Rockezine.com interview with Salmon on Dec 28, 2004

with Sven de Haan on Dec 28, 2004


		You just release your second album When the dust settles... I read that you started writing this album about two years back. How did the writing of the album proceed? In fact we started writing even before recording our first CD. Half of the new songs were written by Gerrit this time, who also wrote all the lyrics. Jan Jaap wrote a lot of “Time To Fantasize” and “September Weeps”.“Three” is an old idea from Sven. Of course every bandmember added their ideas to the basic idea and sometimes the songs turned out to be quite different from the basic structure.
		Which of the songs caused the most troubles writing or recording? I guess it was “Time To Fantasize” with its numerous, various bits and pieces.
		Are you 100% pleased with the new album or are there some minor things you’d like to have seen different? One is almost never 100% satisfied, I assume. There are always improvements thinkable afterwards. Mainly, we would have desired more time to make this album, but we ran out of money so we had a tight time schedule; a common problem for bands with a limited budget.
		I understand that the album is an independent release. Are you independent by choice or are you still looking for a proper label? We have been looking for a label since our debut album, but no one was interested. After a while we started to discover the advantages of making everything by ourselves. The main advantage is 100% profit of the sales price! Furthermore, due to internet nowadays you can promote and distribute your music worldwide far easier.
		How are you handling the promotion and the distribution of your albums? We keep everything in our own hands and as described before: due to internet we can reach a huge market worldwide through our website and web shops. Also you can obtain our CDs in some CD stores in Holland. We have offered those stores our CDs, some on consignment and some for a reasonable purchase price. It works out well.
		How many albums does Salmon have to sell to break even? It is not a matter of how many albums but how many copies of an album you sell. Our breakeven point is approx. 600 copies per album. We have paid our debut album ourselves all the way. After selling more than 600 copies of that album, we were able to pay approx. 90% of the making of our second album. We have a mutual Salmon bank account and all the earned money goes to a saving account on behalf of the band.
		What is the biggest compliment you read concerning your new album and what is the biggest crap you’ve read so far? The biggest compliment is, I guess, the very favourable review in the well-known Dutch music magazine “Oor” we have received; especially when you consider the fact that they were not sympho-minded in the past. The biggest crap is a statement in a review that our music was compared to/had influences of Dream Theater (!). I can’t recall the writer, but I assume he had mixed up some CDs during reviewing. Never, not even in our wildest dreams, we imagined sounding like Dream Theater, on the contrary, I should say. Very remarkable!
		In six years of the bands existence you’ve had to manage with a couple of band member chances. How did these changes influence the sound of Salmon? The only changes were always the drummer. We have had three different drummers. But only Michel really changed the sound of Salmon to more powerful and more variety in rhythms.
		Then there is the name of the band... Do you feel you’re struggeling to swim upstream in the symphonic rock scene? Is your music so different from other (Dutch) symphonic rock bands? No, we mean a “stuggling upstream swimming” against modern commercial music, not the sympho-rock scene! We try to “swim up” the unoriginal, thirteen in a dozen, commercial shit that’s harassing our ears day in day out on the radio. I think the Dutch sympho-bands are doing a great job, creating a lot of interesting music!
		Where can we see Salmon on stage? We hope to see you all in “Spirit of 66”, Verviers, Belgium on January 9th, 2005, together with Casual Silence and Us!
		Which gig in Salmon history brings back the best memories? Undoubtedly: Progfarm 2001! Great atmosphere, audience and great bands and friends were together who made this day very special! A loving memory!
		- What do you think is the best Dutch band at the moment? I can only speak for myself of course but Kayak and (former) Cliffhanger are my favourites in sympho music and Blof in general.
		- What is the most embarrassing album you own and how / why did you get it? Just recently I bought the latest, classical, CD of Tony Banks, assuming without listening that it would be a wonderful mix of his beautiful piano/keyboards combined with an orchestra. It turned out to be some common boring classical tunes without the playing hand of the master. What a pity and disappointment!
		Is there anything else you would like to share? Let’s all visit more performances of sympho-bands in the future. For a reasonable small amount of money they all offer you interesting new music, worth listening to. Also I strongly urge everyone to stop chatting during concerts. I don’t know when it ever started, but I hear it everywhere nowadays; even during big gigs. Please show some respect and listen to the performed music without talking! Salmon wishes everyone a wonderful, musical 2005! All Salmon details and info can be found via www.salmon.nl.
Pictures for top to bottom: Sven de Haan, Jan Jaap Langereis, Gerrit Hoogebeen and Michel Nieuwenhuis. Pictures by Lodi Meijer. (Geert Oldenmenger)