Dubai Metal Festival: Meet Iranian Metal Band 5GRS

5GRS is one of the experienced Metal acts from Iran. The band plays Gothic and Progressive Metal stuff and had three full-length albums, and the latest released one was last May. 5GRS will participate in the first-ever Dubai Metal Festival. We have the chance to chat with 5GRS on their upcoming performance.

Being an active Metal band since 2004 in Iran, how can you describe the Iranian Metal scene, and what is the mainstream in it?

Due to the circumstances of our country, there are not many active bands and those who are active are facing a lot of obstacles and have to be underground. There are no official concerts here but we still have high hopes for the future.

What are the main challenges that face you in writing music and performing live?

For us, music has always been our second job so the bands have to put in extra effort and spent much more time writing the songs and getting ready for the gigs.

If I may ask, what does the name of your band mean?

This name is inspired by one of Pooyan's father, Mohammad Ali Madadi (a very famous Iranian artist) painting.

You will share the stage with Moonspell, how was your impression of sharing the stage with such a famous Metal name?

Pooyan said: I remember from my early days when I just started to play guitar, wolf heart from Moonspell was one of my favorite albums and I have a lot of good memories with that and now we are sharing the stage with this great band which is our privilege and honor.

Recently, you released a new album, What are the main concepts and influences of the album?

The third album is more trashy than the previous albums. It is mainly about social issues in Iran with an anti-war approach. We are supposed to play six tracks from this album for our upcoming show.

Are you planning to perform any new songs at the concert?

Not yet. We are still practicing our previous tracks and maybe we make some new stuff in the near future.

Did you have any cooperation with one of the participating regional bands in the festival?

Unfortunately no. But we hope to have some collaboration with our new friends.

How are you preparing yourself for the concert?

As we said because of our situation we can not practice in a routine manner but we can manage to have a good schedule for this show.

If you want to send a message to your fans, please do

Our heart and soul are with our people who are experiencing a tough time these days and we hope we can play our music with our friends and fans in our free country very soon.