by Known as a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, poet, System Of A Down front-man, and political activist – Serj has spent the last calendar year being busier than ever. He composed music for the rock musical Prometheus Bound, which opened at Oberon Theatre at Harvard in Boston to rave reviews, released his second poetry book, Glaring Through Oblivion, toured with System across three continents, performed with the Opera Orchestra in Armenia, where he also had political meetings with heads of state and non-profits, then performed his first ever concert in Lebanon (his birthplace) with the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra. Upon returning to the US, he completed four records: a jazz record, an electronic record, a full classical symphony called Orca, and the new solo rock record, Harakiri.
Harakiri, Serj’s latest solo album, came out July 10th on Reprise Records/Serjical Strike and is the follow up to 2010’s critically acclaimed Imperfect Harmonies. The album is the third solo release from the System Of A Down front man. As with 2007’s Elect the Dead and Imperfect Harmonies, Serj produced Harakiri himself at his home studio in Los Angeles. He tried to approach writing a little differently this time around “I used the Apple iPad as a songwriting instrument to sketch out three of the songs on the record” explains Serj. “We must trick ourselves into writing in different ways to get unexpected results.” The album will also feature performances by Serj’s touring band, The F.C.C. – Dan Monti on guitar, Mario Pagliarulo on bass, and Troy Zeigler on drums. Dan Monti is also co-mixing and co-engineering the album with Serj. The album is mastered by Vlado Meller (Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kanye West) Serj himself uses each of the song titles (in bold) to describe Harakiri:
“The Cornucopia of love/hate affairs with Gaia have made us scream “Fuck! Let’s Figure It Out! CEOs are the disease.” Where abusive capitalism’s only fate is human/environmental devastation. The Ching Chime, diminutive drama of a gangsta Butterfly revealed that humanity’s tears actually outweigh yearly rainfall on the planet. We have witnessed Harakiri on a grand scale tearing out the Occupied Tears of victims preyed on by victims turned aggressors creating a Deafening Silence through which we hear a voice plead, “Forget Me Knot, my child.” Reality TV has become the searing indictment of a society best described as the Uneducated Democracy. The daughters of the evolution Weave On with blood dripping down their guilty hands onto the flag as the word republic is replaced by empire.” – Serj Tankian
