Serj Tankian to release 1915 soundtrack

Serj Tankian
(Image credit: Getty)

System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian will release his soundtrack for the film 1915 later this month.

The score was used on the 2015 film which commemorated the centennial anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. It’ll be released on April 22, with further details to be issued in due course.

Speaking of the project, Tankian tells Billboard: “The most important thing I learned is communication with the director, because before you write a single note of music, that’s the most important part. Unless you know what palate they want to use, then you’re just wasting a lot of time doing things that may not work for the film.

“The first thing I wanted to do was get a sense of what’s the sound you’re looking for, what are the emotions you’re trying to portray, what’s the story you’re trying to tell? Once I got that down and we agreed on the instrumental elements, then I was able to explore in detail that world.

“It was orchestral, but it was heavily piano-based in this case. I also had a lot of moody kind of weird music in there. It’s haunting, dark, beautiful – the film and the accompanying music, I think.”

Last year, System Of A Down played an Armenian peace concert in their ancestral homeland to highlight the genocide in which 1.5million people are believed to have died.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.