Rattling Sabres were an Australian country rock group formed in 1986 by Leyton Greening on drums, Lindsay Hodgson on bass guitar, Robert Price on lead vocals and Kerryn Tolhurst on lead guitar. Greening was soon replaced on drums by John Lee. They issued a single, "All Fired Up", in 1987 which had been written by Tolhurst. It peaked in the lower reaches of the Kent Music Report's top 100 singles chart. Pat Benatar released her own version of "All Fired Up", after some rewriting, in the following year, which reached No. 2 on the Australian chart and the top 20 in America, Canada, New Zealand and United Kingdom. The Rattling Sabres moved to the States but disbanded within six months.
History
In 1986 Kerryn Tolhurst returned to Australia after working in the United States as a songwriter. He had been the lead guitarist of country rockers, Country Radio, and the Dingoes,. In 1986 Tolhurst formed another country rock group, Rattling Sabres, with Leyton Greening on drums, Lindsay Hodgson on bass guitar, Robert Price on lead vocals. Later members included Chong Lim and Bruce Nightingale. The short-lived group's major claim to fame was a single released in 1987, "All Fired Up", which charted nationally, peaking at No. 94 on the Australian Singles Chart. It had been written by Tolhurst and later rewritten and therefore credited to Pat Benatar and Myron Grombacher and Tolhurst. Benatar released her own version of "All Fired Up" as a single, a year later, which reached No. 2 in Australia, and was a top 20 hit in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and United Kingdom.
Afterwards
Former members of Rattling Sabres worked as session and tour musician in various groups. Chong Lim joined John Farnham's backing band on keyboards from 1993. Tolhurst briefly worked in Black Sorrows and Goanna before forming Quill-Tolhurst with former bandmate Greg Quill on vocals, acoustic guitar and percussion, which issued a studio album, So Rudely Interrupted, in 2003. In December 2002ScreenSound Australia and the National Screen and Sound Archive released an Australian various artistscompilation album, All Fired Up – Lost Treasures of Australian Music, which was assembled by Paul Conn. According to music commentator, Duncan Kimball, it "presents an eclectic sampling of OzRock from the 70s to the 90s." The title track was described by Kimball, " is best known from the version recorded by US singer Pat Benatar, which was a Top 20 hit for her in the US and Top 5 in Australia. The original version was written and produced by Rattling Sabres' founder, Kerryn Tolhurst." Kerryn Tolhurst Band, with Robert Price aboard, issued an album, Out of the Shadows, in 2011. Robert Price is currently performing with his own band Flip Your Wig. They have released two singles on Belmar Records with an album due for release in late 2018.
