My name is Paul Foreman. I play guitar, synths and sing with Salisman (links below). I started this project with my buddy, Travis Salisbury, who plays guitar and pedal steel. We live in the same general area of Chicago (Portage Park / Jefferson Park), which is convenient, as we both have home studios. Not long after we started the project, I suggested that we rope in Chris Tate, who lives in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. I have known Chris for many years, and he has done mixing and remix work for my other various projects. Chris is also a tremendous musician and adds beats, synths, piano, the occasional guitar, and other flourishes to the songs, as well as handling the mixing. Within the last year, we acquired an official drummer, Jon Raedeke, who resides in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland. I have known Jon since high school … so, a very long time. The Salisman vibe is wide-ranging. There’s the blistering punk, Stooges-style aggression of “Precipice,” which appeared on the Cruel Nature Records 10th anniversary comp. “Empty Pool” from our latest album, Parched, is drum-machine based with a heavy electro feel. Our wheelhouse sound is what I’d describe as hazy, psychedelic pop with loads of fuzz guitar and synths (listen to the title track from the aforementioned Parched). Maybe “pop” isn’t the right word, but the songs are very melodic. Think of it as a blend of Boards of Canada and Ride.
https://salisman.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/salismanblessed
https://www.facebook.com/SalismanBlessed/
Where did you come from and where are you going?
I answered the “where did we come from” question above. As for “where are we going,” all we want to do is keep making music that pleases us. It’s awesome to have so much support from Steve at Cruel Nature. The initial idea for this project was for it to be a studio-only recording project, but we were offered a show at a record store in Chicago about a year ago and decided to give it a try. So, Travis and I have been doing sporadic live shows as a duo, with me on vocals/electric guitar and him on pedal steel. We sample our own drums/beats and incorporate those into the live show, too.
What preoccupies your mind these days?
Travis and I are fairly obsessed with the dystopian politics of the U.S. It’s an absolute shit-show, but we’re trying to stay positive about the future. I have two kids, so I’m genuinely concerned about the direction the country is headed and the fact that we haven’t done enough to curb climate change. We’ll usually chat for a half and hour to catch up on current events before a rehearsal. Obviously, we are also huge music and gear nerds and I’m a record collector. I spend an inordinate amount of time researching, playing and listening to music.
Name a favourite taste, touch, sound, sight and smell
I have to say Chicago-style deep dish pizza for taste and smell. Pequods is the best in the city. Absolutely mind-blowing. For “sight,” I visited Istanbul recently and it was fantastic. Wonderful city. Stray cats roam everywhere and the locals treat them as an integral part of the community. “Sound” will obviously be the weird music we make. One of the things I like so much about Salisman is how efficient we are. Everyone contributes to every song and there is rarely any kind of lag because each member is so on top of their game. Our first album came out in July of 2020 and we’re already well on our way with #5.
Describe one of your most vivid dreams or nightmares
I have a recurring dream where I’m on a massive spaceship preparing to travel (and then actually travelling) at light speed. It’s always kind of stressful and overwhelming, but exciting, too. I wonder if dreams like this have an effect on how much rest I get, because they’re very intense.
Have you ever had an uncanny experience?
Not really. I don’t believe in the supernatural. When I was in high school, I had a dream that someone called me and asked me to play saxophone in their band (alto sax was my first instrument). In the morning, I woke up and went to my desk and there was a bunch of nonsensical noodling on a notepad. I must have done some sleep-walking / sleep-writing.
How does your sense of place affect the way you express yourself?
I have lived in Chicago for over 20 years. I’m sure the city has had a great effect on the way I express myself, but since I haven’t spent much time living elsewhere (I grew up in northwest Indiana, not far from Chicago), it’s kind of hard to say exactly how. There’s definitely darkness and tension in most of the music I write. I don’t know if that has anything to do with Chicago or not. It probably does. It’s disappointing that the rest of the world views the city as some sort of fucked-up hellscape, but maybe we have Fox News to blame for that. Of course, that isn’t to say that there isn’t an appropriate level of seediness to it, depending on where you go.
What has particularly touched or inspired you recently?
I love the new Blur album, The Ballad of Darren. The fact that they managed to get together after a long hiatus and so deep into their career to make what is easily one of their best albums is very inspiring to me. It’s a deeply emotional and heavy record. It’s also concise, clocking in at under 40 minutes, which I respect. Travis and I are huge Slowdive fans, and their reunion has been inspiring. Their live show is insane. One of the best live bands around right now, as far as I’m concerned. We’re looking forward to the new album, which will be out before this gets published.
Tell us a good story, anecdote, or joke.
About two years ago, I went to visit a few friends in the DC area (Jon, our drummer, being one of them), with the goal of doing some recording just for fun. My friend, Eric, who lives in DC, has an apartment that is completely crammed with music gear, so we went there to record. He has an old organ that has a cassette player in it, with speed/pitch controls. When he acquired it, the previous owner had left a Patsy Cline tape in it. Curious, we hit “play.” The tape deck lurched to life and had an otherworldly, lo-fi sound. So, we decided to put a mic on the speaker of the organ and record the sound of the Cline tape, all the while manipulating it with the speed and pitch controls. It sounded absolutely outrageous. We added some other stuff on top of that and wound up with a very weird song. I tried to convince Chris to use it as the basis of a Salisman song, but he understandably vetoed that idea due to copyright issues. This haunted me, as I really wanted to utilize the sound of the organ cassette deck and the bizarre sound of Cline’s voice warbling up and down.
Fast forward to about three weeks ago … I realized that we could still achieve this vibe, but we’d just have to write a song and implement the same approach. So, I wrote the song and recorded the basic tracks. Jon has already added drums. In mid-October, I’m going to visit Eric and Jon again. We’ll put the song (which MUST be done by then) on an old cassette, plonk it in Eric’s organ’s cassette deck and do the same damn thing we did with the Patsy Cline cassette. We’ll ultimately wind up with a “straight” version of the song and then a remix using the sounds of the manipulated tape deck. I can’t wait!
Wyrd Daze 