Interview with Daron Malakian (random questions), 15.10.2008

Kerrang: So far, what has been the best day of your life?

Daron Malakian: Being on magic mushrooms at a [legendary jam band] Grateful dead concert. It was just the most blissfully happy feeling I've ever experienced. This was about a year or two before [frontman] Jerry Garcia, and the show was at the LA sports Arena. I had taken mushrooms before, but that was at a NIN concert, which was a completely different vibe, But when the Grateful Dead were playing, it was like being abroad on a spaceship, and every time they started a song the spaceship lifted off and we were being transported through space. it was just fantastic.

Kerrang: If you were governor of California, how would you improve the lives of your fellow citizens?

Daron Malakian: I hate coming off like big pot head, but I would definitely move for more lenient laws on pot. The jails in California are pretty full, so I would figure out a way of getting some people out there, people who aren't a danger to society. I would keep the killers and the rapists and the molesters inside, but people who had done other people no harm would be up for release.

Kerrang: What's the secret to playing a truly great gig?

Daron Malakian: When the energy of everyone onstage comes together at just the right moment, that's when you've got a great performance. That doesn't happen every night, but when it does it's really special. It's kind of like being a basketball player who makes three points shots time after time. Have Scars on Broadway reached this point? Yeah, we have - all the time, actually.

Kerrang: If you could be a professional athlete, which sports would you play?

Daron Malakian: I've always wondered what it would like to be a goaltender in [ice] hockey, so I'd give that a try I'd model myself on (legendary Edmonton Oliers netminder) Grant Fuhr. One time I did play baseball in Dodger Stadium in LA. My publicist in the States asked me to play in a game before the Dodgers played, a game for celebrities. So I thought, Wow, I get to play at Dodger Stadium! Yeah, cool! So I went along, but I was sitting in the dugout about to have a panic attack because I was so nervous. It was about 110 degrees, I was wearing a baseball uniform, waiting to take batting practice I hadn't swung at a ball since I was 12 years old and I'd just eaten some hash brownies....

Wednesday, Oktober 15, 2008
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