Iranian post-punk band The Yellow Dogs encountered a terrifying and traumatizing experience in Brooklyn on Nov. 11 when shots were fired at their home.
Lead singer Siavash Karampour got a call about the events as he was bartending. Once he understood it wasn't a joke, he was horrified to hear what had happened.
Rolling Stone explained the details:
"For Karampour and bassist Koory Mirzeai (who was also at his day job at the time), their worst fears were soon realized. Around midnight, a fellow Iranian musician, Ali Akbar Mohammadi Rafie, had attacked the band's home with a semiautomatic rifle. Making his way through the three-floor row house, he shot and killed Yellow Dogs drummer Arash Farazmand and his brother, guitarist Soroush Farazmand, as well as Ali Eskandarian, a charismatic Iranian singer-songwriter and author who often collaborated with the band and lived in the same building. (A friend of the group was also wounded in the shoulder and elbow; four others at the house, including two Coast Guard members who were renting a room, escaped unharmed.) Rafie eventually retreated to the roof of the building, where he fatally shot himself in the head."
Mirzeai and Karampour are now staying with a friend in Brooklyn, leaving behind all of their equipment and gear.
"We were closer than brothers," said Karampour to RS. "I wish all this attention was just for a new release of an album. It took us three bodies to become famous. To think about making music - it's almost impossible. But even if we want to stop, we can't. We are going to pursue their dreams. It's not up to us anymore."
