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One of the most unconventional frontmen in rock, System Of A Down singer Serj Tankian emerges as a solo artist with his debut album Elect The Dead. System Of A Down, whose five genre-bending studio albums have sold over 16 million copies, went on an extended hiatus in August 2006. Since then, Tankian has been holed up in his home studio in Los Angeles writing, recording, and producing Elect The Dead. It is an album that showcases the writing and arranging prowess of a man best known for his inimitable vocals, incisive lyrics, and unwavering dedication to humanitarian causes.
Says Tankian: “Making Elect The Dead, I felt the exact same energy as I did recording System’s debut in 1998, that sense of open experimentation, the idea that ‘Wow, I’m actually doing this…’ I was living, eating, and shitting this music every day. I’d wake up in the morning and the thought of working on a song was so powerful I couldn’t focus on anything else.”
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1967 to Armenian parents during tumultuous political times, Tankian lived in Beirut until 1975 when his family emigrated to Los Angeles. A graduate of Marketing & Business from California State University, Tankian was running his own business developing Propriety Vertical Industry Modular Accounting Software (surely a first for a budding rock star?) when in 1995 he co-founded System Of A Down with three friends from the Armenian-American community.
Over the next ten years, System rose to become one of the most inventive hard rock bands of their generation — a band with a conscience, a message, and a desire to constantly evolve. Tankian’s contributions included not only the confrontational and often cryptic lyrics, but also a unique singing voice heavily inspired by growing up listening to his father sing traditional Armenian music. Tankian sings in a cadence like no other: An abrasive, paint-stripping, pulpit-bashing roar one moment, a maudlin lament the next.
Having achieved their goals, the members of System Of A Down decided to pursue their own projects. Tankian continued his work with Axis Of Justice — the grass-roots activist organization he launched with Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello — and nurtured his own Serjical Strike Records. He also lent his vocal and remix skills to a number of artists, ranging from Tool and Deftones to Wu Tang Clan and Notorious B.I.G., and published a book of poetry, Cool Gardens (2002), which remains a best-selling poetry collection. In 2003, he recorded a pan-international sounding album with acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Arto Tunçboyacıyan, under the name SerArt.
It should, by now, be pretty obvious that Serj Tankian is not your typical frontman.
ELECT THE DEAD will be released in Australia on October 27 2007 through Warner.
Big Day Out returns in 2009 with a stellar bill headed by Neil Young, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys and many more.
Rock ’n’ roll ringmaster SERJ TANKIAN has donned his top hat and will be cracking the whip at some very special shows in Australia.
Big Day Out returns in 2009 with a stellar bill headed by Neil Young, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys and many more.
Rock ’n’ roll ringmaster SERJ TANKIAN has donned his top hat and will be cracking the whip at some very special shows in Australia.
Rock ’n’ roll ringmaster SERJ TANKIAN has donned his top hat and will be cracking the whip at some very special shows in Australia.
Big Day Out returns in 2009 with a stellar bill headed by Neil Young, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys and many more.
Big Day Out returns in 2009 with a stellar bill headed by Neil Young, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys and many more.
Big Day Out returns in 2009 with a stellar bill headed by Neil Young, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys and many more.
Big Day Out returns in 2009 with a stellar bill headed by Neil Young, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys and many more.
Rock ’n’ roll ringmaster SERJ TANKIAN has donned his top hat and will be cracking the whip at some very special shows in Australia.
Big Day Out returns in 2009 with a stellar bill headed by Neil Young, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys and many more.
Rock ’n’ roll ringmaster SERJ TANKIAN has donned his top hat and will be cracking the whip at some very special shows in Australia.
Rock ’n’ roll ringmaster SERJ TANKIAN has donned his top hat and will be cracking the whip at some very special shows in Australia.
Big Day Out returns in 2009 with a stellar bill headed by Neil Young, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys and many more.
Big Day Out returns in 2009 with a stellar bill headed by Neil Young, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys and many more.
Big Day Out returns in 2009 with a stellar bill headed by Neil Young, The Prodigy, Arctic Monkeys and many more.
To many music lovers, the idea of going into a boiling hot desert to see a bunch of bands play isn’t the wisest idea in the world. Yet for the majority of the punters at Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, there was no better place to be.
A small selection of photographs from the 2008 edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
System of a Down illicit the sort of reaction from a crowd that seems to be proof positive that music is capable of uniting people as one. But what of Serj Tankian? The band's frontman is set to release his solo album this month how will we respond?
The full list of Big Day Out 2009 sideshows has now been announced, and our livers are quivering in anticipation.
We’ve been gas-bagging about it for months now, but now the real deal is here: round two of the Big Day Out 2009 line-up.
The Reading and Leeds double-header returns in August, with both festivals sharing the same acts over one mammoth weekend. The banner names are suitably colossal: among them Rage Against The Machine, The Killers, Metallica and Bloc Party.
Check out the new streamable tracks available online on Fasterlouder from Serj Tankian, taken from his solo album 'Elect the Dead'.
We've just uploaded a stack of new tracks from Serj Tankian's new album Elect the Dead for your listening pleasure.
We've got our hands on tracks from Serj Tankian's new album, Elect the Dead...and thanks to the crew at Warner we can stream these tracks for you so that you can get a sneak peek of what's on offer before you hand over your hard earned... Enjoy!
With his new album Elect the Dead just days away from release we have got our paws on another clip from Serj Tankian's latest album. Have a geezer at the very arty, Feed Us.
After mesmerising audiences the world over with Toxicity, Steal This Album and Mesmerize, SOAD come back once again to captivate with their new album Hypnotize.
Check out this awesome new video from Serj Tankian - Empty Walls- taken from his upcoming release Elect the Dead.
Serj Tankian interviews himself about his upcoming solo album release Elect the Dead... who would have thought the System Of A Down singer was so funny...
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FL got Kaiser Chief Ricky Wilson on the phone to talk V Festival '09, and he gave...
The full list of Big Day Out 2009 sideshows has now been announced, and our livers...
