Scars on Broadway
is an American alternative metal band, founded by System of a Down members Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan. The band's eponymous debut album was released on July 29, 2008. The band currently consists of Dolmayan, Franky Perez, Danny Shamoun, and Dominic Cifarelli.
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SCARS ON BROADWAY TICKETS
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History
Early Incarnation (2003)
In 2003,
Daron Malakian (lead guitar),
Casey Chaos (vocals), Greg Kelso (rhythm guitar), and
Zach Hill (drums) recorded a demo tape entitled "Ghetto Blaster Rehearsals" credited to the name Scars on Broadway. However, in 2007, an official letter on the band's website states that these tracks are not in any way affiliated to Scars on Broadway as it exists today and that the music is from a disbanded project from four years ago.
Self-titled debut album (2005-2008)
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,
- (
Mezmerize
and
Hypnotize
) -
I'm gonna go off to learn how to brain and do something on my own, just like Serj. And no, System of a Down is not breaking up. We're just gonna do like KISS and put out our own solo records.
"
Following System'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.
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. The song is also available for listening on the band's official MySpace page. It is no longer available as a free download.
Scars on Broadway played their first live show April 11, 2008 at the Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles, CA. They have also confirmed to be playing with
Metallica at KFMA Day 2008 in Tucson, AZ
[1]. On
January 22, 2008 Scars on Broadway were announced to be performing at the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on
April 26, 2008
[2]. On
May 17th of that year, the band also performed at the sixteenth annual
KROQ Weenie Roast. Additional tour dates were announced on their official website on the 30th of May
[2].
On May 2, 2008, Scars announced on their official website that their debut album,
Scars on Broadway
, would be released on the 28th and 29th of July.
Starting from May 28, 2008, "They Say" is available for purchase at iTunes Music store. On July 20, 2008, "They Say" was featured as iTunes' Free Single of the Week.
On June 20 Scars on Broadway released a teaser for their single "They Say" on a MySpace bulletin.
In the teaser, the video is said to premiere soon.
"They Say" was also included in the end of 2008
Kerrang!
compilation album, amongst other popular and new rock music by various artists.
The video for their first single "They Say" premiered on Yahoo's music page on June 27. The song "Chemicals" was made available to listen to on the band's MySpace page on July 8.
On July 25, it was announced that "They Say" would be a downloadable track for the video game
Rock Band on July 29 for
Xbox 360 and July 31 for
PS3. "They Say" will also appear on
Guitar Hero 5
On July 28 2008,
Scars On Broadway
was released to critical acclaim, with
Kerrang!
giving it a rare '5 K' rating.
Also on July 28, Scars on Broadway played a record release show at the Union Station in Los Angeles.
Possible Break-up and USO Tour (late 2008-2009)
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. Malakian cited his lack of enthusiasm and "his heart not being into touring" as the chief reasons behind the cancellation.
Although no official confirmation has been released, interviews with both bassist
Dominic Cifarelli and drummer
John Dolmayan, have confirmed that the band is finished.
[4] [5]
However, in May 2009 when asked if the band would ever record or perform again, drummer John Dolmayan stated: "I’m not sure, but I do miss it."
[6]
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. 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..." He also stated before they left that Malakian had given them his blessing.
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
1st Incarnation (2003)
- Casey Chaos — vocals
- Daron Malakian — lead guitar
- Zach Hill — drums
- Greg Kelso — rhythm guitar
2nd Incarnation (2006–2009)
- Daron Malakian — vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, organ, mellotron1
- John Dolmayan — drums, percussion
- Franky Perez — rhythm guitar, backing vocals (2007–2009)
- Danny Shamoun — keyboards, percussion
- Dominic Cifarelli — bass (2008–2009)
:
1 Instruments listed are for the album; live, Malakian is only the lead vocalist and lead guitarist.
USO tour (2009)
- John Dolmayan — drums, percussion
- Franky Perez — guitar, vocals
- Danny Shamoun — keyboards, percussion
- Dominic Cifarelli — bass
Discography
Studio albums
Year
| Album details
| Peak chart positions
| Certifications (sales thresholds)
|
US
| AUS
| AUS
| DUT
| FRE
| FIN
| GER
| NZ
| SWE
| SWI
| UK
|
2008
| Scars on Broadway
- Released: July 29, 2008
- Label: Interscope
- Format: CD, CD/DVD, LP, digital download
| 17
| 43
| 22
| 83
| 88
| 14
| 23
| 54
| 26
| 58
| 41
|
|
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country.
|
Demos
- 2003: Ghetto Blaster Rehearsals
Singles
Year
| Song
| Peak chart positions
| Album
|
U.S.
| U.S. Mod
| U.S. Main
| UK
| UK Rock
| CAN
| CAN Rock
|
2008
| "They Say"
| —
| 15
| 25
| —
| 4
| —
| 42
| Scars on Broadway
|
"World Long Gone"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|
"—" denotes a release that did not chart
Music videos
Year
| Title
| Director(s)
|
2008
| "They Say"
| Paul Minor
|
"World Long Gone" [7]
| Joel Schumacher [8]
|
References
- Scars On Broadway: KFMA Day
- Scars on Broadway website
- Scars on Broadway website
- Scars' bassist says, Scars on Broadway is pretty much over :: The Official Unofficial System of a Down site!
- Informal question/answer session with John Dolmayan :: The Official Unofficial System of a Down site
- Interview: John Dolmayan (System of a Down/Scars on Broadway)
- Scars on Broadway Official Site
- [1]