Watch: Video Interviews with eMusic Selects Band The Yellow Dogs
Featured Album
(Photo by Danny Krug)
There’s always been a spirit of defiance to rock ‘n’ roll — think Elvis’s hips on Ed Sullivan, the Sex Pistols swearing on Bill Grundy’s Today show, Sinead O’Connor shredding the Pope on Saturday Night Live — but it’s rare that any artist faces bona fide criminal prosecution simply for writing a rock song, regardless of its content. But in Tehran, Iran, where our newest eMusic Selects band, Yellow Dogs, was formed, rock ‘n’ roll is a legitimate crime punishable by law. It’s no wonder, perhaps, that the music they produced is so tense and nervy — the sound of four kids ducking in and out of dark basements and constantly looking over their shoulders. We caught up with Yellow Dogs at their apartment-slash-practice-space-slash-studio in Brooklyn to talk with them about how they got together.
The group’s origin story is classic punk rock — hanging out in a skate park after hours with the only people in your neighborhood you feel are like you. In the video below, Yellow Dogs talk about how they got together.
Needless to say, in a country where playing rock ‘n’ roll is outlawed, buying instruments can be a bit of a challenge. In the video below, the band talks about the trick of tracking down instruments in Iran.
You would think that, given their circumstances, Yellow Dogs would be more covert about their hobby. Not so, they explain in the video below.
When it came time to release Upper Class Complexity, Yellow Dogs wanted to make sure they had an album that best represented their personalities. They talk about that, and some of the old gear they have in their studio, in the video below.
(Follow The Yellow Dogs on Facebook!)
