Earlier this year when a seemingly endless amount of snow was falling on Eastern Massachusetts, Salem Wolves had us daydreaming about the Willows. The garage rock trio, named both for their hometown and a tenacious appetite for rock and roll, roared out of the gates of 2015 with January EP Black Books, a leather-clad, surfed-up, sandpaper rock tribute to the Witch City and all its warts and glory, making us long for spring, summer, and fall Sundays out around Juniper Point, playing arcade games and walking out on the docks.
And also held true to the city’s darker side.
Now that the weather has finally cleared up several months later, Salem Wolves are back with a new single, “More Weight!”, which was recorded at Hanging Horse Studio in Norwood and is billed as a celebration of “the life, persecution, and brutal demise of Salem’s own Giles Corey.” After being accused of practicing witchcraft in 1692, farmer Corey’s final words were “more weight!” as he was crushed to death by stones. His ghost still haunts parts of Salem, and is claimed to be seen right before a disaster is set to strike the city.
His words, they still ring true.
“As for what the track is about, it’s about that special New England obstinance,” says frontman Jack Salem. “The idea is that the world is hard on you if you choose to be your own weird self. And that if you accept that, no one gets to tell you what or how to be.”
Catch Salem Wolves twice this week, first at T.T. The Bear’s Place in Cambridge on Tuesday, then up at Salem’s KOTO on Friday night. Flyers for both appears, magically, after the Soundcloud embed.
