Geoff Gillespie (Sabre)

 

Sabre were formed in the spring of 1980 by school mates Geoff Gillespie and Allan Angold. They recorded a three-song demo tape in 1981 and the single Miracle Man / On the Loose in 1983. The band folded in late 1983. We had a chat with bass player Geoff Gillespie about this underrated band.

Q. - Hello Geoff! Tell us a bit about the beginning of Sabre, how did it all start? How did you get in touch with the other members?

Allan the drummer and I went to school together (along with Tank`s Algy Ward) and had played in bands with each other since our early teens. We hooked up with guitarists Alan ‘bill‘ Beschi and Nick Fusco via a Melody Maker ad - that's how most bands came together back in the day. Original vocalist Nick Pyatt came via auditions.

Q. - Who were your principal influences at that time?

Oh, pretty much the regular stuff for the time. Purple, Zeppelin, a bit of Sabbath and a large chunk of Thin Lizzy. Some of the stuff written but never professionally recorded like Wounded Heart and Fighting Talk was very twin guitar, VERY Lizzy...`

Q. - Were the 1980 demo, with Nick Pyatt on vocals, your very first recordings with Sabre? What memories do you keep from these recording seasons?

Yes, they were. They were very rough recordings but, to be honest, they were totally representative of where the band was at that particular time. The guy who engineered it - Pete someone-or-another as I recall - was a mate of Nick Fusco‘s and he had this 8 track studio in the front and back room of a terraced house in - and I'm struggling here! - Kilburn. People were kind enough to say nice things about the demo once it was done, so it was what it was...

Q. - How was it the heavy metal scene in Croydon? Did you play regularly back then? Or was it hard for a heavy metal band to be booked in the area at that time?

There wasn't that much of a scene really. We played The Star Hotel in Broad Green a few times and The Red Deer in South Croydon a couple of times but we also played in North London a bit. We even played a late show at Ronnie Scott‘s Jazz Club in London‘s West End! Don't really know what that was all about, to be honest. We gigged as often as possible but it wasn't easy...

Q. - Do you recall the songs you were playing at the beginning? Did you play any covers too?

Funny that, we never did any covers that I can remember. The set featured the aforementioned Wounded Heart and Fighting Talk along with Miracle Man, On The Loose and Can You Feel It from the demo, Cry To The Wind, Red Light Lover and the big, Lizzy like rock ballad Sunken Ships.

Q. - Rob Brown (aka Chad Brown) replaced Nick, how did that happen?

Nick‘s drinking got way out of hand and he was becoming unreliable. He was 'asked' to leave and we started advertising for a new singer. Rob had an extraordinary voice and we would have loved to have hung on to him. He was travelling up from Dorset every week for rehearsals and it was just too much for him. A few years later, I called on him again when the band I had formed post Sabre – Snowblind – was in need of a voice for our first demos. As expected, he did an exemplary job but again we were unable to hang on to him as he was involved with a project Janic Gers was putting together. Eventually Lionheart came knocking and the rest, as they say....

Q. - Sabre had a different approach with John Ward, were you trying to find a new sound?

No, I can't honestly say that we were. If it sounded in any way different to how the band had sounded before, that was entirely accidental. John was a lovely guy but I would have to say that he never really fitted in with the core of the band. He had a pretty good voice but that was really all there was to it...

Q. - How was the single "Miracle Man" received by the fans? Did it have airplay on radio stations?

It was received quite well by fans and media alike and I still get to sign copies even now. I live in Tokyo now and when I first arrived here, it was a thrill to see copies hanging on the walls of record stores here with £30.00 plus price tags attached. As for radio play, doubtful, I would have to say. We did get some decent press off the back of it, but that was about it.

Q. - Did you try to approach a record deal at that time?

No, we didn't. We had hoped that Neat would have picked up the option on more stuff. My one regret from that time is that we didn't do more recording, we really should have. So many really good songs just never got to be heard. There is a really average sounding rehearsal recording on the 'Roar To The Core' disc but most of it only has one guitar on it – can't remember why but Nick Fusco was absent from that rehearsal. Other than those dodgy recordings, thought, there's no evidence that these songs ever existed. And that's a shame...

Q. - When did "Sabre" split up exactly? What happened that lead to the split?

To be frank with you, my apathy led to the band folding. You must understand that I had been the engine of the band, I did all of the practical stuff – contacting labels and magazines, booking gigs etc. It's in my nature, I suppose I'm a bit of a control freak. Over a period of time, I started to think there was no point continuing with the band and we just stopped any activity. In effect, there was no split up...just a cessation of activities.

Q. - Did you stay in touch with each other’s all over the years?

Allan and I are still best friends – he's actually married to my wife's best friend! - and whenever I'm home in the UK, we get together. Allan and I hooked up one evening with 'Bill' Beschi in a pub in London Bridge and I know Allan, 'Bill' and Nick got together again once after that but I haven't seen Nick in many years. They asked why the band split...and I didn't really have an answer!

Q. - How do you feel about "Cry To The Wind" being very popular till these days?

Yes, that's interesting isn't it? It has become a bit of a cult track. I just wish we had been able to spend a bit more time recoding it. It was recorded at the end of the session at Neat's Impulse studio – interestingly enough, Conrad 'Cronos' Lant was the tape op on the session. Cry To The Wind was as heavy as Sabre got and it was ALWAYS great fun to play live...

Q. - Are you happy with the edition of the compilation "Roar To The Core", by Majestic Rock (2005)? What do you think of it?

Well, Majestic Rock was my label, I co-ran it with a guy called Adrian Clay, so I put it together. What do I think of it? It is what it is. We had put out an album of demos and rehearsal tracks by Steve Grimmett's band prior to Grim Reaper, Medusa, and I thought that I could do something similar with the Sabre recordings. To be honest, it isn't great but I think that it has some historical value...

Q. - What other projects did you have after "Sabre", tell us a bit about it too.

Post Sabre, I joined a band called Static that evolved into Snowblind, a more melodic, Pomp/ AOR act in keeping with the changing trends at the time. We released an album on Mausoleum records that I re-issued on CD through Majestic Rock. The album was a compromise, we were dumb enough to let the producer pretty much tell us what we were going to record and because of this, a lot of good songs didn't get recorded. We were a hard-working band, we gigged a hell of a lot, and those gigs made us a tight band. The band broke up in 1988 and I stopped playing at that time.

I then had a career in the record industry as a hard rock/heavy metal promotions man at Polygram, WEA and Island. In that time, I was lucky enough to work with most of the biggest bands in the world – Metallica, Slayer, Dio, Guns N' Roses....the list goes on. I actually worked with Lars Ulrich putting together the '79 Revisted album for Polygram. Lars and I had history dating back to his time in London in the early eighties. I'm now pretty much done with all of that, though I do some consultancy work for a label here in Japan and I have been involved in bringing some bands to Japan for shows – Angel Witch, Diamond Head and Tank to name a few.

Q. - Do you still keep an eye to the heavy metal or hard rock scene? Is there any band that you still like to listen?

I listen almost exclusively to seventies and eighties music and so I have very little idea what's going on now. I do catch up with new releases by the classic acts – Priest, Maiden, Metallica etc. - but other than that, not so much. Nothing brings me pleasure like classic Purple, Yes, Genesis, Sabbath at all...

Q. - In your opinion what are the main differences between the eighties and the reality of today?

Those days were so innocent, simple as that. MTV was the beginning of the death of music. All of a sudden, no video meant no opportunities for a band. Now, it's so much less about the music.

Q. - What do you think of this recent revival of the N.W.O.B.H.M., and all these bands reforming?

If I'm honest, I'm really not too keen on it. Rock n' roll is for young men, not old men who are going through the motions. You simply can't turn back the clock, can you? I have to be careful when I say this because so many of my friends are part of this trend. I guess it's OK for them but I have no interest in doing it. I will be bringing my friend Paul Gaskin and his band to Tokyo next year along with Tytan and Demon...so I guess that's fine for them.

Q. - How do you want to end up this interview? Anything more you want to say?

The NWOBHM has been such a huge part of my life, I have such great memories of it all. I brought Praying Mantis, Tank, my late friend Paul Samson and Trespass to Tokyo for probably the last real NWOBHM event in 1999. For me, that was it done and dusted. Everything else now is, for me, just nostalgia...and there's nothing wrong with that, is there?

Thank you for your time, and wish you all the best for the future!