Subway to Sally is a German

folk metal Folk metal is a fusion genre of heavy metal music and traditional folk music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. It is characterised by the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for exampl ...

band founded in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

in the early 1990s. Their music has clear folk and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

influences, later also adding

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

and metal elements. With their continuous inclusion of oriental sounds and elements of classical music and the use of instruments seldom seen in metal bands such as

bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...

shawm The shawm () is a Bore_(wind_instruments)#Conical_bore, conical bore, double-reed woodwind instrument made in Europe from the 12th century to the present day. It achieved its peak of popularity during the medieval and Renaissance periods, after ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vio ...

and

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...

, Subway to Sally has acquired the label of

medieval metal Medieval metal is a subgenre of folk metal that blends heavy metal music with medieval folk music. Medieval metal is mostly restricted to Germany where it is known as or . The genre emerged from the middle of the 1990s with contributions from ...

. The band has released 12 studio albums, two live albums, and two live DVDs. Their fame is centered mainly in the German-speaking countries, having played only a handful of concerts outside of that area.

History

The very first concert given by Subway to Sally was held in September 1990. The band then consisted of Ingo Hampf, Bodenski, Simon, Coni (trumpet) and Guido (drums). Their first appearance onstage was given in the Potsdamer "Stube" in January 1992, in the constellation with which they later recorded their first album (''Album 1994''). With the group deciding on needing a fiddle to complete the sound, they brought Frau Schmitt (Silke Volland) to the band, who in turn introduced them to

Eric Fish Eric Fish (born Erik-Uwe Hecht; 28 May 1969), is the singer of German medieval metal band Subway to Sally. He performs also as a solo musical artist. History Eric's first musical merit was that of reaching the finale of a German Democratic Repu ...

(Erik Hecht) on bagpipes. In their early years, Subway to Sally played Irish/Scottish-inspired

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

, as reflected by the tracklist of their first album which was their only album where the majority of songs are in English. For these English lyrics they hired a friend. After this, the group decided that they wanted to keep their lyrics in German, thus becoming a part of the first wave of bands to do so after the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

broke down. Their second album, released in 1995 and aptly named ''MCMXCV'', saw a mixture of biblically-inspired lyrics and what is often referred to as medieval music. Three major changes can be noted with the release of ''MCMXCV'': the appearance of German lyrics penned by Bodenski, Eric Fish moving up from the piper to being the frontman and main singer, and two translated

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

s, ''Krähenfraß'' ("The two Corbies") and ''Carrickfergus'', adapted to fit the band's style. Between 1994 and 1997, the band rapidly released four albums and toured Germany to exhaustion, with an average of around 100 concerts per year. Drummer T.W. left the band in 1997 after completing the recordings of ''Foppt den Dämon!'' and was replaced by David Pätsch for the tour and subsequent albums. ''Bannkreis'' was the first chart entry of the band. With ''Hochzeit'', the band broke their habits and spent more time on album production, leading to a more polished sound. This paid off with another chart placement, as the album made it to number 19 in the official charts. The sound of ''Hochzeit'' is very much continued with the next studio album, ''Herzblut'', though thematically moving in a different direction. Where ''Hochzeit'' is darker and ends on the note of "Müde" ("Tired"), ''Herzblut'' starts off with the energetic "die Schlacht" ("the battle"), declaring "Ich gewinne diese Schlacht" ("I am winning this battle"). Subwaytosally 72

In 2003, the album ''Engelskrieger'' was released. In preparation of the release, the band made the lyrics available on their homepage, leading to wild discussions and accusations of "

selling out "Selling out", or "sold out" in the past tense, is a common expression for the compromising of a person's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles by forgoing the long-term benefits of the collective or group in exchange for personal gai ...

". The sound of the record, breaking clearly with their previous works, did nothing to silence those accusations. Subway to Sally had grown up, met up with the real world and made a deeply disturbing record, dealing with modern issues on modern terms. The song ''Wenn Engel hassen'' ("When angels hate") from ''Herzblut'' can be said to explore the same terrain that ''Geist des Kriegers'' ("Spirit/Ghost of the warrior") does, dealing with an individual running amok. Several band members have emphasized the impact of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

and the following political events as inspirational source for the album. Other songs deal with

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...

euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...

, leaders who mislead their people, and the general fall and corruption of Western society. ''Engelskrieger'' entered the German charts at number 9, and the band once more toured extensively. A live DVD was filmed in the Columbiahalle in Berlin on the first leg of the tour, leading to the release of a double DVD in the fall of 2003. In April 2004, Subway to Sally changed labels, leaving

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a t ...

(Motor) for the smaller metal label

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. The band's concert in Lindenpark on 30 December 2004 was drummer David Pätsch's last show. Pätsch left the band to pursue another musical direction with the

Blue Man Group Blue Man Group is an American performance art company formed in 1987. It was purchased in July 2017 by the Canadian company Cirque du Soleil. Blue Man Group is known for its stage productions, which incorporate many kinds of music and art, bot ...

in Berlin. Subway to Sally then spent half a year looking for a replacement before finally deciding on Simon Michael Schmitt to replace Pätsch. The recording of the new album was already finished by the time "Tiny Simon" joined the band. Subwaytosally 2009

Despite being very pleased with the outcome of ''Engelskrieger'', the band made no secret of it being a one-off and a return to the more conventional "Sally-Sound" with the next studio recording. ''

Nord Nord Ost Subway to Sally is a German folk metal band founded in Potsdam in the early 1990s. Their music has clear folk and medieval influences, later also adding gothic and metal elements. With their continuous inclusion of oriental sounds and element ...

'' was originally planned to be released in 2004 but was delayed until late 2005 due to the extensiveness of the production. Though the band have previously made use of musicians from outside the band, they now did so on a bigger scale, involving the

Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg The German Film Orchestra Babelsberg (also known as ''Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg'' or DFOB in German) is a symphony orchestra and music studio based in Potsdam, Germany. It was founded in 1918 as Ufa-Sinfonieorchester and was re-established ...

to create a wider and more orchestral sound. The album debuted at number 5 in the official charts, the highest chart placement the band has seen to date. In 2006, the group released the CD/DVD ''Nackt'', which was a live recording of acoustic versions of some of their songs. On 19 October 2007, their album ''

Bastard Bastard may refer to: Parentage * Illegitimate child, a child born to unmarried parents ** Bastard (law of England and Wales), illegitimacy in English law People People with the name * Bastard (surname), including a list of people with that na ...

'' was released via Nuclear Blast Records. ''Bastard'' was recorded at Horus studio in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, Germany, and Lundgaard studio in Denmark.

Side projects

Several of the band members have side or solo projects going. Wanting to "return to his roots" as a musician,

started touring on his own in 1999. This project has now grown up to become a band in its own right. Three CDs have been released; ''Auge in Auge'', ''Zwilling'' and ''Gegen den Strom''. Fish is also involved in an online-only project called "Weiß" and often appears as a guest musician for other bands such as

Letzte Instanz Letzte Instanz is a German violin-rock band, founded in Dresden, Germany, in 1996, particularly noted for their use of the violin and cello. The founding members included Hörbi, Tin Whistle, Muttis Stolz, Kaspar Wichman, Holly D. and Markus G-Pu ...

and

Fiddler's Green Fiddler's Green is an after-life where there is perpetual mirth, a fiddle that never stops playing, and dancers who never tire. In 19th-century English maritime folklore, it was a kind of after-life for sailors who had served at least fifty ye ...

. Bodenski has published a book of poems, called ''Inniglich'', which draws heavily from his lyrics for Subway to Sally and also contains other works and non-published Sally songs. Along with his brother Chris and his sister Dodo Little, Simon also plays in the

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in contra ...

band Silverlane which signed with

Drakkar Entertainment Drakkar Entertainment GmbH, also called Drakkar Records or Drakkar Publishing, is a German record label with its headquarters in Witten. It is a joint venture with Bertelsmann Music Group. History Originally Kopec Music Publishing, Drakkar Ent ...

in 2008. Frau Schmitt used to be a member of the somewhat "folky-jazzy" ensemble

17 Hippies 17 Hippies is a band from Berlin, Germany, playing largely on acoustic instruments, a radically democratic collective of professionals and amateurs. Their music is a confection of various folk influences. They are most popular in their native G ...

Discography

Subway to Sally - 2019215132805 2019-08-03 Wacken - 0117 - 5DSR3978

Studio

* ''Album 1994'' (1994, label: Costbar) * ''MCMXCV'' (1995) (1995, label: Stars in the dark) * ''Foppt den Dämon!'' ("Tease the demon") (1996, label: Red Rooster) * ''Bannkreis'' ("Spell circle") (1997, label:

BMG BMG may refer to: Organizations * Music publishing companies: ** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 *** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...

Ariola Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomerat ...

) * ''Hochzeit'' ("Wedding") (1999, label: BMG/Ariola) * ''Herzblut'' ("Heartblood") (2001, label: Island Mercury) * ''Engelskrieger'' ("Angel warriors") (2003, label:

Motor Music Motor Music is an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany providing a wide range of music services including music publication, artists management, producing music for films and business and music advertising. Motor Music was founded in 1 ...

) * ''Nord Nord Ost'' ("North north east") (22 August 2005 label:

) * ''Bastard'' (2007, label: Nuclear Blast) * ''Kreuzfeuer'' ("Cross-fire") (2009, label: Nuclear Blast) * ''Schwarz in Schwarz'' ("Black in Black") (2011, label: StS Entertainment) * ''Mitgift'' ("Dowry") (2014, label: StS Entertainment) * ''Hey!'' (2019, label: StS Entertainment)

Live

* ''Schrei!'' ("Scream!") (live album, 2000, label: BMG/Ariola) * ''Subway to Sally Live'' (2-

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

, 2003, label: Motor Music) * ''Nackt'' ("Naked") ( CD/DVD, 10 November, label:

2006) * ''Nackt II'' ("Naked II") (CD/DVD, 22 October, label: StS Entertainment 2010) * ''Neon'' (2017, label: StS Entertainment) * ''Hey! Live – Alles was das Herz will'' ("Everything the heart wants") (2020, label: StS Entertainment)

Compilations

* ''Best of Subway to Sally 1: Die Rose im Wasser'' ("The rose in the water") (BMG, 2001) * ''Best of Subway to Sally 2: Kleid aus Rosen'' ("Gown of roses") (StS Entertainment, 2010)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Subway To Sally Medieval metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1990 Participants in the Bundesvision Song Contest Nuclear Blast artists German folk metal musical groups German gothic metal musical groups