Sabbat (band)
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- For the Japanese band, see Sabbat (Japanese band).
Sabbat is a Pagan heavy metal band from Nottingham in England.
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[edit] Biography
Sabbat started as Hydra in June 1985, with vocalist Martin Walkyier, bassist Fraser Craske and Guitarist Andy Sneap. The arrival of drummer Simon Negus (replacing Mark Daley, who left at the same time as second guitarist Adam Ferman) coincided with a name change to Sabbat.[1] The late Dave G. Halliday was the singer/guitarist from the band Hell. The Derbyshire band who in the mid 1980s were a big influence upon and inspiration for Sabbat.
Andy Sneap met Frazer Craske at a Hell gig where Craske was printing T-shirts, and Craske mentioned that they were looking for another guitarist. Though Sneap was only 15 at the time he jumped at the chance, feeling he was ready to get into a band. After rehearsing for nearly a year they released the Fragments of a Faith Forgotten demo, which was very well-received, with immediate interest from several record companies and a two-page spread in the then highly respected Kerrang! magazine.
Andy Sneap: "we did 'Fragments of a Faith Forgotten' on a little four track, we did it in two afternoons just threw it down. We didn't think much about it but off that we got a deal with Noise, two pages in Kerrang! and a Radio One session. It just snowballed. After the session the label were even more interested and then we got the Kerrang! cover after that."[2]
After releasing a Warhammer-inspired Flexi-disc on the front cover of White Dwarf magazine, the band penned a deal with German Noise Records in mid 1987 (signing had previously been delayed because Andy Sneap was under 18 years of age and not legally an adult). The band travelled to Hanover in September 1987 to record their debut album, History of a Time to Come. The album was well-received, as was the follow-up effort with the addition of Phantom and Holosade guitarist [Jack hammer] Simon Jones in to the mix.
Fraser Craske: "Well, we made the decision after our European tour. We had taken Richard Scott with us on tour for the extra sound and it had really worked out great. But Richard said he wouldn't join us full time because he wanted to continue with his other band, but we had to get another guitarist because of the improvement in the sound."[3]
The second album Dreamweaver: Reflections of our Yesterdays, was in fact a concept album, based on the book by Brian Bates - The Way of the wyrd. A fact often over looked by heavy metal historians. The album demonstrated Walkyiers deep held beliefs in Wyrdism, Anglo-Saxon spirituality, Celtic mysticism and paganism.
[edit] Musical style
Sabbat were initially labelled as "Thrash" and "satanic" in the midlands metal scene. Fraser Craske: "We're not Satanists. It's more theatrical. We're interested in religion and philosophy and it follows that we write tracks about things like that."[4]
Andy Sneap: "We are heavily influenced by Hell and don't mind admitting it" Andy says with obvious admiration. "The singer even taught me how to play guitar! We're not a deliberate copycat of Hell in any way though. They were a great band and it's a mystery to me why they never got anywhere. To be compared to them we don't mind in the least, we would take it more as an honour than anything. We've just done a charity show at Trent Poly dedicated to Hell's guitarist Dave Halliday who committed suicide in January. All the money went to his favourite charity, Cancer Research."[5]
[edit] Musical differences
Tensions within the band began to mount, most of them revolved around money. The band were developing a very good following and selling a lot of merchandise, however they were victims of poor management and with a label [Noise] that did not seem to care what the band did. Martin Walkyier: "With the Noise contract, people were telling us 'Don't sign it,' but we did. Bands who were doing well at the time - Celtic Frost, Helloween, Kreator - were all on Noise. We had complete artistic freedom, but not for the right reasons. It was because they didn't give a flying fuck."[6]
Martin Walkyier: "There are stories that I quit Sabbat because the rest of the band didn't like my pagan lyrics. That's not true. All of us shared an interest in paganism. The paganism was never a problem; I was always left to get on with the lyrics the best way I saw fit. No, the truth was that I could see that the music was going to get even more complex. Andy was writing 11 minute musical epics and I couldn't even begin to see how I'd write lyrics for something like that. I wanted to bring in other musical styles, to bring in violins for instance. That would never have worked with Sabbat."[7]
Martin Walkyier has commented in late 2006 that Sabbat were in severe financial distress in 1989 and that he was looking at living on government state benefits, such was the stark financial situation the band faced. Walkyier has commented that he felt that they were becoming "like Rush" due to the overtly technical nature and length of their songs - combined, these issues forced tensions within the band.[1]
First to jump ship was guitarist Simon Jones during their 1989 tour with British thrashers Xentrix. Simon Jones left the band only moments before the gig at Sheffield University refectory on November 15th 1989, Sabbat did finish the gig though with just Andy Sneap on guitar. Andy Sneap has stated that this was a drink related departure and Jones himself has said he regrets his departure in a recent video on Andy Sneap's MySpace.
Guitarist Neil Watson was brought in for guitar duties and appears on the longform vhs - The end of the beginning. Walkyier left in 1990 along with Craske, with Walkyier going off to form Skyclad. Fraser Craske left the music industry completely at this time. Andy Sneap and Simon Negus overhauled the band and brought in vocalist Richie Desmond and bassist Wayne Banks. In 1991 they released "Mourning Has Broken" - but it did not go down well with fans or critics and the band performed a final show in Derby soon after then split up.
In a recent Terrorizer article [#152 - Xmas 2006] Andy Sneap has stated "(emphatically) "I don't listen to this [Mourning Has Broken]. There is some mad guitar playing on there, some of the shredding is ridiculous, but it sounds thrown together, which it was it shouldn't have had the Sabbat name on it."
Simon Negus went on to join a band called the glory boys. Andy Sneap and Wayne Banks went on to form the group Godsend. Andy Sneap is now best known as a successful Grammy winning producer with over 100 albums produced at his backstage studios in Derbyshire.
[edit] Unofficial reunion
Martin Walkyier initially wanted to reform the band as Sabbat in 2001 with fraser Craske and Simon Jones, however, this was blocked by Andy Sneap at the time. Andy Sneap:"The way I originally heard about (the reunion) was from one of the guys at Earache (Records), who called me up to ask me about it. I knew nothing about it so I called Martin to ask him about it. The conversation got a little heated and I explained they couldn't do it under the name SABBAT as both he and (bassist) Frazer quit, leaving me and (drummer) Simon (Negus)with a lot of debts and financial problems to clear up. This was the reason we carried on as SABBAT and did a third album. Obviously we wanted the new line up to work out but it didn't...simple as that. What it came down to though was Simon Negus and myself, in theory, own the business and name as they left. If you left your employee, you couldn't go and start that business somewhere else under the same name."[8]
Walkyier, Jones and Craske performed under the name Return to the Sabbat for 2001-2002 eventually disbanding after Simon Jones left the band due to family commitments.[9]
[edit] Official Reunion
In 2006 the band re-united with the Dreamweaver line-up to support Cradle of Filth on their UK tour in December 2006 at the following venues:
- Dec. 17 - Manchester Academy
- Dec. 18 - Birmingham Academy
- Dec. 19 - London Astoria
A warm up gig for this short tour was played at "The Rig" in Nottingham, England on Saturday 16th December 2006, and as such was the first time since 1989 that the Dreamweaver line up had played live together. They received much press attention and rave reviews for their support slot and Sabbat have confirmed that they are releasing their first two albums in a remastered format with additional bonus material.
There have been confirmed festival appearances at the "Keep It True Festival", Germany - April 15th 2007 and the 'Day of Darkness' festival in Co. Laois, Ireland, which takes place on the July 6th and 7th 2007. The day which Sabbat will be playing is yet to be released. There is also an unconfirmed report of an appearance at Bloodstock 2007
Andy Sneap And Martin Walkyier have said in recent interviews that the reunion is "a bit of fun" and there is no long term plan.
On February 27th 2007 Sabbat re-released Dreamweaver and History of a time to come with new packaging and extra live tracks.
[edit] Current line-up
- Andy Sneap: Guitar (1986-1991, 2006-) (Also in: Godsend, ex-Fozzy)
- Simon Negus: Drums (1986-1991, 2006-)
- Martin Walkyier: Vocals (1986-1989, 2006-) (ex-Skyclad, The Clan Destined)
- Fraser Craske: Bass (1986-1989, 2006-)
- Simon Jones: Guitar (1989, 2006-) (Ex Phantom and Holosade)
[edit] Former members
- Neil Watson: Guitar (1989-1991)
- Wayne Banks: Bass (1989-1991) (Also in: Blaze, Messiah's Kiss, Godsend)
- Ritchie Desmond: Vocals (1989-1991)
- Richard Scott: Guitar (1988) (brought in for European tour)
[edit] Discography
- Fragments of a Faith Forgotten Demo, 1986
- Blood for the Blood God EP, 1987
- Stranger Than Fiction Demo, 1987
- A Cautionary Tale/And the Brave Man Fails Split, 1988
- History of a Time to Come Full-length, 1988
- Dreamweaver Full-length, 1989
- Wildfire/The Best of Enemies Single, 1989
- The End of the Beginning Video/VHS, 1990
- Mourning has Broken Full-length, 1991
- Dreamweaver:Extended version 2007
- History of a time to come:Extended version 2007
[edit] External links
- Official Sabbat Homepage
- Sabbat official myspace website
- Sabbat history at Rockdetector
- Sabbat at the BNR Metal pages
- The Clan Destined - Martin Walkyier's solo project
[edit] Notes
- ^ Metal Hammer magazine January 2007 - page 89
- ^ Terrorizer Magazine Xmas 2006
- ^ METAL FORCES No 31, September 1988
- ^ KERRANG! No 140, March 4, 1987
- ^ METAL FORCES No 25, August 15 1987
- ^ Terrorizer article #152 - Xmas 2006
- ^ Metal Hammer magazine January 2007
- ^ blabbermouth.net April 18th 2002
- ^ Metal hammer January 2007
