![\"Serj](\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Serj-Tankian-book-cover.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\u201cFor those who\u2019re chased out of your homeland,\u201d writes Serj Tankian in his new autobiography Down With The System, \u201cpart of you is all the time attempting to get again there, even generations later.\u201d This concept sits on the coronary heart of the System Of A Down vocalist\u2019s highly effective memoir, reaching far again in time \u2013 past his personal dramatic life in music and activism \u2013 to inform his ancestors\u2019 tales.<\/p>\n
All 4 of Tankian\u2019s grandparents survived the Armenian genocide, perpetrated in 1915 beneath the Ottoman Empire however nonetheless unrecognised by many governments immediately, together with the UK\u2019s. Tankian has lengthy used his platform to combat for this story\u2019s recognition \u2013 \u201can entire race, genocide,\u201d he sings on System Of A Down\u2019s 1998 observe \u2018P.L.U.C.Ok.\u2019 \u2013 and particulars it right here in harrowing prose: \u201cIt\u2019s necessary to know who you might be,\u201d he says, \u201cfrom those that introduced you to this place.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
An particularly vivid portrait is dedicated to his grandfather Stepan. \u201cHe was the fighter within the household,\u201d Tankian tells NME. \u201cI\u2019ve inherited his legacy in a manner.\u201d A toddler throughout the genocide, Stepan was compelled from his residence on a death-march to the Syrian desert \u2013 beset by illness, torture and hunger. In opposition to all odds, Stepan lived to outdated age \u2013 lengthy sufficient to listen to in regards to the success of his grandson\u2019s band. \u201cHe was so pleased with me,\u201d Tankian beams. \u201cI mentioned, \u2018we\u2019re spreading consciousness about your story, and the genocide, and the significance for correct recognition of historical past.\u2019 It was not in his final days, however fairly shut.\u201d<\/p>\n
The memoir additionally particulars one other, less-discussed affect on Tankian\u2019s views about justice. After transferring to California from Tankian\u2019s native Beirut, his father discovered success designing ladies\u2019s sneakers, however was financially ruined by a lawsuit from a disgruntled ex-business accomplice. \u201cThat actually degenerated my mother and father\u2019 perception within the justice system,\u201d Tankian explains. \u201cThey misplaced every thing.\u201d Possessing higher English than his mother and father, the 16-year-old Tankian had to assist take care of the attorneys to guard his household. \u201cSeeing my mother and father unravel emotionally, and bodily \u2013 it was actually tough to expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n
This led Tankian to contemplate a profession in regulation, till a fateful late-night drive by way of Laurel Canyon: slamming on his brakes, he vowed aloud to pursue his ardour for music. What recommendation would he give to others at an analogous juncture? \u201cSo far as we all know, there\u2019s one life you\u2019re residing.\u201d Whereas everybody must make a residing, \u201cyou must have some room on your ardour. There are such a lot of doorways you can not see, they usually can all open in the event you discover out what it’s you\u2019re right here to do,\u201d he says. \u201cIt requires waking up within the morning and going \u2018what am I enthusiastic about?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Down With The System particulars Tankian\u2019s early musical efforts, together with his first flip as a singer within the band Soil. Singing didn’t come naturally, and at one level they secretly tried to interchange him. \u201cI used to be looking for my voice, as a result of usually individuals sing with different individuals\u2019s voices \u2013 whoever they\u2019re influenced by,\u201d Tankian says. After only one present, and a lineup change, Soil morphed into System Of A Down.<\/p>\n
Of all of the memoir\u2019s tales illustrating System Of A Down\u2019s explosive rise, probably the most placing is of a free live performance in a Hollywood carpark on the eve of \u2018Toxicity\u2019\u2019s launch in September 2001. \u201cWe have been anticipating three or four-thousand individuals,\u201d Tankian says, \u201cthen I feel 10,000 individuals confirmed up.\u201d After the hearth marshal suggested the live performance was unsafe, the LAPD threatened to arrest the band in the event that they went onstage \u2013 even simply to elucidate the state of affairs. \u201cThey only pulled our banner down, and every thing went wild,\u201d he says. \u201cAn precise LAPD riot occurred \u2013 all of us felt horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Toxicity\u2019 topped the US charts per week later, the identical day because the 9\/11 assaults. Down With The System illustrates right here what it meant to be a politicised band within the media panorama of the time: main radio group Clear Channel banned their single \u2018Chop Suey!\u2019 from its stations, together with 164 different songs deemed \u2018lyrically questionable\u2019 beneath the circumstances, together with John Lennon\u2019s \u2018Think about\u2019. \u201cSocial media and the devolution of the radio world has modified the sport,\u201d Tankian suggests. \u201cPoliticised bands have a lot extra entry to individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Latest months have seen a brand new wave of music activism amid the Israel-Gaza battle: from gigs elevating cash for humanitarian support, to boycotts of SXSW over its sponsorship by the US military. \u201cIt\u2019s necessary for the youth to lift their voice, as a result of we aren’t residing in a simply world,\u201d Tankian says. \u201cI feel in some instances, pure activism is taken hostage by sure fringe parts of society, together with within the US \u2013 sure anti-Semites who’ve gotten into that world. Nonetheless, I feel nearly all of the activists and their intentions are pure, and I feel what they\u2019re doing is necessary,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to the Hamas invasion of Israel, I wish to say that was clearly a terrorist act and they’re struggle criminals and should be punished,\u201d he says. \u201cHowever, the Netanyahu authorities\u2019s response can be \u2013 as we will see with the variety of civilians which have died \u2013 a struggle crime.\u201d Tankian additionally highlights the less-discussed story of Azerbaijan\u2019s invasion of Nagorno Karabakh final September. \u201cAzerbaijan attacked the 120,000 residents of this space who’ve been residing there for time immemorial,\u201d he says. \u201cUnbelievable injustice, humanitarian disaster, genocide, struggle crimes, is going on immediately \u2013 so sure, there’s going to be pushback.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tankian\u2019s personal decades-long activism was rewarded with a milestone in 2021. \u201cCongress handed a decision formally recognising the Armenian genocide dedicated by the Ottoman Turks in 1915,\u201d he explains. Nonetheless, he caveats this victory. \u201cProper after, Joe Biden mainly wrote a cheque to Azerbaijan for navy functions,\u201d who had \u201cinvaded elements of Armenia correct,\u201d he says. \u201cEven the intention of Congress to go the genocide decision was a manner of punishing Turkey for purchasing the S-400 missiles from Russia,\u201d he suggests.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s all politics.\u201d<\/p>\n
His emotions on System Of A Down are much less reserved. \u201cI\u2019m extraordinarily pleased with my band for, together with non-profits and Armenian communities worldwide, lobbying for recognition of the Armenian genocide,\u201d he says. \u201cFor us, it was a private quest \u2013 all our grandparents are survivors.\u201d In 2015, they marked the genocide\u2019s centenary with an infinite present in Armenia\u2019s capital, Yerevan. \u201cI all the time describe that as the highest of the mountain for System Of A Down,\u201d he smiles. \u201cIt was lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their final album was 2005\u2019s \u2018Hypnotise\u2019, and the memoir particulars their newest, unsuccessful makes an attempt at a brand new one in 2018. In these periods, Tankian proposed a brand new set of working ideas: \u201cegalitarian concepts of sharing publishing, not controlling the writing course of, everybody having a veto on each tune,\u201d he lists. \u201cThere was some openness to it at first, however then it bought shut down, and I backed off.\u201d Their variations, he stresses, should not private. \u201cWe love one another, we respect one another, however we’ve artistic variations and that\u2019s stopped us going forwards,\u201d he says. \u201cPerhaps sooner or later it received\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the moment, his focus is on this memoir \u2013 shocked by its rapturous reception. \u201cThere\u2019s a whole lot of attention-grabbing classes in my very own life, and I hope it sparks one thing in younger creators or would-be creators,\u201d he smiles. \u201cThat will be superior.\u201d<\/p>\n
Serj Tankian\u2019s memoir \u2018Down With The System\u2019 is out now\u00a0<\/p>\n