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The book is described as a “spiritual journey from darkness towards light”
Serj Tankian, frontman of hard rock band System of a Down, will release his memoir Down With the System on May 14, 2024 via Hachette Books. The musician described the tome as an “accidentally hatched philosophical memoir.”
“Boom! – I wrote a new book,” Tankian wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I had a blast working on this accidentally hatched philosophical memoir as it’s given me the unique opportunity to deep dive into my family history, my own motivations from a young age and lessons I didn’t know I had learned.”
The memoir will trace Tankian’s life from his childhood, when he moved from Beirut to Los Angeles at the age of seven, through his career as a musician and activist.
In an official synopsis of the book, Hachette Books notes, “In Down With the System, Serj presents readers with a memoir that is far more than just a rock ‘n’ roll fable. It’s an immigrant’s tale, it’s an activist’s awakening, and it’s a spiritual journey from darkness to light. And all of this comes down to the fact that Serj himself has had the chance to live an extraordinary life—thanks to a combination of luck, circumstance, struggle, talent, and spiritual awakening.”
The synopsis adds that the book will follow Tankian as “he evades glass bottles hurled at a canceled show by angry Slayer fans, teams up with Tom Morello to push social justice causes on unsuspecting metalheads, argues with LAPD officers over the best way to quell rioting fans, and defines new sounds and singing tactics with Rick Rubin.”
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Last year, Tankian shared his thoughts on the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in an op-ed for Rolling Stone. The musician also unveiled a five-song EP, Perplex Cities, which he described as a “completely different sound that I’ve done before.”
Down With the System is available for pre-order now.
