My family was threatened multiple times': Arab-American rockers Prostitute on confronting an Islamophobic US

"I'm the motherfucker who took down the towers, screams Prostitute's Moe Kazra on All Hail, opening their nightmarish, theatrical debut album Attempted Martyr. Over crushing fusions of industrial punk with elements of Middle Eastern, African and east Asian music, the band explores the vilification of Arabs in a post-9/11 US by inhabiting vicious characterisations ones levelled at their Arab-majority community in Dearborn, Michigan."

"A lot of Arabs in the area are coming to us and being like that was very potent', or that was beautiful'. I didn't really expect that, says Kazra, who is Lebanese American. The music is evil. The album's lyric sheet, written by Kazra and drummer Andrew Kaster, is a flurry of violent fantasies, paranoid ramblings and literary references ranging from The Arabian Nights to Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian."

"Dearborn is the US's first Arab-majority city and home to its biggest mosque, making it a target for Islamophobic and xenophobic sensationalism. Growing up, Kaster says, you'd hear shit like they have sharia law there, they stone people in the streets', and I'm like, what the fuck are you talking about? It's just a really peaceful, diverse place, Kaster says."

Prostitute, an American rock band from Dearborn, Michigan, released their debut album Attempted Martyr in 2024, combining industrial punk with Middle Eastern, African, and east Asian musical elements. The album directly confronts post-9/11 Islamophobia and xenophobia targeting Arabs in the United States by deliberately inhabiting and subverting vicious characterizations leveled at their Arab-majority community. Formed in 2020 by Lebanese American vocalist Moe Kazra, drummer Andrew Kaster, and guitarists Ross Babinski and Bret Wall, alongside bassist Dylan Zaranski, the band grew up in Dearborn, America's first Arab-majority city. The album features violent fantasies, paranoid ramblings, and literary references spanning from The Arabian Nights to Cormac McCarthy. Despite initial skepticism, the self-released record became a sleeper hit among punk audiences, with Arab community members responding positively to its potent artistic approach.

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