Scars on Broadway is an American rock band, founded by System of a Down member
Daron Malakian. The band's eponymous debut album was released on July 29,
2008. In late 2008, the band entered a hiatus,
with Malakian citing a lack of enthusiasm and "his heart not being into
touring", as the primary reasons for the band's cessation. Despite reforming with
various line-up changes in 2010 and 2012, and announcing a second album, the
band ceased any further announcements by 2013.
History = Self-titled debut album=
In December 2005, Malakian stated in an interview that he "could release ten
solo records tomorrow." and that he has "tons of material laying around. After
these albums, - - I'm gonna go off to learn how to brain and do something on
my own, just like Serj." Following System of a Down's hiatus, Malakian
announced his latest project — Scars on Broadway — a band which would include
System of a Down bassist, Shavo Odadjian, and himself. Ultimately,
Odadjian was not involved with the band, and instead System drummer, John
Dolmayan became a member. After Malakian and Dolmayan experimented
with different musicians, for a period of nine months in 2007 - 2008 the band
took form and forged its sound in intense rehearsals and recording
sessions under Malakian’s direction, at his home studio and Sunset Sound; with
musicians Danny Shamoun on keyboards, Dominic Cifarelli on bass, and Franky
Perez on guitar and backing vocals. The band's website featured a countdown
timer, counting down to 15:00 PST of March 28, 2008. Additionally, above the
timer, in quotation marks was the phrase "They say it's all about to end." When
the countdown ended, the song "They Say", was made available on the site and
their Myspace account. Scars on Broadway played their first
live show April 11, 2008 at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles, CA. They also
played with Metallica at KFMA Day 2008 in Tucson, AZ On January 22, 2008 Scars
on Broadway were announced to be performing at the Coachella Valley Music
and Arts Festival on April 26, 2008. and the sixteenth annual KROQ Weenie Roast.
On May 2, 2008, announced that their debut album, Scars on Broadway, would be
released on the July 28, 2008. The first single would be the aforementioned "They
Say", which would receive radio airplay, and be made available on Guitar Hero 5
and as a downloadable track on Rock Band.
= Hiatus, reformation, and second hiatus=
In late 2008, Malakian announced via the band's website that their headlining
tour to promote the album's release, which included an appearance on Jimmy
Kimmel Live!, would be cancelled with no plans of rescheduling. Interviews with
both Cifarelli and Dolmayan suggested that the band was finished. When asked
later in May 2009 if the band would ever record or perform again, drummer John
Dolmayan stated: "I’m not sure, but I do miss it."
In August 2009, Dolmayan, Perez, Shamoun, and Cifarelli as Scars on
Broadway traveled to Iraq for a USO tour across the U.S. army bases, without
Malakian. Their setlist consisted of covers well as a few Scars songs. Perez
stated on his Twitter that "the Scars tunes sound amazing but they're not the
same without D..." On October 31, 2009, Malakian performed with Perez, Dolmayan,
and System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian for Odadjian's Holloween party
at the Roxy. The group performed a System of a Down song, a Scars on
Broadway song as well as an unknown song. It was the first time that
Malakian had been in the public eye for a year. Soon after, their photographer
Greg Watermann had posted a message on Myspace saying "I'm not supposed to say
anything, but Scars will be playing again," hinting that Scars might be
coming back soon. On May 2, 2010, Scars on Broadway, this
time the complete line-up, played a sold out show at The Troubadour in West
Hollywood. The band performed all of the songs off their first album, as well as
a new song dubbed by the bands setlist as "Talkin' Shit." They also played a
cover song "Forever My Queen" by the band Pentagram. System of a Down bassist
Shavo Odadjian accompanied and played 3rd guitar for "Cute Machines" and "They
Say." On July 29, 2010, a new song titled
"Fucking" was released to commemorate their upcoming show at The Avalon. On
August 20, 2010, Scars on Broadway, played a sold out show at the Avalon in
Hollywood. The first 500 attendees received a vinyl edition of the song,
"Fucking" and the first 20 out of that 500 received an autographed vinyl of the
song, "Fucking." The band performed all of the songs off their first album, and
performed "Hungry Ghost", "Fucking", "Talkin' Shit", and a cover song
"Assimilate" by the band Skinny Puppy. Odadjian again accompanied and played
3rd guitar for "Cute Machines" and "They Say." A music video for "Fucking" was
later released in March 2011, using footage from the concert.
In January 2012, the band announced they'd be recording a second album. By
February, a preview of a new song called "Guns Are Loaded" was released. In
August, Dolmayan announced his departure, but stated the album was
still scheduled for release "in the next 3 to 4 months". In September 2012, an
accompanying EP was announced to come out around the release of their second
album as well. The band also performed at the Epicenter Festival in Irvine, Ca.
with new drummer Jules Pampena. However, Perez was not present, and later
confirmed he had left the band as well. Despite plans for an untitled album to
be out early 2013 mentioned at live shows, no new information regarding the
album has been made. Furthermore, the official Scars on Broadway Facebook page
lists Daron Malakian as the only current member.
Musical style From its early days, Daron Malakian
always addressed the project as just rock, and "a lot more rock driven,
although there will be some metal influences in the System of a Down
style". On what direction the debut album would take, Malakian states: "It
will probably be something electronic mixed in with traditional Armenian and
thrash, death, black, and doom metal influences. When the music comes out, it
will still be structured, just like System of a Down's music is." In a later
interview, Malakian stated that the music would be influenced by classic
rock acts such as David Bowie, Brian Eno, Neil Young, and Roxy Music. He also
stated that he shifted his songwriting from System of a Down's frazzled metal
to more song-based work, inspired by Neil Young and David Bowie. "I don't
feel we're the mosh-pit band," says Malakian. "That's just where I'm
comfortable as a writer right now," he said, hinting at the band's rock over
metal music approach. Band members
Current Daron Malakian — lead vocals, lead
guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums Former
Dominic Cifarelli — bass guitar, backing vocals
John Dolmayan — drums, percussion Jules Pampena — drums, percussion
Franky Perez — rhythm guitar, vocals, lead vocals
Danny Shamoun — keyboards, percussion Timeline
Discography Studio albums
Singles Music videos
References External links
Official website