Lord Sabre

 

Its a year since Andrew Weatherall passed away  I remember seeing The Happy Mondays and Primal Scream in the early days when they both played Bristol Uni. I also remember buying the Weatherall mixes of Hallelujah (Happy Mondays) and Loaded (Primal  Scream) on 12inch which were amazing , later I bought The Future Sound of London's Papua New Guinea with a killer Weatherall mix.  It was these records that introduced me to his production . It goes without saying that Screamadelica was a Weatherall masterpeice. It would be remiss of me not to mention St Etiennes "Only love can break you heart"

I was into the The Orb from the beginning too and saw them live a number of times but wasn't aware of the Weatherall/Orb connection back then.

I moved to London and remember being told about SabreSonic by Alex Shaolin the first time met him when he showed up with Lovely John to DJ in my ambient house hosted by "friends in high places"  at a Clays Lane courtyard party and I remember seeing the Sabrettes at the old school house.

After that I use  to and go down to Happy Jacks in Crucifix lane  all Cloak & Dagger  by myself in the dark of the night to hear him play . I recorded Lord Sabres techno mixes on tape from Kiss fm, bought the Sabres of Paradise LP's which resonated with me on many levels. 

At a time I was lost in the breakbeat hard-core  Jungle drum and bass , acid techno underground for a few years . I  really bought into the Lord Sabre ,Sabrettes and Bastard Bunny archetypes that resonated with the ideas of RAW's illuminati and subversive ideas of 23rd current Dead Dog Mountain , Topy, TG , Spiral Tribe, Shamen,

But Weatherall was always a leader not a follower equally  at home at Boys Own party or Chic West end  house party , as in the east underground with acid junkies,  techno punks , homeboys, hippies and funky dreads.

 A few years later Sherman told me about the Haywire Sessions were "rocking on" just down the road from my place in shoreditch. His music has always been just around the corner soundtracking my life. From time to time Sherman would tell tales about the Rotters Golf Club  and other stories about the man behind the myth. How he was such a nice guy. 

Then a few years later my wife and I  took my eldest son to his best friends birthday party (I think he was 4 or 5) it was fancy dress I'd never seen so many Spidermen in Victoria park.I chatted all afternoon with Jamie's best friends parents and  his  Godfather.... and afterwards we went for a pizza together I had finally met "The Guvner"  on my own terms and he was every bit the gentleman as my friends had told me he was. My thoughts are with his family and friends. RIP Andrew Weatherall