Salem (English band)

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Salem
Salem at the Dutch Very 'Eavy Festival in 2014
Salem at the Dutch Very 'Eavy Festival in 2014
General information
origin Kingston upon Hull , England
Genre (s) New Wave of British Heavy Metal , Rock
founding 1979, 2009
resolution 1983
Website http://www.salemband.co.uk/
Current occupation
Adrian Jenkinson
Paul Macnamara
Electric guitar
 Mark Allison
Simon Saxby
Paul Mendham
former members
Drums
 Paul Conyers
Electric guitar, vocals
 Paul Tognola
Drums
 Ricky Squires
Drums (live)
 Oli Davis

Salem is an English New Wave of British Heavy Metal and Rock band from Kingston upon Hull , which was founded in 1979, split up in 1983 and has been active again since 2009.

history

Salem was the successor project of Ethel the Frog members Paul Conyers (drums) and Paul Tognola (electric guitar, vocals), which was founded after the breakup of the previous band became apparent. The band was founded in late 1979 and consisted of Tognola and Conyers, bassist Ade Jenkinson and guitarist Paul Macnamara, whom the rest of the band had met on January 2, 1980 at The Red Lion Pub in Anlaby . After the first songs had been written and the first local appearances had been completed, a first demo was recorded on January 4th, 1981 in the Fairview Studios in Willerby . The demo contains four songs. In March Tognola left the line-up and was replaced by singer Simon Saxby and guitarist Mark Allison. More joined

Salem in 1983

local concerts. On April 4, 1982, the self-financed double-A single Cold as Steel / Reach to Eternity was released on their own label Hilton Records . The recordings for this had taken place again in the Fairview Studios. The single had a circulation of 500 copies. An interview with Paul Macnamara and Kerrang magazine followed the following month . Paul Conyers left the group to take care of other projects and was replaced by Paul "Animal" Mendham. Other concerts followed in the north of England. The next demo was also recorded. This 1983 demo includes five songs. After winning the Battle of the Bands at the Huddersfield Polytechnic, another demo was recorded on March 23, 1983 in Huddersfield's Sound Studio . However, since the hoped-for record deal failed to materialize, the band broke up after a last appearance on May 31, 1983 in Kingston upon Hull. The members then devoted themselves to other projects.

In 2009 Salem began working with High Roller Records and Pure Steel Records , whereupon the compilation In the Beginning ... , which contains recordings from the 1980s, appeared the following year . As fans continued to be interested in the band, the first gig in 27 years took place at The New Adelphi Club in Kingston upon Hull . In 2011 three new songs were recorded and released as an EP New Tricks . Another gig at The Adelphi followed on December 9th. In July 2012 Ricky Squires joined as a drummer to hold festivals and concerts in Italy , Belgium and the UK . In March 2013 the band could be seen at the Brofest , while the release of another EP under the name X Rated took place. In December the album Forgotten Dreams was released on Pure Rocks Records . In 2014 Salem could be seen at other festivals such as the Play It Loud in Italy, the Very 'Eavy in the Netherlands , the Headbangers Open Air in Germany , the Paris Festival in France , the Rock Diabetes Festival in England and the Rock You to Hell in Greece . In addition, a gig was held in Dubai , where Oli Davis took over the drums. In 2015 live activities continued, with concerts in Belgium and England and participation in festivals such as the Wildfire Festival in Scotland , the BÄÄÄM Festival in Germany, the British Steel Festival in France and the British festivals Power and Glory Festival and the RockWich Festival . A second music video for the song The Answer was shot earlier this year . The work on this took place in Barton-upon-Humber and Beverley . After a remastered version of In the Beginning… was released in July 2015 , with the songs now sorted chronologically, the new album Dark Days was released in 2016 . In the same year the group could be seen on the muscle rock in Sweden , again on the Headbangers Open Air as well as the Heavy Metal Maniacs in the Netherlands. There were also live shows in Belgium and Great Britain with Tygers of Pan Tang , Diamond Head , Witchfynde and Spartan Warrior . Another appearance at the Brofest and the MataRock in Barcelona , Belgium and again at the British Steel Festival are planned for 2017 .

style

According to Malc Macmillan in The NWOBHM Encyclopedia , the band plays NWoBHM music on the first demo at a medium speed, which is a little "heavier" than Ethel the Frog's. As a comparison, he used the groups Omen Searcher , Bashful Alley and Reincarnate . On the first single the band sounds heavier and leans more towards Power Metal . The playing of the electric guitars and the singing are more reminiscent of H-Bomb than Judas Priest or Iron Maiden . The following demo is quite melodic and is based more on earlier material. The songs are comparable to those by Rhabstallion , Dealer and Midas . Otger Jeske wrote in NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days that most of the lyrics by Simon Saxby were written in the Swords & Sorcery tradition. Anthalerero from stormbringer.at stated that the band would "probably have risen to the top league of the NWoBHM" had they released the album 30 years earlier. However, she lives "now largely in the shadow of the great, long-serving genre colleagues". There is now a much stronger tendency towards adult oriented rock on the album than on the previous material.

Discography

  • 1981: 1981 demo (demo, self-published)
  • 1982: Cold as Steel / Reach to Eternity (single, Hilton Records)
  • 1983: 1983 demo (demo, self-published)
  • 1983: 1983 Demo # 2 (demo, self-release)
  • 2010: In the Beginning ... (Compilation, High Roller Records / Pure Steel Records )
  • 2011: New Tricks (EP, self-published)
  • 2013: X Rated (EP, self-published)
  • 2013: Forgotten Dreams (album, Pure Rock Records )
  • 2016: Dark Days (Album, Pure Steel Records)
  • 2018: Attrition (Album, Dissonance Productions )
  • 2019: Win Lose or Draw (Album, Dissonance Productions)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Malc Macmillan: The NWOBHM Encyclopedia . IP Verlag Jeske / Mader GbR, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-931624-16-3 , p. 500 f .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Matthias Mader: SALEM - In The Beginning ... CD. hrrecords.de, accessed on December 17, 2016 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e History. salemband.co.uk, accessed December 17, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Tony Jasper, Derek Oliver: The International Encyclopedia of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal . Facts on File Inc., New York 1983, ISBN 0-8160-1100-1 , pp. 289 .
  5. ^ A b Matthias Mader, Otger Jeske, Manfred Kerschke: NWoBHM New Wave of British Heavy Metal The glory Days . Iron Pages, Berlin 1995, p. 134 .
  6. ↑ a b Info. Facebook , accessed December 17, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Anthalerero: SALEM - Dark Days. stormbringer.at, accessed on December 17, 2016 .