System of a Down band is formed by four members:

Serj Tankian (vocals/guitar)

He was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on August 21st, 1967. He lived in Beirut until 1975 when he and his family emigrated to Los Angeles; after high school, he studied marketing. He took singing and guitar lessons for almost four years. In 1993 he and Daron Malakian formed the band Soil(not to be confused with SOiL) which later broke up. Later he formed System of a Down.

In October 2007 Serj Tankian released his solo album named “Elect The Dead” at his own record label called Serjical Strike Records.

Daron Malakian (guitar)

He and Serj Tankian finished two big projects(Soil and System of a Down). He was borned in Hollywood, California on July 18th, 1975. His talent came from his parents (both artists) who raised their only child very well. Vartan Malakian, his father, did the artwork for “Mezmerize” and “Hypnotize” CD’s.

Daron meet Serj Tankian while both shared the same rehearsal studio in different bands. Their decided to form their own band. Daron, Serj and Shavo Odadjian(bass) formed Soil.

After this, John Dolmayan(drums) joined their band and they formed System of a Down. They choose that name from a Daron Malakian poem named “Victims of a Down”.

Daron wrote lots of songs, the “Mezmerize” album is his “baby”. He wrote all the songs except “Question” who was made with Serj Tankian’s help.

Now, Daron Malakian has his own record label called EatUrMusic and he is singer and guitarist in the Scars on Broadway band.

Shavo Odadjian (bass)

He was born in Yerevan, Armenia on April 22, 1974. He lived in Armenia for a short time, after this he and his family moved to Italy then to Los Angeles, California.

He used to spend time skateboarding and listening punk rock and heavy metal music. He was raised by his grandmother ; her death was a new begining for him.

Apart from working in a bank, he also started managing Soil band. He became the permanent bassist of the new band called System of a Down.

He was a popular DJ in Los Angeles, taking part as such events as “The Rock/Dj Explosion”.

Now Shavo, Rza and Kinetic 9 formed the band Achozen.

John Dolmayan (drums)

He was born in Beirut, Lebanon on July 15th, 1973.

He currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. His father was a saxophone player and made John to play at drums at the age of 2.

When he was 4 years old he asked his parents for a drum set almost every day, and at the age of 15 he got his first drum kit.

Now he is the drummer of Scars on Broadway band.