Elect the Dead

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Elect the Dead
Studio album by Serj Tankian
Released	October 22, 2007
Recorded	Serjical Strike Records The Pass Los Angeles, CA
Genre	Alternative rock[1]
Length	45:03 (standard edition) 47:52 (Japan) 59:00 (limited edition) 53:52 (iTunes)
Label	Serjical Strike/Reprise
Producer	Serj Tankian
Professional reviews
Allmusic link IGN.com link Billboard.com (favorable) link Rolling Stone link Music Emissions link NME (10/27/2007, p.39) Kerrang Robert Christgau link AbsolutePunk.net (69%) link Time Off link
Serj Tankian chronology
Elect the Dead (2007) Lie Lie Live (2008)
Alternate Cover
Alternate cover of Elect the Dead
Alternate cover
Cover of the special edition
Singles from Elect the Dead
"The Unthinking Majority" Released: August 7, 2007 "Empty Walls" Released: September 10, 2007 "Lie Lie Lie" Released: December 24, 2007 "Sky Is Over" Released: January 16, 2008 [2]

Elect the Dead is the debut solo album by Serj Tankian. Tankian played a majority of the instruments himself but did receive assistance from System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan and former Primus and Guns N' Roses drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia, along with Dan Monti on guitar and bass, opera singer Ani Maldjian and some string players, Antonio Pontarelli among them.^[3]

Production

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Serj Tankian has stated that while some of the songs are new, a lot of them have been with him for a while. The song "Blue", which appears on the special edition bonus CD, is a reworking of the System of a Down demo song "Blue" that appeared on the Columbia promo tape which was given away before the release of the band's debut album.

Marketing

The first singles from Elect the Dead are "The Unthinking Majority" and "Empty Walls". The song "Saving Us" was released on Tankian's Last.fm page^[4] and his MySpace profile.^[5] The music video "Feed Us" was released on the Swedish^[6] and UK^[7] MTV. Tankian appeared on MTV's You Rock The Deuce to promote Elect the Dead.^{[citation needed]} A music video was directed and filmed for every song on the record, each by unique directors. Tankian explained, "I asked each of the directors for their visual interpretation of my work. They were asked not to write treatments and that they could make whatever they liked. The results have been overwhelmingly amazing!" ^[8]. Some music videos were initially released exclusively to those who purchased the limited edition of Elect the Dead, while all of the music videos, except "Money", have since been publicly released on Tankian's website and YouTube channel. Some videos have alternative versions which were originally released as well, but later altered.^{[citation needed]}

Three different promo versions of the album have surfaced to the public. The instrumental promotional version, issued by Serjical Strike/Reprise Records and intended for the music and movie industry, contains instrumental versions of the twelve album tracks. Another promotional version, issued by Reprise Records and made only for individual reviewers, features the album in final master form. This promotional CD-R, which was labeled "Smart Talk" as a codename for "Serj Tankian" to prevent leaking by unauthorized persons, also indicates that the album was finalized prior to August 20, 2007 (2007-08-20).^[9] Before this a similar but undated promo, also under the name 'Smart Talk', was issued featuring the final versions of the songs, albeit not yet mastered^{[citation needed]}. Whilst the printed track list on this version is identical the released album, tracks ten and eleven are in fact juxtaposed on the promo itself.

The official tour for Elect the Dead commenced on October 12, 2007 with a show at Chicago's Vic theater. Roughly one thousand people attended the first concert. Although Tankian had stated he would not be performing any material by his former band, System of a Down, he performed "Charades", a song co-written by Daron Malakian, the guitarist of System of a Down. Although it is originally a song restricted to piano and vocals, Tankian used his backing band, the Flying Cunts of Chaos (F.C.C.), to provide guitars, drums, and bass.^{[citation needed]} The song "Beethoven's Cunt" is available as downloadable content for Rock Band. A portion of the song "Lie Lie Lie" is currently featured in the opening title sequence of NBC's Fear Itself, a horror anthology show from the creators of Masters of Horror, and can be viewed on the show's main website.^{[citation needed]}

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Serj Tankian. 

Chart Positions

Personnel

• All Songs Written & Performed by Serj Tankian (Guitars, Bass, Piano, Vocals, Synthesizers, Drum Programming, Melodica, Bells, and various tone generating beauties) - Stunning Suppository Sounds (BMI)
• All songs recorded at Serjical Strike Studios
• Produced by Serj Tankian
• Engineered by Dan Monti & Serj Tankian
• Mastered by Vlado Meller at Sony Music Studios in New York, NY

• A&R Craig Aaronson & George Tonikian
• Original Artwork Provided by Sako Shahinian
• Album Packaging Design by Sako Shahinian
• Digipack Album Packaging Design by Keith Aazami
• Photography by Greg Watermann
• Worldwide Management Dave Holmes and Darin Harmon
• Booking (US) Don Muller at CAA
• Booking (Europe) Emma Banks at CAA
• Legal Don Passman and Gene Salomon at Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown, Inc.
• Business Management David Weise at DW & Associates

References

External links

• Elect the Dead at Serjical Strike Records