Salem
Together with Orphaned Land and Melechesh, Salem is the best what the Israeli Metal scene gave us until now! Probably new rising forces are to come very soon, but the actual progress of these 3 bands is so concrete that makes me to believe that we will have to wait a few years to see what's going to happen! Salem is present these days with its last full length called "Playing God And Other Short Stories" released through Pulverised Records, and we have as interlocutor band's leader, mastermind and main lyricist Nir Nakav who accepted to give us a few more details about this new opus and about Salem's past and future!
Arcana Noctis: Hello Salem and Happy New Year! Things seems going great for you right now, if we count here that you have a new label and your 7th official album will be very soon out. How do you feel about that and what other interesting things could you share with us these days?
Nir: Hi everyone and thank you for your interest in Salem. I am Nir Nakav, drummer and lyricist of Salem and I am thrilled to be here with you all to satisfy your curiosity regarding all issues Salem. Our 7th album will do and that is always an exciting period. We have a massive CD release show planned for April in Israel and our shows here are always special. We will be playing 21 songs. Some are over 7 minutes long so it is going to be a challenge to survive. We hope to be getting into some festivals this summer. We are also celebrating half a century of Salem activity. On one hand it seems so long, on the other, doesn't seem like we accomplished everything we set ourselves up to do. So we are still very driven. The band keeps evolving from album to album and I see it as a good thing. We would not want to make the same album over and over. Most Salem members have families these days and it is amazing to have young music critics at your very home. Yes, it is an interesting period right now.
Arcana Noctis: First of all, why you decided to leave the French label Season Of Mist and how you managed to sign with Pulverised Records from Singapore? Also, could you reveal us if you had some other contacts with different labels around the world meanwhile?
Nir: This is sensitive information that I don't think we would like to share with the general population. Let's just say that although we had no problems with Season Of Mist and they were always into our music, business wise we thought it would be best to go our separate ways. As a band who has been around for as long as we did, it is hard to find a new home since we are not going to sign any contract offered. We also understand that for many labels we pose a threat. They know that they can not do with us whatever they want and since these days there are so many young bands who would do anything for a contract, why bother with a band who sets demands? Pulverised Records, on a daily basis, proves to be the label we were always after. They are into the band and that is always a must for us. Next on our list is the requirement that they will take care of the business side of things very efficiently. We don't want to be on a label that expects the name Salem to sell records all by itself and is not into promoting our albums in an effort to expose our music to new legions of potential fans. We are actually excited to see what impact this new album is going to have under Pulverised Records.
Arcana Noctis: This last material you called it "Playing God And Other Short Stories". Is this its real name? And what do you mean with "and other short stories"? What exactly this title represents for you and what info can you give us to try playing God? In my point of view this is a very interesting album title, but it has nothing to do with "Necessary Evil" or "Collective Demise"! Should we take into consideration that your materials have no connection concerning all CD titles and lyrical universes?
Nir: Interesting questions indeed and I hope to touch on all the issues that you brought up here. Salem is a band who up until now on average took about four years in between albums. That is a long time. During this period we always change as individuals and therefore as musicians. Different issues are on our minds and our musical tastes change a bit. It is always Metal but it is spiced up slightly different every time. We see it as a blessed trait to have albums that are different from each other musically and lyrically. Another thing that happened to us over the last few years is that we decided not to wait for an entire album's worth of material before we went into the recording studio. We decided to concentrate on smaller bits at any given time. We found out that we can give more attention to the music this way, since at any moment we are only occupied with not more than twenty minutes worth of music and not an hour. So "Playing God" is a collection of three different sessions, hence the "and other short stories" title. "Playing God" is one of the stories and it claims that now that the human genome has been deciphered by humans, we are in a position to intervene in the role of the creator. These are interesting times to be living in and I hope that humanity will meet this challenge intelligently and compassionately. The lyrics on the chorus of that song are sung in Hebrew and are taken from the holiest of prayers according to Jewish belief in which we are being released from vows we undertook that past year while asking God to forgive us for all sins committed against her/him.
Arcana Noctis: "Playing God And Other Short Stories" contains 12 tracks, one of them being a cover version of Bob Marley's "Exodus". Your surprises continue with a very special guest, Thomas from At The Gates, the one who left his vocal mark on 2 of your songs! What all is about exactly and how do you think these surprises will be receive by band fans and your listeners around the world?
Nir: I am not really sure how the fans will react. A band always hopes to be embraced by the fans. I can honestly say that the Bob Marley cover sounds like Salem. It is pretty organic. I think that we added a nice twist to the song. Having said that, if you looked back, almost every past release had a cover song that was not really a Metal song to start with. We don't think that it does the original artist and the fans any justice to make a Metal cover of another Metal song, unless it is a song that was recorded many years ago under a very tight budget. We see no reason to cover Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer, Deep Purple, Alice In Chains, Pantera and a bunch of other bands we were into at one point. The original albums sound very good and we can not offer better versions to their music. Tomas Lindberg is a good friend and when we approached him he immediately said yes. He was thrilled to become a part of the Salem family and he was totally surprised that we asked him to handle all vocal duties on "Mark Of The Beast Part 2". We thought that his voice will enrich the "Mark Of The Beast" story and it certainly did. I love his tone and his intensity.
Arcana Noctis: Tell us a few words about the whole working process you had on "Playing God And Other Short Stories" and tell us too how the compositional process you had on your 7th opus went on! The whole recording process took place in Harold Studios, but the final mastering was finished in Sterling Sound NYC! Present us briefly your visit in studio and tell us what will be the main difference between your last recording sessions and all your previous recording processes!
Nir: As I said earlier, when we have three to six songs ready, we go into the recording studio to lay them down. They will usually contain two to three "stories". So at any given moment we are not working on more than a few "stories" and we take our time to meditate on the subjects. I think that the end result is always a lot stronger. Some of the material is the result of the band rehearsing and putting together material and some is the result of me sitting in my studio with either a guitar or a synthesizer writing music to movies or books that have inspired me. To give you an example: I recently saw in a book that I got for my kid a NASA picture of a sunset taken from Mars. I stared at it for hours. I am still fascinated by this picture and I am sure that when the time comes I will hear a soundtrack that goes with it. A future Salem release will definitely have a song titled "Martian Sunset". The mastering session should happen at a studio other than the one you recorded at and Sterling Sound in New York is at the top of the mastering game. So many great albums were and still are being mastered there by some of the best mastering engineers in the business. So it was very exciting for us to see what UE Nastasi was going to do with our mixes and we are thrilled with the result. It is like he managed to somehow energize the music and increase its intensity and it was exactly what we were after. Every album, besides being an artistic snapshot of where we are during the period it is made is also a learning experience. I would like to think that we are getting better at it as time progresses. I can tell you that as a drummer, "Playing God And Other Short Stories" was the first album I ever made where I thought of microphone placements while writing my drum parts. I wanted drums and cymbals to be panned a certain way in the stereo field. So I placed my cymbals where I thought the overhead microphones will pick them up the same way I heard them in my head. We used only two overhead microphones on all drums sessions. We recorded guitars with three amplifiers simultaneously connected to ten microphones and that was the first time we did that. Two cabinets were used for the bass session at the same time. We recorded African percussion. We did some experimentation on this album and had the time to evaluate the results. Some of the material was recorded a second time because we did not like something about the way it turned out the first time we recorded it. This is something that you usually do not do when you record all 12 songs in one session.
Arcana Noctis: It will be very nice if you could introduce us the whole material: musical & lyrical; but don't forget to mention a few technical details that could be extremely interesting for us! What will be the role of your lyrical content that you imagined for this album, and how does it fits with your Death Metal musical universe that you developed a lot in the latest years?
Nir: In Salem, the music comes before the lyrics. Always. Then we make the lyrics fit the music and not the other way around. We are not trying to squeeze in words just because we had a very important message to relay and therefore feel like we must force it to fit wherever the music allows. Once the music is done, as the lyricist in the band, I already have an idea about where the lyrics are going to fit in a way that will compliment the music. We are dealing with aesthetics here and it is a very important issue with us. The idea behind "Playing God And Other Short Stories" I already disclosed, "Downfall Of Paris" is an old war tune with a new Salem version superimposed over its main motif. "Drums Of The Dead" is inspired by a comic book by the same name. It belongs to the Hellboy universe. I did write song commentary inside the booklet that comes with the CD to explain the stories that are behind each song. We are not really a concept album kind of a band. So there is no universe that we were ever trying to put together. We see each album as a collection of snapshots of our reality at the time the album was put together and sometimes it is nice to put a past release on and to be taken back in time. Then you can really see how we changed as people and as musicians. What we were occupied with conceptually and musically at that time period.
Arcana Noctis: I must to reveal you that your cover artwork left me a little bit speechless, mostly by its simplicity but through its symbolical value too! What exactly do you want to express through such a cover, and what made you to chose this symbolical system extremely attached to Ghana's history and ancient myths and legends?
Nir: Well, thank you. I am glad to know that the artwork has an impact. That was the intention. I think that Nir Gutraiman, the art director, treats all visual aspects the way we treat our music. Once the album is mixed, he sits with it for a couple of weeks, just listening to the material. Then he sees images that he tries to replicate. The "Drums Of The Dead" story really got him hooked and that is why the cover art revolves around African imagery. That is what the story is all about. We also thought that as time progresses, through technological advancements, the world becomes a small village indeed and we learn that people are all the same all over the world. We are subjected to the same influences and same moods. We are truly all alike. So we were not afraid to express this visually this time although the band is known as a Jewish/Israeli band. We feel that this entire visual aspect that the band spends so much time and effort on and sees it as an integral part of what we are out to say is being missed by most kids who download music off the internet and it doesn't matter if you paid for it or not. Not having the booklet in your hands while listening to the album lessens the album's intended impact.
Arcana Noctis: Both, lyrical content and visual effect are hand in hand to create something unitary, something that could fit in all the details with Salem's musical atmosphere! How do you see "Playing God And Other Short Stories" in the end, and what do you expect from this full length from now on? This new opus will be recorded surely this year 2010! Do you plan to release an EP, as you already did for almost all your previous materials, to announce the new full length?
Nir: No, the album is coming out around May 2010 and no EP will be released before that. I think that the internet serves as a vehicle for promotion. It is so effective that there is no need to release an EP. CDs are not selling all too well these days as you know and EPs always sold even less than full lengths so there is no point really in releasing them anymore. At least this is what Pulverised Records and Salem thinks. We see "Playing God And Other Short Stories" as a step up from previous releases both as far as production values and musical skills are concerned. We hope it will be received well both by the media and the fans. If it creates a good buzz, it will be easier to get this wagon rolling.
Arcana Noctis: I suppose that you revealed us almost everything about the new CD that you're going to release very soon! Right now I'd like to ask you a few things about your past, something that really attracted my attention! It seems that you were quite closer to Mayhem's leader Euronymus, who received you very well in Norway. But you had some problems with his mate Varg from Burzum, also in Mayhem, who sent you even an explosive letter because you are from Israel I suppose! Now that Varg left prison, do you think that he will start doing the same old shitty things he did years ago? Do you believe that he changed all this years that he spent behind the bars?
Nir: Euronymus was a friend. I think he was one of the first in the world who heard this extreme style of music in his head before it was given a name. He was a true pioneer. Varg is responsible for his actions. I can not tell you what he learned or didn't learn in jail. I think that some people get a little too carried away with what music is about and they take it a little too far. Music is an artistic output. Movies are too. Yet you do not expect Arnold or Eastwood to be going on a killing spree. To have everything in balance is an important thing. Do not be an extremist.
Arcana Noctis: There are some rumors about a track that you recorded years ago, in which you spoke about the holocaust, something that disturbed a little bit the political scene from your country! What all is about and how you managed to leave this controversy about what a band should sing or not?
Nir: As I said, our choice of songs to cover was always eclectic. This song was no different. Since most of us have grandparents who either survived or perished in death camps, we felt obligated to make their message reach the younger generation. Our way of doing this was by taking a song that is mostly recognized with that time phase and give it our own treatment. The chairman of the Israeli parliament thought that we were not entitled to touch on the Holocaust subject since we were a Rock band and our music is played in clubs where people drink and make out. He did not want the Holocaust remembered in such environments and felt that we were turning something holy and terrible into something mundane and ignorable. Others in the parliament thought differently. It was the only time in Salem's history that the band was featured in all the mainstream media channels and in prime time.
Arcana Noctis: I know that you played a few years ago on the main stage at the French Hellfest! What interesting dates do you announce for 2010 and tell us too if you plan to make a release party for "Playing God And Other Short Stories"? What other interesting plans do you have for your band Salem this year? And what should we expect from your side concerning your illustrious collaborations, if we take into consideration that until now Atilla (Mayhem), Colin Richardson (the producer) or Thomas (At The Gates) helped you a little bit these last years?
Nir: We hope to repeat the Hellfest experience. Nothing is set as of now so I don't want to say anything. As far as collaborations are concerned; you understand that for us to bring Attila and have him on stage with us 20 something years after both Mayhem and Salem gave birth to what is now being labeled as extreme music was an emotional experience. We brought something to a closure that night. We played a show with Nergal from Behemoth and that was a blast as well, we made an album and then took it on stage with one of the best all girl string quartets in the country, we played co-headlining shows with so many bands in the past... a lot has been happening. Nothing of it was done to help us out in any way. We thought it would be a nice twist to do things a little differently and we went for it. It keeps us on edge, having to play with a Classical string quartet, play songs of other bands etc. Salem is not occupied with how to become a mainstream Metal band therefore we are not trying to do anything that will ride on someone else's success. Future collaborations? Wow, the list is so long, I don't know where to start. Well, I actually do know where to start but until whoever I am after confirms that he or she is into it, there is nothing really to report. So we will have to wait and see.
Arcana Noctis: In the end let me wish you all the best and good luck with Salem from now on! If you need to add something in the end feel free my friend!
Nir: Thanks again for the interview. You certainly went for some very interesting questions. Thank you for reading this and if you are interested in more information about Salem, it can be found in abundance at www.salemband.com. Over and out.
Arcana Noctis: Hello Salem and Happy New Year! Things seems going great for you right now, if we count here that you have a new label and your 7th official album will be very soon out. How do you feel about that and what other interesting things could you share with us these days?
Nir: Hi everyone and thank you for your interest in Salem. I am Nir Nakav, drummer and lyricist of Salem and I am thrilled to be here with you all to satisfy your curiosity regarding all issues Salem. Our 7th album will do and that is always an exciting period. We have a massive CD release show planned for April in Israel and our shows here are always special. We will be playing 21 songs. Some are over 7 minutes long so it is going to be a challenge to survive. We hope to be getting into some festivals this summer. We are also celebrating half a century of Salem activity. On one hand it seems so long, on the other, doesn't seem like we accomplished everything we set ourselves up to do. So we are still very driven. The band keeps evolving from album to album and I see it as a good thing. We would not want to make the same album over and over. Most Salem members have families these days and it is amazing to have young music critics at your very home. Yes, it is an interesting period right now.Arcana Noctis: First of all, why you decided to leave the French label Season Of Mist and how you managed to sign with Pulverised Records from Singapore? Also, could you reveal us if you had some other contacts with different labels around the world meanwhile?
Nir: This is sensitive information that I don't think we would like to share with the general population. Let's just say that although we had no problems with Season Of Mist and they were always into our music, business wise we thought it would be best to go our separate ways. As a band who has been around for as long as we did, it is hard to find a new home since we are not going to sign any contract offered. We also understand that for many labels we pose a threat. They know that they can not do with us whatever they want and since these days there are so many young bands who would do anything for a contract, why bother with a band who sets demands? Pulverised Records, on a daily basis, proves to be the label we were always after. They are into the band and that is always a must for us. Next on our list is the requirement that they will take care of the business side of things very efficiently. We don't want to be on a label that expects the name Salem to sell records all by itself and is not into promoting our albums in an effort to expose our music to new legions of potential fans. We are actually excited to see what impact this new album is going to have under Pulverised Records.
Arcana Noctis: This last material you called it "Playing God And Other Short Stories". Is this its real name? And what do you mean with "and other short stories"? What exactly this title represents for you and what info can you give us to try playing God? In my point of view this is a very interesting album title, but it has nothing to do with "Necessary Evil" or "Collective Demise"! Should we take into consideration that your materials have no connection concerning all CD titles and lyrical universes?
Nir: Interesting questions indeed and I hope to touch on all the issues that you brought up here. Salem is a band who up until now on average took about four years in between albums. That is a long time. During this period we always change as individuals and therefore as musicians. Different issues are on our minds and our musical tastes change a bit. It is always Metal but it is spiced up slightly different every time. We see it as a blessed trait to have albums that are different from each other musically and lyrically. Another thing that happened to us over the last few years is that we decided not to wait for an entire album's worth of material before we went into the recording studio. We decided to concentrate on smaller bits at any given time. We found out that we can give more attention to the music this way, since at any moment we are only occupied with not more than twenty minutes worth of music and not an hour. So "Playing God" is a collection of three different sessions, hence the "and other short stories" title. "Playing God" is one of the stories and it claims that now that the human genome has been deciphered by humans, we are in a position to intervene in the role of the creator. These are interesting times to be living in and I hope that humanity will meet this challenge intelligently and compassionately. The lyrics on the chorus of that song are sung in Hebrew and are taken from the holiest of prayers according to Jewish belief in which we are being released from vows we undertook that past year while asking God to forgive us for all sins committed against her/him.
Arcana Noctis: "Playing God And Other Short Stories" contains 12 tracks, one of them being a cover version of Bob Marley's "Exodus". Your surprises continue with a very special guest, Thomas from At The Gates, the one who left his vocal mark on 2 of your songs! What all is about exactly and how do you think these surprises will be receive by band fans and your listeners around the world?
Nir: I am not really sure how the fans will react. A band always hopes to be embraced by the fans. I can honestly say that the Bob Marley cover sounds like Salem. It is pretty organic. I think that we added a nice twist to the song. Having said that, if you looked back, almost every past release had a cover song that was not really a Metal song to start with. We don't think that it does the original artist and the fans any justice to make a Metal cover of another Metal song, unless it is a song that was recorded many years ago under a very tight budget. We see no reason to cover Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer, Deep Purple, Alice In Chains, Pantera and a bunch of other bands we were into at one point. The original albums sound very good and we can not offer better versions to their music. Tomas Lindberg is a good friend and when we approached him he immediately said yes. He was thrilled to become a part of the Salem family and he was totally surprised that we asked him to handle all vocal duties on "Mark Of The Beast Part 2". We thought that his voice will enrich the "Mark Of The Beast" story and it certainly did. I love his tone and his intensity.
Arcana Noctis: Tell us a few words about the whole working process you had on "Playing God And Other Short Stories" and tell us too how the compositional process you had on your 7th opus went on! The whole recording process took place in Harold Studios, but the final mastering was finished in Sterling Sound NYC! Present us briefly your visit in studio and tell us what will be the main difference between your last recording sessions and all your previous recording processes!
Nir: As I said earlier, when we have three to six songs ready, we go into the recording studio to lay them down. They will usually contain two to three "stories". So at any given moment we are not working on more than a few "stories" and we take our time to meditate on the subjects. I think that the end result is always a lot stronger. Some of the material is the result of the band rehearsing and putting together material and some is the result of me sitting in my studio with either a guitar or a synthesizer writing music to movies or books that have inspired me. To give you an example: I recently saw in a book that I got for my kid a NASA picture of a sunset taken from Mars. I stared at it for hours. I am still fascinated by this picture and I am sure that when the time comes I will hear a soundtrack that goes with it. A future Salem release will definitely have a song titled "Martian Sunset". The mastering session should happen at a studio other than the one you recorded at and Sterling Sound in New York is at the top of the mastering game. So many great albums were and still are being mastered there by some of the best mastering engineers in the business. So it was very exciting for us to see what UE Nastasi was going to do with our mixes and we are thrilled with the result. It is like he managed to somehow energize the music and increase its intensity and it was exactly what we were after. Every album, besides being an artistic snapshot of where we are during the period it is made is also a learning experience. I would like to think that we are getting better at it as time progresses. I can tell you that as a drummer, "Playing God And Other Short Stories" was the first album I ever made where I thought of microphone placements while writing my drum parts. I wanted drums and cymbals to be panned a certain way in the stereo field. So I placed my cymbals where I thought the overhead microphones will pick them up the same way I heard them in my head. We used only two overhead microphones on all drums sessions. We recorded guitars with three amplifiers simultaneously connected to ten microphones and that was the first time we did that. Two cabinets were used for the bass session at the same time. We recorded African percussion. We did some experimentation on this album and had the time to evaluate the results. Some of the material was recorded a second time because we did not like something about the way it turned out the first time we recorded it. This is something that you usually do not do when you record all 12 songs in one session.
Arcana Noctis: It will be very nice if you could introduce us the whole material: musical & lyrical; but don't forget to mention a few technical details that could be extremely interesting for us! What will be the role of your lyrical content that you imagined for this album, and how does it fits with your Death Metal musical universe that you developed a lot in the latest years?
Nir: In Salem, the music comes before the lyrics. Always. Then we make the lyrics fit the music and not the other way around. We are not trying to squeeze in words just because we had a very important message to relay and therefore feel like we must force it to fit wherever the music allows. Once the music is done, as the lyricist in the band, I already have an idea about where the lyrics are going to fit in a way that will compliment the music. We are dealing with aesthetics here and it is a very important issue with us. The idea behind "Playing God And Other Short Stories" I already disclosed, "Downfall Of Paris" is an old war tune with a new Salem version superimposed over its main motif. "Drums Of The Dead" is inspired by a comic book by the same name. It belongs to the Hellboy universe. I did write song commentary inside the booklet that comes with the CD to explain the stories that are behind each song. We are not really a concept album kind of a band. So there is no universe that we were ever trying to put together. We see each album as a collection of snapshots of our reality at the time the album was put together and sometimes it is nice to put a past release on and to be taken back in time. Then you can really see how we changed as people and as musicians. What we were occupied with conceptually and musically at that time period.
Arcana Noctis: I must to reveal you that your cover artwork left me a little bit speechless, mostly by its simplicity but through its symbolical value too! What exactly do you want to express through such a cover, and what made you to chose this symbolical system extremely attached to Ghana's history and ancient myths and legends?
Nir: Well, thank you. I am glad to know that the artwork has an impact. That was the intention. I think that Nir Gutraiman, the art director, treats all visual aspects the way we treat our music. Once the album is mixed, he sits with it for a couple of weeks, just listening to the material. Then he sees images that he tries to replicate. The "Drums Of The Dead" story really got him hooked and that is why the cover art revolves around African imagery. That is what the story is all about. We also thought that as time progresses, through technological advancements, the world becomes a small village indeed and we learn that people are all the same all over the world. We are subjected to the same influences and same moods. We are truly all alike. So we were not afraid to express this visually this time although the band is known as a Jewish/Israeli band. We feel that this entire visual aspect that the band spends so much time and effort on and sees it as an integral part of what we are out to say is being missed by most kids who download music off the internet and it doesn't matter if you paid for it or not. Not having the booklet in your hands while listening to the album lessens the album's intended impact.
Arcana Noctis: Both, lyrical content and visual effect are hand in hand to create something unitary, something that could fit in all the details with Salem's musical atmosphere! How do you see "Playing God And Other Short Stories" in the end, and what do you expect from this full length from now on? This new opus will be recorded surely this year 2010! Do you plan to release an EP, as you already did for almost all your previous materials, to announce the new full length?
Nir: No, the album is coming out around May 2010 and no EP will be released before that. I think that the internet serves as a vehicle for promotion. It is so effective that there is no need to release an EP. CDs are not selling all too well these days as you know and EPs always sold even less than full lengths so there is no point really in releasing them anymore. At least this is what Pulverised Records and Salem thinks. We see "Playing God And Other Short Stories" as a step up from previous releases both as far as production values and musical skills are concerned. We hope it will be received well both by the media and the fans. If it creates a good buzz, it will be easier to get this wagon rolling.
Arcana Noctis: I suppose that you revealed us almost everything about the new CD that you're going to release very soon! Right now I'd like to ask you a few things about your past, something that really attracted my attention! It seems that you were quite closer to Mayhem's leader Euronymus, who received you very well in Norway. But you had some problems with his mate Varg from Burzum, also in Mayhem, who sent you even an explosive letter because you are from Israel I suppose! Now that Varg left prison, do you think that he will start doing the same old shitty things he did years ago? Do you believe that he changed all this years that he spent behind the bars?Nir: Euronymus was a friend. I think he was one of the first in the world who heard this extreme style of music in his head before it was given a name. He was a true pioneer. Varg is responsible for his actions. I can not tell you what he learned or didn't learn in jail. I think that some people get a little too carried away with what music is about and they take it a little too far. Music is an artistic output. Movies are too. Yet you do not expect Arnold or Eastwood to be going on a killing spree. To have everything in balance is an important thing. Do not be an extremist.
Arcana Noctis: There are some rumors about a track that you recorded years ago, in which you spoke about the holocaust, something that disturbed a little bit the political scene from your country! What all is about and how you managed to leave this controversy about what a band should sing or not?
Nir: As I said, our choice of songs to cover was always eclectic. This song was no different. Since most of us have grandparents who either survived or perished in death camps, we felt obligated to make their message reach the younger generation. Our way of doing this was by taking a song that is mostly recognized with that time phase and give it our own treatment. The chairman of the Israeli parliament thought that we were not entitled to touch on the Holocaust subject since we were a Rock band and our music is played in clubs where people drink and make out. He did not want the Holocaust remembered in such environments and felt that we were turning something holy and terrible into something mundane and ignorable. Others in the parliament thought differently. It was the only time in Salem's history that the band was featured in all the mainstream media channels and in prime time.
Arcana Noctis: I know that you played a few years ago on the main stage at the French Hellfest! What interesting dates do you announce for 2010 and tell us too if you plan to make a release party for "Playing God And Other Short Stories"? What other interesting plans do you have for your band Salem this year? And what should we expect from your side concerning your illustrious collaborations, if we take into consideration that until now Atilla (Mayhem), Colin Richardson (the producer) or Thomas (At The Gates) helped you a little bit these last years?
Nir: We hope to repeat the Hellfest experience. Nothing is set as of now so I don't want to say anything. As far as collaborations are concerned; you understand that for us to bring Attila and have him on stage with us 20 something years after both Mayhem and Salem gave birth to what is now being labeled as extreme music was an emotional experience. We brought something to a closure that night. We played a show with Nergal from Behemoth and that was a blast as well, we made an album and then took it on stage with one of the best all girl string quartets in the country, we played co-headlining shows with so many bands in the past... a lot has been happening. Nothing of it was done to help us out in any way. We thought it would be a nice twist to do things a little differently and we went for it. It keeps us on edge, having to play with a Classical string quartet, play songs of other bands etc. Salem is not occupied with how to become a mainstream Metal band therefore we are not trying to do anything that will ride on someone else's success. Future collaborations? Wow, the list is so long, I don't know where to start. Well, I actually do know where to start but until whoever I am after confirms that he or she is into it, there is nothing really to report. So we will have to wait and see.
Arcana Noctis: In the end let me wish you all the best and good luck with Salem from now on! If you need to add something in the end feel free my friend!
Nir: Thanks again for the interview. You certainly went for some very interesting questions. Thank you for reading this and if you are interested in more information about Salem, it can be found in abundance at www.salemband.com. Over and out.