You could spend hours discussing music with Zohra Atash and Joshua Strawn, the duo who make up the dark club outfit known as Azar Swan.
You could spend hours discussing music with Zohra Atash and Joshua Strawn, the duo who make up the dark club outfit known as Azar Swan. Looking past the industrial and dark electronic sound that they’re currently banking on, both are more than willing to discuss the way folk music and even operatic singing influences them, something that may be a bit surprising for fans of theirs.
The two got their start in a short-lived alt-rock outfit called Religious To Damn that did garner some
recognition from the press for their unique sound. Despite some success, the band ended mostly due to the inability to move forward or as Atash explains: “It just took way too long to get anything going and we wanted to be prolific in the sense of making a lot more music.” With that in mind, the band dove headfirst into their new project that would become known as Azar Swan, a name Atash says has a lot of different meanings in reference to their own names and the meaning behind the words themselves.
“I wanted it to be something that could resonate not just with fans, but for me too because when I used to say [Religious To Damn], I’d almost mumble it depending on my mood because I wasn’t really sold on it.”
For Azar Swan, the band landed on a pop industrial sound that mirrored the music that Strawn grew up idolizing. Atash admits the band landed “somewhere between Scott Walker and Nick Cave” and complimented how well the two’s tastes really worked with each other. While Strawn got to see out the industrial music he always loved, Atash herself got to really master her singing, something she’s struggled with over the years. Atash told the story of her growing up trying to emulate singers that she didn’t even realize were using intricate recording techniques to get a certain “sound.” By 14, she was emulating Yoko Ono sounds and trying to master the use of her diaphragm. It was a long way from the living room singing she did with her father growing up while he played on a harmonium, but Atash admits now that she’s done trying to emulate a sound. “You kind of work with what you’re given,” she explained. “I don’t think having a voice that’s not really fucked up or sandpapery is too bad of a thing. I’ve learned to accept it. ”
As you can see, the conversation with the band shifts radically from one musical spectrum to another and while it would have been outstanding to keep talking to the duo about music, the conversation did steer in another direction that was just as interesting: Richmond. While Atash’s connection with the city are mostly through family and memorable visits into the city, Strawn has a much a deeper history with Virginia’s capital. Having grown up in Roanoke, he came to study at VCU and started to discover a whole new world of music.
“I’m going to date myself, but when I was getting into music, I didn’t have an older sibling and I didn’t have a lot of connections. There wasn’t a vibrant underground scene in Roanoke and there was no internet. When I found out about the cool things, the edgiest you could get was Headbanger’s Ball in my world, like late night MTV. I really loved what little kind of industrial taste started to come through when I was growing up, but it wasn’t until I went to college at VCU that I got exposed to so much music like at Plan 9 Music. Obviously, I have a pretty long history with goth and industrial music and the people who were the security guards, a lot of those people were always playing like Sisters Of Mercy when I came into the buildings. I started going to dance parties there that was revolved around that music. It was pretty pivotal for me growing up, getting into what I got into. Even more, the amount of drugs I tried for the first time when I moved to Richmond was a biographical high and low note.”
Strawn left and came back to Richmond a few times in the late 90s and early 2000s and at one point, found himself in a living situation that he described as being as “Richmond punk rock” as possible. “I was living in Church Hill with friends,” remembered Strawn. “Totally old school, scuzzy, sleeping on the floor, and spending what little money you had on a 40 and a quarter pounder from the Grace Street McDonald’s.” Atash actually met Strawn for the first time while he was living in Richmond and described her instant love of the city and its culture from the breathtaking view to the sense of community she got walking down the street. “I almost moved to Richmond instead of New York,” remarked Atash, “but people were migrating to New York at the time and I didn’t want to settle in one place and then have to uproot myself later on. But I loved Richmond and remember just walking down the streets with people drinking beer on their stoops, inviting you to their party that night.”
By 2003, Strawn had moved to New York and began to fall into the music world more and more after becoming focused on politics in Richmond. Since then, Strawn has visited Richmond sporadically and Atash has kept tabs on the city especially now that her niece and nephew attend VCU. They were quick to talk about the differences in the city now versus fifteen years ago too. Atash observed how VCU started to become known for academics instead of just the art school it was before. To her, this was the catalyst for the environment to change, something she actually took as a positive. “I’m kind of happy it’s not as scuzzy as it used to be. With my niece and nephew, my maternal instincts makes me glad that it’s changed because I used to leave a party and would be warned about this street or that alley since someone just got stabbed in the stomach there or something.”
By the time Strawn left, he had already begun to notice the change. “It started to feel like a different place. As far as live music that was happening, it wasn’t with the same amount of intensity that there was in the 90s.” But Strawn wasn’t convinced this was a negative thing though and said the same thing happened in New York during his time there. “The homogenization, the reversal of weirdos – it’s just passing of time really.” Even though the town changed, moving back to Richmond always seemed like a viable option for Strawn. Before landing in New Orleans to live, he contemplated more and more about what he wanted and remarked that the “feel of the south” is just something he wants to be around.
The two talked about how different things would have turned out if they had chosen Richmond over New York too. “Richmond was always such a cool and comfortable place. People were always so fun and everyone had good taste, but if I hadn’t moved, I definitely don’t think I would have gotten to the point where I am in creating and making music. It would have been just easier for me to pass the time hanging out on porches with friends.” While it may seem like a denouncement of the city’s ambition, Atash was quick to clarify.
“Being more comfortable and just having a more enjoyable life – it’s an okay thing to say and something I think everyone envies too. New York can be such a clusterfuck. It does have this beauty to it with the manmade landscapes next to the beautiful rivers, but with so many personalities crammed into such a small place, the loveable energy can really wear you down quickly. Through evolution, I don’t think we were built to be around all this stuff so to be in Richmond where it’s more spread out instead of this sprawl, it’s different and in a lot of ways better. There’s a lot to do in New York, but the town forces you to buck up because you’re not getting a lot of relaxation in unless you are very privileged. Obviously that’s way different than Richmond.”
With this tour, it’s a homecoming of sorts for the former Church Hillian Strawn and Atash too considering all of her trips to the cities over the years. “I was super excited when I found out our show was going to be out at the old Twisters,” exclaimed Strawn. “I have so many memories of seeing shows that would be embarrassing to even say, but at the time, it was a wow feeling as the whole world was opened up to me.”
Just like Strawn years ago, there might be someone in the crowd at their show this Saturday that feels this same way. With their vibrantly dark industrial sound and the band’s comfortable roots in the city, it’s set to be an incredible show that will hopefully impact fans the same way an eighteen year old Strawn felt when he wandered the streets of Richmond.
Azar Swan plays Strange Matter this Saturday night for a late show along with Ships In The Night and Free Girl. For more information on the show and where to buy tickets, click here.
