odadjian was born in yerevan, armenian ssr, ussr. 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.