I just think religion is something... It could be a beautiful thing for the individual, but when it becomes organized, that's when religion starts taking a kind of ugly turn to me.
I am depressed sometimes, but it's not what keeps me at home or focused on work.
I don't understand some of the music I hear on MTV or the radio, because they don't mention the times we live in. They have nothing to do with nothing.
In Glendale, where I live, there's a street called Broadway. The bottoms of the light posts have swastikas on them.
People's attention spans don't run too long these days.
I ain't got no beef with Obama.
I'm not very happy. I'm frustrated with human beings. I'm the guy who just wants to smack people in the face and say, 'Wake up!'
A lot of MTV's programming is hip-hop based, and the messages are usually all about bling bling. A lot of hip-hop artists sing about stuff that's more important, but they seldom get heard. The ones who get heard are the ones saying, 'Think about yourself. Make your money. It's all you. Everybody have a good time and party.'
As a musician, I don't think I'm the greatest guitar player. I'm a bigger fan of the drums than I am the guitar; I just happen to play guitar. I play drums almost every day at my house. I wrote a lot of songs behind the drum kit, just having the music and vocals in my head and playing the rhythm.
I guess you'd say I'm a gearhead. It's not just guitars; I have five or six drum sets, a bunch of keyboards... It's like Guitar Center exploded, and all the cool stuff dropped in my backyard. I'm a really lucky guy, I have to admit.
My dad is my biggest influence on me as a musician, even though he's not a musician.
Politicians use religion, and they get their troops riled up with religion.
If I was money-motivated, I wouldn't have joined a rock band with three other Armenian guys.
System of a Down is the music that I wanted to buy but couldn't find at the store. It's the band I wanted to be a fan of.
I don't ever put down bands.
Music is an emotion, and I put it out there.
I don't get it when people complain that baseball games are too long.
A lot of times, I don't feel responsible for the songs myself. But that's my job or my place in life: to keep my search and catch the ideas before they pass me by.
In the Middle East in the summertime, to keep cool, a lot of people sleep on the rooftops.
Every song I've written is luck, I think; it's luck - 'How did that just happen?'
