SERJ TANKIAN: 'If You're Going To Be An Actual Artist, You Have To Have Honesty'

In a new interview with Chasta and Baby Huey of San Francisco Bay Area's 107.7 The Bone radio station, SYSTEM OF A DOWN frontman Serj Tankian, whose 2021 documentary "Truth To Power" charted the impact of his political activity and growth as a musician, both with and without SYSTEM OF A DOWN, was once again asked how he feels about possibly losing some of his fans over his activism. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I think early on you have to decide what role you wanna play within this industry. If you want to maximize your fanbase, be a good musician, write music, and not talk about things that might turn people away, then you're going to probably be an incredible entertainer, and I'm a fan of a large number of entertainers who play music. But if you're going to be an actual artist, whether it's a painter, a musician, an architect, any type of thing, you have to have honesty, and that honesty has to come through your soul and through your work. And you will end up turning people away, you will end up pissing some of your fans off, and so be it. It's something that you have to accept as part of the journey for you to remain intimate with the truth."

Asked where that passion comes from, Serj said: "Well, I guess I was an activist before becoming a musician. So it kind of carried through. And so the truth was always something important for me, in my personal life as well as what's transcendent into my artistic life. And so that's where it really comes from. The varied degrees of job experience or career experience just add to my kind of understanding of the intricacies of the music industry and some of the weird things about it. I don't take a lot of this stuff seriously, as far as the celebrity aspect and all of that stuff. It's nice to get reservations at restaurants, but that's as far as it goes. So I think that's helped me stay a bit grounded, even though I think we've all lost our heads a little, based on the success of the band and of our music and everything. But I try to remain in a world where I can look at people in the eye and see their excitement and thank them for it and be authentic about it. I mean, one of the reasons, when we opened up the [Kavat Coffee] Café [And Eye For Sound] Gallery a few months ago, I drop in any chance I get and see people and take pictures and hang out and have conversations and have coffee with them. And it's fucking amazing. I love the person-to-person [interactions]. I don't get that at shows 'cause shows are huge and there's too many people and it's impossible to connect [on a] one-on-one level with anyone, really. I mean, even backstage, there's hundreds, hundreds of people. So I enjoy that. I'm getting a kick out of that these days."

Tankian previously discussed the impact of his activism on his music career this past May in an interview with NPR. He said at the time: "I'm okay with [potentially alienating some fans] because an artist isn't supposed to please everyone. An artist is supposed to basically try to receive through the collective consciousness whatever truths that we're trying to live by, the truths of our times. If we can't do that as artists, then we're entertainers. From day one, you have to make that choice: Are you an entertainer only or are you going to be an artist? If you're an entertainer, that's cool; there's many entertainers I follow and love. But if you're going to be an artist, then the road is not going to be easy. You're going to have to be honest with yourself and everyone else at all times, and people are going to like you and people are going to hate you, and that's okay."

He continued: "I was more of the activist in the band than anyone else. There was always this push and pull between the message and the music. The other guys, rightfully so, didn't want the music to be victimized by the message at all times. I understood that because I loved the music as well, but when there was [a message] that needed to be dispersed, I felt like that was just as important, if not more important, than the music."

In a separate interview with Books On Pod, Tankian touched upon how learning about his grandparents' Armenian background in his early teens prompted him to become an activist.

"When you're in a democracy and you are afraid to speak the truth because of backlash, that's when you feel like that something's really wrong," he said. "And mind you, that, coupled with growing up as an Armenian-American in Los Angeles, paying taxes to a country that is not properly recognizing the genocide of our ancestors, a democracy not recognizing proper history because of political expediency, because of Turkey being a NATO ally, and they didn't want to recognize it, just dirty political fucking geopolitics, that makes you an activist. That made me an activist. That made me someone who fights for truth and justice, not just having to do with Armenians or Armenian issues, but many issues — in the U.S., human rights issues around the world and even animal rights, climate issues. You see the world of injustice and justice, you see that imbalance, and you wanna kind of tip the scales up because you know that that's gonna make the world a better place in every way."

He added: "I've always spoken truth to power, but only because I cared. If I didn't care, I wouldn't speak my mind."

Tankian's autobiography, "Down With The System", was released in May via Hachette Books.

Tankian is best known as the lead singer of the Grammy Award-winning rock band SYSTEM OF A DOWN, but he is also a solo artist, composer, activist, painter, poet, and filmmaker. Since launching on to the rock scene in 1993, he's performed for millions of fans and sold more than 42 million albums worldwide. He's also a proud Armenian-American and a dedicated activist; along with Tom Morello, Tankian co-founded the non-profit organization Axis Of Justice, which strived to bring together musicians, music fans, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice. He has composed scores for many films and television series, had his paintings exhibited in galleries in the U.S. and New Zealand, and released two books of his own poetry. He has also been an executive producer on multiple documentaries, including "I Am Not Alone", which tells the story of Armenia's 2018 revolution and which won awards at the Toronto International Film Festival, DOC NYC, American Film Institute Festival, and the Palm Springs International Film Festival, among others. Tankian lives with his wife and his son, splitting their time between Los Angeles and New Zealand.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN has toured intermittently since ending its hiatus in 2011, but has only managed to record two songs in the last 19 years, "Protect The Land" and "Genocidal Humanoidz". Released in November 2020, the tracks were motivated by the conflict between Artsakh and Azerbaijan, with all proceeds supporting humanitarian efforts in SYSTEM OF A DOWN's ancestral homeland of Armenia. Along with other donations from fans on their social pages, they raised over $600,000.