SOAD Wake Up The Souls tour set for justice award

System Of A Down are to be honoured for their “virtuous commitment to justice” displayed on their Wake Up The Souls tour.

The band will be given the 2015 Parajanov-Vartanov Institute Award at the Chateau Marmont, Hollywood on October 21.

It follows their world tour to commemorate the centenary of the Armenian Genocide of April 1915, in which 1.5million Armenians were murdered by the Ottoman Empire. The arena tour was the band’s first since 2013 and included their first-ever performance in Armenia at Yerevan’s Republic Square.

The Parajanov-Vartanov Institute says: “From 1915 through 1923, 1.5 million men, women and children were starved, shot and banished to die in the desert during one of history’s greatest crimes. Though considered by many to be the first genocide of the 20th century, the Turkish government denies it ever happened.”

The Institute promotes the work of Sergei Parajanov and Mikhail Vartanov who dedicated their lives to the righteous fight against the injustices of totalitarian regimes.

System Of A Down, Live in London

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.