“I went to Guitar Center and saw this Iceman sitting there and I was like, ‘You know, that’s a guitar that not too many people use’”: How the Ibanez Iceman became System of a Down’s Daron Malakian’s go-to guitar – and why he initially didn’t play it live

Daron Malakian's on-stage image has become inextricably linked to the Ibanez Iceman throughout the years, with the System of a Down guitarist also releasing his own limited-edition signature guitar version – the DMM1 – in 2004.

As he explains in a new interview, that long-standing relationship with the Iceman can be traced all the way back to when the band first got signed.

“I've been using Gibsons as well live, but the Iceman is always in the mix,” he tells Ultimate Guitar . “The Iceman came in the mix when we first got signed for the first album. They gave us money to go buy equipment, and I went to Guitar Center. At that time, I was using Fenders on stage.

“If you ever look at old pictures of me from the first record, you'll see me playing Fender Strats, humbucker Strats – at that time, the one that I was using was called a Big Apple Strat.”

He continues, “So I went to Guitar Center, and I saw this Iceman sitting there, and I was like, ‘You know, that's a guitar that not too many people use.’ It was unique. I never thought of using one before that.”

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Intrigued by its uniqueness, Malakian bought it and took it on tour with him, although he admits that, initially, he “left it on the rack”, until one day his tech persuaded him otherwise.

“One of my techs was like, ‘Dude, you should use this thing.’ And one day on stage, I used it, and I was like, ‘This is really even. It's shaped weird, but it sits on your body really comfortably.’ It feels just right and that's it. I just kept playing that guitar on stage more than the Fenders at that point.

“And then I started a relationship with Ibanez, and they started making them for me,” he recounts. “I remember, in the early days, I'd have my dad paint them. Now I just have them in black and gold. That's my thing.”

His bandmate, Serj Tankian, has previously spoken about how, despite the fact he was the vocalist and Malakian was the guitarist, the latter was using his guitar – the Big Apple Strat – for the first couple of years.