John Dolmayan

John Dolmayan was born in Beirut, Lebanon, to Armenian parents.[3] During the 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 of the Who and cites Who drummer Keith Moon as his biggest influence. Other drummers that he cites as major influences include Led Zeppelin's John Bonham, Stewart Copeland from the Police, and Rush's Neil Peart.[5]

Dolmayan drumming with System of a Down in 2011

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) and Hypnotize (2005).[8]

Dolmayan won DRUM! 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 with Daron Malakian (System of a Down's guitarist/vocalist) to form a new band called Scars on Broadway, which recorded their eponymous debut album in 2007 and 2008.[10] The album was released in the summer of 2008 and Dolmayan, Malakian, guitarist Franky 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]

Dolmayan in 2009

Dolmayan recorded drums for Killing Joke's 2003 self-titled album,[17] (although the band ended up going with Dave Grohl's tracks[18]) as well as Scum of the Earth's debut album, Blah...Blah...Blah...Love Songs for the New Millennium. He also played drums on the Axis of Justice concert tour with various artists and on the Serj Tankian solo debut, Elect the Dead.[19]

In June 2009, Dolmayan formed a new rock band called Indicator with three friends from Southern California, members of the recently disbanded punk 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 bandmates Daron Malakian and bassist Shavo 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 for Deftones bassist Chi 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 for the Smashing Pumpkins, in the absence of Jimmy Chamberlin.[27]

In 2014, Dolmayan started a Kickstarter to fund cover project, These Grey Men, releasing their first single, a cover of Radiohead's "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", in January 2020.[28] Avenged Sevenfold singer M. 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 of David Bowie's "Starman".[30]

John Dolmayan is married to Diana Dolmayan, 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 supported Donald Trump's presidency.[33] Tankian has stated that it is "frustrating" to be politically opposite with his bandmate and brother-in-law.[34]

A long time comic book fan, Dolmayan owns a comic book shop, Torpedo Comics, in Las Vegas.[35]

Dolmayan's drumset

Dolmayan uses Tama drums and hardware, Paiste cymbals, Evans Drumheads, LP percussion and his signature Vater drumsticks.

• Drums – Tama Starclassic Bubinga[36]
  • 10"×8" Rack Tom
  • 12"×9" Rack Tom
  • 13"x10" Rack Tom
  • 16"×14" Floor Tom
  • 18"×16" Floor Tom
  • 22"×18" Bass Drum
  • 14"×6" John Dolmayan Signature Snare
• Cymbals – Paiste[37]
  • Traditionals 22" Medium Light Swish
  • RUDE 14" Hi-Hat
  • 2002 6" Bell Chime
  • Signature 18" Fast Crash
  • Signature 10" Splash
  • Signature 8" Splash
  • RUDE 14" Hi-Hat
  • Signature 19" Full Crash
  • RUDE 24" Mega Power Ride
  • 2002 24" Big Ride
  • 2002 19" Wild China
• Sticks – Vic Firth[38]
  • John Dolmayan Signature 16" length, .580" diameter

In the early 2000s, Dolmayan, an avid comic book collector and vendor since childhood, commissioned a group of notable comics artists to create artwork for the drum kit used. He had Arthur Adams illustrate a scene of giant women fighting robots and Godzilla; Simon Bisley illustrated the Hulk and Thing; Kevin Eastman provided illustration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; and Tim Vigil depicted a sexually explicit scene of demons engaged in a sex act.[39]

• In 2006, Dolmayan won Drum! Magazine's drummer of the year award. He also won the alternative rock drummer of the year award.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Dolmayan.

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• Stereokill Interview: May 2009
• John Dolmayan page at SOADFans
• Torpedo Comics Website
• John Dolmayan page at drummerworld.com