Serj Tankian Announces New Single 'A.F. Day'

System of a Down's Serj Tankian announced the impending release of his new solo single, "A.F. Day," on April 29. The song, which Tankian wrote during System's early days, will be a part of the singer's upcoming EP, Foundations, scheduled for an autumn release. The single is out on May 17 via Gibson Records.

“This is a song I wrote in the early days of SOAD that I never released," Tankian said in a press release. "The majority of the instrumentation and vocals are recordings from that time. Dystopian in mood, it’s a reflection of the angst and anti-authoritarian attitude I had to conformity.”

The release of "A.F. Day" will come at a particularly busy juncture for Tankian. His memoir, Down With the System, is due out on May 14 via Hachette Books. The publisher promises the tome will "present 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 toward 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."

System of a Down has yet to release a new album since 2005's platinum-certified Hypnotize, though the group has regularly reunited for tours and one-off singles, having just headlined Las Vegas' Sick New World festival over the weekend. The quartet have a massive show scheduled for San Francisco's Golden Gate Park with Deftones and the Mars Volta this coming August.

During System's downtime, Tankian has kept plenty busy as a visual artist and activist, as well as releasing more than half a dozen solo albums that range in style from rock to classical, with last's year's "operatic suite" Invocations a collaboration between Tankian and the Cal State Northridge Symphony Orchestra. A documentary about Tankian's life, Truth to Power, was released in 2020.

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Born in Beirut and largely raised among L.A.'s sizable Armenian American community, Tankian's surrealistic lyrics and inimitable vocal style -- alternately goofy, graceful and guttural -- helped System of a Down emerge from the late-1990s nu-metal miasma into genuine rock superstars, selling more than 40 million albums worldwide. As Tankian's celebrity grew, he became a visible champion of various political causes, most notably opposition to the Iraq War and the push for official recognition of the Armenian genocide.

Earlier this year, Tankian teamed with Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi and Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian for a charity single, "Deconstruction." It was the first song released through the company's new Gibson Band project, which will bring famous musicians together to raise money for worthy causes: proceeds from the song and a corresponding auction went to benefit the Armenia Fund, which provides humanitarian assistance like health care and disaster relief programs to Armenian communities worldwide.