SYSTEM OF A DOWN To Commemorate 100th Anniversary Of Armenian Genocide With 'Wake Up The Souls' Tour

November 24, 2014

April 24, 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, an attempted extermination of the Armenian people by the Ottoman Empire. A century later, the members of SYSTEM OF A DOWN refuse to let the victims and lessons learned be forgotten. On April 10, 2015, they'll commemorate the Genocide's 100th anniversary on the world stage with their "Wake Up The Souls" arena tour, an international trek that begins at London's Wembley Arena and culminates with the band's first-ever performance in Yerevan's Republic Square.

"As a band, it's been one of our dreams to play in Armenia," says lead vocalist Serj Tankian. "To be able to play in the homeland of our forefathers while respecting the memory of those that perished in the first genocide of the 20th century will be an honor."

As pointed out in a recent Forbes op-ed piece by Jano Boghossian, the atrocities committed in 1915 marked and traumatized all subsequent generations of Armenians both in the small remaining homeland, and the far-reaching Diaspora. "Victim groups have no need for a justification of memory," wrote Boghossian, "but they do need justice." SYSTEM OF A DOWN's landmark tour will see them take the call for truth to Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Russia. The group, whose four members are all of Armenian descent, have lost family members and history to the Genocide and have worked tirelessly over the years to promote awareness. In April 2009, Tankian made a short video urging President Obama to honor his campaign pledge to properly commemorate the Armenian Genocide. The group made headlines in 2013 after a concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles saw Tankian asking the packed-house crowd to imagine a government that remained silent on the Holocaust, as many did regarding the Armenian, Greek and Assyrian genocides.

"The pursuit of justice knows no time restraints, recognizes no obstacles, and will not be halted until justice is met, whether it's one hundred years or one thousand," says drummer John Dolmayan.

Fans looking for information about the "Wake Up The Souls" tour and/or how to get involved should visit SystemOfADown.com, where they'll see content curated by the band, along with an interactive "heat map" splash page featuring their statement about the cause, along with tour dates, ticket links, share options, fan-generated content and "Take Action" instructions. When the user clicks on any highlighted city on the heat map, a fact about the Armenian Genocide will pop up, which will be sharable to the users' social networks (example — France: "In 1915 France advises Young Turk leaders that they will be held personally responsible for crimes against humanity"). Each tour date will line up with a "Facebook Event Page" to which fans can RSVP, creating a community around each performance. Above the map will be instructions for fans to interact by using the hashtag #wakeupthesouls. As fans tweet and share, the heat map will grow around the world, showing the impact of people talking about the cause and tour on a global scale.

The "Take Action" page will give fans the opportunity to send out a pre-populated tweet pledging to stand with the good people of conscience in Turkey and urge for global justice for the Armenian Genocide. This automated tweet will also contain the campaign hashtag, which will cycle back around into the heat map feed. SYSTEM OF A DOWN want to clearly state that this is not directed at the people of Turkey, but rather at the atrocities that were carried out. "Our campaign is about bringing justice, recognition, support and resolve," says the band.

Los Angeles-based fans can catch SYSTEM OF A DOWN headlining Night One of KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas on December 13 at the Los Angeles Forum.

Dates for the "Wake Up The Souls" tour are as follows:

April 10 - London, UK @ Wembley Arena
April 13 - Cologne, Germany @ Lanxess Arena
April 14 - Lyon, France @ La Halle Tony Garnier
April 16 - Brussels, Belgium @ Forest National
April 17 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Ziggo Dome
April 20 - Moscow, Russia @ Olympisky
April 23 - Yerevan, Armenia @ Republic Square

Find more on System of a down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).