SALEM
WITH
SO MANY YEARS OF EXISTENCE AND MANY SELLS AROUND THE WORLD, SALEM FROM
ISRAEL HAVE THEIR OWN STORY TO SAY. RECENTLY HAVE RELEASED A VERU GOOD
DEATH METAL ALBUM AND WE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TALK ABOUT IT. ALSO WE
HAD THE CHANCE TO TLAK ABOUT THE PROBLEMS OF THE ISRAEL. SO READ VERY CAREFULLY
THIS INTERVIEW...
1.FIRST OF ALL POINT OUT THE MOST IMPORTANT
MOMENTS OF THE BAND'S HISTORY AND ITRODUCE YOURSELVES TO THE FANS.
Salem was formed in 1985 along
with the newly born extreme metal scene and released 2 demo tapes called:
"Salem"(1986) and "Destruction till Death"(1987). After 5 years of a successful
underground career and a line-up change to: Zeev Tananboim - Vocals, Lior
Mizrachi - Guitar, Michael Goldstein - Bass, Gioraa Hirsch - Guitar, Amir
Neubach - Drums. the band released "Millions Slauughtered Live"(1990).
This demo tape sold 1,500 copies and got the band a record deal with the
German label Morbid Records. "Creating our sins"(1992) and "Kaddish"(1994)
were released by Morbid records and sold over 40,000 copies worldwide.
Prior to the release of "Kaddish", Morbid Records released a 7 inch picture
EP with the single "Dying Embers"(1994) to promote the album, and when
"Kaddish" came out, a limited edition of the album was released on
vinyl (picture disc). The opening song "The Fading" was played on M.T.V's
headbangers ball rotation and also got the band to be elected as one of
the best 10 up and coming bands in the world by M.T.V and Kerrang. "Kaddish"
also featured a cover song called "Ha'ayara Bo'eret" (the town is on fire),
a song that is being associated with the holocaust. This national controversy
found its way to the Israeli parliament for a discussion of whether or
not it is appropriate for a metal band to play such songs. In 1996 Giora
Hirsch decides to leave the band and dedicate himself to his new family.
In 1998, following the best offer the band got from Israeli label B.N.E.,
producer Colin Richardson, the man who produced such known act as Machine
Head, Fear Factory etc, flew over to Israel to record "A Moment of Silence".
The album was recorded in D.B. studios in Israel and The Chapel in England
and was released late 1998. A big distribution deal was on the horizon
with Modern Music (Germany) but due to miscommunication between B.N.E.
and the band the deal fell through. Right after the "A Moment of Silence"
recording session, Amir Neubach quits the band to pursue a music career
in New-York City. Nir Nakav, who just returned from L.A. after 4 years,
joins Salem. In early 2001, Salem was released from their contract with
B.N.E. In December 2001, Salem signed a 3 album deal with KMG/ System Shock
from Germany. The fourth Salem album is the most aggressive Salem album
to date. Produced by the band and recorded in D.B. Studios (Drums, Bass,
and Guitars) and Noise Studios (Vocals and mix) in Israel to maintain
the bombastic production standard set forth with previous release "A Moment
of Silence". "Collective Demise" contains 12 new songs which textually
are snapshots of our reality since September 2001. The released date is
September 2002. Nir Gutraiman (Guitar) joins Salem. In their long years
in the business, Salem played shows as headliners but was also much obliged
to play on the same stage with other known bands like; Megadeth, Entonbed,
Ancient Rites, Cancer, Rotting Christ, Disharmonic Orchestra and more.
Line-up:
Ze'ev Tananboim - Vocals
Lior Mizrahi - Guitar
Michael Goldstein - Bass
Nir Nakav - Drums
Nir Gutraiman – Guitar
More info: http://www.salemband.com/
2.WHY DID YOU NAME THE BAND THIS WAY
AND HOW COME YOU DIDN'T USE A NAME FROM YOUR CULTURE?
The meaning of the name Salem is
a town in USA that in the past performed witch-hunt. When we named our
band, that name was authentic because back than we deal with diabolical
themes.
3.AMONG THE OTHERS I DESCRIBED YOUR
MUSIC AS A REFINED MIXTURE OF ORIENTAL ELEMENTS AND FEELINGS WITH THE MORE
WESTERN DEATH METAL MUSIC. DO YOU AGREE? CAN YOU NAME SOME OF YOUR MOST
BELOVED BANDS AND ALBUMS?
In general - I agree with you,
It is very difficult for me to define Salem. In general, Salem playing
Death Metal, but if you'll take the songs and separate them, you'll see
that every song has it style, for example: take Coming end of reason and
try to compare it with Slave, those are 2 completely different songs, and
that is why this is so difficult. You have to listen to understand the
difference between the songs. The bands I like the most are Death Kreator
Sodom Voivod Bathory Entombed and more. The albums I like the most are
Death-all Kreator-all Entombed-left hand path and more.
4.TELL US A FEW THINGS FOR YOUR ALBUM.
WHERE WAS IT RECORDED, WHO WAS THE PRODUCER, HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU?
ARE YOU STILL SATISFIED BY THE FINAL RESULT?
"Collective demise" is very aggressive,
although it has a lot of melodies and harmonies. I think that "Collective
demise" reflects certain adolescence of Salem, the fact that it's more
aggressive and much faster distinguish it from our previous releases. Collective
demise" Produced by the band and recorded in D.B. Studios (Drums, Bass,
and Guitars) and Noise Studios (Vocals and mix) in Israel to maintain the
bombastic production standard set forth with previous release "A Moment
of Silence". "Collective Demise" contains 12 new songs which textually
are snapshots of our reality since September 2001 and musically explore
new territories; The use of Afro-Cuban Percussion on "Dead Eyes" and "Slave",
Arabic darbuka on "Broken Yet United" and "Act of Terror", female vocals
on "Coming End of Reason", "Feed on Your Grief", "Act of War" and "Al Taster"
and the most sophisticated second guitar harmonies ever submitted
to reel. In general and conceptual, all the songs in the album are referring
to collective demise. When we started writing "Collective Demise" we didn't
know how it would turn out, the expectations were high, and we are satisfied
with the results.
5.WHAT ARE YOUR LYRICS TALKING ABOUT?
WHICH THEMES INSPIRE YOU TO WRITE FOR AND WHAT CAN TAKE THE INSPIRATION
AWAY FROM YOU?
Our lyrics are influenced by life
itself. In Israel it's impossible to ignore the news since it has a direct
effect on your daily life and as a result you have songs. It's hard to
cope with the fear of being somewhere crowded (like busses, restaurants,
or even live shows) without knowing how it will end. The fact that innocent
civilians are dying gives you a helplessness feeling. It is difficult for
us to see a solution for it right now, but we don't know what tomorrow
will bring - therefore we try to keep hoping.>
6.DO YOU LIKE PERFORMING LIVE? DO YOU
REMEMBER ANY FUNNY OR WEIRD INCIDENTS OCCURING WHILST YOU WERE PLAYING
LIVE?
We like performing live very much.
Salem shows have great energies. The audience knows and sings all the lyrics
with me, almost every show is sold out (800-1000 people). The show is 80
minutes, and it includes songs from all of our releases. Every show is
different because we have 4 CD's, and we try to give the audience something
new every time they are coming to see Salem show. In some shows we put
video screen with Salem's video clips, or projecting the show. The weirdest
thing that happened to us was that after we finished the live show, the
fans didn't want the show to be over, and we did encores for one hour!
so the show was 2.5 hours!
7.WHICH ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE
AND WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU WILL BE AS A MUSICIAN IN 10 YEARS TIME?
A European tour, The release of
album Number 5, The re-release of "Creating our sins" and "Kaddish" and
then we'll see. We want to remain active as long as we feel that we have
something to say and that there's someone who's interested to hear it.
Salem try to be as much original and come up with good material cause we
work a lot on the songs to make them interesting and have no rush to write
songs that will end up being crap in the end. We will continue as long
as we have support from our fans in Israel and worldwide.
8.YOU HAVE HELPED IN THE PRODUCTION
OF NAIL WITHIN. TELL US A FEW THINGS FOR IT. DO YOU INVOLVE WITH PRODUCTIONS
OR WAS IT THE FIRST TIME? ARE YOU THINKING OF BECOMING A PRODUCER
IN THE FUTURE?
I had a lot of knowledge in studios,
but My big experience of sound came from Colin Richardson- he is the master
of sound and I was honored to work with him on our album A moment of silence.
About Nail-Within- I just returned from Germany, helping producing "Nail
within" with Harris Johns. I was involved on everything in the production
including the album mix. I try to help bands, I produced several bands
like "Arallu", "Azazel", "Aztec", "Betrayer". Right now I am working very
hard on Salem. I don’t know what will be in the future.
9.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WEREN'T
ABLE TO COMPOSE MUSIC?
I can't see myself doing anything
else as an artist but music. I think music is the best way to pass our
message loud and clear. This is what I love to do.
10.IF YOUR MUSIC WAS AN EMOTION, WHAT
WOULD IT BE?
Our music has a lot of emotions
in it, like pain and anger that we experience in Israel as individuals
and collectives. I think you can feel it through our melodies and harmonies.
11.IF YOU COULD BE A HISTORICAL PERSON
FOR A DAY, WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE AND WHICH PERIOD OF HIS/HER LIFE WOULD
YOU LIKE TO LIVE?
I can’t think of any person like
that sorry.
12.YOU ARE GRANTED ONE WISH. WHAT WOULD
YOU LIKE TO CHANGE IN THE WORLD?
I would eliminate all the terror
in the world.
13.WHICH DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST AND
WHICH IS THE WORST PART OF YOUR MUSIC? WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU NEED FURTHER
IMPROVEMENT?
We are satisfied with our music.
the one improvement we need is a biggest budget - if we will have more
studio hours, we will be able to express ourselves better.
14.WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW
TO HAVE?
I will give you the honor to title
this interview.
15.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEM TO ASK
YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
Salem has released 3 new video
clips from "Collective demise", the first one "Al Taster" deals with the
pain of the people who lost their loved ones, the second "Act of war" shows
the absurd of suicide terrorists on busses in Israel, and the third "Broken
Yet United" is dedicated to the Israeli Metal scene,
to the audience and it shows the relationship between Salem and the fans.
Thank you very much for your support. Keep metal alive!
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