{"id":4467,"date":"2025-08-13T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/daron-malakian-is-finally-free\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T14:00:00","slug":"daron-malakian-is-finally-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/daron-malakian-is-finally-free\/","title":{"rendered":"\u00a0Daron Malakian: \u2018I\u2019m Blessed to Have Both Scars and System\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/daronmalakiansob-e1752585756412.jpg\" width=\"\" height=\"\" alt=\"Daron Malakian. (Credit: Travis Shinn)\"><\/figure>\n<p>In a big empty house high in the hills near Glendale, California, Daron Malakian is singing along to an old outlaw country tune. It\u2019s called \u201cWaymore\u2019s Blues,\u201d a classic Waylon Jennings ballad from 1975. It\u2019s a gently loping track set to acoustic guitar, organ, and a playful bass groove. The lyrics are a little bit about the demise of country music originator Jimmie Rodgers and, as Waylon himself used to say, a lot about nothing at all.<\/p>\n<p>Malakian cranks it up on his phone, and the System of a Down guitarist can\u2019t help but join in: \u201cWell, I woke up this mornin\u2019 it was drizzlin\u2019 rain \/ Around the curve come a passenger train \/ Heard somebody yodel and a hobo moan \/ Jimmie he\u2019s dead, he\u2019s been a long time gone\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p>More from Spin:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/08\/radiohead-salute-hail-to-the-thief-with-live-collection\/\">Radiohead Salutes \u2018Hail To The Thief\u2019 With Live Collection<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/08\/chrissie-hynde-duets-album\/\">Chrissie Hynde Drafts Dave Gahan, Brandon Flowers For Duets LP<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2025\/08\/elbow-keeps-going-til-the-wheels-fall-off\/\">Elbow Keeps Going \u2018Til the Wheels Fall Off<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As the rhythm rolls on, Malakian nods with a smile, his face framed by long black muttonchops that end as points below his chin like fuzzy tusks. He also says the song, with its swagger that he describes as \u201cthat Waylon Jennings mosey kinda way,\u201d is a direct influence on his own \u201cYou Destroy You,\u201d a track on his new album, <em>Addicted to the Violence<\/em>, from his other band, Daron Malakian and Scars On Broadway.<\/p>\n<p>As ever with Malakian, still best known as the anxious, brilliant, obsessive sound scientist of System of a Down, Waylon\u2019s tempo is just one ingredient mashed up with other contrasting inspirations. In the case of \u201cYou Destroy You,\u201d he leans harder into the rhythm and adds a bright folk melody from the place where Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East meet, as he sings of a friend teetering over the edge: \u201cI can see easily where you are \/ You ended up in a place that\u2019s gone too far.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Jennings reference comes up as he talks about the music that has moved him through the years, from Slayer to the Velvet Underground, and Norwegian Black Metal to Christopher Cross\u2019s yacht rock standard \u201cSailing.\u201d He\u2019s just as crazy for N.W.A and the Beach Boys, Miles Davis, the Ramones, the Bee Gees, and King Tubby. His list of favorites goes on and on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love it all, man. There\u2019s a place for it all. There\u2019s a mood for it all,\u201d Malakian says. \u201cThere\u2019s been a time in my life when each one of those things and more have influenced me. I\u2019ve gotten obsessed with them and they have touched me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His music has always been multidimensional, fueling his wildest dreams of noise and melody, rage and hilarity. <em>Addicted to the Violence<\/em>, released July 18, marks his third album with Scars On Broadway and his first release with the band in seven years. In the meantime, he\u2019s now come to terms with the real possibility that System of a Down, despite ongoing massive success as a live act, may never record another studio album.<\/p>\n<p>That understanding has finally freed him again as an artist, he says. Since the last SOAD (as many fans refer to them) releases, 2005\u2019s <em>Mezmerize<\/em> and <em>Hypnotize<\/em>, which both hit No. 1 that same year, Malakian has held back from releasing as much solo material as he could. After the band\u2019s four-year hiatus ended in 2010 with a return to live shows, he kept any new music he wrote in reserve for a potential SOAD project. Those hopes have been sidelined within the band by serious creative differences, and are mostly behind Malakian now.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSystem of A Down has been such a blessing to me in my life and has given me everything I wanted in my life, but then there\u2019s a side of me that\u2019s an artist and a songwriter, that sometimes I feel like waiting for System has held me back,\u201d Malakian says. \u201cIt\u2019s partly why I haven\u2019t put out so many records through the years by myself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you asked me 10 years ago, I would probably still be like, well, okay, maybe,\u201d he goes on about a possible SOAD studio reunion. \u201cBut I\u2019m at a place now where I feel more free and a little bit more comfortable, and I\u2019m not even sure I want to do another System of a Down record. I think those records that we have stand up. I will always be proud of those records.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1200\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/AddictedtotheViolencecover.jpg\" alt=\"(Credit: Vartan Malakian)\" class=\"wp-image-468679\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/AddictedtotheViolencecover.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/AddictedtotheViolencecover-340x340.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/AddictedtotheViolencecover-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/AddictedtotheViolencecover-498x498.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Credit: Vartan Malakian)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>They played a vein of heavy metal that was hard to classify, noisy and aggressive at points, also shaped by Dada and Armenian folk, helping to redefine what hard rock can be: loud, delicate, serious, hilarious. Regardless of the creative conflicts, Malakian considers himself and his fellow SOAD members\u2014singer Serj Tankian, bassist Shavo Odadjian, and drummer John Dolmayan\u2014\u201cbrothers\u201d and \u201ca family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In many ways, Malakian was the complex central nervous system of that multiplatinum act, as a writer and guitarist, sharing vocals with frontman Serj. The music he makes now with Scars On Broadway, with the help of a rotating cast of musicians beside him, is also recognizably his. A key collaborator on the new album is Scars guitarist Orbel Babayan, who co-wrote three songs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe DNA stays there, but I want to do things that I haven\u2019t explored before, colors that I haven\u2019t used before,\u201d Malakian says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho am I to say what people should like or shouldn\u2019t like? The stupidest thing I hear, though, is when [someone likes] a Scars song\u2014I have actually read this in comments before\u2014it\u2019s like, \u2018This song kicks ass. I wish it was a System song.\u2019 And I\u2019m like, if you like the song, you like the song. Who gives a damn what the band or brand it\u2019s under?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His proudest moments as a songwriter are often the least metal, and he points to SOAD\u2019s \u201cAerials, \u201cSoldier Side,\u201d \u201cLost in Hollywood,\u201d the early Scars track \u201cInsane,\u201d and the new album\u2019s melancholy title song as some of his best.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"838\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-81136916.jpg\" alt=\"Danny Shamoun, Daron Malakian, and Franky Perez of Scars on Broadway perform in 2008. (Credit: Tim Mosenfelder\/Getty Images)\" class=\"wp-image-470168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-81136916.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-81136916-340x237.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-81136916-768x536.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-81136916-498x348.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Danny Shamoun, Daron Malakian, and Franky Perez of Scars on Broadway perform in 2008. (Credit: Tim Mosenfelder\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAs a writer, those songs just feel like an achievement,\u201d he says. \u201cI can go to these places and I can be emotionally heavy as well as attitude-heavy. And as I go along with my writing, I see myself going deeper in those directions than I do with songs that start mosh pits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One highlight on <em>Addicted to the Violence<\/em> is \u201cThe Shame Game,\u201d a mini-epic that opens with an ominous guitar riff, then becomes like a \u201860s psychedelic pop song, before shifting into a swelling Zeppelinesque middle section. There is also \u201cSatan Hussein,\u201d a crazed track of intense metal guitars, staccato piano echoing the Stooges\u2019 \u201cI Wanna Be Your Dog,\u201d and a ranting vocal inspired by a trip Malakian took with his mom in 1989 to visit Armenian relatives in Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>He sings: \u201cI\u2019m your neighborhood watch with a machine gun in my crotch \/ See the victims in the streets when you fuck while you eat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While they were visiting his extended family, Malakian was a kid just discovering thrash metal. He brought a stack of cassettes and heavy metal T-shirts. In heavy rotation on his headphones was Slayer\u2019s first indie release, <em>Show No Mercy<\/em>. It was also peak Saddam Hussein time, and the dictator\u2019s picture was hung everywhere, as he got to know his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins in Baghdad and Kirkuk.<\/p>\n<p>Years later, after the first tidal wave of success with SOAD\u2019s second album, 2001\u2019s <em>Toxicity<\/em>, he was able to help get his family members to the U.S. By then, there had been an American-led invasion, the fall of Hussein, and a rising ISIS jihadist terrorist movement. \u201cMy family was fortunate enough that I made some money that I could arrange and hire lawyers and do all this stuff to bring all those people to the United States,\u201d Malakian says. \u201cIt\u2019s something that I\u2019m proud of that I was able to do for my family. They would\u2019ve been in a lot of danger.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"795\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1365962005.jpg\" alt=\"John Dolmayan, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian, and Serj Tankian of System of a Down in1998. (Credit: Bob Berg\/Getty Images)\" class=\"wp-image-470163\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1365962005.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1365962005-340x225.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1365962005-240x160.jpg 240w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1365962005-768x509.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1365962005-498x330.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">John Dolmayan, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian, and Serj Tankian of System of a Down in 1998. (Credit: Bob Berg\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>On this afternoon, Malakian is a few days from his 50th birthday, and he still looks a lot like a heavy metal commando. He\u2019s relaxed, in the only furnished room in this three-level Tudor home, dressed in a crisp black T-shirt, black-and-gray camo pants, a pair of black Crocs, his fingernails also painted black. The house sits on three acres, with streams and a dense private forest out back, and is less than 20 minutes from downtown Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the kind of home you can get when your multiplatinum hard rock band is playing to packed stadiums around the world, as SOAD now does regularly. Malakian got the place months ago, but still hasn\u2019t moved in, and probably won\u2019t until later this year. When he first showed it to his parents, he got emotional, he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI cried because I know where we came from,\u201d he says of his parents, who emigrated as a young Armenian couple from Iraq in the 1970s, just in time for Malakian to be born an American in Hollywood. \u201cI never thought in my life that I\u2019d have a place like this. I\u2019m almost not ready to move in, because sometimes I feel like, \u2018Can you live in a place like this?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDude, my life would\u2019ve been so different if they didn\u2019t move,\u201d he adds, eyes widening, imagining his fate in Iraq under Hussein. \u201cI could\u2019ve ended up as a soldier in Desert Storm. I would\u2019ve ended up maybe dead. It\u2019s this alternate life that I know could have existed for me that makes me wake up every day and really appreciate my parents and that sacrifice because they came here with nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He spent much of his childhood growing up on the eastern side of Hollywood, an experience that continues to shape him. It wasn\u2019t the Hollywood of movie stars and paparazzi but of drug use and prostitutes on nearby Santa Monica Boulevard. After the family moved to a house in suburban Glendale, his parents bought him an electric guitar and an amplifier for his 12th birthday. Within a couple of years, he was writing songs.<\/p>\n<p>Once he was mobile as a teen, he returned to cruise Hollywood Boulevard and the Sunset Strip with his friends. At the time, glam metal still ruled the clubs: the Whisky, the Roxy, Gazzarri\u2019s, the Coconut Teaszer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe streets were full of big hair and chicks. And it was just my dream: one day I\u2019m gonna start a band and I\u2019m gonna play this shit. That was my goal,\u201d he remembers.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1201\" height=\"1801\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/SOB_P_6714-copy.jpg\" alt=\"(Credit: Travis Shinn)\" class=\"wp-image-468680\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/SOB_P_6714-copy.jpg 1201w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/SOB_P_6714-copy-340x510.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/SOB_P_6714-copy-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/SOB_P_6714-copy-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/07\/SOB_P_6714-copy-498x747.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1201px) 100vw, 1201px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">(Credit: Travis Shinn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Malakian was 17 when he first met and worked with Serj in the band Soil, which led to SOAD.. Once producer Rick Rubin signed them to Columbia and his American Recordings label, things accelerated quickly. None of them\u2014not Rubin or the band members themselves\u2014expected the fanatical following that would embrace this eccentric brand of metal played by four Armenian dudes.<\/p>\n<p>By the time of <em>Mezmerize<\/em> and <em>Hypnotize<\/em>, there was increasing creative tension between Malakian and Tankian, who was frustrated with aspects of the band\u2019s musical direction and his share of the songwriting. Malakian had asserted a more dominant role as writer and co-producer. The singer made it clear that he needed a hiatus. As Tankian wrote in his 2024 memoir, <em>Down With the System<\/em>, those differences led to their hiatus then, and the ongoing inability to record a new album now.<\/p>\n<p>While Malakian says he hasn\u2019t read Tankian\u2019s book, he\u2019s aware of the issues raised. \u201cThere\u2019s his viewpoint on how things went down, and there\u2019s my viewpoint on how things went down,\u201d he says, but adds, \u201cSerj and I have never hated each other. And I\u2019ll be honest with you, there\u2019s nothing that I ever did in those days to hurt Serj or purposely hurt Serj in any way, shape, or form. I love Serj. Serj is my brother. He\u2019s my family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the time of the sessions for the final albums, Malakian was getting regular calls from Columbia Records CEO Don Ienner. Rick Rubin called. So did their manager. They all had one question: <em>So what\u2019s going on? You\u2019re writing?<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m the guy that\u2019s getting these phone calls in the band,\u201d Malakian says now. \u201cI\u2019m the guy that\u2019s got this fucking pressure on my shoulders, man. And I\u2019m young. I haven\u2019t reached peak wisdom yet. I\u2019m taking all this in, and all this is happening to me too\u2014all this fame and crowds and this album has become this big deal now. There\u2019s money riding on all this. So, how I reacted to that and how I became what I became in the middle of all that, you gotta look at things in my shoes too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was a time during <em>Mezmerize<\/em> and <em>Hypnotize<\/em> that I might\u2019ve even held on really tight, because I could see that we were changing. [Serj] was going in a different direction. He might not have been completely happy. And I was like, these records have to be great no matter what we\u2019re going through, even if they\u2019re the last ones. So I might\u2019ve taken the bull by the horns a little tightly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNone of it was to hurt anybody. In fact, it was me trying to do what I thought was best for the band and best for our legacy and best for our albums.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1290\" height=\"1928\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-109938293-1290x1928.jpg\" alt=\"Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian in 2002. (Credit: Jeff Kravitz\/FilmMagic)\" class=\"wp-image-470170\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-109938293-1290x1928.jpg 1290w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-109938293-340x508.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-109938293-768x1148.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-109938293-1028x1536.jpg 1028w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-109938293-498x744.jpg 498w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-109938293.jpg 1405w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1290px) 100vw, 1290px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Daron Malakian and Serj Tankian in 2002. (Credit: Jeff Kravitz\/FilmMagic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>During the hiatus that followed, Tankian recorded and released a debut solo album, <em>Elect the Dead,<\/em> in 2007, and Malakian did the same the following year with a new band (and self-titled album) called Scars On Broadway. Both were well-received by fans and critics.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While Tankian embraced his new freedom as a solo act and toured heavily, Malakian soon hit a wall.<\/p>\n<p>At first, Malakian was fully committed to this next chapter. His band had a deal with Interscope Records and a real budget, but during an initial European tour, the experience felt a little too much like starting over to Malakian. Just as the band was about to begin a U.S. tour, he cancelled all band activity.<\/p>\n<p>He was depressed, essentially in mourning for the loss of SOAD at their popular peak, and its uncertain future. \u201cI wasn\u2019t down with the hiatus,\u201d he explains now. \u201cI just needed to be paused. I\u2019m just in a place where I feel like my wife just died, and I just brought in this new chick, and I\u2019m trying to recreate that love.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe years that came after that, there were some dark times for me,\u201d he adds. \u201cI self-medicated, and I did a lot of things. That just wasn\u2019t the right time for me to be doing something brand new like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After SOAD reconvened for live shows a few years later, things didn\u2019t get much better in terms of recording a new album. The creative impasse remained. But the hard rock quartet unexpectedly agreed in 2020 to record two new songs to raise awareness and funds after war broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan in a dispute over the Nagorno\u2013Karabakh region, a largely ethnic-Armenian territory also known as the Republic of Artsakh.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1368310716.jpg\" alt=\"Daron Malakian performs on stage with System of a Down in 2022. (Credit: Daniel Knighton\/Getty Images)\" class=\"wp-image-470173\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1368310716.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1368310716-340x227.jpg 340w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1368310716-240x160.jpg 240w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1368310716-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/static.spin.com\/files\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1368310716-498x332.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Daron Malakian performs on stage with System of a Down in 2022. (Credit: Daniel Knighton\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The band moved past their disagreements and recorded two songs written by Malakian: \u201cProtect the Land,\u201d originally slated to be on the new Scars album, and \u201cGenocidal Humanoidz.\u201d Both songs are now part of the current SOAD live set list.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI came into it like, if we\u2019re gonna work together, you guys gotta let me do my thing,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve got to be able to do what I do, without someone feeling resentment towards me. And we\u2019re not here for a long time. It\u2019s these two songs. We\u2019re doing it for our people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SOAD haven\u2019t released an album of new material in two full decades, an eternity in the life of a band, and yet the hard rock quartet is more popular than ever. In April and May, SOAD played a nine-date tour of packed stadiums and one race track in South America. They have another six North American stadium dates in late August and September.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now and then, the band members get together for dinner unrelated to any tour or project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have my friends back. I really care for those guys. I really enjoy being around them, too. I always have,\u201d Malakian adds with a laugh, \u201cif you take the band out of the equation, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It turns out that their hiatus only heightened demand for SOAD.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe haven\u2019t made any [new] records, but those albums have lived with people,\u201d he says of SOAD\u2019s catalog. \u201cIt seems like a lot of younger people have just discovered some of it, because when I look into the audience, I see people who are 18, 19, 20, 21. They weren\u2019t born yet when we made our last record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the band leader is continuing to flex his creative impulses for new music with Scars On Broadway. Unlike SOAD, Scars is very much a DIY project now, with no barriers. He\u2019ll be playing shows with its current lineup of players later this year, with a stop in December back in Hollywood at the Palladium on Sunset.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m blessed to have both Scars and System. I don\u2019t know what more I could ask for as an artist, man,\u201d Malakian says. \u201cI have two bands, and both seem like people want to hear from those two bands. It really is special. It\u2019s like your fantasy life has just come true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spin.com\/2021\/07\/the-greatest-rock-stars-of-all-time\/?utm_source=yahoo&amp;utm_medium=bottomlink&amp;utm_campaign=yahoolink\">click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a big empty house high in the hills near Glendale, California, Daron Malakian is singing along to an old outlaw country tune. It\u2019s called \u201cWaymore\u2019s Blues,\u201d a classic Waylon&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3320,31,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daron-malakian-scars-on-broadway","category-features","category-pushly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}