This is Lee Walker from Planetmosh interviewing Ben and Danny from the band Salvation.
LW – Thank you for talking the time out to discuss things Salvation related for the Planetmosh.
LW – For the people out there who are just discovering Salvation as a result of this interview how did the band form?
Ben – A long time ago, in fact was it early 80’s Danny?
Danny – Yeah, early 80’s, we started just making noises, we had synthesizers, guitars, drum machines, and then eventually it just evolved into proper songs loosing the synthesizers and keeping the drum machine and getting new members with lots of guitars, effects peddles.
Ben – Danny’s the original founding member if you’d like, he’s been in the band since ’83 I think was the first single. Over the years there’s been probably around 15 members, but Danny’s always been there.
Danny – Sounds a lot, 15, but over 10 years
Ben – Essentially yes, a lot of guitarists
Danny – Yeah, basically guitarists … and drummers, getting rid of drum machines and replacing them with drummers
LW – What made you choose the name Salvation for the band?
Danny – It was basically because we wanted to deliver people from shitty music, there was a lot of around at the time and it was just the lighter side of religion really.
LW – How did you end up working with Andrew Eldritch?
Danny – We did the first single, mainly because I was working for him and I knew them all and he just offered to help us in the studio, so that’s how that came about really, it was more a friend thing, it wasn’t a label, money making big scheme, we were in the pub and he just said “do you fancy going to the studio?” so we did.
Ben – But the band did actually record and album or what should have been an album, that never came out from which we are doing a song tonight.
Danny – Yeah that came about in the same sort of way really, coz Eldritch wanted to check out a new studio and needed a vehicle to test out the desk and the noises and things.
Ben – We were guinea pigs
Danny – Yeah but it was a really big, fantastic studio so we didn’t really mind.
Ben – But the album never came out, for contractual reasons (both laugh). It might do one day you never know.
LW – I noticed on your” Jessica’s Crime” album that you had Wayne Hussey help out on the production side of things. Was it a similar situation?
Danny – Yeah that was the same thing. Wayne wanted to start playing about in the studio and we were around and he just said lets go to the studio and see what happens, so we did.
Ben – We do have friends in high places, and it did work out
Danny – We didn’t have any money, but we had people who could work deals out with studios and stuff so it worked for both of us really, so it was alright.
LW – I couldn’t help but notice that your biography has a reference to an ‘unfortunate clothes ironing incident’ involving the The Fields Of The Nephelim, what was the actual incident ?
Danny – I’m not sure what that is (laughs)
Ben – I eman we normally, in the old days, used to spend more time ironing our shirts than actually rehearsing maybe
Danny – And they didn’t
Ben – And they took offence maybe I don’t know (both laugh)
Danny – Yeah coz we played with them, that’s when they used to just throw flour in the air and then stand underneath it, and it was ruining our wardrobe. That’s probably where it came from. But it wasn’t a big deal, nothing actually came to blows or anything (laughs).
LW – What was your more memorable performance to date?
Danny – I can’t remember any of them (both laugh)
Ben – Too many to mention
Danny – The ones I can remember I don’t want to remember and the good ones are the ones that we forget.
Ben – We did a few Marquee ones
Danny – Marquee in London, yeah, the old Marquee which obviously isn’t there anymore. We did a few good ones at The Duchess in Leeds when it was good.
Ben – Yeah Duchess of York in Leeds
Danny – There’s nothing particular, for certain reasons they were good gigs either because it was with a new band, it went well, nice venue. Theres nothing that’s been really major. The Mission gig was quite good.
Ben – Supporting The Alarm on a 25 day tour, playing all the major venues
Danny – Brixton Academy
Ben – Yeah, we finished in Brixton Academy, that was a good one, 3000 people, yeah that was one I remember. But the fans as it were in the old days used to travel around the country so we were more or less guaranteed of a reasonable audience wherever we went, we had a minimum of a hundred, couple of hundred people.
LW – Besides your appearance at The Midlands Goth Festival today, what else have you got planned for 2012?
Ben – Well, we’ll see how this one goes first (laughs) we’d like to do more gigs, I mean it’s a bit more difficult these days, but we do get offered this and that. It just needs to be the right place the right time kinda of thing, we all live in different places, me, Danny and guitarist Paul are based in Leeds but Adam (bass) and George (drums) live at opposite ends of the country, its not easy organising practises, rehearsals etc, but we’d like to do more. Theres nothing specific planned but we will do more gigs, this is not just a one off if you’d like, we want to do more gigs.
LW – Do you have any messages you’d like to pass on to your fans?
Danny – We are extremely grateful and are very lucky to be still around and to be able to do gigs, so anybody that comes and anybody that still enjoys it, its really good for us so keep coming and if they still want us we’ll keep playing, so thank you.
For more information on Salvation please check out their Facebook page HERE
For more information on the Midlands Goth Festival please check out their Facebook page HERE