Shavo Odadjian

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Shavo Odadjian (born April 22,1974 in Yerevan, Armenian SSR (Now the Republic of Armenia) as Shavarsh Odadjian), is the bassist for the Los Angeles-based alternative metal band, System of a Down.

Image:Fancier Šavo.PNG

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Film work
4 Odadjian the musician
5 Equipment
6 Trivia
7 External links

[edit] Early life

In his youth, Shavo used to spend all his time skateboarding and listening to punk rock and heavy metal music. Among others, he names The Pink Angel, Dead Kennedys, KISS and Black Sabbath as his favorite bands with great influence on his future musical development.

Odadjian moved to Los Angeles, California at a very young age, where he was raised to a great part by his grandmother, after whose death he claims to have lost faith and to have stopped praying every night as he did before. He attended Alex Pilibos Elementary School in Los Angeles, an Armenian parochial school, along with his future bandmates Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian, although they were not acquainted at the time due to age difference.

[edit] Career

Apart from working in a bank doing wire transfers, he also started managing Soil, the band of Malakian and Tankian in 1993 after meeting them in a recording studio, where he was recording with his own band. In 1995, Shavo became the permanent bassist of the band. They then named themselves System of a Down after a poem titled Victims of a Down, which was written by bandmate Daron Malakian.

In addition, Odadjian is a popular DJ in the LA area, taking part in such events as the "Rock/DJ Explosion" on March 2nd 2001 at The Roxy in Hollywood, CA and collaborating with bandmate Tankian on SerArt, the singers side project with multitalented Armenian musician Arto Tunçboyacıyan. He goes by the name DJ Tactic.

[edit] Film work

Stating himself to be a "very visual person," he has also directed music videos for System of a Down (being Aerials, Toxicity, Question! and Hypnotize), and Taproot, creating surreal atmospheres and using innovative methods in filming. He appeared in the 1993 "Big Gun" video by AC/DC, standing alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the crowd ,sporting a backwards baseball cap

[edit] Odadjian the musician

Shavo was originally a guitarist, and claims to play guitar better than he does bass. In fact, he was the guitarist for Soil for a short period of time. Apart from playing bass, Shavo did a little bit of vocals on the song, "Bounce", with a strange high pitched voice. In one of the live versions of the song, "Sugar", Shavo yells "SAKO!" after the line "I got a gun the other day from Sako, it's cute, it's small, fits right in my pocket". He also yells the line "Who?" in the album version of Sugar (he can be seen doing this line in the video for Sugar). Another appearance is on "Lost In Hollywood", where he performs backing vocals near the end. However, Shavo has directed almost all of System of a Down's videos. He usually plays bass with a pick, but he can be seen using his fingers during certain songs.

[edit] Equipment

[edit] Basses

Gibson Thunderbird IV (Main bass)
Ibanez BTB1000 or BTB500
Music Man Sting Ray
Meatball Iron 8088 Pro Super Bass

[edit] Effects Pedal

SansAmp bass pedal

[edit] Amplifiers

4 Ashdown ABM900 Evo II heads
4 Ashdown 8x10" Cabinets

[edit] Trivia

Before SOAD, Shavo appeared in an AC/DC music video in 1993 with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Shavo made a short cameo appearance in the 2001 movie Zoolander as one of Hansel's friends.
His favorite actor is Christopher Walken.
He declares to be fascinated with occultism, mainly in the form of movies.
Shavo is the only member of the band not to change his beard. He's had his "trade mark" goatee from the start.
His 6 signature trademarks are his beard, spike wristband, height, dark nails, bald head, and long socks pulled up to his knees.
He's a heavy smoker. Sometimes he can be seen smoking on stage.

[edit] External links

System of a Down discography
System of a Down
Serj Tankian \| Daron Malakian \| Shavo Odadjian \| John Dolmayan
Andy Khachaturian
Albums: System of a Down \| Toxicity \| Steal This Album! \| Mezmerize \| Hypnotize
Demos: Untitled 1995 Demo Tape \| Demo Tape 1 \| Demo Tape 2 \| Demo Tape 3
Singles: "Sugar" \| "Spiders" \| "War?" \| "Prison Song" \| "Chop Suey!" \| "Toxicity" \| "Aerials" \| "Innervision" \| "Boom!" \| "I-E-A-I-A-I-O" \| "B.Y.O.B." \| "Question!" \| "Radio/Video" \| "Hypnotize" \| "Lonely Day" \| "Kill Rock & Roll"
Related articles
Serart \| Serjical Strike \| Scars on Broadway \| Toxicity II \| \|EatUrMusic \| Axis of Justice
Categories
System of a Down \| System of a Down songs \| System of a Down albums
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