Screen Machine

Feature: We are living in a heavy metal world: Heavy Metal in Baghdad

When I saw that Suroosh Alvi, co-founder of Vice Magazine, co-directed Heavy metal in Baghdad, I admit I cringed. He squanders as little emotion as possible as he secures his bullet-proof vest and talks to the camera wearing aviator shades, telling us the enormity of the mission that he and fellow Vice media magnate, Eddy Moretti, are about to undertake when they enter Baghdad to track down one of the only heavy metal bands in Iraq:

This is risky, it’s dangerous, people would say it’s really fucking stupid for us to be doing this, but, you know, heavy metal rules.

At first glance, Suroosh is the embodiment of everything that used to annoy me about Vice. This magazine seemed to line the streets from Brunswick to the city centre in the mid to late naughties. The full-colour fashion pages were ironic and outrageous, rousing a few illicit gasps and giggles. But I struggled with its peculiar brand of cultural irreverence, political incorrectness and steady stream of fuck-cunt-shit-cock-tit-arse and pedophile jokes. It always left me wondering if the producers of this glossy magazine could ever be heartfelt or earnest about anything.

But as I watched on and despite the monotones of Suroosh’s voice (he can’t help it if he sounds like a boring hipster) I begrudgingly wondered that if these two are at all representative of Vice, and as their belts have expanded to accommodate an international media conglomerate, perhaps they have grown up as well as out.

Acrassicauda – a band named for the extremely poisonous fat-tailed scorpion found in the semi-arid regions of the Middle East – are a rare breed of Iraqi youth. These guys are hardcore, devoted fans of western culture’s peculiar staple of enraged manhood: Heavy Metal. These are boys you can relate to. Vocalist and rhythm guitarist Faisal is sweet and has the kind of snake eyes that would look unreal in black metal make-up; Tony barely says a word, but he apparently speaks volumes with his guitar; the affable Firas on bass looks like the metal bogan in your high school woodwork class and Marwan…Marwan is ‘only’ the drummer but he is spunky, expressive and very moody. He comes across as the main man and I’m sure he would shit the other guys to tears.

That heavy metal originated and thrives in the west did not and does not escape the Iraqi politicians and fundamentalists striving to keep Americans and their culture out of the Middle East. Despite such opposition since they formed in 2000, the band live to ‘let the metal unite us’ as they quietly, with great frustration, strive to keep the band together. This is in spite of criminally chargeable bans on playing gigs and head banging; death threats from fundamentalists and political factions; constant secrecy; necessarily short hair; and the ever-present anticipation of bombs and gunfire all around them. No wonder that when they finally get to hit a stage, all they want to do is scream and thrash with rage. As Faisal says, “if you want to know where’s the attraction, look around. We are living in a heavy metal world.”

Suroosh and Eddy say they were initially attracted to the story of Acrassicauda because of their obsession with metal. Reading into it, I would also guess that a heavy metal band in Iraq who just wants to rock also appeals to them as a recognisable and relatable product of American pop culture in an otherwise foreign and aggressive country. The doco presents us with a band who finds inspiration and salvation in an American art form. Even though the members of Acrassicauda assure us they are not at all political, the politics of international war relations are nonetheless played out in this documentary in a kind of parallel heavy metal sphere: Americans (by that, I mean Canadians) applaud and support the band because they are an Iraqi response to western culture and It IS political because these kids have chosen American culture over Iraq.

Yet, the complexity of cross-cultural dynamics between the band and the Vice guys are made clear when the filmmakers sit down some time in 2006-2007 – three or four years since they started making the film – to show the band rushes of the film so far. At this point, Acrassicauda are officially a ‘band on the run’, living as political refugees in Syria where they stay in cold, concrete basement bunkers, missing their home and families, and struggling day-by-day to get by.

At first, they love the novelty of watching themselves like they would a Metallica tour video. But then come the relentless depictions of their bombed city; the constant gunfire and threat of bombs; the ripped up remains of places they once lived, worked and rehearsed. It seems that the filmmakers spent a little too much time lingering on the chaos of civil war outside the moving car window, almost as if they are savouring the danger of being there and a bit too excited and sidetracked by being able to get all this documentary gold on camera.

Marwan the drummer is pissed off when the rushes finish. He says to the camera:

That is a quite interesting movie that you filmed down there. You know what? We feel sad, we feel sad. We feel terribly fucking sad…these are things that you turn off your TV whenever, or like change the channel when it’s on. So for you fuckers down there, this is how it goes, this is the daily life in Iraq. This goes to all of you fuckers. Pigs.

So kudos to Suroosh and Eddy for including this clip, which highlights the band’s outright disgust with their work, and conveys a strong suggestion that the members of Acrassicauda may love metal, but they think Americans (or should I say Canadians?) suck arse too.

These dynamics continue to unfold in different ways beyond the film. In the follow-up DVD doco made by Suroosh, Heavy Metal in Istanbul, the band have made their way out of Iraq as political refugees, struggled hard and seriously doubted their choices to pursue a life of metal music. While Damascus seemed like the lowest point for them, in Istanbul, their relief is more tangible as they quickly step out of the heavy metal closet. They can grow their hair and goatees long, wear hideous Slipknot t-shirts, practice in proper band spaces and basically become visible heavy metal aficionados. But here they face a new kind of struggle that comes from being under the wings of Vice and all the subsequent attention they have brought to the band.

On their blog, they express gratitude to the united metal heads around the world who have helped them through, but there is also a niggling worry that their identity as a band is now inextricably linked to their unique status as Iraqi refugee rock’n’rollers:

What we still can’t understand is who we really are… the Iraqi heavy metal band or the four iraqi refugees cuz sometimes these 2 different stories doesn’t seems to combine together.

Marwan confirms this worry after their first gig in Istanbul, which was treated like a peace rally by the organisers and was hijacked by the media:

We felt like really separated from the other bands, from any other musicians, like we were the special retarded kids.

Oh well. It’s because of Vice and the band’s unique refugee status that finally led them to New York, America. All these worries about being treated too special seem to go out the window in this moment, when James Hetfield of Metallica – who provided some financial backing for the band to come to America – officially welcomes Acrassicauda to the land of the free.

I have pointed out the traits about this film that are potentially annoying, but beyond that, the story is undeniably compelling and the boys in the band are awesome. More than anything, I just appreciate that Eddy and Suroosh haven’t rubbed our faces in cheese. Upon afterthought, one of the nicest things about this film is that it subtly (perhaps unintentionally?) conveys a long-standing respect and friendship between the filmmakers and the band. It also reflects a commitment by Vice Films – annoyingly flippant as they can be – to showing both sides of that relationship.

We had outed them and endangered their lives…They were receiving threats from Iraq while they were in Syria…We had a responsibility.

Heavy Metal in Baghdad is playing at the Melbourne International Arts Festival on 14 October followed by a party with live performances from Black Cobra, Ruins and DJ Manticle. More info here.

Maggie Scott just finished her first feature screenplay and writes eclectically about pretty much anything to do with the arts because she has a big gap in her knowledge of science.

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