systemofadown

Circus Magazine-Dec. 2001
A Year In Review

     System of a down formed in California. Serj Tankian, owned a small buisness, and met up with a guitarist named Daron Malakian in a rehearsal studio. The two formed a band called soil. Soil�s manager was a guy named Shavo Odadjian, a clerk who handled wire transfers.
     Eventually Soil�s drummer and bassist left the band. Their manager Shavo took over as their bass player and they found a drummer named John Dolmayan, who worked at a comic book and anime store at the time. With the new line up, the band changed their name to System of a Down, after a poem Daron wrote entitled Victims of a Down, changing the word Victims to System to broaden the term�s meaning.
      The band started writing songs, and playing live, or rather trying to book live shows. While working at the bank, Shavo would wait until he was alone, and immediately stop working, get on the horn, and call up club, annoying the owners until they finally booked System of a Down.
       System�s demos made their way throughout the United States and even Europe, just on word of mouth. Eventually the band�s heat garnered attention of famed producer Ross Robinson. Robinson came to a live show and immediately offered the band a deal on his American label. System accepted and history was to be made.
       After recording their self titled debut album, System of a Down hit the road and played a non-stop slew of shows throughout the world. On the way they took part in Ozzfest �99, Summer Sanitarium, and many other notable tours. System of a Down�s videos for �Sugar� and �Spiders� made their way onto MTV and radio, but not very often. Yet on the road System of a Down were blowing audiences away with an entirely new style of metal. Their time would be soon.
       Serj, Daron, Shavo, and John piled back into the studio early this year to begin work on their sophomore effort alongside producer Robinson. While some bands go in with just what will make the album, System of a Down went in with about 35 new songs. They recorded almost all of them. Of those songs, 17 were given to Andy Wallace for mixing, and 14 of those cuts made the album that would be called Toxicity. The 3 mixed songs that didn�t make the final cut, �Johnny�, �Innervision� and �Fuck the System� will eventually be released on other albums, but this is the internet age, why wait? All 3 songs are widely available on MP3, for better or worse. As for the many songs that didn�t make it to the mixing stage, some of those will probably see release on soundtracks and the like, but don�t bother looking for them just yet.
       Toxicity�s first single �Chop Suey� has finally garnered the attention it deserves.
       System of a Down spent most of 2001 locked up in a studio working on Toxicity, but they�ve just winded down a The Pledge of Allegiance tour with Slipknot. Expect a lot more touring in System of a Down�s current future.