Anybody who listens to our weekly RIP a Livecast knows I'm a big fan of sunflower seeds. The passion for eating sunflower seeds was expressed by System of A Down in their hit 2001 track "Toxicity."
You might recall the line "Eating seeds is a past time activity." However, I was shocked, shocked, that System drummer John Dolyman doesn't like sunflower seeds.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iywaBOMvYLI][/youtube]
I asked Dolyman about his affinity, or lack thereof, for sunflower seeds during a Reddit AMA last year, and he simply responded "I don't like sunflower seeds."
At the time, my world was shattered. But thankfully, John does not speak for the entire band.
Last night, we spoke with Daron Malakian on the Livecast and while we avoided discussing any of the recent SOAD drama, I had to get to the bottom of this sunflower seed snafu.
Thankfully, Daron had no problem admitting he's a big fan of sunflower seeds, but he doesn't eat them the way you might traditionally assume.
"I do, I do," Daron responded. "My family gets them raw – and a lot of Armenians do this – they buy the sunflower seeds raw and they cook them; they roast them. It's delicious. It's way better than anything you can buy at the convenience store. It's fresh and they're warm. They're amazing. You can't stop eating them."
My world-view is restored now that this has been confirmed. We talked to Daron about a ton of other topics, including politics in his music, bringing Slayer to Iraq and more. Listen to the episode here.