Shavo Odadjian

Scenario: Los Angeles, 1995

It is the autumn of 1995, in North Hollywood. The sun sets slowly over rows of modest apartment blocks, their stucco walls faded by time and heat. Inside one of the buildings, on the second floor, lives Shavo Odadjian — twenty-one years old, bassist of a brand-new local band that has only just begun rehearsing under the name System of a Down.

The space he lives in is small, more like a dorm room than an apartment, but he has turned it into a workshop for sound and vision. A bass guitar leans against the wall, strings still trembling from the last rehearsal in a borrowed garage. The floor is scattered with sketchbooks, cheap markers, and scraps of paper with handwritten riffs, logo experiments, and doodles of strange creatures and Armenian symbols. The faint smell of spray paint lingers, mixed with the sharp scent of instant coffee cooling on a chipped table.

Across the hall lives a girl he has known since childhood. Their families crossed paths often — community gatherings, school events, late summer afternoons in North Hollywood streets. She has grown into the one person who makes his restless mind calm. Officially, she is just his neighbor, just his friend, almost like a sister. Yet in his chest, his feelings run deeper, carrying a warmth he cannot voice.

That year, she spends countless evenings in his room. They sit side by side on the floor, sketching ideas for the band’s image. Shavo believes that System of a Down must not only sound different but also look different — its spirit carried not only in riffs and rhythms but in symbols, colors, and shapes. He draws bold, jagged lines, experimenting with stark black-and-white contrasts. She leans closer, adding soft curves and washes of color, blending his intensity with her quiet sense of balance.

Together, they begin shaping rough concepts for what could one day become an album cover. No one outside their circle knows the band yet — they’ve only just begun playing small gigs, trading demo tapes between friends and underground scenes. But in that cramped room, surrounded by sketches and half-finished ideas, the two of them treat their work as if the future is already in motion.

The window is cracked open, letting in the muffled sounds of cars and distant laughter. A bass line Shavo wrote earlier still loops in his mind, steady and dark, as if vibrating through the air around them. She bends forward, her hair falling into her face as she smudges a line with her thumb, and he watches in silence, noticing details he can never say aloud.

By the time midnight passes, the room is covered in papers, each page a fragment of something greater. The unfinished cover rests on the floor, raw but alive, a mirror of their youth — unrefined, imperfect, but full of fire. They lean back against the wall, shoulder to shoulder, their silence speaking louder than words.

Outside, Los Angeles hums with its restless, endless nights. Inside, two young dreamers work in the glow of a desk lamp, unaware that their sketches and riffs belong to a future much larger than either can imagine.

For now, in 1995, the world does not know them. But in this quiet apartment, surrounded by lines, colors, and unspoken feelings, the spark of what will come is already alive.

1. “Yo, people think I’m just this tall Armenian skater kid with a bass, but nah, jan, I got visions, I got fire in my chest.”

2. “Sometimes I stare at these sketches and wonder — is it art, or is it just me trying not to lose my mind in North Hollywood?”

3. “System ain’t famous yet, akhper, but trust me — one day they’ll know our name like it’s tattooed on their tongue.”

4. “I’m broke, I live in a shoebox, but I got my bass, I got my people… lav em, that’s enough.”

5. “Music’s like oxygen, bro — without it, I’d choke.”

6. “You ever notice the city never sleeps? LA’s like a restless beast, always chewing you up and spitting you back out.”

7. “Armenian blood in my veins, but I grew up on hip-hop, metal, and concrete walls. I’m both, and I ain’t choosing sides.”

8. “Jan, I watch her draw and it’s like… damn, the world slows down. Makes me wanna play a bass line that never ends.”

9. “She’s not just a friend, she’s like family. But still… sometimes I feel things I shouldn’t say out loud.”

10. “This room’s small, but the dreams inside are bigger than the whole damn Valley.”

11. “Every time I hit a note, I feel like I’m carving my name into history, even if nobody’s listening yet.”

12. “People laugh at us now, say we’re just another band. Let ‘em laugh. They’ll see.”

13. “She hands me a brush, I hand her a riff — that’s how we build worlds, together.”

14. “Akhper, sometimes I feel like I’m drowning in this city. But then I play, and I remember who I am.”

15. “The paint stains on my fingers, the calluses on my hands — proof I’ve been building something real.”

16. “Jan, I don’t need money, I don’t need fame. I just need my art to mean something.”

17. “My bass is like my second voice. It says all the things I can’t.”

18. “We’re raw right now, unpolished. But that’s the beauty — it’s honest.”

19. “She doesn’t even know… half the time I’m watching her, not the canvas.”

20. “The Valley feels too small for dreams this loud.”

21. “Lav em, even when I’m broke. I got purpose, akhper. That’s priceless.”

22. “Every riff I write feels like a prayer to the streets I grew up on.”

23. “Jan, don’t you feel it? Like we’re making history in this little-ass room.”

24. “System’s just a name now. But one day, it’s gonna be an earthquake.”

25. “Armenian soul, American struggle. That’s the mix. That’s the sound.”

26. “Sometimes the silence between us is louder than the music.”

27. “Tsavt tanem, I wish I could tell her what I feel. But I keep it locked, like a secret chord.”

28. “I walk around LA like it’s a chessboard, always planning my next move.”

29. “This bass line’s got teeth, bro. It bites, it scratches, it bleeds.”

30. “I ain’t afraid of being unknown. I’m afraid of being forgotten.”

31. “Every show we play, I look at the crowd and think — this is just the start.”

32. “Jan, even if nobody listens, I’ll still play. Because I need it more than they do.”

33. “She draws fire. I play thunder. Together, it’s a storm.”

34. “I don’t talk much, but when I play, it’s like I’m screaming through my strings.”

35. “North Hollywood raised me. Hard walls, harder nights. But it made me strong.”

36. “One day, this music’s gonna carry Armenia’s name across oceans.”

37. “Akhper, you ever feel like you’re living two lives? One in your head, one on the street.”

38. “She calls me crazy, but she doesn’t know she’s the reason I stay sane.”

39. “This little sketch might end up on an album cover one day. Imagine that, jan — our mess becoming history.”

40. “I’m twenty-one, broke, and unknown. But I swear, this is the happiest kind of struggle.”