Sabbat (English band)

Sabbat
Sabbat in London Scala, 2008 (From L to R: Andy Sneap, Simon "Jack Hammer" Jones & Simon Negus)
Background information
Origin	Nottingham, England
Genres	Thrash metal
Years active	1985–1991, 2006–2014
Labels	Noise
Associated acts	Skyclad, The Clan Destined
Members	Andy Sneap Simon Negus Martin Walkyier Simon Jones Gizz Butt
Past members	Neil Watson Wayne Banks Richie Desmond Richard Scott Frazer Craske

Sabbat were a thrash metal band from Nottingham, England, consisting of Martin Walkyier (vocals), Andy Sneap (guitars), Simon Jones (guitars), Gizz Butt (bass) and Simon Negus (drums). Over 6 years Sabbat released three studio albums, four demos, two split singles/compilation albums, two singles and a live VHS. In 1988, the band released their debut album History of a Time to Come, which earned them further recognition. Their next album, Dreamweaver (Reflections of Our Yesterdays) (1989) was also critically acclaimed. Shortly after the release of Mourning Has Broken (1991), tensions with the band began to surface, most of them revolved around money. This resulted in Sabbat breaking up. After an attempted reunion in 2001, which was blocked by Sneap, the original Sabbat lineup reunited in 2006, and in December of that year, performed together for the first time in sixteen years at five different venues in England, one a warm up gig in Nottingham, the other four in support of Cradle Of Filth. The band had continued to perform at many live venues and festivals around the world since then, but did not release any new material. Andy Sneap confirmed in a January 2014 interview with Decibel magazine that Sabbat have once again split up.

The origins of the band started in June 1985, with vocalist Martin Walkyier and bassist Frazer Craske, who were members of a band called Hydra. Andy Sneap joined Hydra as second guitarist, but the remaining guitarist left 2 weeks later. The arrival of former Striptease and Fallen Angel drummer, Simon Negus (replacing Mark Daley, who left at the same time as second guitarist Adam Ferman) coincided with a name change to Sabbat.

Andy Sneap:-

"Let me shed a bit of light on things here. Martin and Frazer had this band called Hydra back in 84/85. The most impressive thing about the band was the fact that Frazer had already printed some 2 colour t shirts and he had a car! I met Frazer at a local Hell gig in Long Eaton and it turned out they were thinking of getting a second guitarist. I heard a tape (which I still have, it's priceless) of a show they did in a pub in Nottingham and decided to have a jam as I was wanting to get some experience playing, after all I was the ripe old age of 15. Hell, two weeks after I joined, the original guitarist quit (i think this was on the cards) and the drummer left (thankfully) after we did our first demo a couple of months later, I think due to me having a go about his girlfriend being in the studio (you see, good work ethic back then!). It was Tim Bowler (the drummer from Hell) who introduced us to Simon Negus. The name Sabbat came from a book on witchcraft, but I actually found some old school books of mine with ideas doodled on them so I'm sure I had some doing in suggesting it, but I do remember we liked the way the word looked in the scrawly type of writing so we went with it. Yeah the flexi disc for white dwarf was an odd one, John Blanche, the art editor painted our first cover so it all came about quite easy, it does sound shockingly bad though."