SCARS ON BROADWAY TAKING A STEP AWAY FROM SYSTEM

System of a Down’s Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan are nearing completion of their debut Scars on Broadway album and we get an update

Scars on Broadway, which is a side project started by System of a Down’s lead guitarist and musical mastermind Daron Malakian, is nearing completion of their debut album, which is slated for a 2008 release. Malakian who started Scars on Broadway a few years back, has since recruited fellow System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan for the project that has been gaining steam since System of a Down’s hiatus, which will last at least a few years. With the world wide success of System of a Down affording the band members the luxury of taking some time away to concentrate on other projects, Malakian and Dolmayan have joined forces with a few old friends, along with producer Rick Rubin to record the Scars on Broadway album, which takes a step away from the direction of System of a Down.

We caught up with John Dolmayan recently to get his thoughts on Scars on Broadway and what fans can expect from the band.

“We’re trying to go a little bit of a different direction than System, because System still exists. We want to take this opportunity to explore some of the other musical tastes that we have. So, I think you’ll be pleasently surprised by it. We didn’t want to just do, not that any two System albums are similar, but there is a current that goes through all of them. We wanted to take a step away from that.”

It was Malakian that started Scars on Broadway a few years back while Dolmayan was recording drum tracks for System of a Down’s lead vocalist Serj Tankian’s solo album ‘Elect the Dead. Dolmayan was then approached to join Scars on Broadway by Daron. John also shared his views on where the project is now and how Scars on Broadway got started.

“We actually recorded 15 tracks already. They’re finished. We’re taking a week off and next week I go back to L.A. and we’re going to start working again and record five or six more songs, then we’ll be done. It’s been about a year in the making to get to this point. Daron asked me to join last Christmas, so it’s almost coming up to a year. At that time I was recording with Serj, around that time. His solo album just came out, ‘Elect the Dead.’ It’s great, everybody should pick it up and hopefully you’ll like what we do on Scars.”

So besides Malakian and Dolmayan, who else is in Scars on Broadway?

“We have three other great musicians working with us. Two of them, long term friends. One of them, I played in a band with before System. One of them was Daron’s friend. Just great guys, great musicians and they really do add something to it that’s very different. Of course if we did these songs with Serj and Shavo, it would sound like System a lot more. Because we have these other elements it does take it to a different place. I think people will enjoy it.”

Although Dolmayan kept the names of the other members of Scars secretive, with Malakian leading the way in the studio, success won’t be too far behind. Look for Scars on Broadway to have the initial tracks recorded by the end of the year as the band hopes to have the album, which is being produced by Rick Rubin, on the street by the Summer of 2008. Scars on Broadway plan an initial small club tour although, as of press time no dates are set. Lately, there have been songs leaked onto YouTube labeled as “Scars on Broadway demos” the band wants to make it clear that this music is from a disbanded project from four years ago, and is in no way affiliated with the current Scars on Broadway project. Any music that will be leaked or released from Scars, will be done so directly to their fans through the band’s official website, www.scarsonbroadway.com