Shavarsh "Shavo" Odadjian (Armenian: Շավարշ "Շավո" Օդաջյան; born April 22, 1974) is an Armenian American songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music video director/editor, music producer, and artist/painter. He is best known as the bassist, backing vocalist and occasional songwriter of the Grammy Award-winning rock 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 regularly uses a Gibson Thunderbird bass, a Fender Jazz Bass, and an Ibanez BTB bass guitar. He used a Music Man StingRay when he started to play with the band.

Early life

Odadjian was born in Yerevan, Armenian SSR. He moved to Los Angeles at a very young age, and he attended the Alex Pilibos Elementary School in Los Angeles, an Armenian parochial school, along with future bandmates Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian, although they were not acquainted at the time due to a gap in their ages. During his youth, Odadjian has stated that he spent most of his time skateboarding and listening to punk rock and heavy metal music. Among others, he credits Dead Kennedys, KISS, Slayer, The Beatles, and Black Sabbath as his favorite bands, and the most substantial influence on his musical development and career.