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OVER THE WEEKEND: SCARS ON BROADWAY AT THE AVALON
Paul Rogers
LA Weekly
http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/last-night/scars-on-broadway-avalon-revie/
Aug 24 2010
CA
When Scars on Broadway frontman Daron Malakian pulled an eleventh-hour
plug on their debut tour two years ago, it seemed like the impish
songwriter had succumbed to cliched rock star meltdown (Malakian is
also in System Of A Down). But seeing him and his delightfully robust
band (including SOAD drummer John Dolmayan) deliver Friday night with
passion, precision and palpable appreciation -- both for the songs
and the crowd -- forgave any false-starts.
Scars performed all but two of the tunes from their eponymous 2008
album, plus a pair of relative newbies ("Fucking" and "Talkin' Shit")
and a couple of covers ("Gie Mou Gie Mou" by Greek singer Stamatis
Kokotas and Skinny Puppy's "Assimilate"). The rambunctious crowd was
rewarded with a near-perfect mix (perhaps in part thanks to the lack
of opening act), Malakian in fine voice and buoyant mood, and an
outstanding display from journeyman guitarist/singer Franky Perez,
whose bearded presence far transcended usual "sideman" standards.
Malakian's oddly catchy music straddles decades and continents,
nonchalantly blending Beatles-y melody and keyboards, provocative punk
vitriol, death metal's tortured virtuosity and aching Eurasian echoes.
As well as being stylistically irreverent, he's a lyrical devil's
advocate, littering last night's set with mentions of Iraq (where he
has family), Charles Manson, the Armenian Genocide (both Malakian
and Dolmayan are of Armenian descent), drugs and sex. Yet however
serious, sarcastic or frankly distasteful his subject matter at Avalon,
Malakian radiated a winning, boyish sense of wonder and a stoner's
disarming embrace (at one point repeating "Even if you hate me,
you're my friend and I love you").
Scars on Broadway's set, like their album, spanned wistful nostalgia
("Funny", "Babylon", "3005"), heads-down metal ("Stoner-Hate"),
carnival rock ("Exploding/Reloading"), sneering punk (the verses
of "Serious") and even sub-disco grooves ("Enemy"). And while they
sailed close to the recorded versions, Dolmayan's hits seemed crisper,
Perez added succulent six-string flourishes, and Malakian meandered
into apparently semi-improvised guitar wack-attacks.
It speaks volumes for Scars on Broadway's stand-alone identity that,
even when SOAD bassist Shavo Odadjian joined them on stage for closers
"Cute Machines" and "They Say", I didn't hear a single shout of
"System Of A Down!" This was the most compelling rock band I've seen
in memory - and, in this line of work, I see many, many bands.
From: A. Papazian
Paul Rogers
LA Weekly
http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/last-night/scars-on-broadway-avalon-revie/
Aug 24 2010
CA
When Scars on Broadway frontman Daron Malakian pulled an eleventh-hour
plug on their debut tour two years ago, it seemed like the impish
songwriter had succumbed to cliched rock star meltdown (Malakian is
also in System Of A Down). But seeing him and his delightfully robust
band (including SOAD drummer John Dolmayan) deliver Friday night with
passion, precision and palpable appreciation -- both for the songs
and the crowd -- forgave any false-starts.
Scars performed all but two of the tunes from their eponymous 2008
album, plus a pair of relative newbies ("Fucking" and "Talkin' Shit")
and a couple of covers ("Gie Mou Gie Mou" by Greek singer Stamatis
Kokotas and Skinny Puppy's "Assimilate"). The rambunctious crowd was
rewarded with a near-perfect mix (perhaps in part thanks to the lack
of opening act), Malakian in fine voice and buoyant mood, and an
outstanding display from journeyman guitarist/singer Franky Perez,
whose bearded presence far transcended usual "sideman" standards.
Malakian's oddly catchy music straddles decades and continents,
nonchalantly blending Beatles-y melody and keyboards, provocative punk
vitriol, death metal's tortured virtuosity and aching Eurasian echoes.
As well as being stylistically irreverent, he's a lyrical devil's
advocate, littering last night's set with mentions of Iraq (where he
has family), Charles Manson, the Armenian Genocide (both Malakian
and Dolmayan are of Armenian descent), drugs and sex. Yet however
serious, sarcastic or frankly distasteful his subject matter at Avalon,
Malakian radiated a winning, boyish sense of wonder and a stoner's
disarming embrace (at one point repeating "Even if you hate me,
you're my friend and I love you").
Scars on Broadway's set, like their album, spanned wistful nostalgia
("Funny", "Babylon", "3005"), heads-down metal ("Stoner-Hate"),
carnival rock ("Exploding/Reloading"), sneering punk (the verses
of "Serious") and even sub-disco grooves ("Enemy"). And while they
sailed close to the recorded versions, Dolmayan's hits seemed crisper,
Perez added succulent six-string flourishes, and Malakian meandered
into apparently semi-improvised guitar wack-attacks.
It speaks volumes for Scars on Broadway's stand-alone identity that,
even when SOAD bassist Shavo Odadjian joined them on stage for closers
"Cute Machines" and "They Say", I didn't hear a single shout of
"System Of A Down!" This was the most compelling rock band I've seen
in memory - and, in this line of work, I see many, many bands.
From: A. Papazian