Photo by Danny Krug
Surviving members of Brooklyn bands Yellow Dogs and Free Keys have released an official statement about Sunday night’s brutal murder-suicide in East Williamsburg.
The following statement was written by Yellow Dogs’ Siavash ‘Obash’ Karampour and Koory Mirzeai, with help from band manager Ali Salehezadeh, Pooya Hosseini of Free Keys, and street artists Icy and Sot.
The Yellow Dogs , an Iranian alternative rock band, isn’t around us any more. Two members were killed this morning. Apparently by another Iranian musician. (Detailed story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/
For DooBeeDoo it’s a big loss because theses young musicians played kind of music which could have been the voice of young Iranians who want “to rock” in order to make some changes in their lives in Iran. My condolences……………….
The Yellow Dogs formed back in Tehran, Iran in 2006, and are one of the youngest Iranian rock bands out there. The social restrictions in Tehran and the restrictions imposed by the Iranian government forced them underground, and to build their own tiny bohemian practicing room – the “Sagdooni-by their own hands on the rooftop of their drummer Sina’s house. SAGDOONI (farsi for kennel) was where they shaped their own style of independent music. As the Iranian environment cracked down on underground music, they continued making and playing music in their tiny abode shut off from the outside world.
Yellow Dogs were one of the main subjects of the award winning (Cannes & Sao Paulo International film festivals) film, “No One Knows about Persian Cats” – who tells the stories of the underground music scene in Iran. Since their move to the USA one year ago, they have played numerous shows in NYC (including an ongoing monthly gallery/loft party), gone on a national tour, showcased at SXSW and CMJ, recorded an EP “In the Kennel” with producer, Keith Souza (The Battles, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah).
(Read here about the indie rock scene in present Iran.)
Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi!
Two things happened recently which made me write today’s post: first of all last Saturday at the “Celebrate Brooklyn” music festival I happen to meet the Iranian trombone player Salmak Khaledi who’s a member of the Iranian band 127, which is one of the first Iranian rock bands that toured the USA. (Their music is a mixture of rock, jazz and Iranian melodies.) We talked about our bands and about being a musician here and in present Iran.
And three days ago I got an email from a music colleague and friend Lukas Liget asking me whether I have heard of the Iranian band Yellow Dogs. First I thought that I didn’t know them but then I remembered that they were one of the Iranian band featured in the Iranian movie No One Knows About Persian Cats which DooBeeDoo featured some time ago.
Because Iran seems to be so far away from NY, people here think that there’s no no pop music, no indie rock, no club music…no techno, hip hop…even no Jazz. Not at all, there’s been a thriving underground music scene in Tehran for more than ten years!
