns 'N Roses, and rappers 2Pac and DMX, the only artists to ever have two studio albums debut at #1 in the same year. In February 2006, System of a Down won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for "B.Y.O.B.," beating out other established artists such as Nine Inch Nails and Robert Plant. Their second single off the Hypnotize album, "Lonely Day" was released in March in the United States. System of a Down released "Kill Rock 'N Roll" and "Vicinity of Obscenity" as their next promo singles. The band headlined Ozzfest 2006 in cities where tour founder Ozzy Osbourne opted not to appear or wasn't playing on the main stage.

System of a Down's songs were used in the 2006 film Screamers, directed by Carla Garapedian. They appeared in the movie, in an interview talking about the importance of helping create awareness and recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Screamers debuted in theaters in large city markets such as New York City, Detroit, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Fresno, Providence, and Boston. An earlier engagement started exclusively in Los Angeles on December 8, 2006. Also, Lonely Day appeared on the soundtrack for the 2006 movie Disturbia.

System of a Down was honored at the USC v. Cal game at the Los Angeles Coliseum in Los Angeles, CA in 2006. The Trojan Marching Band, along with Dolmayan and Odadjian, performed three System of a Down songs: Toxicity, Sugar, and Hypnotize. System of a Down's song Lonely Day was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance in the 49th Grammy Awards in 2007, but lost to Woman by Wolfmother.

Hiatus and future of the band (2006–present)

In May 2006, the band announced they were going on hiatus. Malakian has confirmed the break will 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 a rest." During their performance in Houston, Texas, Malakian also took a moment to say, "There's been a lot of rumors about us breaking up. Well, don't listen to them. Us four right here, we will always be System of a Down!"[citation needed] However, Malakian announced he was forming a band called Scars on Broadway, which was joined by Dolmayan. Their debut self-titled album was released on July 29, 2008. Odadjian will be working on a project with RZA of Wu-Tang Clan named AcHoZeN as well as his urSESSION website/record label. Tankian plans to keep recording as a solo artist/producer. Empty Walls is his first single off his debut solo album Elect the Dead, which was released on October 23, 2007. Dolmayan, as well working with Scars on Broadway, planned to open a comic book store online by November 2007. 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." Shavo Odadjian recently told Launch Radio Networks that System of a Down is "alive and well", but just aren't working together In an April 2008 interview with Kerrang magazine, guitarist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan gave their takes on the band's future. When told that many people are going to wonder what the future of the band is, Malakian responded by stating that "We'll all know when the time is right." Dolmayan added, "It'll just happen." Malakian went on to say: Yeah. It'll feel good and happen. I can respect this situation [System's hiatus] more than I can respect the situation where two people are like, 'The lead singer fucked my girlfriend!' and that kind of bullshit. Nah, man. The lead singer is a special person to me and I am to him. And that's how we ended off. Same with Shavo, same with John. And it will always be. It was a big part of my life. We were onstage together for a long time, man. We went through shit as a band and friends -- we slept in RV's together! In an interview with Tankian about Big Day Out 2009, a show involving playing his Elect the Dead album live with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, and his upcoming second studio album, Serj mentioned that System of a Down was on "permanent hiatus" and nothing had happened to change that. "Every few months I am honored to hear interesting rumors about whether the band is going to tour or break up permanently. I find them all to be very entertaining"

Style and influences

The stylistic variety and level of experimentation in System of a Down's music has made it difficult to describe. Though they have evolved their sound with each album, System of a Down has, for the most part, maintained a single style throughout their body of work. This style has variously been termed alternative rock, experimental rock, hard rock, heavy metal, nu metal, progressive rock progressive metal,, and art rock.

The band has used a wide range of instruments, including electric mandolins, baritone electric guitars, acoustic guitars, ouds, sitars and twelve string guitars. Furthermore, a variety of keyboards and synthesizers have been used on live shows. Drop C tuning was used exclusively on the first three albums, with later records mostly relying on drop Db tuning. Their vocal style has also remained fairly consistent over the years. The band frequently used alternating vocals, switching between near screaming followed by softer singing. Also, many of the same harmony and chord structures are frequently utilized in vocals in their songs, giving them a distinct sound.

The band has cited Middle Eastern music as one of its influences and mentioned on several accounts that they appreciate The Beatles[3][34] and Kiss.[35] On their own style, Odadjian said: "I don't think we sound like anybody else. I consider us System of a Down." and Dolmayan stated "You can compare us to whoever you want. I don't care. Comparisons and labels have no effect on this band. Fact is fact: We are who we are and they are who they are."