Welcome To The New Wave: South of Salem

With The New Wave of Classic Rock now being a thing with the upcoming release of it’s first ‘Metal For Muthas’-styled compilation album; Sentinel Daily speaks to one of the leading lights of the movement in a series of chats with some of the artists featured on the record. Dig the new breed!

Welcome! For the benefit of our readers please identify yourself and your role in the band! “Hi I’m Joey and I’m the vocalist of South Of Salem“.

Good to have you along for the ride – and I’d also like to take this opportunity to deliver a tardy congratulations on your The Sinner Takes It All album from last year! Now, South of Salem formed after the NWOCR page appeared and became established on Facebook, so for you as a band it’s always been there – was it important for the band as a plank in your original plans to get a foothold with the members of the group? “Yeah. Although NWOCR was new for for the band, we all knew of it as individuals and its integral role in helping to establish up and coming acts. The community has been incredibly supportive. When Jeremy (Wills, NWOCR co-founder) kindly shared our album as one of his top albums of the year, we saw so much extra traction to our record release”.

The movement covers a wide range of musical styles and genres – what does the term ‘classic rock’ mean to you? “Classic rock is a genre, different points in time, a community… it’s so many things. It’s honestly impossible to nail down, but whatever it is, it’s awesome”.

It is indeed. And exploring the ‘notion’ of classic rock further, If you could have appeared on any classic rock album from the past, what would it be? “Appetite For Destruction. It’s an awesome album from start to finish and the greatest debut of all time in my opinion”.

That’s not just your opinion, I’d suspect! Coming back to the present now, who would you say were your favourite artists who appear on the The Official New Wave Of Classic Rock – Volume 1 album? “There are so many great bands on that compilation. To name a few we’re excited to be joining – Phil Campbell & The Bastard Sons, Ryders Creed, King Creature, Gin Annie, Hollowstar and Massive Wagons“.

Obviously it’s hard to talk about anything music industry-related these days without mentioning COVID – how did the pandemic impact the band, and what plans do you have moving forward if and when things return to normal? “Without gigs, we’ve really been able to connect to our fans online and use social media to its full potential. It just gave us time to really enjoy the release (of new album The Sinner Takes it All). As soon as possible we’ll be out gigging, touring and finally rocking these songs live. We can’t wait”.

Have sites like The New Wave of Classic Rock Facebook page been useful in maintaining momentum for you over the last fourteen months? “NWOCR has been integral in building our fan base and giving them a platform to share our music with new people. We can’t thank them enough”.

Back to the past again now – Here’s your chance to curate your own stage at Sentinel Daily’s virtual classic rock festival – which five ‘classic’ bands would you select, and why? “Motörhead,
Guns n’ Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe, AC/DC. Because that would one hell of a line-up and we’ll fight anybody that thinks otherwise”.

I’m sure there’ll be no need for anything that drastic! Finally – is there anything else you’d like to tell the readers of Sentinel Daily? “Rock n roll is still very much alive. If you dig the bands we’ve listed above, definitely check us out”.