SYSTEM OF A DOWN's DARON MALAKIAN: How I Ended Up Playing Guitar For METALLICA For A Couple Of Shows In 2000

Daron Malakian, composer, guitarist, vocalist and a founding member of SYSTEM OF A DOWN, returned to music producer Rick Rubin's podcast "Tetragrammaton" to reflect on his lifelong relationship with heavy metal. Using music as a guide to discuss how different styles, sounds, and eras shaped his identity as an artist, Daron talks through what he listens for in metal, including riffs, mood, aggression, and atmosphere, and how those elements influenced his own songwriting and creative direction.

Looking back on how he ended up playing guitar for METALLICA for a couple of shows in July 2000 when METALLICA singer-guitarist James Hetfield injured himself in a jet skiing accident, Daron said in part (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):  "When I was 12 or 13, at that point I had been playing the guitar for a year. I was with these guys in my school that, in their dad's garage, we would play METALLICA covers. That's pretty much all we'd play — a bunch of METALLICA covers. And a big part of how I learned how to play the guitar was playing either [BLACK] SABBATH, METALLICA, [IRON] MAIDEN, sometimes SLAYER. My friends really didn't get SLAYER, but they loved METALLICA. But I loved SLAYER and I would fight with them over it. [Laughs] But we would play these METALLICA covers, so I knew all these METALLICA covers. When I got older, I knew them, and so we were on tour with METALLICA on the 'Summer Sanitarium' tour."

Daron continued: "I met METALLICA on stage playing with them. I never met them before. We're the first band. Nobody knows us. It's 1999, maybe, at this point. [SYSTEM OF A DOWN's] 'Toxicity''s [album] not out yet. We're on our first album. And we are on the 'Summer Sanitarium' tour. It's us, a band called POWERMAN 5000, Kid Rock was on there, I think KORN was on there, and METALLICA. It was, like, five bands on the bill. We were the first band that opened up [when people are walking in]. Nobody knows who SYSTEM OF A DOWN is at this point. And so we're on that tour, and James Hetfield, along the way, gets injured. I don't know. They told me he was going water skiing or something, and he got injured. So they didn't cancel the show. So all the opening bands played, and then METALLICA still went on stage. And [then-METALLICA bassist] Jason Newsted was singing, and then they brought the guys from KORN on and they kind of played like this CHEECH & CHONG cover song or something. They didn't know what to do, because James wasn't there. And I turned to my tech and I go, 'Listen, man.' I go, 'Go tell their tech that I know a lot of their shit,' 'cause I've learned it playing it in this garage with these other guys. I go, 'I know a lot of their shit from, you could say, '…And Justice For All' and back. Next thing you know, my tech goes and talks to their guitar tech and then my tech comes back to me. He's, like, 'All right, come with me.' [I'd] never met METALLICA before. And I'm telling you, METALLICA was the first concert I ever went to in my life. I was a huge METALLICA fan. FAITH NO MORE opened up for them. 'Justice For All' tour. So next thing you know, I go on the other side of the stage. I get handed a Les Paul; I think it was one of [METALLICA guitarist] Kirk Hammett's Les Pauls. And they're, like, 'All right. Go.' 60,000 people. [Laughs] Yeah. 60,000 people. I'm in my after show. I am wearing Lakers fucking sweats. I'm not even ready to get on stage. I'm wearing a white tank top and Lakers sweats, and I just completely was there just watching METALLICA. Next thing you know, I get handed a guitar and they go, 'Go.'"

Malakian added: "You gotta understand. Our band's not big yet. I'm still a kid. I'm 22 years old. I can't even believe that we're even allowed to open up for METALLICA. So this is all new to me at this point of my life. And they put me out there, and I turn and I'm, like, 'Hey.' It's Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer], it's Kirk, it's Jason Newsted, who was the bass player at the time. They're, like, 'What do you know?' I go, 'I don't know. 'Master Of Puppets'.' 'Okay. Count it in.' We're playing fucking 'Master Of Puppets'. I'm up there with METALLICA playing 'Master Of Puppets' in front of 60,000 people. And I'm, like, 'Who's gonna sing?' I said, 'Fuck it. I'll go sing.' And I sang. And then there's this thing that happened where in the middle of 'Master Of Puppets', it has this slow part. Instead of going into that slow part, they went into '[Welcome Home] (Sanitarium)'. And I didn't know they were gonna do that. And we went in and we did the middle part of 'Sanitarium' and then came out of it and went back into 'Master Of Puppets'. I mean, you would think we were rehearsed it, but we didn't rehearse it. And I didn't even know it was gonna happen. And it happened. And I'm up there and I am playing METALLICA with METALLICA in front of an audience where I would've been in the fucking cheap seats just three years ago.

Elaborating on what happened after that initial gig, Daron said: "I got off stage. Next thing you know, they're coming to me. They're, like, 'Hey, dude, James isn't gonna be able to play for a few nights. They want you to come and play with them fucking everything.' And next thing you know, Kirk Hammett's in front of me with a guitar and I go, 'Hey, bro, I know all your old stuff, but I don't really know the 'Load' and the 'Reload' and all that stuff.' So Kirk's trying to teach me stuff off 'Load'. And then next thing you know, they're, like, 'Hey, get your shit from your bus, 'cause you're flying on the private jet with us now.'

"So the first plan was to have me play a whole set with them," Daron explained. "And I was preparing for that, and I was relearning all the old stuff and trying to learn all the 'Load' stuff. And so I flew with them and everything, and then they decided, 'Hey, it would be a cooler thing if we invited different bandmembers from the different bands that were on the gig.' So the next night I was up on stage with METALLICA again. And I knew I was supposed to play 'One'. And I got there and I was ready to play 'One', and I turned to — I forgot — maybe Jason or Kirk or someone, and I'm, like, 'Who's gonna sing?' Because I had no idea. They turned to me and they were, like, 'Bob.' And I'm, like, 'Who the fuck is Bob?' And I see Kid Rock come up. And I didn't know Kid Rock's name was Bob. And so Kid Rock comes up and he sings the first night and we did 'One'. And it's really fucking cool because 'One' has the whole [middle section], and I'm thinking, 'Dude, you're playing this shit with fucking METALLICA.' You're turning around and it's, like, Lars. It was crazy. I'll never forget it. And even after that, their techs would come up to me in different tours and be, like, 'Dude, don't think we forgot what you did. You brought it that day. I don't wanna say, like, 'You saved the show,'' but they were kind of, like, ''You fucking brought it. They were struggling. And then you got up, you did 'Master Of Puppets'.' Yeah, man. That happened. Oh, man. I'll never forget it. Even though my band is where we're at right now, it still brings goosebumps to my… that I had a chance to experience that at that point of my career."

As a songwriter, vocalist, producer, and guitarist / multi-instrumentalist, Grammy Award-winning Daron Malakian creates from a limitless palette. Like painting a moving target, he seamlessly integrates elements of rock, punk, metal, pop, psychedelia, electronic, and Armenian stylings into a living sound untethered from tradition and bound only to inspiration. The music grows and evolves with him. Under the moniker of DARON MALAKIAN AND SCARS ON BROADWAY, he continues to approach his craft with an alchemist's open heart, an absurdist's appreciation for the ridiculous, and an artist's attention to detail. Malakian introduced SCARS ON BROADWAY with its self-titled debut in 2008. The LP bowed in the Top 20 of the Billboard 200, spawning fan favorites such as "They Say", "Serious" and "Funny". The follow-up, "Dictator", arrived exactly a decade later during 2018. In addition to praise from Billboard, Revolver and more, Rolling Stone hailed it as one of the "20 Best Metal Albums of 2018."

The world initially got to know Malakian as a co-founder, songwriter, vocalist, producer (alongside Rick Rubin) and guitarist for SYSTEM OF A DOWN whose legacy encompasses global sales of over 42 million records, a Grammy Award and countless sold-out stadium shows. Now, the same creative instinct and internal compass led him to "Addicted To The Violence", the third full-length offering from SCARS ON BROADWAY, which came out in July.

Image credit: Metal Injection