KEEPING PRODUCT UNDER WRAPS: TWO FORMER SYSTEM OF A DOWN MEMBERS GUARD MYSTIQUE OF THEIR NEW PROJECT
The Press Enterprise (Riverside, CA.)
April 21, 2008, Monday
For a musician, Daron Malakian talks like a chef.
The Scars on Broadway leader began writing recipes for songs years
ago while working on the last two albums for his other band, System
of a Down. He tested out the ingredients, going through two drummers
before asking System band-mate John Dolmayan to join.
"It’s not easy to put together a band with the right people and let
it evolve and marinate into what it’s gonna be," Malakian said in a
recent telephone interview.
The band has kept the final product covered, revealing only tastes
of what’s to come, such as a single song on MySpace and a surprise
warm-up show in Los Angeles.
But the main course will be at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts
Festival this weekend, where the band plays Saturday.
"I ain’t gonna feed you dinner until the food is cooked and it’s
ready," Malakian said.
Dolmayan has his own explanation for the secrecy surrounding the act,
which hasn’t yet released the lineup of its members beyond Dolmayan
and Malakian, who is handling singing duties as well as guitar.
"We’ve gone to great lengths to maintain the mystery of this album
and making the mystery of this band and creating that mystique," he
said in a telephone interview, noting the shrouded aspects of bands
such as Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
The band’s first album is expected to come out sometime between July
and September, Malakian said.
But both he and Dolmayan said that Scars on Broadway does not pick
up where their metal band System of a Down (which has been on hiatus
since 2006) left off.
Some of the songs have electronic elements, giving the record a
different type of sound.
"I think the big difference between this and anything I wrote with
System is it drives in a rock way and it’s more eclectic in a rock
way than it is in a metal way," Malakian said.
"They Say," the song the band has leaked to the public, is heavy,
but more in a 1970s punk manner than the metal-meets-Armenia sound
heard in System of a Down’s work.
"A big part of my style of writing is that I go place to place so
you’ll hear a variety of different emotions. One second it will be
really sad, the next second it will be kind of funny and next it will
be kind of heavy," Malakian said.
He is just ready for more people to hear the songs, battling the
everyday pre-show jitters before the band’s big debut.
"It’s like an energy that comes in me that ends up becoming a really
powerful energy on stage," he said.
System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian is also playing Coachella (on
Friday), but Dolmayan said there wouldn’t be any cross-pollination
between their sets.
"Right now we really want to concentrate on our projects that we
have going and in order to do that you gotta take the focus away
from System of a Down and put it where it belongs right now – which
is on Serj’s solo album, Scars on Broadway and Shavo’s (Odadjian,
bassist for System of a Down) project with the RZA," he said.
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Reach Vanessa Franko at 951-368-9575, [email protected],
or
* * *
COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL
WHEN: Friday-Sunday
WHERE: Empire Polo Field, 81-800 Avenue 51, Indio
ADMISSION: Three-day general/ -admission pass is $269, available
through Ticketmaster
On the Web:
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SCARS ON BROADWAY
FROM: Los Angeles
GENRE: Rock
DEBUT: 2008
REQUIRED LISTENING: "They Say"
ON THE WEB:
SEE THEM AT COACHELLA: Saturday