The Unexpected Republic of Iran I: Hypernova

Attention everyone! New theme of the week here!! Though I'm still a fan of criticising the Iranian government (and anyone who knows me knows how much I looooove criticising governments), I think it's time to show you another, unexpected side of our favourite Islamic Republic.

So what better way to express this to my audience than to highlight an Iranian hipster band who recently made the perilous journey from Tehran to New York to play a gig? Hypernova, with their greasy hair, ripped jeans and devil-may-care attitude belong right in our very own mile-end. Except these kids are cooler - you know why? Because they're actually using rock to fight the establishment, and not just pretending to like our home-spun variety. Since Ahmadinejad banned western music in 2005, as frontman Raam points out, "we're jeopardizing our lives every show we play" (which, granted, is mostly in basements and at teenage girls' birthday parties, but beggars can't be choosers, right?).

Check out their myspace page