Scars on Broadway, or Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway, is the side project led by the lead singer of System of a Down. Born on July 18, 1975 in Hollywood (Los Angeles), Daron Malakian is the Armenian-American guitarist, singer and composer who, after co-founding System of a Down in the mid-1990s, launched his own project Daron Malakian and Scars on Broadway during a break in May 2006. Initially backed by drummer John Dolmayan, he wrote, produced and performed almost single-handedly on the eponymous album Scars on Broadway, released on July 29, 2008 by Interscope and straight to No. 17ᵉ on the Billboard 200, buoyed by the hit "They Say", ranked No. 15 on the US alternative charts and No. 4 on the UK rock charts. After an imposed hiatus at the end of 2008, Malakian resurrected the project with the album Dictator, released on July 20, 2018 on his Scarred for Life label, a solo-recorded album that extends his orientalizing riffs and vitriolic lyrics. Two cover concerts in California in autumn 2024 foreshadowed a new chapter: on June 6, 2025, the single "Killing Spree" was released, heralding the third album, Addicted to the Violence, out on July 18, 2025. Composer, producer, singer and guitarist in the studio, Malakian is supported on stage by Orbel Babayan (guitar), Niko Chantziantoniou (bass) and Roman Lomtadze (drums).
