THE SABREJETS

                          THE SABREJETS

When we talking bout rockin bands so then I have been longest to touch with The Sabrejets & Lota Red. First taste of both I got on those legendary Fury Records compilations.

Both bands are a full of great and talent musicans on colourful touch for music. And what a best they are one of most friendly persons too that I have honour to meet. Now we jump cool rockin wagon of The Sabrejets. Enjoy bout their wild ride.

(Liam Killen : LK / Brian Young : BY) Bill and Lou decided to let Liam and me answer 

all the questions!

1.Please tell us something bout your childhood and backgrounds?

(LK) I was born into an aristocratic family. Unfortunately, however, as a child, I was 

kidnapped and, when my family wouldn’t pay the ransom, I was raised by poor, 

humble folks. I will, however, one day, return to claim my rightful inheritance. 

(BY) Not sure Liam is being entirely truthful there - lol! Like every snotty kid who grew 

up in East Belfast I dreamt of being the next George Best. My Mum worked as a 

teacher and used to travel to work on a BSA Bantam and her Mum and Dad used to 

arrive at our house on a motorbike and sidecar combo - so mebbe that’s where my 

love of old bikes comes from? Otherwise, just an ordinary Belfast childhood..

2. First musical woke up/memory?

(BY) I saw T.Rex play ‘Jeepster’ on some rotten children’s TV show when I was about 

10 and from that minute on poor Geordie Best was old news and I wanted to be Marc 

Bolan!

3.How you became interested in bout rockin music...if I have understood right 

way so there had some interesting for punk music too?

(LK) As a kid (I’m talking pre-teens here) I was into glam rock and loved all those

bands like The Sweet, Slade, T. Rex etc. but it was seeing Alice Cooper doing 

“School’s Out” on Top Of the Pops that out really blew my tiny mind. I was totally 

obsessed with Alice. At the same time though I got a cheapo budget LP - “25 Rockin’ 

& Rollin’ Greats” on K-Tel which introduced me to the likes of Johnny Kidd, Gene 

Vincent and Carl Perkins. Once I got into my teens Punk came along and I loved all 

that stuff too (though I can’t say I listen to much of it anymore). 

Eventually I got into The Cramps and, thanks to the stuff they used to name-check in 

interviews, discovered a whole world of great, obscure stuff that I love to this day. 

I don’t reallyunderstand the purists who only like this or that type of music or music 

from particular periods of time. There’s been great rockin’ music in every decade since 

(and, actually, before) the 50s. you just have to seek it out. Hell, something’s either 

good or it’s not, no matter when it was made or where it came from.

(BY) ‘Jeepster’ was the first record I bought and it’s still my favourite. I loved glam 

rock and still do - especially T.Rex, David Bowie, The New York Dolls, Lou Reed and 

Iggy and the Stooges. As Bolan and the Dolls in particular always played cover 

versions of songs by people like Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and Carl 

Perkins I discovered vintage rock’n’roll and never looked back. Musically and visually 

glam rock owed everything to 50’s rock’n’ roll – wasn’t it all the same 3 chords 

anyway! 

I met Marc Bolan when I travelled to see T.Rex play in The Isle Of Man when I was 15 

and he gave me a songbook which inspired me to pick up a guitar and (later) form a 

band. That band was RUDI who were the very first punk band here in Belfast – though 

we started off playing old glam rock and rock’n’roll cover versions! People tend to 

overlook the fact that punk clearly had roots in both glam rock and 50’s rockin’ flash!

4. During 70's and 80's we saw on tv news that on your homeland war going on 

between IRA and UK government...what kind of your life were on middle of that 

terrible killing and bombing. I thought that you needed something that gives you 

pride, joy and great feelings...and cool music were one great answer for that?

(LK) At the time I don’t think anyone here thought that “The Troubles” (as it was 

referred to here) were ever going to end so most people just tried to get on with 

leading as normal a life as they could. I think it’s only afterwards that, looking back,

you realise what a dark, terrible time it was. It was awful (and far too complicated to go 

into here), but hopefully that stuff’s all in the past.

(BY) Growing up in a bitterly divided sectarian society, for me, and many others, music 

provided an alternative to and escape from the narrow mind set that encouraged 

everyday hostility and violence. Even during even the worst days of the troubles music 

helped break down existing sectarian barriers and brought people together. 

5. When you (all 4) started your own bands? -There had bands like Rudi and 

Outcasts...what kind of connection you had for those bands? -" I Saw The 

Light"..or own band and big famous..how all started?

(LK) I played in loads of bands – none of which went anywhere or are really worth 

mentioning. I also published a fanzine – RUMBLE – and through that got to meet 

some really interesting people. The highlight I guess was interviewing Lux and Ivy 

from The CRAMPS. They say you should never meet your idols, but they were really 

nice to me.

Funny that you should mention RUDI and The Outcasts It’s reminded me of the time I 

saw both those bands (along with The Tearjerkers) in a roadhouse out in the sticks on 

the “Good Vibrations World Tour Of Northern Ireland.” From what I remember the gig 

finished with most of the audience (including me and my mates, Steven, and Terry) up 

on the stage with the three bands tearing through stuff like “Route 66” and”Gloria”. I 

guess, that was the first time I shared a stage with Brian! Who’d have known that 

many years later, after I wrote a piece about his band, The Tigersharks, for the Finnish 

magazine, RATBEAT, that we’d end up putting a band together?

(BY) As I mentioned, RUDI was my first band – and we single handedly kickstarted 

the local punk scene! Bands like the Outcasts and SLF didn’t set foot on a stage until 

well over a year later! ‘Big Time’ was our first record and the first on the legendary 

Good Vibrations label. We split with that label after they messed up the release of ‘The 

Pressure’s On’ 45 but were picked up by the Jamming! Label run by Tony Fletcher 

and Paul Weller. After supporting the Jam on the Trans Global Express UK tour in 

1982 we were tipped for the top – but when the Jam split up the Jamming! label folded 

and RUDI decided to call it a day shortly after. Close but no cigar!

6. How you found each other for band ...what you did before Sabrejets? Where 

from you found name for band...did you knew straight away what kind of style 

you want for your band? Was there any other rockin bands in Belfast on early 

days of 90's? How difficult it was to get gigs way back then...whom with you 

shared the bill

(LK) I don’t think we’ve ever really found it difficult to get gigs. Most places that book 

us tend to ask us back. One of our first support slots was for Chuck Berry in Belfast. 

Since then, we’ve played with loads of great artists – Syl Sylvain, The Blasters, Daddy 

Long Legs, Hillbilly Moon Explosion, The Belle Furies, Imelda May, The Katmen, The 

Primitives and The Damned are a few that spring to mind. Back in the early days The Sabrejets even played with Bill Haley’s Comets (though I missed that gig!). We also 

count ourselves lucky to have met the mighty Bo Diddley who shared some ancient 

secret knowledge with us. And, no, we can’t tell you what it was – it’s secret.

(BY) After RUDI folded I thought I’d hung up my guitar for good. Bored, I wrote a one 

off bookzine about Marc Bolan called ‘Automatic Shoes’ to my surprise selling all 500 

copies in a few days and picking up rave reviews in the NME and local press! My 

close friend Paul Rowan – who died from cancer a while back - insisted I join him 

onstage at a couple of T.Rex Tribute gigs in the late 80’s and through this I 

rediscovered my love of music and started writing songs again. Subsequently I formed

The Tigersharks with two of the guys who played at the T.Rex tribute gigs who shared 

my love for Link Wray! Hot Press described us pretty accurately as ‘Johnny Thunders 

fronting the Stray Cats’. Switching to more rockabilly oriented material we changed our 

name to The Roughnecks before splitting up in the early 90’s, frustratingly, just when 

things were starting to take off...

At that point I decided to put together a new band that would take no prisoners and 

knock out a unique brand of two fisted, no holds barred, stripped down and revved up, 

greasy rockabilly – the way I wanted to hear it played! With help from my longtime 

buddy Liam Killen, who I’d met through our shared devotion to the Cramps, we 

hammered out a set of tough self penned rockin’ originals, enlisting the help of local 

hotshots ex Crazy Quavers ‘Wild Bill Johnston on drums and Marty Cottrell on 

bass/double bass. Thus the Sabrejets were born and now, over 25 years later, Liam 

and I are still twangin’ furiously, ‘Wild’ Bill is now out front with us on doghouse 

bass/vcls and newest (and youngest) member drum basher Lou Steele completes the

line up – arguably the strongest yet! We’ve never had any problem getting gigs as 

audiences seem to like us - and we’ve built up a formidable live reputation throughout 

Ireland and beyond. Sadly there are very few other rockin’ bands in Ireland which is a

pity. Other bands seem to start up then give up after a couple of years – we’re in this 

for the long haul! 

7. Please tell us more bout how you write and work your own songs, where from

you took ideas for songs...how you working at studio

(LK) I don’t know where this stuff comes from. It’s a mystery – and probably best kept 

that way.

(BY) I’d kinda agree with Liam – I just pick up a guitar and see what comes out! Then 

it’s simply a case of working on the good stuff and dumping the bad! Down the years 

I’ve written literally hundreds of songs and a local label here in Belfast has asked me 

to do an acoustic album with a mixture of my old and new material. I’ll hopefully get 

that done early next year – but, as always my heart lies with the Sabrejets! In the 

studio I like to record as live and as fast as possible! 

8. I’m I right that Restless Kind is your 4th album?

(BY) Er.. well sort of!

9. Please tell us something about your first 3 albums..

(BY) ‘Hellbent’ was our first album. It was released on Raucous Records back in 

1997 and was originally supposed to be a 10” mini album. However, after it was 

recorded most distributors decided they didn’t want to handle vinyl anymore so it came 

out on CD instead! As you’ll remember, back then there were dozens of fanzines and 

small labels and we recorded and released a lot of one off tracks all around the world. 

Our second proper release was the mini album ‘Wild For Kicks’ which came out on 

the Belfast based Immortal Records label in 1999. Then in 2002 the Brazilian based 

13 Records label issued a ‘Best Of’ album ‘Red Hot Rock N Roll’ which included both 

‘Hellbent’ , ‘Wild For Kicks’ and another 10 tracks including some tracks from 

various compilations as well as some unreleased cuts. This 26 track CD was later 

issued as a limited CDr in a new sleeve and sold at the Belfast Rockabilly Round Up

Festivals in 2004 -2006. ‘Sin-Sational!’ was our next album, issued in 2011again 

through Raucous records run by Howard Piperides. ‘Faster Than the Eye Can See’

followed next. A 4 track EP on Time To Be Proud records in Belfast it was a one off 

Record Store Day exclusive back in 2017 and sold out almost immediately – though a 

small run was repressed which we took to sell in Germany when we played Darmstadt 

in 2018. NB: these recordings are different to the ones of the same songs on ‘The

Restless Kind’ CD.

(9) It took quite long between ‘Sin-Sational!’ & ‘The Restless Kind’..why? It looks 

that you spent Covid time well as you did during those days, weeks and months 

your best album so far. Restless Kind is a real deal...please tell us bout doing 

it...on where you recorded it, was there any problems etc...

(LK) Thanks, Wellu. We’re pretty pleased with the album too. The recording was 

actually pretty much finished before Covid hit but it then took a while, with lockdown 

etc, to get things moving to have it released.

(BY) That’s the short version...here’s the long one! First, drummer Laurence McKeown 

left the band and we had to find a replacement – but we hit paydirt with Lou Steele 

who is much younger than the rest of us and brought a new energy into the line up. 

We weren’t happy with some of the local studios and took some time to find a 

producer who could get the sound we wanted. We recorded some tracks with Dean 

Stevens for Johnny Thunders and Cramps tribute EP’s followed by the 4 track EP 

‘Faster Than The Eye Can See’ and were so pleased with the results that we decided 

to record our new album with him. With several tracks already recorded Dean then left 

the studio he was working in, opting to build a new one from scratch in his back 

garden! That took some time – but we stuck with him and the results were well worth 

the wait! Then, just as we’d received the finished sleeve design and everything was 

ready to be pressed covid hit! Thankfully Howard at Raucous records has great faith in 

the band and once things settled down a bit decided to release the album anyway! 

Thankfully it has been selling really well, also picking up some great reviews and a lot 

of radio play!

(10) Pick any 3 songs from album and open em totally to us

(LK) Nah – just listen to ‘em and figure ‘em out for yourself. It’s more fun that way!

(BY) I wrote the title track ‘The Restless Kind’ for everyone who feels they just don’t 

fit in to modern day society - like me! ‘Zorita’ is another song inspired by a feisty 

female continuing the tradition established by ‘Cindy Ray’ on our last album. I’m 

proud to count the real ‘Cindy Ray’ as a close personal friend! ‘Someone’s On The 

Loose’ is a cover of the old Whirlwind song. Whirlwind were really important to me 

back in the late 70’s and I’ve become close friends with their guitar player Mick Lewis 

and his wife Julia in recent years. Mick has previously guested onstage with The 

Sabrejets here in Belfast and more recently at a show in Darmstadt, Germany when 

we played 3 Whirlwind numbers including (of course!) ‘Someone’s On the Loose’. (11) Have you got good publicity after Restless Kind album...did you have 

chances to do releasing party

(BY) Our official ‘launch’ party was at a huge open air gig in Ward Park in Bangor. It 

was the first outdoor gig there since the pandemic started so everyone was a bit 

nervous – but, it was a really sunny day, the place was packed and we stormed 

through a 95 minute set! Since then we’ve managed to play a handful of local gigs but 

covid is back on the rise here so who knows what the future will bring?

(LK) Yeah, the reaction has been pretty good – there’ve been great reviews in UK 

Rock’nRoll, Now Dig This, and Vintage Rock magazine. It’s been getting a lot of 

airplay too, so we can’t complain.

(12) Your highlights/lowlights...scary or funny moments on gigs or on the road 

for gigs...

(LK) Well, we’ve had some great gigs all over the place – standouts would be playing 

for The Wild Bunch Rock’n’Roll Club in Norway, The Darmstadt weekender in 

Germany a couple of years ago and, dare I say it? the Midsummer Jamboree in Hotelli 

Ellivuori Vammala way back in 2000- and- when- was- it -again? Those are 

experiences I’d love to repeat. Hopefully once things open up again, we’ll get more 

gigs like that. So, if anyone’s interested in booking us….

On a different note, there was the gig we did for The Devils’ Disciples Motorcycle Club 

in Donegall with the strippers…. Actually, it’s probably best not to go into detail on 

that, but that was the time our drummer had to clean whipped cream (at least we hope 

it was whipped cream) off his drumkit!!!

(BY) Liam has pretty much covered it – even after all these years I still get a real kick 

every single time I set foot onstage with Liam, Bill and Lou - It’s a real pleasure and 

privilege to play with these cats - it’s just so much fun and every gig is a blast!

(13) How you describe your band for strangers.

(LK) High Octane Two-fisted Rock’n’Roll. We’re just doing what comes naturally to us.

(BY) Belfast’s greaser Kings! Ton-up rockabilly and two-fisted Rock’n’Roll. We’re not 

like any other rockabilly band on the planet!.

(14) Being a band that doesn’t stand on red carpets and be on bright lights how 

its be a live band in Northern Ireland and driver for gigs?

(LK) We don’t care about red carpets and awards and all that stuff. We’re not really 

interested in following trends. Sure, it would be nice if we were rich and famous but, 

you know,…whatever. We do what we do - you either like us or you don’t. But the 

people that like us really like us

(BY) Playing on stage is, for me, the most exciting part of being in a band. When we’re 

knockin’ ‘em dead, firing on all cyclinders and the audience is going nuts to the songs 

we’ve written and everyone is having a ball then there’s nothing to beat it! 

(14) Famous last words

(LK) Don’t know about last words but I like these headstone inscriptions -

“I told you I was sick” – Spike Milligan. “That’s All Folks!” – Mel Blanc.

(BY) Old enough to know better – too far gone to care!