Heavy Metal in Baghdad

In Baghdad in the summer of 2006, with Iraq in the throes of violent civil war, it was pretty tough to catch a good heavy metal show. There was basically only one band left: Acrassicauda. Headbanging in a war zone ain’t easy. Which is why all of the members of the band have today fled Iraq – first to Syria, and later to Turkey. The story of these heavy metal refugees is captured in a new documentary from the folks at VICE called Heavy Metal in Baghdad. Suroosh Alvi is co-director of the film and co-founder of VICE magazine, and he speaks with Faith Salie on Fair Game.