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Scars on Broadway (also referred to as SCARS or abbreviated as
SOB) is a new project of System of a Down's guitarist Daron
Malakian, John Dolmayan and other musicians.
History
in 2003, Daron along with 'Casey Chaos', 'Greg Kelso' and 'Zach
Hill' started rehearsing and recorded some demos, the project had
the title "Scars on Broadway" However, in 2007, an official letter
was announced on the official Scars on Broadway's website that these
demo tracks recorded back in 2003 are not in any way affiliated to
Scars on Broadway as it exists today and that the music is from a
disbanded project from 4 years ago.
The origin of Scars on Broadway's name
Here's Daron explanation of the name:
"That's interesting. It has nothing to do with Broadway. There
are these light posts on Broadway Street in Glendale, and I've
always thought they were strange. As a teenager, I went to Glendale
High, and there are these light posts that have Swastikas scarred on
the bottom of them. It's not graffiti. It's actually in the design
of the light posts. They're scarred in there. The name comes from
that. "Scars on Broadway" are the swastikas on the light post. It
just baffles me that they keep them. They're one of the oldest
things that remain here in Glendale. I'm not sure that they're the
Nazi Swastikas, because they might've been here before that, but
I've always found them intriguing. It's just an image that's very
interesting to me, and it's dark. I can take that name, and it means
something else to me. People sometimes say, "All the world's a
stage." Well Scars On Broadway can also mean "All the world's a
stage, and all we are is a scar on that stage." It can take on a
couple different meanings. The idea of the name came from that light
post, but then when I actually sat down and thought about the name,
the meaning of the name meant something absolutely different to me,
and it had nothing to do with that light post anymore [Laughs]."
About Scars on Broadway's Album
"It will probably be something electronic mixed in with traditional
Armenian and thrash, death, black, and doom metal influences. When,
or even if, the music comes out, it will still be structured, just
like System of a Down's music is.". Said Daron Malakian
The electronic effect idea was demonstrated in all System of a Down
2005 concerts when Malakian, instead of merely singing the chorus to
the songs "Sugar" or "War?", as well as "Old School Hollywood" from
Mezmerize, distorted his voice electronically with a Vocoder.
In a recent interview, Daron said that the sound will be
influenced by classic rock such as David Bowie, Brian Eno, Neil
Young, and Roxy Music. Malakian has shifted his songwriting away
from SOAD'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."
Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan have been writing and rehearsing
new material and plan to begin writing their debut album. It was
reported that Scars on Broadway began recording on September 2007.
The album is confirmed to be produced by Malakian and Rick Rubin.
According to the Scars on Broadway Website, as of December 6th,
2007, the drum tracks for the album had been finished and the band
is moving into the next stage of recording.
On January 22, 2008 Scars on Broadway were announced to be
performing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April
26, 2008 in a surprising announcement for the fans who did expect a
release before live performance
In another interview, Daron did reveal 3 song titles, "Universe,"
"World Gone Wrong" and "3005." Daron has also said that fans should
expect another Scars album before another System album comes out.
On March 14, 2008, Scars launched an advertising contest challenging
fans to post the Scars on Broadway countdown banner on the best
websites they can find and submit screenshots. The prize is a cymbal
signed by John and Daron.
Album Tracklist:
1. Serious
2. Funny
3. Exploding / Reloading
4. Stoner Hate
5. Insane
6. World Long Gone
7. Kill Each Other / Live Forever
8. Babylon
9. Chemicals
10 Enemy
11. Universe
12. 3005
13. Cute Machines
14. Whoring Streets
15. They ay
They Say
'They Say' was the first single released digitally on March
the 28th 2008, the song was released on Scars on Broadway's official
website after 14 days of putting a counting down on the website.
Song can be heard/downloaded HERE,
Lyrics has been posted
HERE.
First Show ever
After releasing 'They Say' the band did a surprise secret live
show in April 11, 2008 at the Whisky A GO GO in Hollywood, the show
was announced just few days before its date.
The performance was half an hour, Scars performed around 10 songs
including 'They Say'. [Read detailed
review with photos & videos about the show].
Videos
'They Say', Scars's first single, was premiered on Yahoo's
music website on June 27th, 2008, the video was directed by Paul
Minor, later a video was out of the making of They Say video - the
video is downloadable from
HERE.
'Chemicals', the second single was premiered online
at myspace on July 8th, 2008, a video teaser was put on Scars'
official yourtube channel that was renamed later as an 'Album
teaser' instead of Chemicals teaser.
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