Scars On Broadway‘s new album “Dictator” has officially been slated for a July 20th release date. A music video for the lead single, “Lives“, has also now been made available below and was directed by Hayk Matevosyan. The single arrives around the 103rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and a portion of the proceeds from it will go towards Armenia Fund. The band are masterminded by System Of A Down guitarist/vocalist Daron Malakian, who commented of the clip:
“The traditional Armenian folk dances and colorful costumes that you see in the video are an homage to Armenia’s rich history and culture. The song and the imagery in the video are meant to inspire pride among—and empower—the survivors of a historical tragedy.”
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Regarding his decision to donate a portion of the song’s profits, he commented:
“I want to help the innocent people currently caught in Azerbaijan’s ceasefire violations against the Republic of Artsakh and prevent another genocide against Armenians.”
Speaking further on the topic with Rollingstone.com, he explained:
“There was supposed to be a cease fire, but the Azeri government does not follow that all the time, so there’s a lot of women and children that get caught in the middle of all this, and I really wanted to send some first aid kits out to Armenians that are living there. It’s very possible that another genocide can happen, so I really want to bring attention to what’s happening there and keep that from happening.”
Going in further on the album itself with the site, Malakian confirmed that”Dictator” is indeed the album he recorded back in 2012 and that he handled all the instruments on it himself:
“I recorded the album and then around that time System started playing live again. So every time we’d play live, there’d be conversations like, ‘Maybe we’ll do an album.’ So being the guy who wrote the majority of almost all the System songs in the past, I was like, ‘Alright, let me see what’s happening with it. Let me hold onto these songs and let me see how this develops.’ We talked about it and we weren’t all on the same page. Not everybody was into the idea. But every time we played live, it kept coming up.
I just got to the point now where a lot of people were asking about the Scars album – I hear it all the time – so I was like, ‘I’m gonna put this album out.’ Not knowing what’s happening with System has kept me from putting my own stuff out. Too much time has passed, and I’m really excited to finally get some music out finally.”
Speaking of the direction of the album, he stated:
“…This album has more of a System flavor to it than the first Scars On Broadway did. There were songs on the first Scars album, like ‘Stoner Hate‘ and ‘Babylon‘ that could have easily been System Of A Down songs, too, but there were also songs that leaned a little more on the rock side. This album has that rock flavor as well, but it has more of a System Of A Down flavor, too, because System has more of the metal tones going on there.”
Given that the album is already six years old, Malakian has already been moving forward with a third album from the group. He said of their progress:
“I’m going to put out a third Scars album soon, as well. I’ve written a lot of songs for it, and I’m rehearsing with the band, and in the next four months or so we’ll hopefully go into the studio.”
When asked if System Of A Down had abandoned the idea of making a new album themselves, he replied:
“No, it’s not abandoned. But as of right now, not everyone is on the same page. Trust me, man, I’m probably the biggest System Of A Down fan in the world. I mean, I named the band [laughs]. So I’d like to see something like that happen.”
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