The latest news from Iran speak of a lot of snow. What is the situation there?*

It’s terribly cold here, everything was shutdown for few days, and still energy is a major concern. I’ve heard it is the hardest winter after 43 years.

Do you prefer winter or warm sunny days?

Of course warm sunny days. Who doesn’t love those daylights?

Can you describe your town and are where you live?

Yeah it is Tehran, a large city that looks stinky and dangerous enough, to be located at heart of Middle East

What was your first contact with metal music?

As a younger teenager I got this chance to company some people that were into this kind of music. They were older folks who had some stuff.

When did you start the band? Was it difficult to find the other members?

I guess it was late 2001 when we started to jam together. we were two at the beginning. And the other guys just joined the band. At the most of the times actually we did not search for members; the most of guys were long time friends.

Did you learn playing your instruments before? I believe you are good musicians.

Thank you very much, personally not really long before the band, but Alireza (lead guitar) and Mohamad (bass) were experienced musicians before joining Ahoora.

Did you start writing your own songs or playing stuff by other bands?

We’d played lots of covers within past years. But always there’d been our own stuff involved too. I guess we had our own stuff from the very beginning, although they’d been deserted!

You played a show composed of ICED EARTH songs, is it your favourite band? What other bands do you listen to?

Actually the first set was the Iced Earth songs and the second was included of our own tunes. Yeah Iced Earth…, for sure their music and vision has already been a great source to study. You know you can not love just one, but to mention a few: Nevermore, Death, Coroner, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Porcupine Tree, Riverside, Savatage, Opeth, Xentrix, Camel etc

Can you get the CDs perhaps or do you rely on the Internet?

There are CDs, but actually internet is the main source. We do not have the chance of buying music, so internet remains the one. Although these days it has made a shocking effect on the music business.

On the photo, you wear ICED EARTH and DEATH T-shirts, so is it possible to buy them there?

Of course not! At the most of the times friends and relatives coming from aboard would bring this stuff.

Have you perhaps been in contact with ICED EARTH or any other band?

Not any band that big! Actually we were going to take our chances and try to get them a copy of our new album. I hope we could make it!

You said metal is illegal in Iran, have you ever had any problem because of it?

Well, any thing related to this subject is blocked, so there is not even enough space to get in trouble. We’ve been unsuccessful to obtain the governmental permission to release or perform and we’ve had 2 out of our 3 gigs ruined. So how could a band exist?

I suppose it is also the reason why you do not have a drummer, it is not possible to play drums without making noise that everybody hears. Or are there any drummers in Iran?

There are drummers here, But of course less than other musicians. Actually we’ve had two drummers, and both were one of the best. First immigrated to Canada and the second one had some college problems. He is still around though, but when there is no drum recordings or live performances…? You know what I mean?

And where do you rehearse? Where did you record your albums?

Home, it’s all homey done!

I think your style is interesting, which bands would you best compare it too?

I think for now “Progressive thrash metal” is the favorite description. Maybe Nevermore is the one to mention upon this genre. But also new progressive rock bands like Porcupine Tree and Riverside offer a great vibe of music which is really wanting and any musician would fall for it.

You have recorded two albums so far, but they are released only in your country. What does it mean for you to release a metal record in Iran? Do you do it alone or are there people who help?

It is a unique event indeed. But there is no big bang about it inside Iran. The society is closed, there is no real exchange of data and after all this is a third world country which suffers from deep religious beliefs. Yes, the band exclusively had done all the works till now!

I hear your first album should be released in England - how did you organise this release?

Yes after recent release, “All in Blood with You”; we had this chance to be signed to real2can .they were among the labels we contacted and they responded well so, hesitation was not an option.

If some record company is interested in releasing your record, what should they do?

They can contact us via official web mail (contact@ahoora-band.com); or our myspace page. (http://www.myspace.com/ahooraband).

Thanks to the Internet you have probably a lot of contacts with abroad, so what are the reactions to your band?

I guess it’s been really cool. First it’s seems a bit shocking hearing about a metal band from Iran. We’ve had some great reviews and also we were invited to perform at two great festivals. God bless internet!

Who runs your Internet webpage and the myspace profile?

Alireza Saeidian, the guitar player.

And in Iran, are there metal fans? What about your concerts - how many people saw you?

Yeah there are masses of metalheads here. But the venue we played was rather small, over 200 people maybe.

Playing in a band is an expensive hobby anywhere, can I ask what are your jobs?

Most of us were students! You bet we don not make it out of music!

Czech Republic used to have good relationships with Iran. Do you know anything about our country?

Except Kafka, Milos Forman and Freud. I know a lot about your football!

What are your plans and expectation in music?

Music itself is the goal. Exploring an original sound.

*The interview was done during last winter.