According to Hoodie Analytics, System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian's weed company 22Red is ranked 12th in celebrity cannabis brand sales. Founded in 2018, 22Red "merges premium cannabis, music, fashion, skate and design," notes gambling site Card Player. The company operates in Arizona, California and Nevada, and plans to move into the Northeast soon. Here are nine highlights from Card Player's interview with Odadjian.
"I didn’t want to be one of those celebrity brand guys that just slapped their name on any weed and said, ‘Hey, this is me,’ and then sold it."
First Time
I started smoking in my early 20s. I wasn’t a smoker as a kid. My parents come from the old country (Armenia) so their view of cannabis was, like, it’s heroin and cocaine. So I always kind of viewed it as that. I had friends that smoked around me. I was always into metal rock and I just always avoided it. And then it all happened. I was at a Guns N’ Roses/Metallica concert. It was a crazy show and there were people smoking around me. I just kind of felt like saying, "Bro, pass that." All my friends that were sober were around me, and it was like, "Whoa, dude, Shavo’s about to smoke." And then the dude actually passed it.
Smokin' with Daron
[Guitarist] Daron Malakian was an avid smoker so we just started smoking. We’d go snag weed and take it to our rehearsal space and talk about how we’re going to make System of a Down what it is today.
Advocacy
I’ve always been a supporter of cannabis.
Celebrity Branding
Once weed became legal in California, everyone was asking me, "Why don’t you get into the business?" And I was just like, "Man, I’m a smoker, I don’t want to get into the industry." I didn’t want to be one of those celebrity brand guys that just slapped their name on any weed and said, "Hey, this is me," and then sold it. And then I met one of my partners, (Sean Oganesyan) and he took me to his grow. I just knew this was my calling. And I said, "You know what? I could rep this.This is something I could smoke every day, and I can be proud to say this is mine." And so we partnered him in and 22Red was born.
Growing 22Red
We’re about to open up in Maine and Massachusetts... Since we’ve been around for six, seven years, we can license our name. We find a grower who has a distribution license who needs a brand. We do all the marketing, give them our genetics and packaging, and if they’re not capable of growing the way we need them to grow, we bring Sean in and he guides the grower on how to do it. So we walk in and give you our plan and make you a part of 22Red in that state.
Fave Strain
22Red OG is the one I swear by. It grows really well, really thick, dense. I don’t like strains that floor you and you’re couch-locked. It’s a nice hybrid.
Light Toker
I don’t smoke as much as I used to, so I have a trusted group of testers. It’s not like we just allow anything the distributor puts in because they can. We’ve been screwed before. We learned quickly that’s not how it works.
On Tour with SOAD
We’re playing New York with Korn, two shows at MetLife. We’re playing two shows with Avenged Sevenfold in Chicago at Soldier Field, and then we’re doing a huge brand new stadium in Toronto with Deftones.
Side Project
My new solo project is called Seven Hours After Violet. We’ve been rocking that. The album came out in October. We just got back from Europe. We did all the festival runs and then we also supported Korn for their European run.
MORE CELEB BRANDS
• Top 20
See more of the latest CelebStoner news!
×
