On October 24, the lead singer of the hard rock band “System Of A Down,” Serj Tankian, announced his first ever memoir on Instagram. The title of the memoir will be, Down With the System. The book, according to Revolver Magazine, is set to release in May of 2024.
Revolver Magazine reported that the singer wants to delve more into his life outside of his band. Tankian describes the memoir as an “immigrant’s tale,” “an activist awakening,” and a “spiritual journey from darkness towards light.” Before moving to Los Angeles, California at age seven, Tankian was born to Armenian parents in Beirut, Lebanon and grew up hearing bombs dropping outside of his childhood home during the country’s civil war.
Tankian’s band “System Of A Down” was formed in Glendale, California in 1994, according to Billboard. The band is made up of Serj Tankian (lead singer), Daron Malakian (guitarist), Shavo Odadjian (bass guitarist), and John Dolmayan (drummer). The band members are all of Armenian descent and infuse sounds of their cultural music with heavy rock and socially conscious and politically charged lyrics. The band built a strong following by word of mouth in Los Angeles. In 1998, they released their self titled debut album, AllMusic wrote.
Tankian and the band’s eponymous album produced multiple hits with “Sugar,” and “Spiders.” The band eventually went platinum and in September 2001, a week before 9/11, the band released the more ambitious album, “Toxicity.” The album features the lead single “Chop Suey!” which mentions the word suicide. According to Pitchfork, this landed the song on a list of songs to avoid playing in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center.
Living in California, Tankian immersed himself in the SoCal community of “Little Armenia,” where he learned a lot about the 1915 Armenian genocide that his ancestors faced. The “Toxicity” album features a song titled, “X,” in which they bring awareness to the genocide. In verse two of the song, Tankian sings, “Show your people, show your people how we died.”
According to Yale University, in 1915, with the outbreak of World War I, the Young Turk government drove Armenians out of their homes. Although the figures are unreliable, it’s reported by many historians that between 800,000 and one million Armenians were killed.
Bringing awareness to social and political issues has been a big part of the singer’s career, according to the BookSeller. Alongside the guitarist Tom Morello, Tankian co-founded the non-profit organization, Axis of Justice. The point of the organization is to bring together musicians, music fans, and grassroots political organizations for social justice.
In his memoir, Tankian overall hopes to share other aspects of his life; he has composed scores for film and television series, published poetry, created paintings, and produced documentaries.
Tankian said, “I’ve had a blast working on this accidentally hatched philosophical memoir as it’s given me the unique opportunity to dive deep into my family history, my own motivations from a young age, and lessons I didn’t know I had learned,” BookSeller reported.
