 We’ve
been invited by System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan to come hang out with him
and check out a little comic book collectible he put together for the tour: a
full-sized drum kit decorated in comic book art by some of the industry’s
biggest names, including Jim Lee, Neal Adams, Art Adams, Kevin Eastman, Bill Sienkiewicz and Bernie Wrightson, just to name a few.
John
has two great loves in his life: drumming, which he’s turned into a
career as part of the multi-platinum-selling hard rock act System of a Down, and
comic books, which he’s incorporated into his drumming by transforming his drum
kit into a monument to the art form with this amazing instrument (pictured) that
he took on tour while headlining Ozzfest this past summer.
So here we are, about to hang out backstage as System of a Down closes out the
14-hour festival with a blistering 90-minute set. It doesn’t get any more rock
and roll than this—that is, until “Saturday Night Live” alum Jim Brewer sidles
up past us to get something out of the cooler we’re standing by, helping himself
to a beer in the process. “Mind if I grab one of these?” he asks.
But here’s an even bigger question: How on Earth did we get here?
6:45 PM
It’s time to go backstage and meet up with System of a Down’s John Dolmayan. I’m
ready for anything, including half-naked groupies who may want to pull me into a
waiting porta-potty to help them scratch that itch they can’t reach. That never
happens, but we do meet John and head to the backstage area while Hatebreed are
performing not 20 feet away. John arranges it so the roadies have his drum kit
all set up on a rolling platform; that way, as soon as the previous act is done,
they can roll the stuff right on stage and get set up in minutes. We shoot a ton
of pics with John and the drum kit, then head back to his tour bus to conduct
our interview.
7:00 PM
The tour bus area looks unassuming, but get up close, and you can see some of
the toys that the rockers bring on tour to help alleviate boredom, including the
full Nautilus set-up and extensive free weights, ATVs that the System guys ride
around on, and of course, the rolling penthouses themselves. John invites us on
board the bus he shares with band mate and bassist Shavo Odadjian, who’s camped
out in the far back with some friends (singer Serj Tankian and guitarist Daron
Malakian travel on their own bus).
Let’s be up front: John’s bus is nicer than
my entire apartment. You walk in and you’re in this big lounge area that
actually gets larger because the sidewalls telescope out to widen the room (take
that, Transformers!). Two big plasma-screen TVs line the wall, and just through
this room is the bunk area, and beyond that, the back room that’s set up for
both recording and play (DVDs, video games and mixing board take up their own
corner).
On the big leather wrap-around couch, Arlene and I join John and the
Columbia Records PR folks for over an hour, shooting the shit about comics,
System of a Down, touring, the drum kit, Star Wars and any and all fanboy stuff
you could imagine. Around 8:30, we’ve gotta split so John and the band can warm
up before their set, so we make our way to the hospitality tent and wait out
Disturbed’s portion of the show. After an hour or so of rest in the hospitality
tent, we reconvene backstage, ready to take our places in the wings while
System’s about to bring the house down.
10:00 PM
Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite go that way. Instead of being in the wings,
we’re actually DIRECTLY BEHIND John’s drum kit and underneath the 60-foot tall
video screen that projects the stage show for the kids in the back row. The
crowd’s only about 20 feet away; I could run across the stage and dive into the
throng before any security could stop me. I look over at Arlene, whose wide-eye
visage mirrors my own; as a pair of would-be rockers, this is more than a dream
come true for the both of us. You can’t help but get caught up in the energy of
the crowd and the impending performance; it’s nearly a physical thing hitting
you in the chest. But Arlene gets an extra jolt when she’s told by the PR people
that she can actually shoot on-stage during System of a Down’s set! We’re both
raw nerves waiting for the band to start, and that’s when John walks past us,
the funny fanboy drummer replaced by an unsmiling rock god, waiting to pound the
skins and the fans senseless with his unrelenting drumming. But right before the
band launches into its set, John turns to Arlene and I, cracks a wry smile and
tells us, “Enjoy the show.”
With an opening act like the one we just experienced, how could we not?
System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan is rock and roll’s
biggest fanboy EVER!
A burgeoning collector-comics entrepreneur, Dolmayan has many friends in the
industry, and after years in the making, he finally had this completed comic
book-inspired drum kit—completely decorated in original comic art by a host of
top
professionals in what is possibly one of the coolest comic collectibles ever
created—to take on Ozzfest 2006. Wizard joined Dolmayan and System of a Down
backstage at their Randall’s Island, New York show to take a look at how he made
comic and rock history without missing a beat!
ART ATTACK
“Art Adams was like the third guy to the drum, and the drum company lost it,”
recounts Dolmayan. “I can’t really explain to
you the levels of anger, because I had no assurance Art would do another one,
after doing one for free. Who the f--- was I?
But Art was nice. It took him three years, but he did another one, and I think
it’s better than the first one.”
DEAL OR NO DEAL
“I wasn’t going to make any money off the drum set, so I wasn’t going to pay
anyone to work on it,” explains Dolmayan.
“They were going to have to do it for the love of the project and for the love
of the music and the relationship with me.
They are now an immortal part of System’s history. If I had to estimate, I think
the drum set is worth about $150,000.”
BOOK ’EM, DANNO!
“I was planning on displaying it and taking it to conventions [once the tour is
done],” says Dolmayan. “I want to do a coffee
table book on the drum set, on the artists that are a part of it, a little bit
of history of me and the band. Then I’m going to
take the money we make from that and donate it to comic book related charities.”
HERO WORSHIP
Dolmayan can barely contain his enthusiasm when talking about noted horror
artist Bernie Wrightson (Swamp Thing), who
contributed a classic zombie piece to the kit: “If you told me I was going to be
friends with Bernie Wrightson when I was a
kid, I would have told you to go get fucked!”
WHO’S WHO (A complete list of contributors)
10-INCH Art Adams
12-INCH Alé Garza, Lee Bermejo, Carlos D’Anda
14-INCH Michael Kaluta, Charles Vess
16-INCH Jim Lee
18-INCH FLOOR Tone Rodriguez
12-INCH LEFT Tim Bradstreet, Dan Brereton
18-INCH LEFT Bernie Wrightson, Tim Vigil, Vatche Mavlian, Justin Reyes
22-INCH LEFT KICK Bill Sienkiewicz
22-INCH RIGHT KICK Simon Bisley, Kevin Eastman
14-INCH SNARE Neal Adams
By Andy Serwin, photos by Arlene So
Check out some pretty cool backstage pics with John
HERE. Pick Up
WIZARD #181, on
sale now at newsstands and comic stores for more.
(Thanks to Andy Serwin for letting SOADFans.com reproduce the cool
article along with photos)
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