SUBWAY TO SALLY

MySpace

Состав

Eric Fish - вокал, волынки, флейта, гобой
Bodenski - вокал, гитара
Simon - вокал, гитара
Frau Schmitt - скрипка
Ingo Hampf - гитара, мандолина
Sugar Ray - бас
David Patsch - ударные, перкуссия

Дискография

Album 1994 - 1994
MCMXCV - 1995
Foppt Den Damon! - 1996
Bannkreis - 1997
Hochzeit - 1999
Schrei - 2000
Herzblut - 2001
Engelskrieger - 2003
Nord Nord Ost - 2005
Bastard - 2007

Эти плодовитые немецкие фолк-рокеры из Потсдама ведут отсчет своей деятельности с сентября 1990 года. Именно тогда состоялся их первый концерт под вывеской "Subway to Sally". Группа тогда исполняла фолк (средний между ирландским и шотландским), всякие каверы, а также фолк-обработки известных роковых вещей. В первый состав "Sallys" входили Инго Хампф (гитара), Боденски (гитара, вокал), Саймон (гитара, вокал), Кони (труба) и Гвидо (ударные). Чуть позже в команду пришла скрипачка Фрау Шмитт, притащившая за собой вокалиста и спеца по всяким духовым инструментам Эрика Хешта.

В мае 1991-го эта конфигурация записала первую демку, а где-то через полгода в коллективе появились бас-гитарист по кличке Сахарный Луч и ударник, скрывавшийся под аббревиатурой T.W. К тому времени у группы окончательно определился фронтмен – Эрик Хешт, всегда вылазивший к самому краю сцены. В 1993-м "Subway to Sally" заключили контракт с лейблом "Costbar" и отправились в Голландию записывать дебютный альбом.

Времени на сессии было выделено маловато, и поэтому, согласно легенде, музыканты потребляли в немерянных количествах пиво и шоколад, чтобы избавиться от стресса. Однако все обошлось и "Album 1994" вышел в свет, а "Subway to Sally" занялись "живой" работой. Во время одного из шоу музыканты познакомились с Доро Петерс и в результате получили контракт от "Vielklang". Очередные сессии стартовали в декабре 1994-го, причем с этого момента "Sallys" решили петь только на немецком. "MCMXCV", равно как и последующий "Foppt Den Damon!" продюсировался Свеном Регенером, а в роли звукоинженера выступил Джордж Калев. Впоследствии Калев вместе с Инго Хампфом продюсировал альбомы "Hochzeit" и "Herzblut".

В конце 1994-го прошел первый "Weinachtstour", который стал для группы традиционным завершением каждого года. В начале 1995-го поклонники группы могли лицезреть первый клип "сабвеев", "Grabrede", несколько раз прокрученный по каналу "VIVA". Затем на свет появился "MCMXCV", а "Subway to Sally" отправились в первое полноценное турне, причем опять же впервые пересекли границу Германии (имеется в виду посещение Австрии). На следующий год вышел "Foppt Den Damon!", подаривший группе первую "чартовую" композицию "Der Sturm" (национальный Топ 50).

Пока Шмитт, Хешт и Боденски немного развлекались в "Skyclad" из "подземки" выскочил T.W. Было это в начале 1997-го, так что тур в поддержку "Foppt Den Damon!" состоялся при участии нового ударника, Дэвида Патша. В апреле музыканты приступили к сессиям "Bannkreis", а по их завершении почти год мотались по стране с концертами. Но отдыха не предвиделось, и "Subway to Sally" сменили четыре студии и нескольких "гостей" (в том числе и Кая Люттера из "In extremo"), пока не закончили работу над "Hochzeit". Труды оправдали себя, и этот альбом взобрался на девятнадцатую строчку немецких чартов.

На этот раз музыканты действительно заслужили отдых, и в последующие годы отделались от публики выпуском одного концертника и одного сборника хитов. Новая полноценная работа появилась только в 2003-м. На "Engelskrieger" на фоне средневековья появились металлические оттенки, а также фишки а-ля "Rammstein". Обновленный имидж пришелся слушателям по душе, и уже спустя две недели после выхода "Engelskrieger" этот альбом уже торчал на 9-й позиции национальных чартов. // http://hardrockcafe.narod.ru/

english wikipedia.org

Subway to Sally was founded in Potsdam, Germany, in the early 1990s. It is a rock band with clear folk and medieval influences, later also with gothic and metal elements added to the mix. With their continuous inclusion of oriental sounds and elements of classical music (noted for instance by the use of the arrangements of the backup vocals) and the use of instruments less frequently seen in metal bands, such as bagpipes, shawm, violin, hurdy-gurdy and lute, the band has acquired the label of medieval metal. They have released 9 studio albums, two live albums and two live DVDs. Their fame is mainly in the German-speaking countries, having played only a handful of concerts outside of their "turf".

Biography

The very first concert given by Subway to Sally was held in September of 1990. The band then consisted of Ingo Hampf, Bodenski, Simon, Coni (trumpet) and Guido (drums). Their first appearance onstage in the constellation with which they later recorded their first album (Album 1994), was given in the Potsdamer "Stube" in January 1992. The group had decided on needing a fiddle to complete the sound, something which brought Frau Schmitt (Silke Volland) to the band, who in turn introduced Eric Fish (Erik Hecht) on the bagpipes.

In the early years, Subway to Sally played Irish / Scottish inspired folk rock, as reflected by the tracklist of their first album, being the only album where the majority of songs are in English (for this they hired a friend to write lyrics in English). The group then decided they wanted to keep their lyrics in German, thus being a part of the first wave of bands to do so after the Berlin wall broke down. Their second album, released in 1995 and aptly named MCMXCV, saw a mixture of biblically inspired lyrics and what is often referred to as "medieval" music, thus placing the label "medieval metal" firmly onto their foreheads. A label that they still are being confronted with, though the music can hardly be described as such and though the band repeatedly try to deny it. Three major changes can be noted with the release of MCMXCV. Firstly, the appearing of the self-written German lyrics penned by Bodenski, secondly, Eric Fish moved up from being the piper to being the frontman and main singer. Thirdly, the focus of the music was no longer on folklore with the occasional self-composed song tossed in for measure, but was turned around to exactly the opposite, with the two translated folk songs "Krähenfraß" ("The twa Corbies") and "Carrickfergus" adapted to fit the band's style.

Between 1994 and 1997 the band rapidly released four albums and toured Germany to exhaustion, with an average of around 100 concerts (take or give a few) per year. Drummer T.W. left the band in 1997, after completing the recordings of "Foppt den Dämon", being replaced by David Pätsch for the tour and the following albums. "Bannkreis" was the first chart entry of the band, but they were quite consequently ignored by the radio and music television channels. With "Hochzeit" the band broke their habits and spent more time on producing the album, leading to a more polished and worked-through sound. This paid off with another chart placement: the album made it to #19 in the official charts. The sound of "Hochzeit" is very much picked up by the next studio album, "Herzblut", though thematically moving in a different direction. Where "Hochzeit" is darker and ends on the note of "Müde" ("Tired") "Ach, ich bin von dieser Welt so müd'" ("Oh, I am so tired of this world"), "Herzblut" starts off with the energetic "die Schlacht" ("the battle"), declearing that "Ich gewinne diese Schlacht" ("I win this battle").

In 2003 the album "Engelskrieger" was released. In preparation of the release, the band made the lyrics available on their home page, leading to wild discussions and accusations of "selling out". The sound of the record, breaking clearly with their previous works, did nothing to silence those accusations. Subway to Sally had grown up, met up with the real world and made a deeply disturbing record, dealing with modern issues on modern terms. The lyrics were no longer veiled and styled old-fashionedly, but instead painfully direct, as was the music, delivered with more brute and force. "Wenn Engel hassen" ("When angels hate") from "Herzblut" can be said to explore the same terrain that "Geist des Kriegers" ("Spirit of the warrior") does, dealing with an individual running amok, though the latter is firmly lodged in the "post 9/11"-world. Several band members have indeed emphasised the impact of the attacks of the Twin Towers and the following political events as inspirational source for the album. Other songs deal incest, euthanasia, leaders who mis-lead their people and the general fall and corruption of our western society. "Engelskrieger" entered the German charts at #9, and the band once more toured extensively. A live DVD was filmed in the Columbiahalle in Berlin on the first leg of the tour, leading to the release of a double DVD in the autumn of 2003. In April 2004 Subway to Sally changed label, leaving Universal (Motor) for the smaller metal-label Nuclear Blast.

The very last concert of 2004, the all-yearly concert in Lindenpark (Potsdam) on the 30/12, was also the last concert of drummer David Pätsch, who left the band to pursue another musical direction with the Blue Man Group in Berlin. The band then spent half a year looking for a replacement, finally deciding on Simon Michael Schmitt to replace David. (On a side-note this has led to a great deal of confusion, as there are now 2 Simons, 3 Michaels and 2 Schmitts in the band.) The recording of the new album was already finished by the time "tiny Simon" joined the band.

Despite being very pleased with the outcome of "Engelskrieger", the band made no secret of it being a one-off and of returning to the more conventional "Sally-sound" with the next studio recording. "Nord Nord Ost" was originally planned to be released in 2004, but was delayed until fall 2005, due to the extensiveness of the production. Though the band have previously made use of musicians from outside the band, they now did so on a bigger scale, involving the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg to create a wider and more orchestral sound. The album debuted at #5 in the official charts, the highest chart placement the band has seen to date.

In 2006, the group released the CD/DVD "Nackt", which was a live recording of acoustic versions of some of their songs.

On October 19th, 2007, their new album "Bastard" was released via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was recorded at Horus studio in Hannover, Germany and Lundgaard studio in Denmark.

Side projects

Several of the band members have side- or solo-projects going. Wanting to "return to his roots" as a musician, Eric Fish started touring on his own in 1999. This project has now grown up to become a band in its own right, and three CDs have been released; "Auge in Auge", "Zwilling" and "Gegen den Strom". Eric is also involved in a hitherto online-only project called Weiß and often appears as a guest musician on records of other bands (for instance with Letzte Instanz and Fiddler's Green). Bodenski has published a book of poems, called "Inniglich", which draws heavily on his lyrics for Subway to Sally, but also contains other works and non-published Sally songs. Little Simon also plays in the powermetal band Silverlane. Frau Schmitt used to be a member of the somewhat "folkyjazzy" ensemble 17 Hippies.

Discography