Shavo Odadjian

In 2015, the album was released as a compilation of 8 songs based on a boombox digital format. Potentially, more songs are to come as it has been stated that many more are mixed and recorded.

While attending college (majoring in Psychology and minoring in Art) and working in a bank, Odadjian began managing Soil – the band Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian were a part of in 1993. Odadjian had met them in a recording studio, where he was recording with his own band. The two members called upon him for assistance, and he became manager of the band. Odadjian says in an early interview that securing System's first local gig was a struggle:

The band was on hiatus between 2006 and 2010, with group members focusing on outside projects. On November 23, 2010, System released an official statement declaring that they would play a number of European festivals in 2011, and they played a number of shows in western North America as well.

On October 31, 2009, Odadjian hosted the event "Halloween" at The Roxy, in which he and fellow System band mates Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan reunited to jam on stage and perform various songs together, including System of a Down's "Suite-Pee." The System of a Down trio also came together on November 20, 2009 and performed System songs together for a benefit honoring coma-stricken Chi Cheng of The Deftones, with Chino Moreno of Deftones singing on lead vocals.

On Friday, November 13, 2009 the second AcHoZeN track "Salute/Sacrifice" was released exclusively as a free download on Odadjian's online art district and networking site, urSESSION.com from the upcoming AcHoZeN debut album. The AcHoZeN album was anticipated to be released in mid-2010, but has yet to be released, due in part to Odadjian's commitments to System of a Down.

In September 2009, it was announced that Odadjian will be performing live as DecompoZeR in Europe in October. He will be accompanying Rza. DecompoZeR is Odadjian's producer alias. He announced that completed tracks are anticipated to be released in 2010, including a brand-new GraveDiggaz track featuring Frukwan aka: The Gatekeeper. Other collaborations include 60 Second Assassin, Killah Priest, and others.

Odadjian is a human rights activist known to take on an avid role in protesting against human atrocities, including, but not limited to, the recognition and prevention of worldwide genocide. He also actively participates in youth mentoring, and frequents charitable events that work to further research for cancer-stricken children. On February 27, 2009, Odadjian was presented with AGBU's GenNEXT "Community Hero Award," an award paying tribute to his outstanding work as a role model for young Armenian-Americans. Odadjian was nominated for the award by young kids in the community. During his acceptance speech, Odadjian highlighted the importance of being active in your local community:

In early 2008, Odadjian founded urSESSION, a virtual online art district and networking site aimed at uniting artists of all genres and styles around the world. The website is also founded by Odadjian's long-time friend and entertainment attorney, Narb Avedissian. Power 106's World Famous Wake-Up Show Sway & King Tech (also MTV resident veejay) are partners in the site, providing exclusive archived, never-before-seen footage of Eminem, Dr. Dre, and other prominent rappers when they first began in the industry.

In early 2008, urSESSION announced The 100K Battle, a contest for the online community in which the artist with the most votes by the community won a round-trip ticket to Los Angeles to perform on Power 106's The World-Famous Wake-Up Show, along with other prizes.

Recently, Odadjian has appeared playing as part of the backing band of George Clinton (of Parliament/Funkadelic). In September 2008 he appeared (playing guitar instead of bass) in a live performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno with Clinton. Odadjian also appears on Clinton's 2008 album George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love, which features many guest musicians, including Odadjian's Achozen bandmate RZA, former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante, and Carlos Santana.

Odadjian's directing style implements surreal atmospheric themes and integrates innovative methods in filming, inspired by Rod Serling (Twilight Zone). Odadjian's Serling-esque style is apparent in System of a Down music videos "Aerials," "Question," and Taproot's video -also directed by Odadjian – "Mine." On May 15, 2007, it was revealed that Odadjian would be directing the first video from Bad Brains's album Build a Nation. Odadjian makes an appearance at the end of the concert video with frontman H.R. The two are seen charismatically walking stage side, conversing and smoking together. Odadjian also directed the TV spot and launch trailer for the 2015 video game Mortal Kombat X, which features his band's signature song "Chop Suey!".

In 2007–2008, Odadjian and Rza teamed up with Hans Zimmer in scoring major motion-picture, summer blockbuster movie Babylon A.D., starring Vin Diesel. Along with the song "Deuces," Odadjian is credited with writing the songs "A Single Moment", "Foreshadow," "Blade Runner 0.8.," "Rollin DissgEyes," "Build Your Enemies," "Digital Slaps," and "Immaculate" for the scoring of the film.

Odadjian started a side project in May 2006 named AcHoZeN. AcHoZeN is the musical alliance between Odadjian, Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA, Kinetic 9 (aka: Beretta 9 from Killarmy), and up-and-comer, the Reverend William Burke from Chicago. Achozen's mantra is:

Odadjian has described AcHoZeN as "a musical revolution. It is not just a band, it's a way of thinking." RZA and Odadjian anticipate upcoming tours. Achozen also appears on the major motion picture, Babylon A.D., on which AcHoZeN song "Deuces" is heard blaring at the introduction of the film. AcHoZeN's first live show was at the Key Club in L.A on December 1, 2006.

In 2006, Odadjian starred in the critically acclaimed film "Screamers", a documentary by internationally known director Carla Garapedian. The film follows Odadjian and the rest of the rock band System of a Down as they tour Europe and the US, pointing out the horrors of modern genocide that began in Armenia in 1915 up through Darfur today.

Odadjian is an avid and passionate painter outside of music. His artwork has been featured in many System of a Down music videos and live shows - including an abstract piece highlighted in the "Hypnotize" video. Odadjian's painting style is abstract with loud, bright colors that bleed into each other. During Ozzfest of 2006, Odadjian created a 27-piece, abstract mosaic of paintings that was utilized as the stage backdrop for System's headlining Ozzfest performance. (Stage design in System of a Down performances is also attributed to Odadjian). One critic wrote of the Ozzfest performance:

Each of Odadjian's paintings for the 2006 Ozzfest performance were hand-picked by Odadjian himself. Odadjian states that, in pairing each of his pieces/backdrops to songs, he aimed to coordinate each unique emotion of a specific song to the matching vibe of his paintings.

In addition, Odadjian is a popular DJ in the LA area, taking part in such events as the "Rock/DJ Explosion" on March 2, 2001 at The Roxy in Hollywood, CA and collaborating with System of a Down bandmate Serj Tankian on Serart, the singer's collaboration album with multitalented Armenian musician Arto Tunçboyacıyan. Odadjian goes by the name DJ Tactics, and spins a wide spectrum of music spanning hip-hop, tech-house, classic rock, and metal.

In 1995, Odadjian became the band's permanent bassist. They named themselves System of a Down, after a poem written by bandmate Daron Malakian entitled "Victims of a Down." Odadjian was not keen on being labeled "Victims," and thought that the word "System" appealed to a much broader audience. The band has stated that they also wanted their CDs to be placed in stores alongside their favorite band, Slayer. It was at this time that Odadjian passed on his original managerial responsibilities to Velvet Hammer Music. Their first release was titled "Sugar." Soon after, drummer Andy Khachaturian joined the band but was replaced in 1997 by current drummer John Dolmayan due to a hand injury.

Odadjian's involvement in the arts began at an early age, as he first appeared in the 1993 "Big Gun" video by AC/DC, standing alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the crowd sporting a backwards baseball cap and a white T-shirt, while Schwarzenegger catches a stick of dynamite. He also made a cameo as Hansel's Posse member in the film Zoolander.

Shavarsh "Shavo" Odadjian (Armenian: Շավարշ "Շավո" Օդաջյան ; born April 22, 1974) is an Armenian-American musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music video director, and painter. He is best known as the bassist, backing vocalist and occasional songwriter of the Grammy Award-winning metal band System of a Down. During the band's hiatus from 2006 to 2010, Odadjian collaborated with Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA on a project called AcHoZeN, which contributed a number of songs to the motion picture Babylon A.D. A compilation album was released in 2015. Odadjian is also credited with the musical scoring of the film, alongside The Rza and Hans Zimmer. He originally used Gibson Thunderbird basses, a Fender Jazz Bass, an Ibanez BTB bass guitar, and a Music Man StingRay, but has since moved on to Warwick basses.