Salem UK is a

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

/ heavy metal band from Hull, England. It was formed following the split of the

new wave of British heavy metal The new wave of British heavy metal (commonly abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that started in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Journalist Geoff Barton coined the term i ...

band Ethel the Frog. Salem recorded three demos and a single in the early 1980s; a compilation album of these recordings was released in 2010. The band re-formed (aka Salem UK) in 2009 and has since released two new EPs, ''New Tricks'' and ''X Rated'', and the albums ''Forgotten Dreams'' (2013), ''Dark Days'' (2016) and ''Attrition'' (2018). Salem has also filmed two videos and has played numerous festivals and gigs in the UK, across Europe and beyond. A re-mastered and rearranged edition of the 2010 ''In the Beginning ...'' album was released in July 2015. ''Dark Days'' was met with rave reviews and considered one of the top albums of 2016.

Career

1979–1983

Salem was founded in late 1979 by two members of Ethel the Frog, Paul Tognola (vocals/guitar) and Paul Conyers (drums), with Adrian Jenkinson (bass) and Paul Macnamara (lead guitar). The first band met up on 2 January 1980 in The Red Lion

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

Anlaby Anlaby is a village forming part of the western suburbs of Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the civil parish of Anlaby with Anlaby Common. History Anlaby is recorded in the ''Domesday Book'' as "U ...

, East Riding of Yorkshire. After a period of song writing and rehearsal, Salem gigged regularly and built a solid following in the Hull area. They recorded their first demo at

Fairview Studios Fairview Studios is an independent recording studio located in Willerby, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Established by a local man Keith Herd in 1966, it has recorded musical acts such as Def Leppard, Mick Ronson, Red Guitars, Mostly Autumn ...

, Willerby in January 1981. Salem 1983

Soon after this first demo, Tognola left the band to be replaced by Simon Saxby as the new singer and later in the year by Mark Allison as the second guitarist. With this new line-up, Salem released its double

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

single, "Cold As Steel"/"Reach To Eternity", recorded again at Fairview on 4 April 1982; this is considered to be one of the

notable recordings Notability is the property of being worthy of notice, having fame, or being considered to be of a high degree of interest, significance, or distinction. It also refers to the capacity to be such. Persons who are notable due to public responsibi ...

from Fairview. Following the interview with Macnamara in the May 1982 ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' (No. 15), the single appeared in the 'local chart' section of the magazine and singles were sold globally. According to the ''NWOBHM Encyclopaedia'', the single is now "a highly collectable and valuable rarity", and is also listed in ''

Record Collector ''Record Collector'' is a British monthly music magazine. It was founded in 1980 and distributes worldwide. History The early years The first standalone issue of ''Record Collector'' was published in March 1980, though its history stretches ba ...

''s "Rare Record Price Guide". Salem continued with a new drummer Paul Mendham to perform in the North and North East of England and recorded another demo in September 1982, at Adda Studios in East Hull. As a result of their winning a Battle of bands competition at

Huddersfield Polytechnic , mottoeng = Thus not for you alone , established = 1825 – Huddersfield Science and Mechanics' Institute1992 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £2.47 million (2015) , chancellor = George W. Buckley , vice_chancell ...

, Salem recorded the final demo at September Sound, Huddersfield, in March 1983. Salem played their final gig on 31 May 1983, when the members left to follow different projects.

2009–present

''In the Beginning ...'' (2010)

In 2009, Macnamara was approached to release all of the band's 1980s recordings. After getting back in touch with all Salem band members, the double album compilation ''In the Beginning ...'' was released in June 2010 on High Roller Records (LP) and

Pure Steel Records Pure Steel Records is a record label based in Germany that focuses on heavy metal music. Pure Steel produces CDs and LP album, LPs. Founded by Kay Anders and Andreas Lorenz in 2006, the main interest of Pure Steel is to spread the true and inde ...

(CD). Salem reformed with the same 1983 line-up and played their first performance in 27 years in hometown Hull at

The Adelphi ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

on 20 November 2010, the story attracting interest in the press. In 2011, the band produced the limited edition, 'pre-release' ''New Tricks'' EP featuring three new tracks, "Retribution", "This Heart Is Mine" and "High Stakes." They played another gig in Hull. In July 2012, Ricky Squires, formerly of the dEAd End KIdS and the

Heavy Metal Kids Heavy Metal Kids are a British rock band. History Early years (1973–1985) Heavy Metal Kids were formed in 1972 by the merger of two previous bands: Heaven and Biggles. They took their name from a gang of street kids, featured in the nove ...

, joined on drums to play festivals and gigs with Salem in Europe, including the Heavy Metal Night V in

Martinsicuro Martinsicuro ( la, Truentum or ''Castrum Truentinum'') is a town and ''comune'' in province of Teramo, Abruzzo, central Italy. It is located on the right of the mouth of Tronto River. History Remains of a Bronze Age (10th-9th centuries BC) settle ...

, Italy, Negosonic in Aalst and Ages of Metal IV in

Oostrozebeke Oostrozebeke (; vls, Ôostrôzebeke) is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises only the town of Oostrozebeke proper. On January 1, 2018 Oostrozebeke had a total population of 7,849. The total ar ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, and the Metieval Winterfest back in Hull. The band, as with Mendham again, continued to record further music and released their limited edition ''X Rated'' EP for the BROFEST#1 in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

on 2 March 2013, including a bonus new recording of "Reach To Eternity". Further gigs in 2013 included shows in

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, Germany, and back home in the UK at The Fleece in Bristol with

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus '' Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

and at Fruit in Hull. In July 2015, a new re-mastered version of the ''In the Beginning ...'' album was released by High Roller Records. The songs were re-arranged into the original chronological order.

''Forgotten Dreams'' (2013)

Salem signed with Pure Steel Records again to release a new album, ''Forgotten Dreams'', on 6 December 2013. The album, recorded at Hairy Monster Studios, has received critical acclaim as an "expertly crafted" "masterpiece". In 2014, the band shot a short film at

Fort Paull Fort Paull was a gun battery situated on the north bank of the Humber, near the village of Paull, downstream from Hull in northern England. History Batteries have been built at Paull by Henry VIII, Charles I during the Civil War during th ...

and in the crypt of

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

in Hull for "Forgotten Dreams", and the following year, the band filmed a second video of the song "The Answer" at sites in

Barton-upon-Humber Barton-upon-Humber () or Barton is a town and civil parish in North Lincolnshire, England. The population at the 2011 census was 11,066. It is situated on the south bank of the Humber Estuary at the southern end of the Humber Bridge. It is s ...

and

Beverley Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...

. Salem also played numerous festivals and gigs in UK, Europe and beyond, including Play It Loud in Italy, Very 'Eavy Festival in Netherlands, Headbangers Open Air in Germany, and Rock You To Hell in Greece. The final 2014 gig was in Dubai, United Arab Emirates with deputy drummer, Oli Davis. Salem played gigs in Belgium and England in 2015, and at festivals including Wildfire, Scotland, BÄÄÄM in Germany, Power & Glory II and headlining RockWich in UK. In October, Salem was invited to play at British Steel festival in Fismes, France in place of

Oliver/Dawson Saxon Oliver/Dawson Saxon was an English heavy metal band formed in 1995 by former members of Saxon, guitarist Graham Oliver and bassist Steve Dawson. Following Steve Dawson's decision to retire from performing in October 2021, Graham Oliver, Gav ...

who had to cancel. The band also contributed the track "Forgotten Dreams" to the RockWich 2015 commemorative CD, with all the other bands from the festival; all profits from the sale of the CD go to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation.

''Dark Days'' (2016)

The band recorded the new album ''Dark Days'' at Hairy Monster Studios again. Macnamara revealed in an interview with PlanetMosh that Salem had worked on a collaboration with

Manny Charlton Manuel Charlton (25 July 1941 – 5 July 2022) was a Scottish musician, who was known as a founding member of the influential Scottish hard rock band Nazareth and was their lead guitarist from 1968 to 1990. He also produced a string of succe ...

for the new album. ''Dark Days'' was released on 29 April 2016, was described as "simply flawless from start to finish" and was considered one of the top albums of the year. Salem played a series of gigs and festivals in 2016 including Muskelrock in Sweden (with Davis on drums again), a return to Headbangers Open Air, at Heavy Metal Maniacs in Netherlands, and gigs in Belgium and in UK with

Tygers of Pan Tang Tygers of Pan Tang are an English heavy metal band who are part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement. They formed in 1978 in Whitley Bay, England, and were active until 1987. The band reformed in 1999 and continue to record and perf ...

, Diamond Head,

Witchfynde Witchfynde are an English heavy metal band, forerunners of the new wave of British heavy metal in the late 1970s. History Early days Witchfynde were formed in Derbyshire, England, in 1974, by bass guitarist Richard Blower and vocalist N ...

and Spartan Warrior. Events in 2017 included gigs in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Spain, Belgium, France, and the UK, including the Grimm Up North fund raiser in Bury for Steve Grimmett of

Grim Reaper Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other b ...

''Attrition'' (2018)

Salem has completed their third studio album at Hairy Monster Studios in Hull, UK. Developing from the up-beat theme of ''Forgotten Dreams'' and the more reflective mood of ''Dark Days'', Macnamara described the third studio as a little "edgier", with the same heavy and melodic approach. ''Attrition'' was released by Dissonance Productions (part of Plastic Head Distribution) on 23 February 2018. A release on vinyl is due in May. A promotional video of the song "Taking Control" is receiving much interest and the first reviews suggest that ''Attrition'' is a potential album of the year. On 23 February 2018, the date that ''Attrition'' was released, Saxby and Jenkinson each received letters, illegally sacking them from the partnership. Litigation followed, and as a result, all rights to the albums ''Forgotten Dreams'', ''Dark Days'' and ''Attrition'' were legally signed over to Saxby and Jenkinson, as well as exclusive rights to the name "Salem UK". Macnamara, Mendham and Allison were granted the right to operate under the name "From Salem". In April 2018 Francis Gill (guitar) and Dave Megginson (drums) joined Saxby and Jenkinson to complete the new lineup of Salem UK. the band is currently recording a new album, to be released by Dissonance Productions.

Acclaim

The band has been cited, along with

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

and

, as one of the "top 10 NWOBHM bands that are better than ever!" With the growing interest in the band, it has been suggested that their "... Time Has Finally Come!" Macnamara is a

Blackstar ''Blackstar'' is an American animated science fantasy television series, produced in 1981 by Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott for Filmation. The series was Filmation's second fantasy epic, the first being '' The Freedom Force'', a segment of '' ...

endorsed artist.

Timeline

1979–1983

ImageSize = width:470 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:15 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1979 till:30/07/1983 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:1980 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1979 Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:Guitars value:green legend:Guitars id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:purple legend:Drums id:Demos value:skyblue legend:Demos id:Singles value:oceanblue legend:Singles LineData = color:Demos layer:back at:04/01/1981 at:08/09/1982 at:23/03/1983 color:Singles layer:back at:04/04/1982 BarData = bar:Tognola text:Paul Tognola bar:Saxby text:Simon Saxby bar:Macnamara text:Paul Macnamara bar:Allison text:Mark Allison bar:Jenkinson text:Ade Jenkinson bar:Conyers text:Paul Conyers bar:Mendham text:Paul Mendham PlotData= width:13 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Tognola from:01/12/1979 till:01/04/1981 color:Vocals width:3 bar:Tognola from:01/12/1979 till:01/04/1981 color:Guitars bar:Saxby from:01/06/1981 till:31/05/1983 color:Vocals bar:Macnamara from:01/12/1979 till:31/05/1983 color:Guitars bar:Allison from:01/11/1981 till:31/05/1983 color:Guitars bar:Jenkinson from:01/12/1979 till:31/05/1983 color:Bass bar:Conyers from:01/12/1979 till:31/05/1982 color:Drums bar:Mendham from:01/06/1982 till:31/05/1983 color:Drums width:4 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)

2009–present

ImageSize = width:850 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:15 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2009 till:10/04/2018 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:2010 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:2009 Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:Guitars value:green legend:Guitars id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:purple legend:Drums id:BV value:orange legend:Live_BV id:EPs value:oceanblue legend:EPs id:Albums value:black legend:Albums LineData = color:EPs layer:back at:20/11/2011 at:22/11/2012 at:02/03/2013 color:Albums layer:back at:01/07/2010 at:06/12/2013 at:29/04/2016 at:23/02/2018 BarData = bar:Saxby text:Simon Saxby bar:Macnamara text:Paul Macnamara bar:Allison text:Mark Allison bar:Jenkinson text:Ade Jenkinson bar:Mendham text:Paul Mendham bar:Squires text:Ricky Squires bar:Davies text:Oli Davis PlotData= width:13 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Saxby from:01/08/2009 till:end color:Vocals bar:Macnamara from:01/08/2009 till:22/02/2018 color:Guitars bar:Macnamara from:01/11/2011 till:22/02/2018 color:BV width:3 bar:Allison from:01/08/2009 till:22/02/2018 color:Guitars bar:Jenkinson from:01/08/2009 till:end color:Bass bar:Jenkinson from:01/11/2011 till:end color:BV width:3 bar:Mendham from:01/08/2009 till:01/05/2012 color:Drums bar:Squires from:20/07/2012 till:31/12/2012 color:Drums bar:Mendham from:01/01/2013 till:22/02/2018 color:Drums bar:Davies from:29/10/2014 till:29/11/2014 color:Drums bar:Davies from:15/05/2016 till:05/06/2016 color:Drums width:4 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)

Discography

* "Cold as Steel" / "Reach to Eternity" (1982) Hilton Records * "Reach to Eternity" appears on the ''NWOBHM Vol. 6'' (1992) bootleg CD * "Reach to Eternity" is also on the ''NWOBHM – Vinyl Revenge'' (2005) bootleg * ''In the Beginning ... '' (double album) (2010), High Roller Records (vinyl),

(CD) * ''New Tricks'' (2011) EP – The New Adelphi Edition * ''New Tricks'' (2012) EP – Europe 2012 Mix * ''X Rated'' (2013) EP – Limited Edition BROFEST 2013 * ''Forgotten Dreams'' (2013) Pure Rock Records (vinyl and CD) * ''In the Beginning ... '' version 2, (2015), High Roller Records CD * "Forgotten Dreams" appears on the ''RockWich 2015'' commemorative CD * ''Dark Days'' (2016)

(vinyl and CD) * "Reach to Eternity" appears on the ''A Perfect Combination: Fairview Studios 1973–1993'' (2016) CD * ''Attrition'' (2018) Dissonance Productions (vinyl and CD)

References

External links

Official Salem UK website

Dissonance Productions

Plastic Head Distribution

Salem UK Facebook page
{{Authority control English heavy metal musical groups English rock music groups Musical groups from Kingston upon Hull Musical groups established in 1979 Musical quartets New Wave of British Heavy Metal musical groups

Career

1979–1983

2009–present

''In the Beginning ...'' (2010)

''Forgotten Dreams'' (2013)

''Dark Days'' (2016)

''Attrition'' (2018)

Acclaim

Timeline

1979–1983

2009–present

Discography

See also

References

External links