Album: “We Gave you Diamonds…Live at De Casino” by Salvation

Once upon a time a very long time ago; when I was a 20 something youth with no ties, (I’m now 52 with wife, 2 kids, 2 dogs, and a mortgage!!) I used to pack up my army issue kitbag, put on my army surplus combat boots and combat trousers to go on tour following bands. There were next to no real accommodation or travel plans and I did not even buy tickets for the shows. The bands themselves were usually very generous with their guest-list allocations and shared their riders. I used to sleep at service stations, on people’s floors, or if I was lucky a sofa – and one time when adverse weather cancelled a gig I stayed in a fire station in Birmingham. The bands in question were The Mission, The Alarm, Fields of The Nephilim, New Model Army, All About Eve, Power of Dreams, Neds Atomic Dustbin, along with a host of others. Watching these bands also had the benefits of discovering support bands whom you got to see every night, begin to enjoy and then follow them as well.

One such band was “Salvation” a Leeds band that were nurtured amongst the Goth scene in the mid 1980s. I first saw them support The Alarm on the “Change” Tour in 1990 before seeing them again support The Mission on some dates on the “Carved in Sand” tour; along with many individual performances including the Jericho Tavern in Oxford, Marquee in London (Charing Cross Road), Feet First in Camden and many others. Let’s face it in those days most of us used to drink the cheaply priced Thunderbird wine (Red & Blue Labels, apparently one was stronger than the other), and to remember what I can is remarkable. I do remember I scrawled Salvation’s name in big letters with my sharpie on my kitbag and wrote every gig I did with them alongside…if only I still had my kit bag.

The point of all this reminiscing is that guitarist Ben from the band has sent me a copy of a new release “We Gave you Diamonds… Live at De Casino”. They played four shows in March 2020 as Special Guests to The Mission in France and Belgium and the last one of those European dates was recorded and has been released as Salvation’s first-ever live album. The recording captures the band performing 11 tracks that span their back catalogue, with songs from their albums “Sass” and “Diamonds are Forever”. It’s clear from the recording that after nearly 40 years together the passion still burns brightly and the band are still on top form. Singer Daniel Mass with his unique sounding vocal; coupled with the wonderfully melodic, atmospheric twin-guitars creates a sound that takes influences from many areas. With their material and the relentless touring in the late 80’s-early 90’s they certainly should have gained more commercial success than they actually did. This release is a wondrous trip down memory lane and just highlights what a great band they are and it’s amazing to see that Wayne Hussey & Co still show them the respect and give them the support that they deserve.

The band team up with their old buddies The Mission this year once again for a string of dates:

April 12th – Chalk Brighton
April 13th – Tramshed Cardiff
April 15th – Newcastle University
April 17th – Leeds 02 Academy
May 22nd – Cheese & Grain, Frome
June 21st – Waterfront, Norwich

Track-Listing
The Answer
Ladyfaithe
(Clearing Out The) Debris
Paint It Rose
The October Hour (Now)
Puppet Master
The Shining
Pearl Necklace
Payola
All and More
Why Lie?

Current Line-up
Daniel Mass – Vocals
Benoît Farvak– Guitar
Paul Lavender – Guitar
Nic Bate – Bass
Stuart Owen – Drums

Links
http://salvationhq.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/SalvationHQ1

Words by David Chinery (Chinners).