System of a Down duo form new rock band

By Mitchell Peters

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - System Of A Down guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan are putting the finishing touches on the debut album from their new rock band Scars On Broadway.

The Los Angeles metal veterans are currently shopping for a record label, and hope to release the self-titled set by late summer.

"We're in the final stages," Dolmayan told Billboard.com. "There are three or four songs left."

Scars On Broadway performed last weekend at the Coachella festival in southern California. The band already received a warm welcome earlier last month during its debut performance at the Whisky A Go-Go in Los Angeles.

"It was crazy," Malakian recalled. "Nobody knew any of the songs, but the crowd was going off. The response we got gave me a lot of confidence."

The band is rounded out by a keyboardist, rhythm guitarist and a bass player, but Dolmayan declined to identify them until the lineup is completely solidified.

So far, only one Scars On Broadway song, the hard-edged "They Say," has been released online. With about 20 songs already recorded, many of which won't make the final album cut, another track could be posted online before the album comes out, according to Malakian.

As opposed to System of a Down, which is on indefinite hiatus, Scars On Broadway is "driven more by rock than it is by metal, even though there might be some metal overtones there," said Malakian, the primary songwriter in both bands. "I see it more as a rock band."