Press via Kostas Salomidis

1. Dream Theater – A Change of Seasons

It’s an album dedicated to all the bands that influenced Dream Theater in their career, such as; Iron Maiden, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple and Elton John.

2. Apocalyptica – Plays Metallica by Four Cellos
To me, Apocalyptica were the first phenomenon I witness to see classical instruments players play such a music genre. They gained fame especially through their masterpiece tribute album, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos.

3. Nativity in Black – A tribute for Black Sabbath
This series album is a paying tribute for the iconic legendary band, Black Sabbath. Megadeth, Pantera, Sepultua, Faith No More, Type O Negative, Cathedral, Godsmack, Machine Head and many more bands were featured in this album.

4. Ronnie James Dio – This Is Your Life
Either I was more into the earlier tribute Holy Dio from 2000, but This Is Your Life is a well-made album. My favorites are Scorpions covering ‘The Temple of the King’ and Doro covering ‘Egypt’.

5. Various Artists – A Tribute to the Scorpions
Although I didn’t like many covers on this album, but some were very good. My favorite was by the power metal band Sonata Arctica covering ‘Still Loving You’.

6. Various Artists – A Tribute to the Legendary Twisted Sister
Damn! I like the variety of styles are made by Koch. Black metal, Speed, Thrash, Power and more many genres were featured in this album paying a tribute for the Legendary hard rock/heavy metal act, Twisted Sister.

7. Strummin’ with the Devil: The Southern Side of Van Halen
Well, this is a different kind of tribute albums. The album was all made by the American folklore style, Bluegrass. VH‘s frontman David Lee Roth was featured in some of the songs as well as promoting the album in many shows. However, I didn’t like ‘Eruption’ banjo cover by Dennis Caplinger but it’s still a fine album.

8. Sigh – A Tribute to Venom (2008)
Sigh is one of my favorite Japanese metal bands. When I knew about them via Terrorizer magazine’s CD in 2002/2003 – when we had no access to internet like now! I loved them so much. This album was released almost 8 years ago, and my favorite is ‘Black Metal’. Hey, don’t expect the chainsaw in the intro! 😉

9. Various Artists – Return Of The Mountain King (2000)
Various artists payed a tribute to the legendary progressive metal act, Savatage. I could say that this album has the lowest rate in this list, as it failed in both promoting as well as the music. Yet, there are some good covers delivered by the harcore band, Chiper for ‘Chance’ and the inactive progressive/power metal act, Cyrcle IX covering ‘Believe’.

10. Various Artists – A Tribute To Accept

This is a two-volumes tribute album; the first was released in 1999 and the second in 2001. The first gained many positive reviews especially for the famous cover by Dimmu Borgir for ‘Metal Heart’. 

 

11. Tribute to Megadeth: This Is the News

I believe that Megdaeth is one of the bands that you need to make as many tribute volumes for as many of their songs are damn great! Although, this album concentrated on certain tracks, it’s a very good one also.

12. Dead Forever: Tribute To Motorhead
Once you realize that there’s a tribute for Motorhead, you check the setlist and see who covered the songs like; Ace of Spades, Overkill and Motorhead. The album was released in 1999 and got some cool reviews, it also delivers a good variety among heavy metal, death, black and speed metal genres.

 

13. Church of the Devil: Tribute to King Diamond
Although there was already a previous one released by Necropolis Records in 2000 and it’s very good for black and extreme metal lovers. But I prefered to choose the Dwell Records one as it’s more into heavy metal. 

14. Various Artists – A Tribute To Manowar
Manowar is one of the bands that you cannot just pass in the heavy metal world. There are numerous covers and tributes for the band because it features many great acts like; Power Symphony, Overkill, Arch Enemy, Therion and Edge of Sanity.

Finally, if you didn’t find what you fancy in my list, definitely you gonna find it within collections that were reproduced by some independent or international record labels, such as; Metal-Hard Rock Covers, Metal museum, Tribute and Great Metal Covers. These assembled songs are from all the covers that have been done but in series of CDs. You can find all metal-related bands (and non-metal too) make covers for each other.

Total respect to Tributes of Metal blog as it was one of my main resources. If you didn’t find what you like in my list, definitely you will find it on their blog.

Edited by: NJ Bakr

1980-1983. 2009-present. Why did you guys take a 27 year break from each other?

It is really difficult to remember why we split up back then. After some reflection on this, I think that we felt that Salem run its course. From the very start of the band, we had been gigging hard and building our support, writing songs that we liked and that we felt represented our view on rock/metal music, pestering the rock papers and magazines to notice us, spending our hard-earned money on recording demos and getting better gear for the show, nagging record companies to get some sort of deal, and so on …
By 1983 I think that we felt that we’d had enough of banging our heads against the wall – thinking that we were not really getting anywhere when bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon and Def Leppard we becoming hugely successful.
We were only in our late teens/early twenties and were probably very impatient.
That year we recorded our third demo in Huddersfield – inc. ‘The King’, ‘Hangman’s Noose’, ‘Other Side of Hell’, etc. and we were very pleased with the sound and the songs – so when we got no interest from the music industry it was a massive disappointment, and feeling so deflated we decided to call it a day and go our different ways.

At that time – and until 2009 – we never had any thoughts of reforming the band.

How do you all feel playing together after 27 years?

When I was approached in 2009 to release all the Salem recordings from the 1980s, I first had to track down the guys – we hadn’t been together for a long time. It was great to meet up and of course everyone was very happy to release the 1980s music – on what became the In The Beginning … album.
With the release of this album, we thought it would be great to play a gig together and after a series of rehearsals, we played our first gig in 2010. It was great fun and we got a brilliant reception. There is a line in our song ‘Reach To Eternity’ that goes … “Yeah! It is how it was meant to be”, and that was exactly how it felt.

Is the NWOBHM appreciated by metal fans today or do they just expect to hear the classic covers from the 80s and 90s?
Yes. We have been delighted with the reaction to our recent Forgotten Dreams album – some people calling it their album of the year! More about that later.

Have you been to Dubai before in any capacity? What brings you here?
Yes. I have been to Dubai before. I spent about six months there, on and off, in 2009 and 2010. I found it a fascinating place – a real mixture of cultures – some incredible city planning and architecture, old and new. (I visited the then-newly opened Burj Khalifa). There was a real “can do” attitude. I actually had my guitar with me in Dubai and I composed a song about my some of my experiences – we are recording this for the next album.

What do you have in store for the metal fans at the Music Room?

We will be playing a mixture of 1980s songs, from the In The Beginning … album and new songs from our recent Forgotten Dreams album. Simon is a great singer and front-man and we all work hard to put on a memorable show.

It is always a superb feeling to have loads of people head banging and singing the songs – it’s so good when they already know the words! Those who have not heard us before are soon joining in too.

1 compilation, 2EPs and 1 Full-length album. That’s a lot for three years after a 27-year break? What keeps you going as musicians after all these years?
We just love it. Music is in our bones. And even though we’re a little more “mature” now, we are just as enthusiastic as ever. We love playing and it is a fantastic opportunity to travel and experience different parts of the globe. And there is always the thought that maybe, just maybe, we can get to the next level… and then the next, and then the next…!

*… and our music, with all of the band contributing to the composition of our music, we are always writing new songs that have a range of styles with different dynamics – a healthy, positive sound – we try to make the most of the twin-guitars (of Mark and I) – heavy music with powerful melodies – power and majesty!!!

When is your next album due?
Although we are all proud to be from Hull in Yorkshire (UK), we live in different parts of the country now so getting together to record has to be well planned. However, we have already recorded nearly a half of the new album at Adrian’s studio** so perhaps the album may be ready by summer/autumn 2015?

**Ade is bass player and genius behind our recorded sound – and he is already promising that the next album will sound even better than our Forgotten Dreams.

I can’t help but to ask – there are so many Salems that you now go by Salem (UK). Ever thought of the name change?

Well, yes you are correct – there are many bands and artists called Salem. As far as I know, we were the only “Salem” at the time we started out – however, that was a long time ago so we now use Salem (UK) to try to reduce confusion LOL!

Change our name from Salem? No. It would be like starting again – and we’ve worked enough to get where we are.

A few final words …

Salem is the same line-up as in 1982 – we are old friends – and we have a great respect for each other, as musicians and for each other’s personal and family life.

Unfortunately, Salem’s drummer Paul (Mendham) is not able to join us in Dubai due to other commitments, so we’re very pleased to be joined for this gig by deputy drummer Oli. Please give him a warm welcome.

We are really looking forward to playing for you in The Music Rooms, Dubai – 28 November 2014

Salem will perform at The Music Room on November 28th brought to you by Metal Asylum and supported by the local band, Ascendant. Coincidentally, Ascendant’s guitarist, Ashish Shetty, is also founder and member of the India-based, symphonic metal band Blood & Iron, who are signed up with the same record company as Salem (UK) – Pure Steel Records.

Interviewed by: Natsky Ds.
Edited by: Duha Mousa

How did the idea of being an Iron Maiden tribute come to you?
It was the idea of our original singer who was performing in a mixed-gender Iron Maiden tribute at the time. My original band, Phantom Blue, was searching for a bass player back then and we scouted out the bass player of that band. Funny thing is that we ended up not using her for our band, but the guitarist and I were recruited for the new all female Maiden tribute which came to be The Iron Maidens. It was also during a very slow and dull time period for the original and live music scene here in Los Angeles and some of us were just looking for something fun to do.

What are the challenges or benefits you feel being a female in the metal world?
Well, you are not always taken so seriously at first being an all-female band. People don’t always want to believe that 5 girls can play this type of music like we do our best to do. So other than the initial resistance from a few “nay”sayers, there really isn’t many other challenges. The benefits are that we are still the minority in the metal world being female musicians, although the numbers of female shredders are rapidly on the rise! This said, there are not as many all female groups out there in the metal world and this alone draws some attention to the band to begin with.

13 years of being a tribute band to the greatest metal band in history! What are your future plans?
We are having such a good time, it’s hard to believe 13 years has already passed! We plan to continue paying tribute to the mighty MAIDEN as long as our fellow Maiden fans want to hear it and come to the shows! Next on our agenda is to get a new CD of Maiden tunes with our current lineup out so we can give people something to take home with them after they take in a show!

Who from Iron Maiden did you meet, and how was it to meet your idols?
I have had the great fortune of meeting all the current members as well as Clive Burr. The band has met most of the members as well and it was like being a kid at Christmas again! We don’t really get star-struck, but come on – this is MAIDEN! m/

How hard is it to keep up with the energy, creativity, and sheer art that Iron Maiden has on stage?
It is definitely a challenge, to not only learn their material as close to the original as possible, but also to recreate and capture the feel they recorded. It really makes you appreciate the thought and detail and masterful writing involved in these songs having to listen to them so closely to learn every nuance possible. I think Eddie has the hardest part on stage though – he has quite the shoes to fill! HAHA!

Aren’t you planning on having your own music anytime soon? Or even in side-projects?
We all keep busy with side projects. It would be fun to dabble in some of our own music at some point, but quite honestly, right now this project is keeping us pretty busy and it really takes some solid commitment to do an original project right. I’ll never say never on the idea of writing out own tunes

and maybe even throwing one in on a tribute cd might be cool. Who knows?

What message do you have for your female fans in the Middle East?
The same message as we do for the male fans in the Middle East! – Up the Irons and we will be seeing you SOON!! m/ We have been to different parts of the Middle East and have had a great experience each and every time! This will be our very first visit to Dubai and we are looking forward to it!!!

What can we expect from your show? Any preview you can give us? 
You can expect a high-energy show with Maiden fans playing for fellow Maiden fans, and guest appearances from Eddie, the devil, monsters, and more! For a sneak peak, check out this link!

Interviewed by: Natsky Ds

Edited by: NJ Bakr