[socalwingfan]

With my 8th round Pick, scwf's Creeping Death, proudly selects in the “Drummer” category, from SinCity – Mr. John Dolmayan

John Dolmayan was born in Lebanon to Armenian family. One night when he was five, he got scared and went to his parent's room and asked if he could sleep there. His parents agreed, and soon after a bullet came through the window of his room and hit his bed, where he would have been sleeping (while civil war been there). His father decided they had to move. He moved to Toronto, Canada then to Los Angeles. He has a condominium in Las Vegas where he also bought his parents a house. John's father was a saxophone player and he actually started on the drums, according to John in a recent interview, whatever talent John has is from his dad.
His unique and original style of drumming has influenced an emerging generation of drummers. More than a few critics have called his style "schizophrenic", and this has attracted a significant portion of SOAD's audience, and it's generally agreed that his talent is a large part of SOAD's appeal. He is known throughout the metal scene for his hi-hat to snare combo, which can be heard in such songs as Deer Dance on Toxicity, I-E-A-I-A-I-O on Steal This Album! and Question! on Mezmerize.

Along with 'Joey Jordison' he is one of the only drummers in mainstream metal to use blast beats (as with Jordison, only occasionally), a death metal drumming technique which can be heard for example on the System of a Down single "B.Y.O.B." The use of this technique and other aspects of Dolmayan's style, which like much of System of a Down's music is generally more complex and technical than that of most popular metal bands' drummers, has given him and his band a modicum of respect in the generally mainstream-critical underground metal community.

System of a Down - Toxicity



System of a Down – Chop Suey