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Serj Tankian
Background information
Born	August 21, 1967 Beirut, Lebanon
Genre(s)	Alternative metal Experimental rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Vocals Guitar Piano
Label(s)	Serjical Strike
Associated acts	System of a Down Serart
Website	SOAD's official site

Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967 in Beirut, Lebanon) is the Armenian-American singer of the alternative metal band System of a Down and co-founder of Axis of Justice.

Contents 1 Early life and career 2 Writings 2.1 Understanding Oil 2.2 Poetry 3 Discography 3.1 System of a Down 3.2 Serart 3.3 Axis of Justice 3.4 Solo 3.5 Soundtrack 4 Awards 5 Collaborations 6 External links

At age five, Serj Tankian moved with his parents to Los Angeles, California. 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 band Soil (not to be confused with SOiL) with Daron Malakian, which later broke up, and most of the members joined to form a new band, System of a Down. Tankian is not only a member of the band System of a Down, but 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 Tunçboyaçiyan, an Armenian friend of Tankian's. More recently, he sung with The Rita Mitsouko on the song "Terminal Beauty". Tankian is also very involved politically. Together with Tom Morello of Audioslave, he founded the organization Axis Of Justice. Tankian often speaks publicly against violence and injustice in the world.

Serj is a vegetarian and likes to read poetry but other than that, few details are known about Tankian's private life. He is especially interested in Shakespeare, T.S. Eliot and Edgar Allan Poe. Serj hates celebrity gossip. He believes it is a waste of time and, due to the spreading of rumors, can destroy close relationships .

Serj has been currently working on his solo album "Elect The Dead", which is said to be released in late Summer or early Fall of 2007.

Two days after the attacks on September 11, 2001, Serj posted a highly controversial essay on the band's website. 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: "[1]"

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, 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 if anything, writing wise that is, he says that he will write a novel rather that another book, even though he has volumes and volumes of more poetry that he has been keeping himself in his own personal collection.

• System of a Down (1998)
• Toxicity (2001)
• Steal This Album! (2002)
• Mezmerize (2005)
• Hypnotize (2005)

• Serart (2003)

• Axis Of Justice: Concert Series Volume 1 (2004)

• Elect The Dead (Late Summer/Early Fall 2007)

• Bug (2007)

• 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 2007, they were nominated for a Grammy Award in Best Hard Rock Performance for their song Lonely Day

• Limp Bizkit featuring Serj Tankian - "Don't Go Wondering" (1999) - Demo for Significant Other
• Fear Factory featuring Serj Tankian - "Cars" [Live] (1999)
• Incubus featuring Serj Tankian - Live Improvisation (2000)
• Wu-Tang Clan featuring Serj Tankian - "Shame" - Loud Rocks (2000) and Lonely Day EP (2006)
• (həd) pe feautring Serj Tankian and Morgan Lander - "Feel Good" - Broke (2000) and The Best Of (həd) Planet Earth (2006)
• Tony Iommi featuring Serj Tankian - "Patterns" Iommi (2000)
• Snot featuring Serj Tankian - "Starlit Eyes" - Strait Up (2000)
• Dog Fashion Disco featuring Serj Tankian - "Mushroom Cult" - Anarchists of Good Taste (2001)
• Serj Tankian - "Bird Of Paradise" - Bird Up!: The Charlie Parker Remix Project (2003)
• Kittens For Christian featuring Serj Tankian - "Had A Plan" - Privilege Of Your Company (2003)
• Saul Williams feautring Serj Tankian - "Talk To Strangers" - Saul Williams (2004)
• Buckethead featuring Serj Tankian - "We Are One" - Masters of Horror Soundtrack (2005) and Enter the Chicken (2005)
• Buckethead featuring Azam Ali and Serj Tankian - "Coma" - Enter the Chicken (2005)
• Buckethead featuring Shana Halligan and Serj Tankian - "Waiting Here" - Enter the Chicken (2005)
• The Notorious B.I.G. - "Who Shot Ya?" (Serj Tankian Remix) - Marc Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (2006)
• Deftones featuring Serj Tankian - "Mein" - Saturday Night Wrist (2006)
• Tool featuring Serj Tankian - "Sober" [Live] - Big Day Out 2007
• Les Rita Mitsouko featuring Serj Tankian - "Terminal Beauty" - Variéty (2007)

• Screamers Official Site
• 'Screamers' and Genocide: A Talk With Serj Tankian From System of a Down
• Serj Tankian Fan Site
• System of a Down Official Site
• Serjical Strike Records
• SOADomized.com

System of a Down
Serj Tankian | Daron Malakian | Shavo Odadjian | John Dolmayan
Andy Khachaturian
Discography
Albums/EPs: Sugar EP | System of a Down | Toxicity | Steal This Album! | Mezmerize | Hypnotize | Lonely Day EP
Demos: Untitled 1995 Demo Tape | Demo Tape 1 | Demo Tape 2 | Demo Tape 3
Singles: "Sugar" | "Spiders" | "War?" | "Prison Song" | "Chop Suey!" | "Toxicity" | "Aerials" | "Innervision" | "Boom!" | "I-E-A-I-A-I-O" | "B.Y.O.B." | "Cigaro" | "Question!" | "Radio/Video" | "Hypnotize" | "Lonely Day" | "Kill Rock 'N Roll"
Related articles
Axis of Justice | Cool Gardens | Vartan Malakian | Screamers | Category:System of a Down songs Bands: Soil | Serart | Scars on Broadway | ACHOZEN   Labels: Serjical Strike Records | EatUrMusic
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Axis of Justice

Serj Tankian | Tom Morello Performers: Serj Tankian | Tom Morello | Pete Yorn | Flea | Brad Wilk | Maynard James Keenan | Chris Cornell | Wayne Kramer | John Dolmayan Album/DVD: Axis Of Justice: Concert Series Volume 1 Label: Serjical Strike Records   Related bands: System of a Down | Audioslave

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