Latest news with #SystemofaDown
The Guardian
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Laughing and out of breath, he thanked us for the snowball fight': fans on the magic of Ozzy Osbourne
I interviewed Ozzy in 1997, for Kerrang! magazine. We met in a hotel on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, where he proceeded to drink gallons of Diet Coke, and take the piss out of himself. He was the least pretentious rock star I ever met, and during my decade in the industry, I met hundreds. By the time I met Ozzy, I'd had enough of music journalism. I decided he should be my final interview because how do you beat that? I'd interviewed everyone I'd ever wanted to, including Nirvana, so it made sense to end my music journalism career by chatting with Ozzy. Ozzy was so self-effacing and hilarious. He told me about becoming partially deaf while working in a factory testing car horns, how he'd thought Spinal Tap was a documentary about Black Sabbath, and how the band named themselves after a horror movie for a joke. He was already shaking back then, and seemed very small and frail, but he had this gorgeous twinkling quality, which I certainly hadn't expected to encounter in the Prince of Darkness. And he clearly couldn't do a thing without Sharon, which he was more than happy to admit. Liz Evans, Tasmania, Australia My first ever gig was Ozzfest 2002 at Donington. I was so excited, I dyed my hair black and carried a wallet chain thick enough to tie up a ship. When I arrived, a guy in a top hat with a voice like the devil said I'd be 'lucky if I made it out alive'. I'd largely wanted to go because of System of a Down. But Ozzy was the show stealer. I'd become familiar with him due to the The Osbournes, then got into Black Sabbath. There was no other performer like him over the weekend. This – what I thought at the time – old guy had more energy than the younger bands put together. Needless to say, I was hooked on metal from that point onwards. Because of that festival so many bands got their big breaks. He not only invented metal with Sabbath but continued to support the genre the rest of his days. James, Cambridge I was a fairly obsessive heavy rock fan in my teens, and first saw Ozzy live when I was 16 at a one-day heavy metal festival at Port Vale's football ground in Stoke-on-Trent in 1981, alongside a few other bands including Motörhead. A couple of years later I was at university in Sheffield, and saw him for a second time at the City Hall. Afterwards, a friend and I got tipped off about which hotel the band were staying in, so we gatecrashed the residents-only bar and ended up spending an hour or two in the company of Ozzy, Sharon, and the rest of the band. He was an absolute gentleman, happily putting up with a bunch of geeky 18-year-old fans asking him loads of questions, and he insisted on buying multiple rounds of drinks for everyone in the bar. Before we departed he also decided to sign our foreheads 'Ozzy was here' with a Sharpie, as per the photo – earning us a huge amount of credibility when we finally got back to our hall of residence. What an absolute legend of a man – definitely one of a kind. Nick Payne, St Albans As teenagers in the early 1980s we all used to go to venues early and hang around the loading areas and back-stage entrances, on the off-chance of picking up an autograph or seeing a rock star. We did so during the Blizzard of Ozz tour, which were his first UK appearances since being sacked from Sabbath. We got there very early, around 2pm, and turned the corner to find guitarist Randy Rhoads and Ozzy himself, sat quietly having a cup of tea. We gathered tentatively and joined him. Rhoads and Ozzy gave off an air of openness and gentle bonhomie. This wasn't the Prince of Darkness, but a slightly apprehensive man who was hoping that the fans would accept his new musical incarnation. He was humble, communicative and very patient. It was like sitting with a mate's older brother, shooting the breeze for 20 minutes. After he and Randy went back in to sound check, we all remained stunned for a few moments. We'd had a cup of tea with the Prince of Darkness, and it turned out he was a really nice bloke. It's a real shame that successive generations only know him as the sometimes incoherent, grumpy old man of the TV show, The Osbournes. As in his heyday, he was the funniest and most disarming of all of the 1980s rock gods. Van Norris, Hampshire I was lucky enough to see Black Sabbath at Download festival in 2012. Ozzy was already a huge legend but hadn't done a show in a while and we went genuinely thinking that it may be the last chance to see him. When he wobbled out on to the stage, clearly a bit frail, I was worried. Oh no, I thought, this is a cash grab and he's really not up to it anymore ... but then he opened his mouth, and wow. His voice was still all there – it was like listening to him in his heyday. I'm still agog at how good he was. And he was clearly enjoying himself immensely. We've lost a great. Coral Pearce-Mariner, Norfolk In February 1972, during the Master of Reality tour, my father was due to pick me and my mates up after the gig at De Montfort Hall in Leicester, but was delayed by the bad weather. We hung round the back stage door and eventually the band came out. We spoke to all of them but it was Ozzy and Bill who gave us the most time. Ozzy threw the first snowball at us. We then had an amazing snowball fight with Ozzy and Bill which seemed to go on for ages. Ozzy, laughing and out of breath, thanked us for the fight and left with Bill covered in snow. For four kids from a small rural town it was magical. The gig was incredible. Gazza, Leicester I saw Ozzy when I was 17, at one of the very first gigs they played as Black Sabbath, at a mini festival organised by the Midlands Arts Centre for Young People in Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, on bank holiday Monday, 1 September 1969. They'd originally been billed as Earth, but by the time they went on stage, they had become Black Sabbath. Rumours abounded that they had played at a school dance at the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus school in Edgbaston, where they had performed with a huge inverted crucifix on the stage behind them, much to the outrage of the nuns who ran the school. Because we knew most of the security crew at the festival, we watched them from backstage. Though they didn't have top billing, it was clear even then that they were the best band on stage that day, and that Ozzy had incredible charisma. That autumn, before they became nationally famous, I remember they occasionally used to turn up in the coffee bar at the arts centre where I and my friends hung out. Did I ever dare to speak to the Prince of Darkness? I doubt it, but he might once have asked me for a light ... When their first album came out the following year, I decided to model my own look on the spooky proto-Goth lady, dressed all in black, on the front cover. To my mind, that's still their best album, and I have it still; it sums up for me the cusp between the 60s and the 70s, and the awkward but euphoric liminal space between my adolescence and adulthood. Jenni Mills, Wiltshire The importance and significance of both Ozzy and Sabbath only truly sunk into my brain during the Back to the Beginning gig on 5 July, which I saw on live stream. It was a wonderful day seeing so many of my favourite bands pay tribute. The nail was finally hit on the head seeing Ozzy at the end. Some members of the crowd were in tears to see him performing well despite his physical deterioration. I wasn't sad for him at all – he looked like he was having the time of his life. I've also seen plenty of Ozzy live and am blown away by his stage persona. Thanks for everything, oh Prince of Darkness! George Heron, Liverpool
Business Insider
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
How to get System of a Down tour tickets: New Jersey, Chicago, and Toronto
System of a Down will be going on tour for the first time since their Wake Up the Souls world tour in 2015, so if you were worried you'd missed your chance to see the band live, now is your opportunity. This fall, their stadium tour will bring them to three cities across North America, with two concerts in each city, and I've broken down how to get System of a Down tickets below. The band featuring Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards), Daron Malakian (guitar, vocals), Shavo Odadjian (bass, backing vocals), and John Dolmayan (drums) will start at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey August 27 and 28 before they travel to Chicago's Soldier Field for their concerts on August 21 and September 1. The tour will come to a close in Toronto at the Rogers Stadium for the shows on September 3 and 5. The Armenian-American heavy metal band was formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Over 7 years between 1998 and 2005, the band released five total albums, and no additional albums have been released since the final two, Mezmerize and Hypnotize. The band went on hiatus a year later before getting back together in 2010. In November 2020, in response to the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, System of a Down released their first songs in 15 years, "Protect the Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz". If you're looking for how to get tickets to System of the Down's 2025 stadium tour, then we've got you covered. Here's our breakdown of the band's 2025 tour schedule, purchasing details, and price comparisons between resale and original tickets. You can also browse concert and ticket specifics at your convenience on StubHub and Vivid Seats. System of a Down's 2025 tour schedule System of a Down will be hitting three cities for two days each for their 2025 stadium tour. The tour starts in New Jersey for the August 26 and 27 shows, moves on to Chicago for August 31 and September 1, before concluding in Toronto for the September 3 and 5 concerts. August 27, 2025 New Jersey, NJ $111 $101 August 28, 2025 New Jersey, NJ $136 $119 August 31, 2025 Chicago, IL $188 $176 September 1, 2025 Chicago, IL $92 $84 September 3, 2025 Toronto, Canada $68 $83 September 5, 2025 Toronto, Canada $101 $119 Follow our WhatsApp channel and Instagram for more deals and buying guides. How to buy tickets for System of the Down's 2025 concert tour You can buy standard original tickets for System of the Down's 2025 stadium tour dates on Ticketmaster. However, due to the high demand, the number of remaining original tickets is limited. Tickets to System of the Down's 2025 tour can also be purchased through verified resale ticket vendors like StubHub and Vivid Seats. For tour dates with a more limited inventory of original tickets, you may find better luck with seating variety and availability on these sites. How much are tickets? Ticket prices for System of the Down's 2025 tour dates vary depending on the date, location, and demand for each show. On Ticketmaster, the cheapest available tickets range from $133 for the opener show in New Jersey on August 27 to $464 for the August 31 show in Chicago. As of writing, the full price breakdown for the cheapest original tickets on ticket master is as follows: Date City Ticketmaster prices August 27, 2025 New Jersey, NJ $133 August 28, 2025 New Jersey, NJ $469 August 31, 2025 Chicago, IL $464 September 1, 2025 Chicago, IL $138 September 3, 2025 Toronto, Canada CA$231 September 5, 2025 Toronto, Canada CA$243 The lowest-cost tickets to System of the Down's shows on StubHub range from $68 for the September 3 show in Toronto to $188 for the Chicago show on August 31. Vivid Seats has similar prices, with the least expensive tickets ranging from $83 to $176 for the same dates. Who is opening for System of a Down's tour? System of a Down will co-headline with different bands at each location and have an opener for all of the stadium tour's shows. The band will appear alongside Korn in New Jersey on August 27 and 28, Avenge Sevenfold in Chicago on August 21 and September 1, and finally Deftones in Toronto on September 3 and 5. Progressive rock band Polyphia will be opening for all six shows of the tour. Will there be international tour dates? Two of the six shows for the Stadium tour will be in Toronto at the Rogers Stadium on September 3 and 5. No additional international tour dates have been announced at this time.
Los Angeles Times
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
System of a Down's Daron Malakian strikes familiar, violent chords on new Scars on Broadway album
Fans of System of a Down desperately hoping the Armenian American alt-metal band will one day release a full-length follow-up to their chart-topping 2005 companion albums 'Mezmerize' and 'Hypnotize' can at least seek some solace in the latest offering from band co-founder Daron Malakian. 'Addicted to the Violence,' the third album from his solo project Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway, may lack System frontman Serj Tankian's mellifluous singing, iconoclastic rants and feral screams, but its eclectic structure, melodic earworms, fetching vocal harmonies and poignant themes are sonically and structurally similar to System of a Down — and with good reason. 'All of my songs can work for either Scars or System because they come from my style and have my signature,' Malakian says from his home in Glendale. 'When I wrote for System, I didn't bring guitar riffs to the band. Like with [System's 2002 breakthrough single] 'Aerials.' That was a complete song. I wrote it from beginning to end before I showed it to them.' Malakian — who tackled vocals, guitar and bass — assembled 'Addicted to the Violence' (out Friday) during the last five years, using songs he'd written over roughly two decades. The oldest track, 'Satan Hussein,' which starts with a rapid-fire guitar line and features a serrated verse and a storming chorus, dates to the early 2000s, when System's second album, 'Toxicity,' was rocketing toward six-times platinum status (which it achieved nine months after release). With Scars, Malakian isn't chasing ghosts and he's not tied to a schedule. He's more interested in spontaneity than continuity, and artistry takes precedence over cohesion. None of the tracks on the band's sporadically released three albums — 2008's self-titled debut, 2018's 'Dictator,' and 'Addicted to the Violence'— follow a linear or chronological path. Instead, each includes an eclectic variety of songs chosen almost at random. 'It's almost like I spin the wheel and wherever the arrow lands, that's where I start,' he explains. 'I end up with a bunch of songs from different periods in my life that come from different moods. It's totally selfish. Everything starts as something I write for myself and play for myself. I never listen to something I've done and say, 'Oh, everybody's gonna love this.' For me, a song is more like my new toy. At some point, I finish playing with it and I go, 'OK, I'm ready to share this with other kids now.'' Whether by happenstance or subconscious inspiration, 'Addicted to the Violence' is a turbulent, inadvertently prescient album for unstable times — a barbed, off-kilter amalgam of metal, alt-rock, pop, Cali-punk, prog, Mediterranean folk, alt-country and psychedelia — sometimes within the same song. Lyrically, Malakian addresses school shootings, authoritarianism, media manipulation, infidelity, addiction and stream-of-consciousness ramblings as dizzying as an hour of random, rapid-fire channel surfing. Is writing music your way of making sense out of a nonsensical world? I like to think of it as bringing worlds together that, in other cases, may not belong together. But when they come out through me, they mutate and turn into this thing that makes sense. In that way, music is like my therapist. Even if I write a song and nobody ever hears it, it's healthy for me to make and it helps me work stuff out. When I write a song, sometimes it affects me deeply and I'll cry or I'll get hyped up and excited. It's almost like I'm communicating with somebody, but I'm not talking to anyone. It's just me in this intimate moment. Is it strange to take these personal, intimate and therapeutic moments and turn them into songs that go out for the masses to interpret and absorb? I want people to make up their own meanings for the songs, even if they're completely different than mine. I don't even like to talk about what inspired the songs because it doesn't matter. No one needs to know what I was thinking because they don't know my life. They don't know me. They know the guy on stage, but they don't know the personal struggles I've been through and they don't need to. Was there anything about 'Addicted to the Violence' that you wanted to do differently than 'Dictator'? Different songs on the album have synthesizer and that's a color I've never used before in System or Scars. Every painting you make shouldn't have the same colors. Sometimes I'm like, 'Will that work with the rest of the songs? That color is really different.' But I'm not afraid to use it. [Warning: Video includes profanity.] 'Shame Game' has a psychedelic vibe that's kinda like a hybrid of Strawberry Alarm Clock and Blue Oyster Cult, while the title track has a prog rock vibe redolent of Styx, Rush and Mars Volta. I love all that stuff. I spend more time listening to music than playing guitar. It's how I practice music. I take in these inspirations and it all comes out later when I write without me realizing it. In 2020, System released the songs 'Protect the Land' and 'Genocidal Humanoidz,' which you originally planned to use for Scars on Broadway. At that time, I hadn't recorded 'Genocidal Humanoidz' yet, but I had finished 'Protect the Land,' and my vocals on the song are the tracks I was going to use for my album. Serj just came in and sang his parts over it. Why did you offer those songs to System when every time you tried to work on an album with them after 2010, you hit a creative impasse? Because [the second Nagorno-Karabakh War] was going on in Artsakh at that time between [the Armenian breakaway state Artsakh and Azerbaijan], and we decided we needed to say something. We all got on the phone and I said, 'Hey, I got this song 'Protect the Land,' and it's about this exact topic.' So, I pulled it off the Scars record and shared it with System. You released the eponymous Scars on Broadway album in 2008, almost exactly two years after System went on a four-year hiatus. Did you form Scars out of a need to stay creative? At the time, I knew that if I wanted to keep releasing music, I needed a new outlet, so Scars was something that had to happen or I would have just been sitting around all these years and nobody would have heard from me. You played a few shows with Scars before your first album came out in 2008, but you abruptly canceled the supporting tour and only released one more Scars song before 2018. That was a really strange time. I wanted to move forward with my music, but we had worked so hard to get to the point we got to in System, and not everyone was in the same boat when it came to how we wanted to move forward. I just wasn't ready to do a tour with Scars. Was it like trying to start a new relationship after a bad breakup? I might have rushed into that second marriage too quick. I had [System drummer] John [Dolmayan] playing with me, and I think that was [a sign that] I was still holding onto System of a Down. That created a lot of anxiety. A few years later, you announced that you were working on a new Scars album and planned to release it in 2013. Why did it take until 2018 for you to put out 'Dictator'? I was writing songs and thinking they were amazing, but in my head I was conflicted about where the songs were going to go. 'Should I take them to Scars? Is that premature? Would System want to do something with them?' I underwent this constant struggle because Serj and I always had this creative disagreement. I finally moved past that and did the second album, but it took a while. System of a Down played nine concerts in South America this spring, and you have six stadium gigs scheduled in North America for August and September. Is there any chance a new System album will follow? I'm not so sure I even want to make another System of a Down record at this point in my life. I'm getting along with the guys really well right now. Serj and I love each other and we enjoy being onstage together. So, maybe it's best for us to keep playing concerts as System and doing our own things outside of that. The cover art for 'Addicted to the Violence' — a silhouette of a woman against a blood-red background holding an oversize bullet over her head, and standing in front of a row of opium poppies — is the work of your father, Iraqi-born artist Vartan Malakian. Was he a major inspiration for you? My approach to art and everything I know about it comes from my dad, and the way we approach what we do is very similar. We both do it for ourselves. He has never promoted himself or done an art exhibition. The only things most people have seen from him are the album covers. But ever since I was born, he was doing art in the house, and he's never cared if anyone was looking at it. Do you seek his approval? No, I don't. He usually is very supportive of what I do, but my dad's a complicated guy. I admire him a lot and wish I could even be half of the artist that he is. And if he and my mom didn't move to this country, I would not have been in System of a Down. I would have ended up as a soldier during Desert Storm and the Second Gulf War. That's my alternative life. It's crazy. Have you been to Iraq? When I was 14 years old, I went there for two months to visit relatives and it was a complete culture shock. I'm a kid that grew up in Hollywood, and I went to Baghdad wearing a Metallica shirt and I was a total smart aleck. Everywhere we went, I saw pictures and statues of Saddam Hussein. I turned to my cousin and said, 'What if I walked up to one of the statues and said, 'Hey Saddam, go f— yourself?'' Just me saying that made him nervous and scared. Talking like that was seriously dangerous and I had no idea. That was a definite learning experience of what I could have been. And it inspired me later to write 'Satan Hussein.' You had a glimpse of life under an authoritarian regime. Do you have strong feelings about the Trump administration and the way the president has, at times, acted like a dictator? I don't hate the guy and I don't love the guy. I'm not on the right, I'm not on the left. There are some things both sides do that I agree with, but I don't talk about that stuff in interviews because when it comes to politics, I'm not on a team. I don't like the division in this country, and I think if you're too far right or you're too far left, you end up in the same place. Is 'Addicted to the Violence,' and especially the song 'Killing Spree,' a commentary on political violence in our country? Not just political violence, it's all violence. 'Killing Spree' is ridiculous. It's heavy. It's dark. But if you listen to the way I sing, there is an absolutely absurd delivery, almost like I'm having fun with it. I'm not celebrating the violence, but the delivery is done the way a crazy person would celebrate it. So, it's from the viewpoint of a killer, the viewpoint of a victim, and my own viewpoint. I saw a video on social media of these kids standing around in the street, and one of them gets wiped out by the back end of a car and flies into the air. These kids are recording it and some of them are laughing like's it's funny. I don't want to say that's right or wrong, but from what I'm seeing, a lot of people have become desensitized to violence. You're releasing 'Addicted to the Violence' about six weeks before the final six System of a Down dates of 2025. Have you figured out how to compartmentalize what you do with System of a Down and Scars on Broadway? There was a time that I couldn't juggle the two very well, but now I feel more confident and very comfortable with where System and Scars are. I love playing with System, and I want to do more shows with Scars. I couldn't tell you how either band will evolve. Only time will tell what happens and I'm fine with that as long as it happens in a natural way. Everything we've experienced has brought us to where we are now. And now is all we've got because the past is gone and the future isn't here yet. So, the most important thing is the present.
Yahoo
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Famous birthdays for July 15: Brian Austin Green, Taylor Kinney
July 15 (UPI) -- Those born on this date are under the sign of Cancer. They include: -- Artist Rembrandt van Rijn in 1606 -- Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini in 1850 -- Writer Iris Murdoch in 1919 -- Hassanal Bolkiah, sultan of Brunei, in 1946 (age 79) -- Musician Linda Ronstadt in 1946 (age 79) -- Musician Artimus Pyle (Lynyrd Skynyrd) in 1948 (age 77) -- Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, prime minister of United Arab Emirates, in 1949 (age 76) -- WWE Hall of Fame member/former Gov. Jesse Ventura in 1951 (age 74) -- Actor Terry O'Quinn in 1952 (age 73) -- Musician Marky Ramone in 1952 (age 73) -- Actor Celia Imrie in 1952 (age 73) -- Musician Ian Curtis (Joy Division) in 1956 -- Musician Joe Satriani in 1956 (age 69) -- Musician Mac McAnally in 1957 (age 68) -- Actor/filmmaker Forest Whitaker in 1961 (age 64) -- Actor Brigitte Nielsen in 1963 (age 62) -- TV personality Adam Savage in 1967 (age 58) -- Actor Eddie Griffin in 1968 (age 57) -- Actor Jim Rash in 1971 (age 54) -- Actor Scott Foley in 1972 (age 53) -- Musician John Dolmayan (System of a Down) in 1972 (age 53) -- Actor Brian Austin Green in 1973 (age 52) -- Actor Diane Kruger in 1976 (age 49) -- Comedian Gabriel Iglesias in 1976 (age 49) -- Actor Lana Parrilla in 1977 (age 48) -- Musician Ray Toro (My Chemical Romance) in 1977 (age 48) -- Actor Travis Fimmel in 1979 (age 47) -- Actor Laura Benanti in 1979 (age 47) -- Actor Taylor Kinney in 1981 (age 44) -- Actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in 1986 (age 39) -- Actor Aimee Carrero in 1988 (age 37) -- Actor/musician Tristan Wilds in 1989 (age 36) -- Actor Mason Dye in 1994 (age 31) -- Actor Iain Armitage in 2008 (age 17)
Scoop
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Ready To Bring The Ding? Spark's Public Triangle Audition Hits A High Note With Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra
Press Release – Spark NZ Spark is turning one everyday New Zealander into the most unexpected star of Duco Events' brand-new Full Metal Orchestra, from the team behind SYNTHONY – handing them the honour of striking a single, show-stopping triangle note during their performance of the System of a Down song, Aerials at Spark Arena later this month. This activation is part of Spark's renewed partnership with Spark Arena through to 2030 – reaffirming its commitment to bring New Zealanders closer to the music, not just through access to gigs at the country's biggest indoor venue and a decade long partnership with Spotify, but by placing one lucky winner centre stage, within the music performance itself. Mānuka Phuel Full Metal Orchestra will debut on 26 July at Spark Arena. This will mark the first time the team behind SYNTHONY and Come Together has brought rock and metal legends alongside a 29-piece classical orchestra to the stage, and the first time Spark Arena has hosted back-to-back concerts in a single night with SYNTHONY Origins bookending the evening. The 'Bring the ding' Experience: From Square to Stage The journey kicks off at a one-of-a-kind triangle audition booth popping up in Auckland's Takutai Square, Britomart on 17 and 18 July. Designed to feel like a cross between a high tech recording studio and a live stage, the booth invites anyone to step inside, strike the triangle in time with the music, and get instantly scored on timing, flair and stage presence. From these auditions, a winner will be chosen and invited to Spark's VIP hospitality suite, the S Lounge at Spark Arena, on show night. There, a video of their audition will be played to the entire arena, sharing the story of how they came to be Full Metal Orchestra's newest triangle-playing superstar. The Finale On the night, the winner will join the 29-piece orchestra, taking centre stage at Spark Arena to deliver a once-in-a-lifetime note in front of thousands. With pre-sale tickets, behind-the-scenes experiences, exclusive Front Row access to see the live orchestra and rock band up close and premium entry to the S Lounge, Spark is getting New Zealanders closer than ever before to the music.
