“If I was a painter, I wouldn’t tell myself,‘I can’t use these colours’”: System Of A Down guitarist Daron Malakian on how the synth leads the guitar on his new Scars on Broadway album – and why he doesn’t stick to one style

Daron Malakian of System of a Down performs live in a wide-brimmed had with a custom Flying V with an open-book Gibson headstock.

Daron Malakian is one of those cats who writes music as though his brain were on shuffle, a riot of riffs and melodies animated by a fidgety, channel-surfing sensibility.

One minute, he could be pocketed in an LA punk groove, his vocals juiced on an off-the-rails Jello Biafra energy, the next, he’ll hit a handbrake turn and work in something from out of left field. It could be a psychedelic arrangement, or some “folky dance Armenian dance keyboards” because why not, right?