Veteran English metal band Saxon has released a lyric video for “Witches of Salem,” from its 24th studio album, “Hell, Fire and Damnation,” out now via Silver Lining Music (get it here).
In this song, lead singer and founding member Biff Byford explores the unjust condemnation of the women victimized at the Salem witch trials and the sheer bigotry and mass hysteria prevalent at the time.
“This is an American story, but the witch trials started in Scotland, spread into England and across the sea to the colonies in America,” Byford said. “Those poor women in Salem. They weren’t ‘witches’ more than just unfortunate women really, blamed for everybody’s ailments … Whether your horse died or the milk went sour, they blamed women. Maybe because they were jealous of them, or maybe it was because some guy had made some advances and she’d told him to piss-off, so he’d declare that she was a witch. And once a person was declared a witch, I don’t think there was any way back from that; very few of them were found innocent.”
Saxon is about embark on “Hell, Fire & Chaos: The Best of British Rock & Metal,” a co-headline U.S. tour with Uriah Heep.
Tour dates:
23 April – The Parker, Fort Lauderdale, FL
24 April – Seminole Hard Rock Hotel And Casino, Tampa, FL
25 April – The Plaza Live, Orlando, FL
27 April – Buckhead Theatre, Atlanta, GA
28 April – Mercury Ballroom, Louisville, KY
30 April – The Metropolitan Theatre, Morgantown, WV
1 May – Roxian Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA
2 May – Penn’s Peak, Jim Thorpe, PA
3 May – Bergen Performing Arts Center, Englewood, NJ
5 May – Citizens House of Blues, Boston, MA
7 May – Patchogue Theatre, Long Island, NY
8 May – Keswick Theatre, Glenside, PA
10 May – Paramount Hudson Theatre, Peekskill, NY
11 May – TempleLive at Cleveland Masonic, Cleveland, OH
12 May – The Lerner Theatre, Elkhart, IN
13 May – Saint Andrew’s Hall, Detroit, MI
14 May – GLC Live at 20 Monroe, Grand Rapids, MI
16 May – People’s Bank Theatre, Marietta, OH
17 May – Bogart’s, Cincinnati, OH
18 May – Rialto Square Theatre, Joliet, IL
19 May – Arcada Theatre, St. Charles, IL
21 May – Brown County Music Center, Nashville, IN
22 May – The Pabst Theater, Milwaukee, WI
24 May – Gillioz Theatre, Springfield, MO
25 May – TempleLive at Scottish Rite Center, Wichita, KS
27 May – Haute Spot, Cedar Park, TX
29 May – House Of Blues, Houston, TX
30 May – Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, San Antonio, TX
31 May – Glass Cactus, Dallas, TX
2 June – Speaking Rock Casino, El Paso, TX
For tickets and more information, visit www.saxon747.com.
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