Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway (previously known as just Scars on Broadway) is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band founded by

Daron Malakian Daron Malakian (born July 18, 1975) is an Armenian-American musician. He is best known as the guitarist, songwriter, and second vocalist of metal band System of a Down, and as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwrit ...

of the metal band

System of a Down System of a Down (also known as SoaD or simply System) is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994. Since 1997, the band has consisted of Serj Tankian (lead vocals, keyboards); Daron Malakian (guitar, voc ...

. The band's self-titled debut album was released in July 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. In April 2018, Malakian announced that the band would be releasing their second album titled ''

Dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times ...

'' in July 2018.

History

Self-titled debut album (2005–2008)

In December 2005, Malakian stated in an interview that he "could release ten solo records tomorrow." He revealed that he has "tons of material laying around", as well as his plans for the future: "After these albums Mezmerize''_and_'' Mezmerize''_and_''

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." Following System of a Down's hiatus in May 2006, Malakian announced his latest project — Scars on Broadway — a band which would include System of a Down drummer

John Dolmayan John Dolmayan (; born July 15, 1972) is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American musician, best known as the drummer of System of a Down. He is also the drummer for the band Indicator and former drummer for Scars on Broadway. Dolmayan ranked number 33 ...

and himself. Malakian stated "I haven't decided if I'm going to make it a revolving door of musicians or one solid band but it all revolves around my writing." After Malakian and Dolmayan experimented with different musicians, for a period of nine months in 2007 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 Franky Perez is an American musician best known as a solo artist, touring vocalist of Finnish metal band Apocalyptica, and as former guitarist for Scars on Broadway. He has also released three solo albums, ''Poor Man's Son'', ''My 4th of July'' ...

on guitar and backing vocals. The band begun recording their debut album in September 2007. The band's website featured a countdown timer, counting down to 15:00 PST on 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 The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed "the Whisky") is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boul ...

in Los Angeles. They also played with

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

at KFMA Day 2008 in Tucson, Arizona. On January 22, 2008, Scars on Broadway were announced to be performing at the

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. ...

on April 26, 2008. They also performed at the sixteenth annual

KROQ KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The stat ...

Weenie Roast. On May 2, 2008, the band announced that their debut album, ''

Scars on Broadway Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway (previously known as just Scars on Broadway) is an American rock band founded by Daron Malakian of the metal band System of a Down. The band's self-titled debut album was released in July 2008. In late 2008 ...

'', would be released on July 28, 2008. A week later, the band was signed to

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

. The first single would be the aforementioned "They Say", which would receive radio airplay, and be made available on ''

Guitar Hero 5 ''Guitar Hero 5'' (initially referred to as ''Guitar Hero V'') is a 2009 Music video game, music rhythm game, rhythm video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the fifth main installment in the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar He ...

'' and as a downloadable track on ''

Rock Band A rock band or pop band is a small musical ensemble that performs rock music, pop music, or a related genre. A four-piece band is the most common configuration in rock and pop music. In the early years, the configuration was typically two guita ...

''. The music video for the track was released on June 27. Former drummer John Dolmayan In July, the band announced a headlining tour set for October 2008. ''Scars on Broadway'' was released on July 28, 2008, to generally favorable reviews and debuted at No. 17 on the

Billboard charts The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

. A second single, "World Long Gone", was released on September 8, and featured a music video directed by filmmaker

Joel Schumacher Joel T. Schumacher (; August 29, 1939June 22, 2020) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Raised in New York City by his mother, Schumacher graduated from Parsons School of Design and originally became a fashion designer. H ...

Hiatus, reformation, and second hiatus (2008–2018)

In late 2008, Malakian announced that the headlining tour to promote the album's release, which included an appearance on ''

Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...

'', would be cancelled with no plans of rescheduling. Malakian cited personal reasons as the reason behind the cancellations. Malakian later cited burn-out of touring as an additional factor behind the cancellations. 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 Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

for a USO tour across the US army bases, without Malakian. Their setlist consisted of covers as well as a few Scars on Broadway songs. Perez stated on his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

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 Halloween party at

Roxie Theater The Roxie Theater, also known as the Roxie Cinema or just The Roxie, is a historic movie theater, founded in 1912, at 3117 16th Street in the Mission District of San Francisco. It is a non-profit community arthouse cinema. History The Roxie is o ...

. The group performed a System of a Down song ("Suite-Pee"), a Scars on Broadway song ("They Say") as well as an untitled song. On April 10, 2010, the band announced their return show. On May 2, Scars on Broadway played a sold out show at The Troubadour in West Hollywood. The band performed all of the songs off their first album (except for "Kill Each Other / Live Forever"), as well as a new song "Talkin' Shit". They also played a cover song "Forever My Queen" by the band

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle aroun ...

. 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 on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

, using a special feature where users had to share the song on social media to unlock the download. On August 20, 2010, Scars on Broadway played a sold out show at the Avalon in Hollywood. The first 500 people in line at the concert received a free copy of the single on vinyl. A music video for "Fucking" was later released in March 2011, using footage from the concert. In February 2012 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. Malakian later talked about the upcoming album in November 2012, mentioning new songs "Dictator", "Till the End", and "Fuck n Kill". Malakian also noted he will perform the entirety of the new album by himself. Despite plans for an untitled album to be out early 2013 mentioned at live shows, no new information regarding the album was given until 2018.

''Dictator'' (2018–present)

On April 16, 2018, Malakian announced the lead single from the second album would be released on April 23. The band was re-branded as "Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway". Regarding the change, Malakian stated, "Nobody quit

he band He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

When I first started Scars, I always said that it would be different line-ups from album to album. Depends on the type of direction I want to take. Different musicians work for different styles. That is partly why I added my name in front of the band's." On April 23, 2018, Malakian released the official video of the song "Lives", also releasing the release date of the band's second album, titled ''Dictator'', on July 20, 2018. The song is meant to commemorate the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

and celebrate its survivors. The "Lives" music video featured guitarist Orbel Babayan, bassist Niko Chantziantoniou, and drummer Roman Lomtadze, who later joined the band as touring members. The album was recorded in 2012, with Malakian explaining the delay by saying "Not knowing what's happening with System has kept me from putting my own stuff out. Too much time has passed, and I'm really excited to finally get some music out finally." Malakian stated that the new album could have been System of a Down music, however members of the band couldn't agree on musical direction. Malakian also confirmed that "Gie mou", a song originally sung by Stamatis Kokotas, was going to be in the album. Additionally, he revealed that he was working with a full band for the band's third release, scheduled to begin recording in August.

Musical style

From its early days,

always addressed the project as just

, and "a lot more rock driven, although there will be some

metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

influences in the System of a Down style". Malakian stated, "I think a System fan will be able to relate to the music, but there's a few different directions I want to take, whether it be a little bit more ethnic or sometimes electronic." In a later interview, Malakian stated that the music would be influenced by

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...

acts such as

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

, and

Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock music, rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson (musician), Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera ...

. He also stated that he shifted his songwriting from System of a Down's "frazzled metal" to more song-based work, which was inspired by Neil Young and David Bowie. "I don't feel we're the mosh-pit band," said Malakian. "That's just where I'm comfortable as a writer right now," he said, hinting at the band's

over metal music approach. He also stated his intentions for the band to "have their own identity" from System of a Down, while still maintaining the same "thematic and sonic territory".

Band members

Current *

— lead vocals, lead guitar (2006–2008; 2010–present); drums, bass, keyboards (studio) Current touring members * Orbel Babayan - rhythm guitar, backing vocals, sampler (2018–present) * Niko Chantziantoniou - bass (2018–present) * Roman Lomtadze - drums (2018–present) Former *

— drums (2006–2012) *

— rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2008–2009, 2010), lead vocals, lead guitar (2008–2009) * Dominic Cifarelli — bass, backing vocals (2008–2012) * Danny Shamoun — keyboards, piano, percussion (2008–2012) Former touring members * Jules Pampena — drums (2012)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:800 height:300 PlotArea = left:110 bottom:120 top:10 right:05 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2021 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2006 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:2007 Colors = id:LV value:red legend:Lead_vocals,_lead_guitar id:BV value:pink legend:Backing_vocals id:RG value:green legend:Rhythm_guitar id:B value:blue legend:Bass id:D value:orange legend:Drums id:P value:claret legend:Percussion id:K value:purple legend:Keyboards id:A value:yellow legend:All_instruments id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_album id:bars value:gray(0.95) Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 BackgroundColors = bars:bars ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2006 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:2007 LineData = at:29/06/2008 color:black layer:back at:20/07/2018 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:DM text:"Daron Malakian" bar:FP text:"Franky Perez" bar:OB text:"Orbel Babayan" bar:DC text:"Dominic Cifarelli" bar:NC text:"Niko Chantziantoniou" bar:JD text:"John Dolmayan" bar:JP text:"Jules Pampena" bar:RL text:"Roman Lomtadze" bar:DS text:"Danny Shamoun" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4) bar:DM from:01/01/2006 till:29/11/2008 color:LV bar:DM from:01/01/2008 till:29/11/2008 color:K width:3 bar:DM from:01/01/2006 till:01/01/2008 color:A width:3 bar:DM from:02/05/2010 till:end color:LV bar:DM from:02/05/2010 till:30/09/2013 color:K width:3 bar:DM from:16/10/2010 till:30/09/2013 color:RG width:7 bar:DM from:30/09/2013 till:end color:A width:3 bar:FP from:01/01/2008 till:29/11/2008 color:RG bar:FP from:01/01/2008 till:29/11/2008 color:BV width:3 bar:FP from:29/11/2008 till:28/08/2009 color:LV bar:FP from:29/11/2008 till:28/08/2009 color:RG width:3 bar:FP from:02/05/2010 till:16/10/2010 color:RG bar:FP from:02/05/2010 till:16/10/2010 color:BV width:3 bar:OB from:01/01/2018 till:end color:RG width:7 bar:OB from:01/01/2018 till:end color:BV width:3 bar:DC from:01/01/2008 till:28/08/2009 color:B bar:DC from:01/01/2008 till:28/08/2009 color:BV width:3 bar:DC from:02/05/2010 till:30/09/2013 color:B bar:DC from:02/05/2010 till:30/09/2013 color:BV width:3 bar:NC from:01/01/2018 till:end color:B width:3 bar:JD from:01/01/2006 till:28/08/2009 color:D bar:JD from:01/01/2006 till:28/08/2009 color:P width:3 bar:JD from:02/05/2010 till:16/04/2012 color:D bar:JD from:02/05/2010 till:16/04/2012 color:P width:3 bar:JP from:16/04/2012 till:30/09/2013 color:D width:7 bar:JP from:16/04/2012 till:30/09/2013 color:P width:3 bar:RL from:01/01/2018 till:end color:D width:3 bar:DS from:01/01/2008 till:28/08/2009 color:K bar:DS from:01/01/2008 till:28/08/2009 color:P width:3 bar:DS from:02/05/2010 till:30/09/2013 color:K bar:DS from:02/05/2010 till:30/09/2013 color:P width:3

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scars On Broadway Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups from Los Angeles Interscope Records artists American alternative metal musical groups