Daron Malakian , guitarist, vocalist, and founding member of System of a Down , made a lengthy appearance on music producer Rick Rubin , Tetragrammaton ( part one and part two ). In it, he talked about his relationship with metal and its various subgenres, as well as recounting the time he played with Metallica early in his career.
In July 2000, Metallica was performing on the Summer Sanitarium , which also featured bands like System of a Down, Powerman 5000 , Kid Rock , and Korn . During this period, James Hetfield was injured while riding a jet ski, but this did not prevent his band from performing.
“All the opening bands had already played, so Metallica came on stage. Jason Newsted was singing, and the guys from Korn showed up to play a cover of a Cheech & Chong . They didn’t know what to do because James wasn’t there,” he said.
At that moment, Malakian took a bold step: “I turned to my manager and said, ‘Listen, man. Tell their manager that I know a lot of their songs because I learned them all playing in a garage with other guys. I know a lot of …And Justice For All and earlier.’ Soon after, he came back and asked me to join him. I had never met Metallica before.”
“Then, I was already on the other side of the stage. They handed me a Les Paul, I believe it belonged to Kirk Hammett . And they all said, 'Okay, go.' There were 60,000 people in front of me (laughs).”
For the System of a Down guitarist, the situation was surreal, especially since his band wasn't very well-known at the time: "Our band wasn't big yet, I was a 22-year-old kid. I couldn't even believe we could open for Metallica, everything was new at that point in my life."
“They asked me what song I knew, and I answered 'Master of Puppets.' And there I am, playing 'Master of Puppets' in front of 60,000 people. I thought, 'Who's going to sing? Screw it, I'll sing,' and I sang.”
Malakian recounts that, after that show, the band wanted him to continue as guitarist, since Hetfield still couldn't play: “Suddenly, Kirk Hammett is in front of me with a guitar, and I say, 'Hey, I know all your old material, but I don't know anything about Load or Reload .' Kirk started trying to teach me things from Load . Soon after, they told me: 'Get your things off the bus, you're coming with us on the private jet.'"
Daron Malakian “saved the day” of Metallica
Despite Malakian's preparation to play an entire setlist, Metallica decided to share Hetfield's stage time with the other musicians on the tour. However, the guitarist was able to continue participating in the band's shows, playing "One" with Kid Rock on vocals the following night.
“It was insane, I’ll never forget it. Even later, the technicians would come up to me on other tours and say, ‘Don’t think we’ve forgotten what you did. You killed it that day. They were having a hard time. You went out there and played ‘Master of Puppets.’ Yeah, man, that happened. Even though my band has gotten to where it is now, that story still gives me chills. I had the chance to experience that at that point in my career,” he concluded.
READ ALSO: Dave Mustaine rejects former Megadeth members on final tour: “It’s not a puppet show”
