John Dolmayan | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Dolmayan in 2018 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | (1972-07-15)July 15, 1972 (age 52) Beirut, Lebanon |
| Origin | Glendale, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations | Drummer |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Website | systemofadown |
John Dolmayan (Armenian:Ջոն Դոլմայան) (born July 15, 1972[1]) is aLebanese-bornArmenian-American musician, best known as the drummer ofSystem of a Down. He is also the former drummer forScars on Broadway. Dolmayan ranked number 33 onLoudwire's list ofTop 200 Hard Rock + Metal Drummers of All Time.[2]
John Dolmayan was born inBeirut, Lebanon, to Armenian parents.[3] Duringthe Lebanese Civil War, his family moved to California.[4]
Dolmayan first became interested in drums at the age of two.[5] His father was a saxophone player and when his mother would take him to watch his father play, he would mimic his father's drummer.[6] He learned to play the drums by putting on records and practicing for hours a day, and continued said practice for years.[5] Dolmayan describes his musical style as one influenced by whatever he could get his hands on, including the jazz albums belonging to his father and the rock albums he shared with his friends.[5]
Dolmayan is a fan ofthe Who and cites Who drummerKeith Moon as his biggest influence. Other drummers that he cites as major influences includeLed Zeppelin'sJohn Bonham,Stewart Copeland fromthe Police, andRush'sNeil Peart.[5]
Dolmayan joined System of a Down in 1997 after their original drummer,Ontronik "Andy" Khachaturian, left the band due to a hand injury.[7]
Dolmayan recorded five albums with System of a Down:System of a Down (1998),Toxicity (2001),Steal This Album! (2002),Mezmerize (2005) andHypnotize (2005).[8]
Dolmayan wonDRUM! Magazine's 2006 Drummer of the year and was the feature story in their March edition.[9]The band went on hiatus in 2006, but reunited in 2010 to occasionally tour.
After System of a Down went on hiatus in 2006, Dolmayan teamed up withDaron Malakian (System of a Down's guitarist/vocalist) to form a new band called Scars on Broadway, which recorded theireponymous debut album in 2007 and 2008.[10] The album was released in the summer of 2008 and Dolmayan, Malakian, guitaristFranky Perez, bassist Dominic Cifarelli, and keyboardist Danny Shamoun performed concerts and prepared to embark on a tour in support of the album before Malakian suddenly cancelled the tour in October 2008.[11]
In August 2009, Dolmayan, Perez, Shamoun, and Cifarelli as Scars on Broadway traveled to Iraq for a USO tour across the U.S. army bases. Their setlist consisted of covers as well as a few Scars on Broadway songs.[12][13]
Scars on Broadway reunited with Malakian on May 2, 2010,[14] and released a new single later that year.[15] However, the project went dormant and Dolmayan was no longer involved when Malakian reformed the group in 2018.[16]
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Dolmayan recorded drums forKilling Joke's2003 self-titled album,[17] (although the band ended up going withDave Grohl's tracks[18]) as well asScum of the Earth's debut album,Blah...Blah...Blah...Love Songs for the New Millennium. He also played drums on theAxis of Justice concert tour with various artists and on theSerj Tankian solo debut,Elect the Dead.[19]
In June 2009, Dolmayan formed a new rock band called Indicator with three friends fromSouthern California, members of the recently disbandedpunk rock band If All Else Fails: Tom Capossela, Ryan Huber, and Ryan Murphy.[20] The band played their first show at The Bitter End in San Diego on July 22, 2009, with Dolmayan's fellow Scars on Broadway member Franky Perez joining the band for a few songs. Their second and final show took place at a strip club in Las Vegas.[21] The band wrote 10-12 songs from 2009 to 2010; live and acoustic demos exist of them all.[22] The four remain in contact although it is uncertain whether the songs will ever be properly recorded.
Dolmayan performed with System of a Down bandmatesDaron Malakian and bassistShavo Odadjian and Scars on Broadway guitarist Franky Perez for Odadjian's Halloween show.[23] Dolmayan, Malakian, and Odadjian performed together again in November 2009 during a charity show forDeftones bassistChi Cheng.[24]
Dolmayan has devoted much of his life to the comic book retail industry, including launching Torpedo Comics out of Nevada.[25] Torpedo Comics has two brick and mortar stores in addition to a significant online presence.[26]
In 2009, John auditioned forthe Smashing Pumpkins, in the absence ofJimmy Chamberlin.[27]
In 2014, Dolmayan started aKickstarter to fund cover project, These Grey Men, releasing their first single, a cover ofRadiohead's "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", in January 2020.[28]Avenged Sevenfold singerM. Shadows contributed vocals to the track;Tom Morello contributed the guitar solo at the song's close.[29] The second single features System of a Down bandmate Serj Tankian in a cover ofDavid Bowie's "Starman".[30]
John Dolmayan is married to Diana Dolmayan (née Madatyan), who is the sister of Tankian's wife Angela, making them brothers-in-law.[31][32]
On his social media accounts, Dolmayan is very politically active like his bandmates; unlike most members of System of a Down, particularly Tankian, Dolmayan supportedDonald Trump's presidency.[33] Tankian has stated that it is "frustrating" to be politically opposite with his bandmate and brother-in-law.[34] In October 2023, Dolmayan claimed he had lost friends as well as "hundreds of thousands of fans" on Instagram due to his controversial opinions about Trump, his beliefs thatBlack Lives Matter "never had legitimacy" and was a "propaganda tool" for theDemocratic Party, and his arguments that theCOVID-19 pandemic "has always been about money".[35]
A long time comic book fan, Dolmayan owns a comic book shop, Torpedo Comics, in Las Vegas.[36]
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Dolmayan usesTama Drums and hardware,Paiste cymbals,Evans Drumheads, LP percussion and his signatureVater drumsticks.
In the early 2000s, Dolmayan, an avid comic book collector and vendor since childhood, commissioned a group of notablecomics artists to create artwork for thedrum kit he used. He hadArthur Adams illustrate a scene of giant women fighting robots andGodzilla;Simon Bisley illustrated theHulk andThing;Kevin Eastman provided illustration of theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; andTim Vigil depicted a sexually explicit scene of demons engaged in a sex act.[40]
Q&A: (What's your moon sign?) Hmm, well I'm uh, I'm born July 15th, 1972, so uh I think, I'm a cancer—I don't know what the moon sign is... [Timestamp, 46:51]
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