Hailing from North London, 27 year old DJ turned Producer ‘Sabre’ has slowly been risen through the ranks of the global electronic music fraternity, securing as he goes a reputation as a twisted yet soulful thinker, bringing a grittier sound to the deeper spectrum of the drum and bass and experimental electronica.
After having spent his earliest years in the Seychelles, Sabre moved to the UK in 1989. Reaching his early teens, he found a passion for Hip-Hop and turntablism, and equipped himself as a bedroom DJ. The subsequent vinyl addiction was cemented by the arrival of Jungle Era, and overwhelmed by the richness of the music, Sabre started to purchase the occasional release, and eventually switched focus away from Hip-Hop entirely in the late 90’s with the arrival of more futuristic, industrial sounding drum and bass, from artists like Future Forces, Photek, Teebee and DJ Trace.
By the millennium, pirate and internet radio stations such as UK Rumble and Rude FM had began supporting the young DJ, and with hopeful ambitions emerging on a career in music, the inevitable experimentation with music production had begun, with artists of the day such as Jonny L, Ed Rush & Optical and Kemal all providing a blueprint to work to. But parallel to modern techstep influences came the borrowed ‘sampling ethic’ of the Hip-Hop greats such as Premier, Diamond D, RZA and DJ Muggs .
A course in music technology followed and now armed with a firm grasp of studio technique; the first releases came in 2002 under the guise of the collaborative ‘Intimidation Collective’ project, a two man, self-driven enterprise selling white label music from car boots straight to the shops. The profile was growing at grass roots level in the underground, and now approaching 2004, small and mid sized labels started picking up on the ‘techy/soulful’ mix of dancefloor drum and bass being produced by the newcomer. The first throws at starting a brand within music came the year after with the launch of London Zu, the now retired drum and bass clubnight formerly held at Londons’ La Scala venue.
In the years since those first opportunities, Sabre’s grown to emerge as a global DJ with residencies across Europe, and secured releases and remix work for labels including Metalheadz, Renegade Hardware, Critical and Shogun. Spanning many styles, this initially dancefloor-orientated catalog has since evolved itself towards a more minimal and experimental outlook, resulting in 2007 with a commission from Capitol films to contribute toward the film score for the Tony Kaye feature ‘Black water Transit’. The view looking to the future is spread across the musical and multimedia spectrum.
