On August 13, 2006, System Of A Down played their last show. Granted, it wouldn’t be their last ever show, but for guitarist/co-vocalist Daron Malakian, it felt like it could have been. In May, the band had announced plans to go on an ‘indefinite hiatus’. They had spent the better part of a decade clawing their way up the ranks of the metal world and now, hitting the apex of their powers – their last two releases, a staggered double-album of Mezmerize and Hypnotize, released in May and November 2005, had topped the US Billboard album charts – they were riding off into the sunset.
“My life was dedicated to System Of A Down,” he admits. “I pretty much gave my whole existence to writing these last System albums. Now, all of a sudden there wasn’t a home for my songs anymore. So it was like, ‘I’m still writing, but for what?’”
