SALEM

SALEM

SALEM is the new punk-rock side-project from the Creeper frontman Will Gould and Mat Reynolds (Howard’s Alias, Skylar, Drawings).

First single ‘Destroy Me’ fires out of the starting blocks in a ferocious rush of punk rock melody and Gould’s distinctive vocals. His words possess the playfully eloquent set-up and punchline lyrical style that’s a big part of classic albums from the likes of Jawbreaker and Alkaline Trio.

“‘Destroy Me’ is a really good introduction that summarises the band, it had the right kind of energy from the offset,” says Gould. “This band feels like a love letter to a lot of our early influences. It’s a return to our roots in a lot of ways.”

Elsewhere, SALEM’s debut EP captures the life-affirming joy of hearing a live band erupt into a blast of wild, barely controlled energy. Not that it’s a one-trick pony. Opening track ‘Fall Out Of Love’ hurtles into the kind of towering chorus that Gould first made his name with, ‘Throat’ is an ominous, ever-escalating alt-rock slowburner, while the frenetic closer ‘Doomed (For Each Other)’ sprints for the finish line. And as with all good EPs, when the needle clicks off, the natural thing to do is to flip it over and play it again from the start.