Even though John had joined the band before our first album was even released, Daron frequently treated him like he was just a replacement member, a second-class citizen, telling him how lucky he was to have joined the band when he did. He’s tried to fire John multiple times over the years, and pretty much every time, I sat down with Daron and told him, “It’s not going to happen. If he goes, I go.” I felt like System was the four of us, and if you took one out of this unique formula, anyone, it would be a different chemical compound altogether.
