No Sabbat on Earache in 80's?

Question: Digby-why are you thanked on certain sabbat albums, but earache never signed the band did you help set them up with gigs or somthing when they first started or are you just friends with them. Also did you ever consider signing them when they were first around considering they were one of the bigger bands from nottingham at the time. Also i was talking to a staff member at a games workshop store and they said that GW at one point tried to set up a label to release \"gaming music\" with earache\'s help is this true? From:


Answer;I guess it does seem a little odd that Earache did'nt sign one of Nottingham's leading Metal bands in the late 80's era.The reasons are twofold really- 1) I saw them play really early on as Hydra at a pub in Nottingham but the spandex pants they wore were cringeworthy-in truth, my head was more into extreme hardcore punk bands who sang about political lyrics, such as Napalm Death & Heresy at that time plus 2) I had'nt actually got my label set up properly before Sabbat broke through- i had barely released 2 or maybe 3 records, it was still a bedroom operation.Seemingly,In the course of a few weeks,Sabbat went from budding local hopefuls to Kerrang cover stars-due to the founding editor of kerrang- Geoff Barton- taking an immediate liking to their unique style.A lucky break which propelled them to a deal with the well-established Noise records in Germany.I dont remember them thanking me on any albums, but Nottingham has always had a small tight scene, so our paths used to cross a bit, espcecially as members of Earache band Lawnmower Deth were friendly with Sabbat, coming from the same North Nottingham villages.
What was weird was that much later, when Return To The Sabbat formed, in 2001 or so, Earache declined to sign them.


As for Games Workshop- we did work with them in 1989 licensing the cover art for our Bolt Thrower album.This was prompted by the band themselves, because their name is taken from a GW game, personally I didnt know what Games Workshop was-it was a blast to work with such a hive of creative talent-GW were a local small independent fantasy wargaming firm at the time, not the corporate behemoth they are nowadays, so such a deal was easy to do.My recollection is that Bolt Throwers album actually sold quite well thru the GW stores, which prompted the marketing guy there to try their hand at doing a GW themed record label, with the first and i believe only signing of hard rockers D-Rok, who had a short lived career.