System Of A Down side project ready to roll

System Of A Down are still on "hiatus," but the band's co-singer/guitarist, Daron Malakian, and drummer, John Dolmayan, have been making music (albeit slowly), and on July 29 they're releasing the self-titled debut of their side project, Scars On Broadway.

"I like to let my songs marinate over time," Malakian says about the Scars On Broadway songs, many of which he started years ago. "That helps determine which ones speak to me the loudest." Malakian produced all of the album's 14 cuts, and wrote the lion's share of them.

Fans of SOAD's fierce metallic attack will find plenty to like about Scars On Broadway, but Malakian tapped into folk and rock influences such as Neil Young and Iggy Pop.

So far, the band has played only a couple of shows, a well-received performance at Coachella (the Los Angeles Times said they were "one of the festival's hottest highlights") and a charity gig in which they opened for Metallica. A full-fledged tour will be announced soon.

The first single off the new album, They Say, is off to a solid start at rock radio. Malakian says the track is about "frustration with the world around me. Not sure if it's the end of the world, but feeling like we're on the brink of it. The song goes, you know, 'They say it's all about to end,' and at the end it says, 'Thank God it's all about to end.' It's almost like you're gonna get what you're saying, you're gonna reap what you sow, you know what I mean? And good, you deserve it."

By Joe Bosso