HAAG
Haag started its career in 2011 by performing some covers of Pink Floyd's songs at the Art University of Tehran on the stage of Farabi Hall. Thereafter Haag began to compose their music and the composers Amirhossein Rezaei (Drummer) and Mohsen Rezaei (Guitarist) made five tracks for the first album: Chainsaw, 172, Eradicated, Rear Throw, Buoyancy. They are instrumental music and Haag was going to create the first instrumental Rock album in Iran. Haag has been able to fundamentally change the prevailing perception of rock music and in particular of instrumental rock music. It has confronted people with the latent beauty of this form of music that it has been insisting on for years and has received very little attention, especially in Iran.
ALBUM
Haag took its first strong step with "Buoyancy" for creating a different form of instrumental rock music. Chainsaw, One Hundred and Seventy-Two and Buoyancy are composed and arranged by Amirhossein Rezaei who is the drummer of the band. Mohsen Rezaei who is the band's guitarist has composed and arranged Eradicated and Rear Throw.
Then Haag was going to record them at the best possible studio in Iran. It was Bell Studio at that time in which they could record drums perfectly. It was a crucial thing to the band because the other studios couldn't record drums such a great till then. Aria Pourtabatabaei has played pianos and keyboards lines and Amirhossein Rezaei also played bass lines in the studio. The sound engineer was Omid Nikbin.
The album was recorded under the title Buoyancy in 2014. Finally, on March 15th 2015 Buoyancy was published and released physically on CDs and digitally on Beeptunes, with artwork by Saman Farzaneh and Ara Gharakhanian.
Asia Magazine wrote about Buoyancy and called it "The first instrumental Rock album released in Iran". Khabargozarisaba wrote "...this album...according to its special style seems can make Iranian Rock fans interested" and Ritmeno wrote "Buoyancy... is free and released from symbolistic chains and attracts your attention to the listening music itself... maybe it is the first time that Rock music is created in Iran with such an approach." Many other websites considered Buoyancy as a special album which is different from any others. Something interesting about Buoyancy is its selling; Though Haag had no way but its Facebook page to advertise the album, it could sell more than 1500 copies on CDs in Iran while people usually download every music for free from web pages and it's difficult and is a real issue to sell music on CD's or any other careers. Eventually in September 2019, "Buoyancy" was released globally in all major online stores.
CONCERT
Three years later Haag performed Buoyancy and some unreleased works - which were released in the next album Haag the Huge – at the hall of Azadi Tower on Feb 26th 2018 and newspapers and websites announced it. For instance, Donyaye Eghtesad newspaper wrote quoted from Ritmeno: "The band composes and arranges the works in a way that preserves the energy and mood of the original rock and roll music.
Combining the sounds and techniques of late rock music with the effects and practices of the early decades of the genre is a unique feature that distinguishes the work of Haag." This concert started with the sound of a chainsaw in the hall then the band played Chainsaw and set the audience on fire. Then Haag performed Alpha Grade (Alpha), Rear Throw, Keep Under Wraps (Beta), Glows in Blue (Overhead), 172, Eradicated, Steam Power, Buoyancy and Haag the Huge (Rock Star). Since it was a great performance and could be exciting to the audience, Haag decided to perform this concert again at the same hall on Aug 16th 2018.
On Dec 6th 2018 Haag's instrumental Rock addressed the people of Yazd and for the first time in the history of that historical city, they were the audience of a Rock concert. According to the audiences' reactions, it was clear that the form of this music was completely new and it was a great experience for them. In all three concerts, Mohsen Rezaei was on lead guitar, Kasra Jalali on second guitar, Emad Ghashami on piano and keyboards, Reza Khalilpour on bass and Amirhossein Rezaei on Drums.
DOCUMENTARY
There is a documentary about Haag produced by Haag founders Amirhossein and Mohsen, and directed by Reza Hemasi in July 2019. The purpose of making this documentary was to make a firmer connection with the audiences and professionals in the music industry. It contains how Haag began to work and what its future horizon is in detail.
FILM SCORE
Through 2020 and 2021 Haag has been working on a great project. That is composing music for a feature film called The Tortoise and the Snail directed by Reza Hemasi, a production by Epic Cinema Group. Amirhossein Rezaei composed and arranged the music of the film and also the music of its closing credits. The music of the closing credits – which is recorded at Sia Studios which is a great newly founded studio and Zavoush Studio for organ only - is a single by Haag that will be released independently from the film. It can be described as a combination of Rock moods and Blues styles; a specific main theme based on the theme of the film score, accompanied by some free solos of guitars and organ. The music begins with two fuzzy chords on the rhythm guitar and ends with an organ solo in front and a gentle phased arpeggio in the background. In this project Mohsen Rezaei, Kasra Jalali and Pouya Mohammadi were on electric guitars, Hooman Mousavi was on organ and Amirhossein Rezaei was on drums and bass. The sound engineer and mixer of this track was Ramin Pir. The Tortoise and the Snail will be screening in the late 2024 and early 2025.
Haag The Huge
At last, the band called Haag went to Sia Studio to record their new album. It contained the tracks they previously had performed on the stage of the hall of Azadi Tower and in Yazd. But the names changed; Alpha changed to Alpha Grade composed and arranged by Amirhossein who plays drums and bass in all tracks. Keep Under Wraps was Beta, Glows in Blue was Overhead, and Haag the Huge was Rock Star in the live performances; all composed and arranged by Amirhossein.
A new track that was not heard before, is the 4th one, Permeable Isolation the only track composed and arranged by Mohsen who has played all guitar solos, the riffs and clean rhythms of Keep Under Wraps and Permeable Isolation, acoustic rhythm, and arpeggio of Glows in Blue. Kasra has played all distortion rhythms, the acoustic rhythm of Haag the Huge, and the main riff of Alpha Grade. All organs and synthesisers are Hooman’s great job, and all of them have been recorded at his studio called Zavoush. The entire album is mixed at Sia Studio by Siavash Kamkar. He worked hard on the mixing of this album and after five or six different versions of the mix, he reached the desired final mix and sent it to Digisound Mastering Australia. Sakis Anastopoulos mastered the album with his special accuracy and obsession. On October 4th Glows in Blue which is the 3rd track of the EP was released as a single. Finally, “Haag the Huge” was released on October 25th 2024.