The Refrain Interview: Salvo

Birmingham, Al rock band Salvo has just released their new album, The Traveler, on Asbestos Records. The 14-track album features the singles “Anything Can Happen Day“ and “Crime of the Century“

Many of the band members of Salvo used to be in Pain, who released four albums and toured heavily in the ’90’s, earning a nationwide fan base that remains gleefully loyal. Pain produced videos, recorded for Cartoon Network, had their songs included in television soundtracks and worked relentlessly as one of the most unique pop-punk bands to come out of the post-grunge era. After a much-needed hiatus, most of Pain has returned as Salvo. Frontman, Dan Lord, and guitarist, Adam Guthrie, have assembled veteran bandmates and brilliant new talent to create Salvo, and their new music is garnering new generations of eager fans.

We had the chance to ask Salvo a few questions as part of The Refrain Music Interview. Check it out below.

Refrain Music Blog: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. You have a new single out now. What’s it called?

Dan Lord: Anything Can Happen Day

RMB: What is the song about, in terms of lyrics? Any overarching messages or themes?

DL: It’s about a dead-end, down-on-his-luck fellow whose existence seems to be a study in heartbreak and failure, who nonetheless goes out bravely striving for more out of life. In doing so, despite opposition, everything suddenly turns around for him in ways that range from the mundane to the spectacular. Because it’s Anything Can Happen Day.

RMB: Is this single part of an album?

DL: Yes, it’s the second track on Salvo’s LP, The Traveler. The whole album is about a man (the Traveler), who goes out in search of meaning and discovers it in various characters he meets. One of the first people he meets is the down-on-his-luck fellow from Anything Can Happen Day.

RMB: How does this single differ from your previous work?

DL: Adam Guthrie (Salvo’s guitar player and co-songwriter) and I agreed from the outset to make a conscious attempt to focus the lyrical content of the new songs on someone other than ourselves. We wanted to get away from the songs being all about self-evaluation, which can tend to exclude the listener. Navel-gazing, in other words. We wanted to examine someone else’s life, someone else’s problems, attributes, achievements. The cool thing is, when you do that, you do a better job tapping into emotions and experiences that everybody digs, and thereby the song becomes more universally appealing. So, instead of writing a song that’s all about ME, I write a song about The Other, and in doing so I not only come to better understand and appreciate The Other, but I also learn new things about myself that I wouldn’t have if I’d just fixated on my own subjective thoughts and feelings.

RMB: What’s the story on how it was recorded?

DL: It definitely was not a quick process! It spans the COVID era. Adam and I were already living in different locales, and the other members of Salvo were a little scattered, as well, with families and responsibilities, so it was already challenging to craft and record new songs. Now add a pandemic, to which the Powers That Be respond by mandating unprecedented levels of quarantine and isolation, and it makes it seemingly impossible to be professional musicians. And there are countless pro musicians out there who were permanently driven out of their pro music lives who can attest to THAT harsh reality. But we kept our noses to the grindstone, figured out ways around the obstacles, didn’t give up, got LOADS of support and encouragement from fans, friends, and family, and–voila!–a year behind schedule, we released an album that we are very proud of. Love wins. Pandemic loses. Go, Salvo.

RMB: Tell us a little about the band. Who all is in it and how did you form? How long have you been together?

DL: Salvo is:

Dan Lord – songwriter, vocals, piano, synth

Adam Guthrie – songwriter, guitars, balalaika, craviola, synth

David Hornbuckle – piano, back up vocals

Adrian Marmolejo – bass

Will Hudson – drums

Christopher Johnson – saxophone

Jack Pritchet – trumpet, flugelhorn

Jason Reid – trombone

Rachael Wilson – vocals, guitar

We used to be Pain, a pop punk-ish horn band whose heyday was the nineties. We took a break, for reasons too complex to go into here, then later most of us came back together to become Salvo.

RMB: Who are some of your biggest musical influences?

DL: I’ll try and answer for Adam the best I can! Prince, Soul Asylum, Tom Waits, Steve Earle. For me: I love all of them, as well, but also Peter Gabriel, Henry Mancini, John Williams, Kate Bush (way, WAY before Stranger Things!)… Beastie Boys. Al Green. I dunno…I love a lot of different stuff.
RMB: What’s the one thing you are most proud of in your career so far?DL: That we have a fan base that still remains so supportive of and devoted to us, after all of this time. It’s kind of amazing to me.

RMB: If you had to pitch your music to a potential fan in less than 10 seconds, what would you say?

DL: “If you listen to this sizzling hot track right now, your entire life will be so irrevocably improved that you will refer to every day before now as That Shitty Time Before I Heard This Song. Or, maybe you’ll just like it a little, and then go back to your Dua Lipa collection. Either way, it can’t hurt you.” How’s that? Was that 10 seconds?

RMB: What’s one piece of advice you’ve gotten that you think everyone needs to hear or that has meant the most to you?

DL: Forgive. Forgive even that person you hate and who hates you right back. Do that, and love will grow, and we’ll all be a lot happier.