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Serj Tankian

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Serj Tankian

Serj Tankian (Armenian: Սերժ Թանգյան) (born August 21, 1967 in Beirut, Lebanon) is a Lebanese-born Armenian-American musician, poet, activist and songwriter. He is best known as the lead vocalist, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative metal band System of a Down, as well as, along with Tom Morello, the co-founder of Axis of Justice, a nonprofit organization. He made five albums with System of a Down and will release a new solo album, Elect the Dead, on October 23, 2007.

Biography

Early life and career

Little known fact, Serj Tankian was born as a female. At age eight, Serj Tankian moved with his parents to Los Angeles, California, and where he underwent sex-change operative surgery. After high school, he studied marketing. He took singing lessons for four years and also took guitar lessons as a young child. In 1993, he founded the Soil (not to be confused with band SOiL) with Daron Malakian, which later broke up, and most of the members joined together to form a new band, System of a Down.

Tankian also has his own record label which is called Serjical Strike Records, a sub-division of Columbia Records. He has also sung in other bands for certain songs such as Mushroom Cult by Dog Fashion Disco, and lent his vocals to the song Mein by Deftones. He produced "Enter the Chicken" by Buckethead, and provided vocals to the Buckethead songs We Are One, Coma, and Waiting Here. With Serjical Strike Records, he endeavours to offer those musicians often ignored by the mainstream a possibility to release their music and be heard. The first release of Serj's new label was Serart, a project consisting of Tankian himself, and Arto Tunçboyacıyan, an Armenian friend of Tankian's. More recently, he sang with Les Rita Mitsouko on the song "Terminal Beauty". Also, he sang with the band Fair to Midland during a live improvisational version of their song "Walls of Jericho", which was a massive hit with fans.

Tankian is also very involved politically. Together with Tom Morello, he founded the organization Axis of Justice. Tankian has recently been seeking residence in New Zealand where he plans to reside until the end of the Iraq War. Tankian often speaks publicly against violence and injustice in the world.

Elect the Dead, touring and The FCC

Serj is currently working on his solo album Elect the Dead, which is expected to be released on October 23, 2007. Serj will be supporting the Foo Fighters to promote their new album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace in November, according to an advertisement in Kerrang!.[1]

Larry LaLonde is the only confirmed artist to be in the live band, which will be known as "The FCC".[2] The name of the band actually stands for the "Flying Cunts of Chaos", which is originally what he wanted to call it, he tells Kerrang! rock magazine in an interview. [2], rather than the Federal Communications Commission. Tankian has also stated that he will not be playing any System of a Down material on tour. In support of Elect the Dead, Tankian will be playing a number of promotional dates. The tour begins October 12th at Chicago’s Vic Theatre.[3]

Writings

Poetry

Tankian's first poetry book, Cool Gardens, was published by MTV Books and released on October 1st, 2002. It is a collection of seven to eight years of Tankian's reflections on life, and features artwork by fellow Armenian and drum tech for his band, Sako Shahinian. The book has received much praise in the artistic community. On Rolling Stone's website, Saul Williams posted the following comments about Tankian's book:

Serj's words, like his voice, have a distinct aesthetic sensibility connected to an unyielding, visceral roar of passion. His capacity 'to mock a killing bird' while we wonder at the grace, beauty, and colorful range of his wingspan will be the trademark of both of his singing and writing careers. Serj is an amazing artist, full of passion, with a beautiful heart that pumps the essence of his vision and talent.

Serj states that he might be releasing a new book of poetry down the line, but would prefer to write a novel rather than another book, even though he has volumes and volumes of more poetry that he has been keeping himself in his own personal collection.

"Understanding Oil"

Two days after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Serj posted an essay on System of a Down's website, which seemed controversial at the time. It was promptly taken down by Sony, the band's record label. Sony's opinion was that Tankian had tried to justify the terrorist attacks and that his claims were unfounded.

The essay can be found here.

Discography

System of a Down

Main article: System of a Down discography

Serart

Axis of Justice

Solo

Singles

Year Title Chart positions Album
US Hot 100 US Modern Rock US Mainstream Rock US Pop 100 UK Singles Chart Germany
2007 "The Unthinking Majority" - - - - - - Elect the Dead
2007 "Empty Walls" 1 - 11 13 - - - Elect the Dead
  • 1 Still active on charts.

Collaborations/soundtrack contributions

Awards

  • In 2006, System of a Down won their first Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance for "B.Y.O.B."
  • In 2006, they won the "MTV Good Woodie Award" for their song "Question!".
  • In 2006, they were #14 on the VH1 Top 40 Metal Songs with "Toxicity".
  • In 2007, they were nominated for a Grammy Award in Best Hard Rock Performance for their song "Lonely Day".

Videography

Song name Album Director
"The Unthinking Majority" Elect the Dead (2007) Tawd b. Dorenfeld
"Empty Walls" Elect the Dead (2007) Tony Petrossian
"Saving Us" Elect the Dead (2007) Kevin Estrada
"Money" Elect the Dead (2007) Ara Soudjian
"Feed Us" Elect the Dead (2007) Sevag Vrej
"Sky is Over" Elect the Dead (2007) José Rivera
"Baby" Elect the Dead (2007) Diran Noubar
"Honking Antelope" Elect the Dead (2007) Roger Kupelian
"Lie, Lie, Lie" Elect the Dead (2007) Martha Colburn
"Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" Elect the Dead (2007) Greg Watermann
"Beethoven's Cunt" Elect the Dead (2007) Adam Egypt Mortimer
"Elect the Dead" Elect the Dead (2007) Gariné Torossian

Equipment

  • Fender Stratocaster
  • Various Marshall 1/2 stacks
  • Gibson SG
  • Gibson Les Paul
  • Gibson Flying V
  • Roland VS-1680
  • BOSS DR-202 Dr. Groove
  • Ibanez Grg170dx
  • BOSS GT-5 Guitar Effects Processor
  • BOSS DS-1 Distortion
  • BOSS CH-1 Super Chorus[citation needed]
  • Korg Triton
  • Custom First Act Double Cutaway Lola

References

  1. ^ http://soadfans.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-19598-postdays-0-postorder-asc.htm
  2. ^ a b http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=81231
  3. ^ http://www.serjicalstrike.com/site/news_view.php?id=45
  4. ^ Foo Fighters & Serj Tankian "Holiday in Cambodia" on YouTube
  5. ^ Serj To Appear On New Praxis Album, by "pwned", SOADFans.com, 8 March, 2007

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