There are a number of things that make System Of A Down so fresh and exciting. Their multi-cultural heritage for one: all four members have Armenian blood, but whilst bassist Shavo Odadjian was born in Armenian, singer Serj Tankian, and drummer John Dolmayan were raised in worn-torn Lebanon and guitarist Daron Malakian grew up in the LA suburb of Glendale. Then there�s their incisive, politically-charged lyrics and exotic face-paint � something which immediately set them apart from the tracksuit-clad nu-metal ranks.
But it�s System�s music that truly makes them stand out. Best described as an insane mix of Korn, Dead Kennedys and the Revolting Cocks jamming in a Russian mental hospital on acid, System Of A Down genuinely sound unique.
�We all grew up with heavy music, new wave and all sorts of other stuff, so we try to mix all of that into our own music,� explains Malakian. �And we don�t deny our influences. Whether it�s glam or death metal, punk or r�n�b, rap or ethnic Armenian music.�
�We were a government experiment that went horribly wrong,� says Tankian. �We were bred in a test and our parents raised us to be a band.�
This isn�t strictly true. Teenage gang member Daron and budding architect Shavo formed the band while at school in the early�90s, inspired but a mutual love of Kiss and an appreciation for each others� dress sense. Serj (who had completed a degree in marketing and a drummer was quickly recruited � the latter was dismissed for �being a total jerk� and Dolmayan completed the current line-up in 1994,
After three years of gigging, the foursome signed to Rick Rubin�s American Recordings label and set out recording their self-titled debut album with their bearded boss. Emerging last year, �System Of A Down� immediately re-defined what heavy music could do � mixing waltz-time passages with blasts of splenetic noise; compelling lyrics about such things as post-hypnotic suggestion being used in the assassination of the Kennedys are articulated by a Serj in a guttural growl, helium-fuelled shriek or an impassioned moan. In one go, System moved the musical goalposts.
�Heavy music used to be all, �I did Satan!�,� says Daron, �but I meet a lot of people who�re into heavy stuff and they�re really intelligent � they want to hear that in the music.�
�Two years ago, of you�d have told me that all this was going to happen I would have laughed,� continues Shavo. �When we started, people were saying that the style we were playing would mean we�d never get signed: �You have to be like this band, you have to be like that band�. And that�s what�s brought us here, I think. Our love for the music and our passion.�
All that System Of A Down have to prove was that they could replicate this astonishing sound live. They did that within seconds of that first Astoria gig; Daron lit the touch paper with his first scraping riff, Shavo and John�s arrival on the beat turned it into an inferno that burned throughout their set. Then there�s Shavo, the deranged Focal point of it all. The X-Fest will end on a fitting high.