Salamander

about

There are many different bands/artists called Salamander. 1. Salamander was an obscure, prychedelic British proto-prog band that released a concept album based on The Ten Commandments (1971). Hailing from the Midlands of England, United Kingdom, the band was formed in the early 1970s when guitarist/singer Dave Titley and organist Alistair Benson, both in the pop-psych band Revolver ( one single in 1969) teamed with bassist Dave Chriss and drummer John Cook. Salamander released their singular album in 1971 on Young Blood. They disbanded shortly after. 2. Minneapolis outfit Salamander began as a duo in the summer of 1992 featuring Erik Wivinus and Sean Connaughty on guitars and vocals. They played mostly mellow drone-based instrumentals that in retrospect sounded much like contemporaries Labradford or Low. Doug Morman joined on bass in early 1993. They recorded and played gigs as a drummer-less trio until Bryce Kastning joined on drums and keyboards in early 1994. Then followed a period of heavy psychedelic improvisation and four-track recording, leading to a trip to POD studios in 94/95 to lay down some material on 16-track. The first stage of these sessions was released as "Red Ampersand" by Camera Obscura in 1997. By the time of this release, Salamander had become a part-time entity, as members pursued studies and various side projects. "Red Ampersand" created great interest as it showed a band that was clearly very early out of the blocks with a heavy droning improvisati