System Of A Down’s John Dolmayan Reveals the Irritated Origins of “Toxicity” Drum Beat

System Of A Down may not have dropped new material in years, but their catalog continues to resonate — unpredictable, unconventional, and uniquely theirs. A big part of that comes down to the band’s creative process, which drummer John Dolmayan recently pulled the curtain back on in a new interview with Lilian Tahmasian (via Ultimate Guitar).

Speaking on how the band used to develop songs, Dolmayan explained there was a heavy sense of pressure when a new idea was introduced — especially when guitarist Daron Malakian brought something to the table.

“Let’s say Daron writes a song. Sometimes it’s years before he brings it to us,” Dolmayan said. “At the very least, I don’t think there’s anything he brought into System that was less than six months old. So he’s had all this time to think about it… and then nothing happens until I put drums on it. And if I don’t like the drums, it’s very unlikely that song’s going to end up on an album.”

Dolmayan described the old process: Daron would play the song in front of him while Serj and Shavo listened alongside. As the track played, Dolmayan would be sitting behind the drum kit, already plotting out what the rhythm should — and shouldn’t — be.

“Almost immediately, the first things that come to mind, I would throw away,” he said. “Because if it’s the first thing that comes to my mind, it might be the first thing that comes to somebody else’s mind. I don’t want my drumming to sound like that.”

Instead of going with instinct, he’d challenge himself to find something more off-kilter — something that felt wrong until it was right.

“I’d be like, ‘Well, what doesn’t fit? How do I make it fit? Can it fit?’ And that’s kind of how we did it.”

But not every breakthrough came from carefully calculated experimentation. One of the band’s most iconic drum moments — the beat for “Toxicity” — came about by accident… and out of sheer irritation.

According to Dolmayan, the song was originally pieced together by Shavo and Daron, combining two separate parts into something more cohesive. But when it came time for drums, nothing clicked. That’s when Shavo chimed in with a suggestion that got under Dolmayan’s skin.

“I couldn’t think of anything. And then Shavo was like, ‘Why don’t you do this?’ I was like, ‘Shavo, let me go through my process here.’ But he kept irritating me. So I was like, ‘Whoa! Like this!?’ And then that was the beat. He goes, ‘Yeah, like that.’”

That spontaneous, sarcastic fill ended up sticking — and became one of the band’s most recognizable drum parts.

“I didn’t even think about it. I just did something because he was irritating me and I was mimicking him. I don’t even think he wanted that. But that’s it, that’s the song now. And I would say that’s what I’m most highly regarded for — the beat for that song, which was completely a mistake.”

Even years removed from their last album, stories like this are a reminder of the chaotic brilliance that defined System Of A Down’s sound — and how sometimes, greatness shows up when you least expect it.

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