Serj Tankian - A Pemberton Preview profile

The lead singer of System of a Down will be performing some of his solo music at the Pemberton Music Festival on Friday, July 25th. This is his story:

GENRE: heavy alternative
FROM: Lebanon/U.S.A.
STATUS: Known best as lead vocalist of System of a Down
BEST KNOWN HIT: "Empty Walls" (single)

• Tankian's parents and his younger brother moved from Lebanon to Los Angeles when Serj was five years old
• System of a Down's bassist (Shavo Odadjian) and drummer (John Dolmayan) all share Armenian ancestry with Tankian
• Studied marketing
• Formed the band Soil and some the members later went on to form System of a Down
• Claims to be a social activist and is involved in many political organizations
• Formed his own record company Serjical Strike to help promote underground band
• Wrote a poetry book Cool Gardens which as published by MTV Books
• Formed a non-profit political activist organization "Axis of Justice" with Tom Morello (the god-like guitarist of Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine) in order to help motivate young people to become more involved in politics
• He is currently pushing Turkey to recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915

A long yet interesting quote:

"Neoliberal globalism is failing due to its underlying imperial ambitions and the discoveries of those sinister ulterior motives. So the ambitions have reawakened for "democracy promotion," in the past few years. In real terms, that means promoting democracy if and only if it serves imperial ambitions. How about we create a real democracy right here and now! Let's allow the people to vote for or against a pre-emptive war, universal health care, expansion of social security, the Kyoto Protocol, the International Criminal and World Courts, and the role of the United Nations in interventions and reconstruction of devastated lands. Let's vote for how we want our taxes to be spent, directly. Major referendums discussed and debated thoroughly representing all sides of each issue on television. All empires represent the aristocracy in their imperial ambitions, not the general populace! Also in dire need is a true democracy of nations. The UN Security Council should be dissolved and the General Assembly should rule all international affairs, allowing all nations equal access to the international forum and law. Given the truth, all human beings will collectively choose the direction of this lost, possibly last civilization." - Serj Tankian