Aemia are a Persian-Canadian alternative rock band led by vocalist Mia Ravangar and guitarist Kourosh Zarandooz. The two started making music together in Iran, long before moving to Canada and forming Aemia. With several singles released, including their latest, “Nowhere To Hide,” the band are now working on their debut EP. I had the pleasure of speaking with Mia about growing up with a passion for rock music in Iran, the challenges that came with it, her songwriting, working with Kourosh, her musical influences, and what’s next for Aemia.

Reuel

Hello Mia! I’m very excited for this interview! How are you and Kourosh doing?

Mia Ravangar

Hi! We’re doing amazing thank you, we’ve just done our debut headlining shows in Toronto and Vancouver which both sold out and we’re working on our first EP, so we’re super excited!

Reuel

This sounds amazing! Coming from Lebanon, I have a deep appreciation for the resilience it takes to keep a rock scene alive in our region, but the level of censorship you faced in Tehran was on another level. What was it really like trying to find your voice in a place where women were legally forbidden to sing?

Mia Ravangar

This is a very emotional topic for me. For years back in Iran, I dreamed of singing and dancing and performing. I sneaked into other bands’ rehearsals and sang back vocals and played the keyboard and tried to be involved in the forbidden rock scene in Iran in any way that I could; even those bands rehearsing weren’t fully allowed to have performances and express themselves, and studios would get raided by the police all the time. After all for me it was a literal dead end; there was no social media back then and no “follow this dream” or “use your willpower and work hard, and it will work out” because you will end up detained. I gave up on that dream 15 years ago and studied design, and now that I have reached a point in my life where I can pursue it and have a voice, quite literally use my voice, it still pains me that a lot of talented people back in Iran still can’t.

Reuel

In Iran, making music was inherently tied to resistance and survival. When you arrived in Canada and that immediate threat was lifted, did your approach to songwriting change? And without that constant, real-world pushback, where do you find that creative tension now?

Mia Ravangar

It was all flooded in me, the singles that we have released are all words that were in my head for years, so when I found myself in a rather more stable and safe position mentally and physically here in Canada, it all burst out of me. I found myself singing these words whenever I was with my instruments, I didn’t even think about rhymes or structure I just had to get it out, and it came so naturally to me, and I feel I still have an ocean inside that I can write about and a lot of people could resonate with, topics that are maybe less mentioned or expressed in modern music.
#Such a great feeling!

Reuel

“Nowhere To Hide” carries a very intense sense of tension. What was going through your mind when you were writing the lyrics, and what did you want the song to express?

Mia Ravangar

Nowhere To Hide is a tricky song, both for me and for the listener, it is the abuser filling your ear with seemingly sweet words, luring you inside a mental cage and closing all doors and escape routes. It is a situation which I have witnessed a lot of my loved ones go through, when you’re hearing those words from the outside you realize oh, that’s not okay! I need to get out of this! But when that person is telling them in a sweet way, you sometimes tend to get fooled, so I wanted people to hear these words in the song, and feel the need to break the chains, the mental chains, the abusive and deceptive chains, that’s why the song holds tension.

Reuel

You brought JT Daly in to produce this song. What was it like working with him and how did his approach impact the final arrangement of the track?

Mia Ravangar

JT is one of the most creative wonderful people in this industry and definitely our dream producer to work with when we started our band, so it was an amazing opportunity to be able to craft and weave our thoughts together in NTH and more songs that we’ve worked with together. He is an inspiration booster, a creative mastermind and a genius artist. Working with him is like the best shot of artistic espresso you’ll ever have!

Reuel

You and Kourosh have built Aemia together across two continents. At this point, how much of your songwriting process depends on the kind of unspoken musical understanding that comes from working together for so long?

Mia Ravangar

Unintentionally, from the very first song Aemia became the sound of the two of us combined, my vocals intertwined with Kourosh’s guitar sound , our shared backgrounds, we met in one of those studios that I sneaked in and in our own way we have both dreamed of doing this so it came so naturally to us to write, record and release these songs, long long before having Aemia we would discuss poems, chord progressions and play songs together, even on our Youtube channel and on twitch we have always had our musical side and at one point, we were both like : it is time…!

Reuel

Which musicians would you say have inspired you personally throughout your life and career?

Mia Ravangar

When I was like 7 or 8, seeing Shakira’s “Whenever, Wherever” on an illegal Turkish channel on TV, was a blessing to my eyes. I somehow recorded it and watched it about 6 million times, then I memorized the lyrics. I had no idea what she was saying. I just, syllable by syllable, memorized the wording and the dances and performed it for my parents. Growing up, I played the piano, so Chopin is a huge influence. My teen years were heavily inspired by Korn, Evanescence, Deftones, Muse, System of a Down, that was the most rebellious time in my life and that nu metal scene literally saved me as a depressed teenager in Tehran. Persian pre-revolution musical queens like Hayedeh and Googoosh are also engraved in me, and anything I ever do artistically is because of having heard their influence and voice in our home all the time.

Reuel

A quick look at the comments on Nowhere to Hide or any of your older songs shows just how passionate your fanbase is. What’s it like knowing your music connects with people that strongly?

Mia Ravangar

My fans, whom I rather call my “Hearts” are everything to me. We grew up together, I decided to make videos in 2017 when I didn’t have many friends to share my interests with, I was shy and awkward and they believed in me and made me do better every day and improve myself and my work, we are not separate entities, after 10 years of creating content online, we read each other’s minds at this point!

Reuel

I ask this question in many of my interviews, but given your story, it feels especially relevant here. We have readers from all around the world, including women who still face barriers and even persecution in the music industry. What would you like to say to women who dream of pursuing a career in music?

Mia Ravangar

I am in no position to say anything to them because I am lucky to be where I am, and they are persevering every day to carry this goal with them, singing and dancing and expressing their art in the streets despite it being illegal; they’re the heroes that inspire artists like me, not the other way around.

Reuel

Those are powerful words!

What’s next for Aemia? Any new releases on the horizon?

Mia Ravangar

We have our first EP coming, which is super thrilling and emotional and exciting for us, and I have so many more songs and ideas, there is no stopping me now lol.

Reuel

Thank you for your time, Mia! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Mia Ravangar

Thank you for having me and giving me this wonderful opportunity, I really appreciate it!