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First, some questions. Would you die for your music? Most times this question is asked you just want to find out if a band have passion and belief in their music, and of course most bands say yes. But what if you could actually get executed for playing the songs you have lovingly crafted? What happens when the question is no longer rhetorical? What happens when just picking up a guitar is a political act punishable by death?

To you these questions may seem like extreme flights of fancy, but to Ahoora (‘Pureness’ in ancient Persian) these questions are part of their everyday reality. Ahoora are a band that have been surviving under the radar in their home country of Iran, a country where rock, metal and even Cliff Richard are banned, for just less than eight years. They have just secretly recorded an album ‘Awkward Diary’ and are desperate to get it out to an audience. Obviously communicating with a band working under these conditions is difficult, but through the use of a highly complex and secretive system (the internet) I managed to talk to Milad, Ahoora's primary driving force, to find out what it is like to exist under constant threat of exposure, imprisonment and even death just for playing the music you love.

“In Iran,” says Milad, “you don’t get trialled for exactly what you do, but instead the things that they like to think you do. And then they name it acting against the national security; so they could execute easily…Maybe it could be a song, a letter, few phone calls or emails; anything or nothing! They just name as a spy for the great wicked countries and say whatever they like about you and do whatever they like to you…Freedom is really absent here.”

“I think any form of free expression is not tolerated here. Whether it’s a movie, a record, a book, an article or a speech. Because any form of free expression and serious art would draw people’s attention to many questions. Like what’s right and what’s wrong! Or what’s been going on around me?!”
“Nobody is free here, no matter what he or she does about it”

As much as their lives are ruled by their government, Ahoora never set out to be a political band. “I think we’ve always been obsessed with music itself and we’ve never said that let’s do this to say that. Because we don’t get many chances to do music we try to focus on the music each time and try to have the bigger picture each time…We’ve never tried to write music or lyrics in order to say something else or have a special thematically obvious message (with the exception of “Crimson Baby” from the new album). You can’t do it right if you just want to say “how angry and frustrated you are”; or that “they should all go to hell” or how “you’re going to whip them at last someday”!”

“In “Awkward Diary”, I’ve tried to focus and write about my daily life experiences. Things that have surrounded our daily life; Hopes, fears, regrets, hatred and disappointment are among the list; just like anybody else.”

I asked Milad if it would be easier if they played religious metal and he just laughed, “No, because we’re interested to discuss more important and real things.”

Recent events in Iran, such as the violent protests against the results of the general election, have led Ahoora to record their first overtly political songs due to what they saw and experienced on their own streets. “They just came and found their place on the album. ‘Awkward Dairy’ is about us all and the things that happened to me or us."

The protests against the Iranian government were well publicised in the national media, particularly the grainy footage of Neda Agha Soltan that appeared on Youtube that apparently showed the young woman bleeding to death after being allegedly shot by a member of the pro-government Basiji militia group. Milad knew Ahoora could not ignore Neda's death. "Beside the overall impression and concept, “Crimson Baby” is the official one dedicated to Neda and all who died in the conflicts. It was written that famous bloody Saturday, the night she died few streets away from where I and my friend were struggling. Also there’s another one called “Free as a Man” that you could relate to the issues."

“We’ve never been a political band but yet on this album this has been also included as just another part of life that we’ve been going through…[the]depth of violence and the reality of it was unbearable…we were all panicking and shocked.”

No matter what the political situation and how it affects their lives, the one thing that shines through the most is Ahoora’s sheer love of playing music. I asked Milad if he and his fellow band mates felt like a resistance group and his answer couldn’t be further from my own pre-conceptions. “In our sub-conscious maybe yes we do. But we always try to concentrate on music making and the thing that we’re all gathered for; not how we’ve gathered.”

It’s difficult for Ahoora to practice and they have to take precautions when jamming. “We try to often meet and play in low volume and with a drum machine.” Even so, Milad and his band mates have come close to having their music stopped for good. Luckily for them Iran may have an oppressive government, but the rules are still upheld by real people. “We were returning from our jamming room which was located in an office. We were just few meters away when a police car asked us to stop the car and leave the car. So they noticed us with that hair and instruments! So we were lucky to handle it all with laughs or something, and they asked few questions about where we are going with these stuff or where we’re coming from. You known it all depend on who captures you. Police or some other shit that does some kind of the black security job; with no official uniform. And also depends on where!”

Milad and his fellow band mates live in a country where rock stardom does not exist. There is no fame or fortune, no groupies and drunken parties. Alcohol is illegal and there is absolutely no clubs or venues for them to play gigs, the only way they have been able to play to audiences is in secret locations, but even that is too dangerous in the current climate.

After almost eight years as a band Ahoora find the situation they face is beyond frustrating. “I believe we’re all on our own. There’s no real circle of bands or something like that. Friends know friends and musicians too, but no thing such as a support network…We are not satisfied…We want to do it big, be able to tour and extend our experiences. Every project starts with all hope in the world; you do reach many goals, but it seems that nothing happens in the outside world. We’re angry about it. This is what keeps us angry and unsatisfied to come back each time. But this time with “Awkward Diary”; we’re going to take all the chances we can raise. I won’t let it rot in silence!”

It was at this point that I realised how much of a risk Milad was taking by talking to me, and just how much he wants to take Ahoora out and play to an audience. For eight years they have been making music they know is good, music that comes from their hearts and communicates feelings that they just can’t express in their everyday lives. In England even the shit bands can get a gig somewhere, bands that have been playing for a few weeks that don’t even have any of their own songs, whilst Ahoora can’t even play above a whisper when they are jamming. “We could have made it into a real thing,” says Milad, “if we could do it properly as any other act in the world”

The only way Ahoora can get their music out to the world is through the internet and relatives who are leaving the country. They desperately want to get out of Iran to play gigs. “It is the most vital thing for us now,” says Milad. “It is our goal number 1 in 2010. Unfortunately there is not much progress, but we’re working hard to convince someone to put some shows for us, so we can get out of Iran…That is the thing we need right now; Booking for show. And we’re willing to do anything we can physically, mentally and financially to reach this goal.”

Ahoora aren’t a metal band just playing some chunky riffs and noodling out a few solos between bouts of screaming, their sound may be rooted in Western metal, nodding to bands such as Iced Earth and Metallica, but they make it their own. In the same way that System of a Down used Armenian influences to lift their music beyond the raging crowd, Ahoora have married metal sensibilities with traditional Persian folk sounds to create an album that is much more than a one dimensional excuse to shake your hair. Listening to their music you get a real sense that what they are doing isn’t just a bit of fun, they don’t want to just rock, they aren’t playing music to get paid, they are playing their music to feel free, to be free of a regime which tries to control every aspect of their lives. The music they play isn’t just a way for them to make a living, it’s a way for them to make their lives their own, even if that means they get imprisoned or even executed in the process.

“All I know now,” says Milad, “is we should get out [of Iran] to survive and continue this thing. This has become really vital.” And if they are can't? “Honestly my friend, that’s one thing I really don’t know! I must say there’s no answer and no intention to try and find one.”