Sabres

Tonight The Sabres Of Paradise play live at Fabric in London, the first time the band have played since a handful dates in Japan in 1995. The live band line up of Jagz Kooner and Gary Burns, guitarist Phil Mossman, bassist Nick Abnett and drummer Rich Thair are one man down- Andrew Weatherall is absent for obvious reasons- but Jagz and co. have decided to revive the band, do some gigs and finish the job, put Sabres out there and then put Sabres to bed. There may/ will be some further announcements about Sabres activity to follow- in fact, I think there may be some today and then more in a few weeks. 

After the gig at Fabric Sabres fly to Australia to play at Sydney Opera House and then they return to Europe to play Primavera and Dekmantel. I'm going down to London today to see them. I missed Sabres play live back in the 90s and wasn't going to miss out twice. Also, The Flightpath Estate are partly responsible for the reformation happening. In 2023 Martin from The Flightpath Estate approached Jagz about marking the 30th anniversary of the release of Sabresonic and suggested a Q&A at The Golden Lion in Todmorden with a Jagz DJ set. Jagz was up for it and I agreed to be the host of the Q&A, asking the questions and trying to maintain a semblance of order. Jagz brought Gary along, two Sabres for the price of one and both were great fun, answered all the questions and entertained us with stories and tales of their lives and adventures with Andrew Weather al, making records in the mid- 90s. 

We had a live recording of Sabres Of Paradise playing at Manchester's Herbal Tea Party, recorded back in 1994 provided by Rob Fletcher, and in between the Q&A and Jagz's DJ set we played it through the pub's PA. Jagz stood by a speaker listening intently and said to us at one point, 'You know, we sounded pretty good back then...'. 

The live recording is at Mixcloud, Andrew on the decks for the first half hour and then Sabres playing Bubble And Slide II, Tow Truck, Theme and Smokebelch.

Bubble And Slide (Nightmares On Wax Remix)

Cogs started turning in Jagz's head and once he got agreement from the other five Sabres live players, wheels were set in motion. There have been some rehearsal footage clips on social media this week, Jagz and Gary at the keys and synths, Rich standing at the drums and percussion and Nick rocking a low slung bass guitar, Phil front and centre with his Les Paul. There are a few photos from that time of the group on stage- this one is from Sugar Sweet in Belfast...

At the Sabresonic 30th Q&A we discussed where Andrew got the name Sabres Of Paradise from. The NME at the time suggested excitedly it was a play on Sex Pistols but there are two more plausible  and possible sources. One is a 1960 novel by Lesley Blanch, a tale of pre- revolutionary Russia, cossacks and the Caucuses. The other is a 1983 Haysi Fantayzee B-side, a six minute dubby/ synth excursion by Jeremy Healy and Kate Garner (produced by Tony Visconti) with rambling, spoken word vocals. No one seemed entirely sure which  one was the source, and equally, it could be both. 

The Sabres Of Paradise

There are still a few tickets available for the Fabric gig tonight. David Holmes is playing a supporting DJ set and the place is sure to be filled with friendly faces. It's not too late...