The Sadies have played all over the world where, for the last 30 years, they have astonished audiences with their earthy arsenal of roots music, country, spaghetti western, surf, garage rock, psychedelia, and the slippery beast known as alt rock, all with uncanny precision and passion.
The Sadies
Dallas Good – Vocals, Guitars
Travis Good – Vocals, Guitars, Fiddle, Banjo & Mandolin
Sean Dean – Bass
Mike Belitsky – Drums
“Colder Streams” is the sound of everything coming together for The Sadies. Long confident that the result of their recordings is far more important than adhering to any schedules or deadlines – they took their time on this one.
The songs here are ambitious and accomplished. Having had that extra time to grow benefited these tracks, and they stand up alongside any of their earlier work. As Mike Stax of Ugly Things Magazine once opined “Most bands only get worse with age – much, much worse – The Sadies continue to confound us by getting better and better”.
This record is pure Sadie – as the band has long referred to itself. From the moment ‘Stop and Start’ blasts out of your speakers like some long-lost nuggets monster, through the cinematic closer ‘End Credits’, it’s the sound of an experienced, confident band at the peak of their powers. You will hear a new favourite song with nearly every spin.
The pandemic offered The Sadies the gift of time and the opportunity to record comfortably with Producer Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire/Belle Orchestre) at his Montreal studio. The ease of working with their dear friend helped create what Richard feels “is The Sadies’ finest album and the one I always hoped they’d make one day.”
The recording was ably assisted by engineers Pietro Amato at Richard’s Skybarn Studio, and Mike Dubue for the two songs tracked at his Studio Cimetière. Jon Spencer contributed guitar to a track, as well as Dallas & Travis’ parents, Bruce and Margaret Good, adding autoharp and backing vocals respectively.
Once finished, the band were eager to get out and play in support of this new album. Tour plans were already well underway when the devastating news of Dallas’ unexpected death on February 17th, 2022, stopped everything in its tracks.
Needing music to help process and heal, Travis worked out new arrangements for many of the “Colder Streams” tracks. This labour of love had him combine both his and Dallas’ guitar parts, as well as tackling vocals for all these songs by himself. Travis, Mike and Sean convened to see if it might be possible to play some of these songs without Dallas, making no bets on whether that would be successful, and agreeing to leave it alone if it didn’t seem right to do it.
After three days of rehearsal, the band felt it appropriate, cathartic even – to continue playing. This decision to play both to honour Dallas’ memory and to promote the release of the album that supporters had waited so long to hear. Performing these shows was a positive and healing experience for all involved and helped the band realize that they want to continue doing this as long as it feels right.
At the JUNO Awards in Edmonton in March of 2023, The Sadies won the JUNO for “Colder Streams” for Adult Alternative Album of The Year, a proud but bittersweet moment for the band. Most recently “Colder Streams” made the Polaris Music Prize Short List for 2023.
Extensive touring continues, honouring the legacy of what Dallas created, ensuring that the huge body of work they made together is kept alive and out there for loyal fans and new that have yet to discover this amazing band.
Greg Dinwoodie 2023
Friend
***
Without doubt or qualification, The Sadies are one of this continent’s greatest extant rock ‘n’ roll bands — just as they have been for the last quarter-century. Versatile and imaginative, they skip from astral psychedelia to shuffling bucolics and leap from puckish pop to righteous garage-rock without losing momentum or mastery. Their albums deliver masterclasses on pointed songwriting, lockstep harmonies, and a devil-may-care attitude to expectations and past successes. With their new album – Colder Streams – out now, check out what Shindig Magazine calls “a stone-cold masterpiece”.
***
I was utterly thrilled the Sadies asked me to produce this record which mostly meant I just hung around listening to the greatest live band in the country playing their asses off, and then occasionally I’d get off the couch and sing backing vocals. That said, this is The Sadies’ finest album, the one I always hoped they’d make one day and I’m stoked to have been there helping them do it. What an incredible band.
Richard Reed Parry
Producer of Colder Streams, Musician
***
With their preternatural musicianship and vocal harmonies, The Sadies can blow pretty much any band off the stage—anyone who’s ever seen them live knows that. But what is sometimes overlooked is their superlative songwriting. With Colder Streams they’ve delivered one of their most memorable albums yet: 11 distinctively original new songs imbued with melody, mystery and that indefinable Sadies magic. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: most bands only get worse with age—much, much worse—the Sadies continue to confound us by getting better and better.
Mike Stax
Ugly Things magazine
***
The Sadies don’t just hit the heights because they are very tall. They touch the sky with their incredible songwriting, musicianship and exceeding charm as well. “Colder Streams” brings listeners to the warmest waters we’ve yet encountered from these Canadian stalwarts. There is a familiarity that breeds anything but contempt. There is a sweeping majesty to the songs on “Colder Streams”. From the opening explosion of “Stop and Start” onward, it’s obvious that something very special is happening here. Songs such as “More Alone” and “All The Good” offer melancholy yet simultaneously provide elation with their beautiful panoramic soundscapes. The searing “No One’s Listening” features some of The Sadies most fiery six string squeals to date. “Better Yet” somehow matches the ferocity of Love’s “Seven and Seven Is” yet offers a brand new equation. “Ginger Moon” brightly illuminates the band’s passion for sixties garage rock.
It’s fitting that an album so boldly cinematic in nature should close with “End Credits”. And like a classic film, everytime you encounter “Colder Streams” you will discover something you missed previously. There is so much beauty to take in here it can be overwhelming. Get in the water now!
Todd-O-Phonic Todd
WFMU
…God this LP’s good. Fathoms deep in reverb, and produced by Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry, its sure-footed ‘60s psych, garage and country is potently rendered. …the stars align throughout.
A flurry of emotion — joyful and pointed — and clattering noise blending into haunting sparseness, this is the record the Sadies have been working on capturing for their entire existence. Thankfully, and with bittersweet timing, they got it done when we most needed them to, making the best record that has ever been made by anyone. Ever.
This is far and away the best the band has ever sounded on record.
The Sadies’ final album with the late Dallas Good send him off with one of the best albums of their long career.
…contains some of The Sadies’ finest work.
It all crackles like this is their first album, not one released nearly 25 years after it.
Hopefully, Good’s death doesn’t mean the end for this renowned outfit. His last stand reaffirms everything he built with The Sadies and confirms their status as one of Canada’s preeminent groups.
Colder Streams achieves the astounding level of cohesion and playing that has come to be expected from The Sadies.
…Colder Streams is signature Sadies.
This may be the most aptly captured ethos of The Sadies, a band that truly defies categorization.
…it’s the sound of The Sadies that we’ve enjoyed for over decades now.”
…The Sadies are and hopefully continue to be one of the great Canadian bands of the last three decades. Rock on!
…Colder Streams is a dense and colourful record that owes as much to psychedelia as it does to The Sadies’ country heritage.
…a truly haunted record, in the most beautiful way.
One of the best live bands of the last 25 years, The Sadies’ previous albums, though excellent, never quite captured their on-stage genius. It’s debatable whether Colder Streams achieves this, or whether their 11th LP succeeds by not even trying; what’s inarguable is that it’s a stone-cold masterpiece in its own right.
Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry brings a grand, widescreen aesthetic to the full-bodied psychedelic folk-rock of ’Stop And Start’ and the haunting dream-pop of ‘Message To Bell’, while Jon Spencer guests on bluesy-rocker ’No One’s Listening’, ‘All The Good’ and ‘Cut Up High And Dry’ hew to the band’s country-bluegrass roots, but ’So Far For So Few’ and ‘Better Yet’ are hook-filled garage gems. Following the tragic death of singer-guitarist Dallas Good in February, Colder Streams may be The Sadies’ final record. If so, they – and we – couldn’t wish for a finer epitaph.
Todd-O-Phonic Todd
The Sadies don’t just hit the heights because they are very tall. They touch the sky with their incredible songwriting, musicianship and exceeding charm as well. Colder Streams brings listeners to the warmest waters we’ve yet encountered from these Canadian stalwarts. There is a familiarity that breeds anything but contempt. There is a sweeping majesty to the songs on Colder Streams. From the opening explosion of “Stop and Start” onward, it’s obvious that something very special is happening here. Songs such as “More Alone” and “All The Good” offer melancholy yet simultaneously provide elation with their beautiful panoramic soundscapes. The searing “No One’s Listening” features some of The Sadies most fiery six string squeals to date. “Better Yet” somehow matches the ferocity of Love’s “Seven and Seven Is” yet offers a brand new equation. “Ginger Moon” brightly illuminates the band’s passion for sixties garage rock.
It’s fitting that an album so boldly cinematic in nature should close with “End Credits”. And like a classic film, everytime you encounter Colder Streams you will discover something you missed previously. There is so much beauty to take in here it can be overwhelming. Get in the water now!
Mike Stax
With their preternatural musicianship and vocal harmonies, The Sadies can blow pretty much any band off the stage – anyone who’s ever seen them live knows that. But what is sometimes overlooked is their superlative songwriting. With Colder Streams they’ve delivered one of their most memorable albums yet: 11 distinctively original new songs imbued with melody, mystery and that indefinable Sadies magic. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: most bands only get worse with age – much, much worse – The Sadies continue to confound us by getting better and better.
Producer of Colder Streams, Musician
I was utterly thrilled The Sadies asked me to produce this record which mostly meant I just hung around listening to the greatest live band in the country playing their asses off, and then occasionally I’d get off the couch and sing backing vocals. That said, this is The Sadies’ finest album, the one I always hoped they’d make one day and I’m stoked to have been there helping them do it. What an incredible band.
The tenth album from the fabulous Sadies is up there with the best.
**** 4 stars
Much like Teenage Fanclub, there’s something thoroughly dependable about The Sadies…each new album promising both new delights and reassuring old comforts. Northern Passages is just that, their banked harmonies as warm and familiar as the blissful psych-country of “Riverview Fog” or the Clarence White-era Bryds stylings of “God Bless The Infidels”. Yet they also offer something more brutal on “Another Season Again” and changing “Questions I Never Asked”, while old ’90s touring partner Kurt Vile takes lead vocals on the exquisite “It’s Easy (Like Walking)”.
8/10
2017-02-07
REVIEW: The Sadies – Northern Passages
(Yep Roc)
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Everyone’s favorite Canadian country/garage/surf/folk/psychedelic/garage pop-rockers are back. The Sadies have used their eclectic prowess to back the diverse likes of John Doe, Neil Young, Andre Williams, Neko Case and Robyn Hitchcock among others, while also releasing a steady stream of their own music. The band’s tenth album since 1998’s debut, and first in four years, tries to corral the group’s wildly diverse influences into a cohesive statement.
It’s a tough assignment, but one The Sadies have been balancing, mostly successfully, over the past two decades. Still, the opening one-two punch starts with the sweet, warm, bucolic, heartfelt folk ballad of “Riverview Fog” then abruptly shifts into the compressed raw, grimy rocking of “Another Season Again” with such a head jerking whiplash, you’ll be checking your playback device to see if it didn’t mistakenly skip to another band by mistake. From there it’s off to the Brit invasion styled melodic crunch of “There Are No Words” until things settle into a more predictable strummy, ringing country groove with the air guitar tribute “It’s Easy (Like Walking)” and on through the Son Volt groove of “Questions I’ve Never Asked,” with a closing veer into Spaghetti-surf Western territory of “The Noise Museum,” the disc’s lone instrumental.
These songs, recorded in the basement of brothers Travis and Dallas Good’s parent’s Toronto home, inexplicably took nearly two years to get released. There doesn’t seem to be much post-production or overdubs to these amiable, often rocking, always committed performances. Despite their instrumental virtuosity in a variety of genres, the Sadies continue to be hampered by somewhat bland lead vocals that aren’t distinctive enough to elevate some of these solid but not particularly stellar tunes to the next level. That’s fine when the track is as driving as “The Elements Song,” at over five minutes, the disc’s longest (seven others don’t break the three minute mark) and most twisting selection.
This doesn’t mean the psych-bluegrass of “Through Strange Eyes,” the pure retro country twang of “God Bless the Infidels” or the Rubber Soul-ed chiming guitar pop of “As Above, So Below” aren’t welcome. You just wish these melodies, even with their unique musical approaches, were more memorable, even catchy.
Regardless, while others in the Americana field get stuck in a groove, that will never be a problem with The Sadies and Northern Passages is a worthy entry in the notable catalog of a now-veteran act who refuse to be pigeonholed.
2014-08-26
REVIEW: Gord Downie, The Sadies & The Conquering Sun @ Greenbelt Harvest Picnic
Brad Wheeler
‘Drive it like we stole it / Through the snowflakes, into the cold of the sun’
At dinner hour, Gord Downie and the Sadies (a worthwhile thunder-lightning alliance) toured through a set of roaring, cosmic ideas in garage-Americana music. Downie, an artist of unique energy and off-beat flair known for his fronting of the Can-rock heroes the Tragically Hip, has been involved with the filthy-twanging Sadies for a number of years, having formed as part of a CBC Radio-prompted collaboration that involved cover tunes. At Greenbelt, they touched on that history with a surprise version of the Who deep cut, So Sad About Us. Otherwise they presented the material of their long-in-coming debut album Gord Downie, the Sadies, and the Conquering Sun. To paraphrase one of his lyrics, Downie drove the Sadies like he had stolen them, fish-tailing a muscle car through a desert chase. Some seven years in the making, the band has become one of Canada’s top live acts overnight.
“We are the blessing and the curse,” head Sadie Dallas Good sings on “The Very Beginning,” but most of this band’s 16(!)-album output has been a blessing. The Sadies have, with less fanfare than they deserve, been one of the most surefire alt-country acts for nearly 20 years, collaborating with Neko Case, Jon Langford and Andre Williams. Recorded over the course of a year and sounding more worked over than previous albums, Internal Sounds is full of endings and beginnings, with cinematic instrumental act breaks, twangy fist- pumpers (“The First 5 Minutes”), muscular power pop (“Another Tomorrow Again”) and haunting drones (the excellent closer, “We Are Circling”).
What can’t they do?
– Joe Gross
Album Review: The Sadies – Internal Sounds
Review: The Sadies – Internal Sounds
The Sadies rock, that’s always the truth. The brothers Good aren’t capable of anything less. But, let’s just say you don’t want to start a listening session with Lucy Wainwright Roche and end it with The Sadies unless you’re a stronger person than I. The rock and roll here on the opening track is a formidable machine. Fear not, for the disc steps back into a slightly more approachable sound on “So Much Blood,” before easing back into the rock from there on out. The tumbling drum intro to “Starting All Over Again”, though brief, is one of my favorite moments on the disc up until that point. That song unfolds into a chaotic collection of instrumental parts, backing up a very catchy, almost pop-like melody. The drums take us into the next track too, and it’s not until the tenth song, “Story 19,” that we’re offered some kind of respite from the loud-and-fast rock and roll. If you’re looking to unleash some energy, crank the stereo high, and rock the hell out, this album will serve you well. As usual, the Sadies do this with mindful, imaginative arrangements and hard-core proficient guitar slinging. But, make no mistake, this is not an Americana album.Whatever it is, though, it’s good stuff.
At their best, the Sadies have always sounded like the missing link between the 13th Floor Elevators and The Byrds, and it only takes about ten seconds into “The First Five Seconds,” the lead-off track from the ballsy, broken, and blisteringly solid Internal Sounds, to back that notion up. The first “official” Sadies album since 2010’s equally terrific Darker Circles (the band released three collaborations in between, one with punk-blues legend Andre Williams (Night and Day), one with X-man John Doe (Country Club), and one with familial Canadian bluegrass outfit The Good Brothers (The Good Family Album); it’s also the first Sadies long-player to be produced solely by singer/guitarist Dallas Good (longtime producer/collaborator Gary Louris (The Jayhawks) gets credit for “vocals coached” and “fortunes read”). Internal Sounds both solidifies and expands on the veteran group’s signature tone, beefing up the punk-infused, psych- rock twang without losing any of the technical mastery and subtle nuances of the playing, especially on big, standout cuts like “Another Tomorrow Again,” the aforementioned opener, and the stunning Smithereens-meet-The Kinks rocker “Very Beginning,” the latter of which offers up a hundred reasons why Neko Case and others hold the group in such high regard and so often look to them for help on the stage and in the studio. It’s not all “Blood and Roses” and “Powerman,” though, as the band’s country-folk predilections yield a pair of high and lonesome juke-joint gems in “So Much Blood” and “Leave This World Behind,” and a swirling and surreal “Tomorrow Never Knows”-inspired invocation of hope in the Buffy Sainte-Marie-led closer “We Are Circling,” proving that might doesn’t always require volume.
The songwriting gifts of twangy Canadian rockers the Sadies are often overshadowed by their musical collaborators — a list that includes Neil Young, the Band’s Garth Hudson, Neko Case and Jon Langford, to name a few. But Internal Sounds, the quartet’s 16th studio album, is an impeccable encapsulation of their strengths. Produced by vocalist/guitarist Dallas Good, the full- length touches on familiar sounds: barnstorming garage jangle (“The First 5 Minutes”), elegiac folk (the mandolin-aided “So Much Blood”), cowpunk (“Another Tomorrow Again”) and the kind of nostalgic alt-country that flourishes in the U.S. Midwest (the fiddle-augmented, Bottle Rockets-like “Another Yesterday Again”; the Uncle Tupelo-esque harmonies and ragged heart of “The Very Beginning”).
Still, Internal Sounds isn’t afraid to take chances: The 90-second “The Very Ending” is an ever- so-brief foray into prog rock, while the album-closing “We Are Circling” is a heavy psych drone that boasts mesmerizing interlocking vocals from Buffy Sainte-Marie, who unearthed lyrics she wrote in 1971 for the occasion. Lyrically, the Sadies are just as brave; songs touch on past indiscretions and heartaches, but feature protagonists who are self-aware enough to overcome these struggles and push past regret (“I can’t change what’s done is done/ I won’t fight for anyone but me”). This indefatigable mindset gives Internal Sounds an optimistic edge that’s inspiring and age-defying.
For their sixteenth album since forming in 1994, The Sadies decided to slow down. Not their sound per say – Internal Sounds still has winding melodies and guitars galore — but the production. Recorded over the course of a full year, featuring a 20-plus day studio session, the band shirked immediacy in favor of a perfected final product, using up all their money and favors along the way.
“Another Tomorrow Again” suggests that the time and effort paid off. Setting hurried guitars and a quick pace against the nonchalant lyrics — “now we’re on our way / if we don’t make it today / it’s okay, we can make it tomorrow” — the song might be the perfect teaser for the album. (Incidentally, we wonder if it could have been written about its making.) At the end of the day, The Sadies are just a band, doing what they do, making music; for everything else, they’ve got tomorrow.
“I wrote this song in less time than it took to perform it,” says The Sadies’ Dallas Good. “Silliness. I sent a rough version to Gary Louris to help me with it and he said he loved it. He said “the words don’t have to be Keats or Yeats or bloody Rimbaud. They fit the music and sometimes people (I know I do) try too hard to be poets and it comes off as pretentious…these fit and it feels like a traveling song.” Gary, I’m sorry to quote your e-mail but you said it better than I could. Maybe that was just his way of not helping me with the song. Jerk.”
Internal Sounds is out September 17th on Yep Roc Records.
http://www.americansongwriter.com/2013/07/song-premiere-the-sadies-another-tomorrow-again/
Andre Williams & The Sadies – Night & Day
(Outside) BY RICHARD TRAPUNSKI
Andre Williams is a pivotal figure in R&B, garage, punk and sleaze rock, but between co-writing songs for Stevie Wonder, charting on Billboard and inspiring a generation of rockers from Jack White to the Dirtbombs, he also spent time mired in drugs and crime.
That was the Williams who showed up to record with Toronto country-rock institution the Sadies in 2008 – strung out, missing his bottom dentures and dodging jail time. Under the musical direction of blues-exploder Jon Spencer, the then-70-year-old cut a gritty, warts-and-all blues record complete with deep, slurred vocals and caustic lyrics that don’t sugarcoat his struggles and openly doubt Sam Cooke’s famous A Change Is Gonna Come optimism.
Four years later, a cleaned-up Williams reconnected with the Sadies to record Side B of Night & Day (i.e., Day), a much cleaner, country-fried R&B stomp that showcases a singer thankful for his lot in life, and his life, period. Both sides are endearing in their own way, and both show off a musical legend with plenty left to say.
Top track: America (You Say “A Change Is Gonna Come”)
American Songwriter
2012-05-08
Andre Williams & The Sadies
Night and Day (Yep Roc)
By Hal Horowitz
Rating: 3 Stars (out of 4)Searching for wholesome, PC approved, feel good music to make your Sunday morning more relaxing? Better look elsewhere ‘cause the 70 year old Williams gruffly talking trash through these Sadies and Jon Spencer backed country, hillbilly, blues rock and psychedelic garage tracks won’t sit well with your easy listening brunch plans. However, if your Saturday night party is getting a little stale, this’ll heat things up. The lascivious Williams uses his weathered baritone to recite stories that seem at least partially ad-libbed, predominately about being black, old, poor — sometimes horny — in America. It’s grimy, raw, explicit and with a surfeit of F bombs, definitely not for the squeamish. But those familiar with Williams’ extensive history or even recent material (it’s his second album in the past six months), will find this 30 minute set a crazed, occasionally unhinged yet always riveting experience.
****
Opening a Sadies CD has always been like crawling into a dark hollow in Appalachia and waiting for the LSD to take effect. Sometimes the results could be fairly spooky. Fortunately, the Sadies have shaved most of the trip bumps off their latest, possibly finest, offering. There remains a low dose of psychedelia in a space cowboy sort of way. There’s even some surf guitar and spaghetti-western sound effects. For the most part, however, Darker Circles finds its roots in the pre-acid days of folk-rock. Jangly guitars and sweet harmonies. Dark, but not scary. It’s what the Sadies do best.
The liner notes’ claim that the Sadies keep getting better may sound presumptuous, but a few spins and there is no disproving the boast. Given that they’re now well into double figures for albums made (collaborations rightfully included) that’s a rare feat. Beginning with 2007’s triumph, New Seasons, the band have narrowed their musical focus a little, resulting in a distilled concentrate that packs the potent punch of well-made moonshine. Production values have been simultaneously strengthened, in part via the invaluable input of co-producer Gary Louris (Jayhawks). Louris adds vocal harmonies to six cuts, including co-write “Idle Tomorrows.” That’s the only guest appearance here, unlike on earlier albums. Things kick off with the spiritedly garage-ish “Another Year Again” and close with a typically cinematic instrumental, “10 More Songs.” In between are a batch of well-constructed numbers that often have a sombre feel. The stone cold killer cut is “Tell Her What I Said,” which is full of haunting sonics and lines like, “I turn to oblivion, night after night.” There’s nary a dud here, though the vocals are somewhat buried on “Violet and Jeffrey Lee.” This band can still play, sing and write circles around virtually all those out there. The Sadies’ status as a national treasure remains intact.
Enjoy working with Gary Louris again?
Singer/guitarist Dallas Good: We’re getting into the studio process more all the time. Gary and I really enjoy chasing down weird sounds and doing now unconventional things that were once very conventional, like analog and little effects and tricks. This album was really fun to make. We made it quickly and collaboratively. Compared to all our other experiences, everyone was really prepared and excited about this one. Gary brings so much to the table in different ways, and he makes us all really confident about the things he likes. Because of what we learned from him on the last record, we knew a lot of what he’d say about the songs in advance. He is family. Totally.
There’s a dark tone to most of the lyrics here.
I’ve never really thought of it this way before, but I guess up until now I’ve been writing more about death ’cause I thought that was a heavy thing to write about. Now, I like writing about dying, because that seems a little heavier. I guess that’s the shift in my approach to writing. This time, I decided to beat around the burning bush a little less. My tongue is never in my cheek on this record, but it wasn’t exactly an attempt to send a dark, profound message. (Outside)
Someone needed to bridge the dark gap between Pink Floyd and Blue Rodeo, and the job couldn’t have gone to a band better equipped to handle the job than the Sadies. On the autumnal Darker Circles (a worthy follow-up to 2007’s New Seasons), the Toronto cosmic-roots troopers tell moodily of the passage of time and life’s final hours. Another Year Again is a songwriting success – the closest the Sadies have come to Blue Rodeo yet, though the track ends with a psychedelic sprint through the cornfield. At times, the singing is ordinary – Kut Corners cries out for a Neko Case – but that’s only a small complaint. On an album about departures, the disc-closing instrumental 10 More Songs (in which one imagines Peter Fonda and Clint Eastwood both eyeing that last piece of peyote, to a Morricone soundtrack) points to more things to come. Look forward to it.
Stunning ninth from Canadian country/garage psychsters
Grounded in eerie country blues, Byrds-style folk-rock, and brain-rattling fuzztone freakout, Toronto’s Sadies – led by brothers Dallas and Travis Good – are at the top of their game here. Opener “Another Year Again”, which shifts from atmospheric, apocalyptic shuffle to a gathering storm of guitar wreck, sets an ominous tone. While the relative light touc of “Postcards” – with its shades of The Byrds’ “Mr Spaceman” – provides relief, the wracked, haunted “Whispering Circles” barely offers a sliver of hope amid a black swirl of jangly guitar and spooky organ.
Luke Torn
The Sadies Stream New Album Online, Book Canadian Tour 4/8/2010 By Alex Hudson Back in February, we revealed that alt-country workhorses the Sadies were preparing a new album, along with a slew of collaborations. While the details of those collaborations are still forthcoming, the Toronto foursome are now ready to release their latest album, which is called Darker Circles and is due on on May 18 via Outside Music.
According to a press release, the album was largely recorded during an intense 12-day session at Bathouse Studio on Lake Ontario, with an additional five days at Toronto’s Woodshed Studio. The result is an album that deals with “desolation, love and abandonment.”
According to Ugly Things editor Mike Stax, who wrote the liner notes, “There’s a haunting, spiritual quality to songs like ‘Cut Corners,’ ‘Tell Her What I Said,’ ‘Whispering Circles’ and ‘The Quiet One’; ghosts of regret and lost love reverberate softly between the vocals and guitars or drift like whispers that echo in your mind.”
While the release date is still six weeks away, the album is already streaming in full over at Outside Music and Yep Roc. This means that by the time the Sadies head out on the road in May, you’ll already have these songs memorized and be able to sing along with every word.
The band currently have ten shows booked, starting out in London, ON and heading west to Vancouver. The tour dates and album tracklist are below.
1. “Another Year Again”
2. “Cut Corners”
3. “Another Day Again”
4. “Tell Her What I Said”
5. “The Quiet One”
6. “Post Cards”
7. “Whispering Circles”
8. “Idle Tomorrows”
9. “Choosing to Fly”
10. “Violet and Jeffrey Lee”
11. “Ten More Songs”
5/21 London, ON – Call the Office
5/22 Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
5/25 Winnipeg, MB – Pyramid Cabaret
5/26 Saskatoon, SK – Louis’ Pub
5/27 Edmonton, AB – Starlite Room
5/29 Calgary, AB – Dickens
5/30 Canmore, AB – Canmore Hotel
5/31 Canmore, AB – Canmore Hotel
6/1 Nelson, BC – Spiritbar
6/4 Vancouver, BC – The Biltmore
X FRONTMAN GOES CLUBBING WITH THE SADIES
X always mixed in a little country with its rockabilly punk, but Country Club, a new album with Toronto barnstormers the Sadies, is the first time John Doe devoted himself so completely to the genre, covering songs by Roger Miller, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard—and even X. He’s certainly comfortable with the material, and his worn-leather voice conveys an unexpected tenderness that adds spirited desperation to opener “Stop the World and Let Me Off,” gritty regret to “‘Til I Get It Right,” and aching vulnerability to “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” His only dud is Willie Nelson’s “Night Life,” whose arrangement is so forcefully dramatic that he gets a little lost in the mix. On the whole, though, the Sadies know just when to step forward or back, creating a general bootgazer ambience and re-creating the steely Bakersfield licks of Hag’s “Are the Good Times Really Over for Good.” They speed up Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone” and fit it to a Sun Records stomp, but they only really cut loose on instrumentals like “The Sudbury Nickel” and “Pink Mountain Rag,” which shows how country-club refined the album is.
1. The Sadies New Seasons (Outside)
The new season for the Sadies definitely isn’t fall; here, they soar to new creative heights, delivering an album that’s been unanimously proclaimed their best. Yet that claim somehow devalues the excellent music these honky-tonk heroes produced over the course of four earlier studio albums, not to mention killer collaborations with the likes of Neko Case, Jon Langford, Jon Spencer and their Rat Fink soundtrack.
The album is the group’s most creatively coherent to date, with the prevailing mood suggesting the psychedelia meets cosmic country cowboy vibe of such pioneering outfits as the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers, not to mention Keelor-led Blue Rodeo. Recruiting Gary Louris as producer proved one smart move. The layered vocal harmonies essential to his own band, the Jayhawks, are a key to the success of New Seasons, with the voices of Dallas and Travis Good (and Louris) meshing seamlessly (the gorgeous “A Simple Aspiration” is a prime example).
“That was something I was hoping he could bring to the forefront,” says Dallas Good. “What I was surprised by was how musically in synch we were on every other aspect of what makes the Sadies. Gary gave me a whole different approach to how I would write a song, in his attention to fine detail. He was definitely the right guy for the job.”
Travis Good is equally complimentary. “We had a lot of songs that weren’t written when we went in and he’d help us with the arranging. He sat with us while we wrote songs, guiding us and telling us what he thought a song would need without actually saying ‘OK, do this or that.’”
For New Seasons, the Sadies adopted a different approach, as Travis explains. “We just wanted to try writing stuff in the studio. Not completely from scratch, but every time someone would have an idea, from a line or a little instrumental bit to almost a complete song. We especially did that in Spain, where we recorded the first half. That was such a nice and inspiring environment. This was also down to wanting to use Gary as much as possible. If we had written and practiced for months before going to Spain, then chances are we’d be set in our ways, and Gary would largely have been engineering.”
The Sadies don’t take accolades for granted. “We’ve been on both sides of the pendulum, and I sure do appreciate the praise,” notes Dallas. “If people say this is a notch above the rest then I’ll take that as an evolutionary compliment, as opposed to a ‘What the fuck am I gonna do now?’ It’s so much more of an uphill battle when you don’t have the support of your peers and the music scene you want to be a part of.”
“It does feel like people are in our corner for this one,” agrees Travis. “I always think every single record I’ve made is the best we’ve ever done, but I also often second-guess these things, which makes the process a little more nerve-wracking.” Our scene is indeed enriched greatly by the Sadies. Their success proves good guys can come first. Long may they ride. Kerry Doole
New Seasons – Outside Music Sun rating: 4 out of 5 Calmer and with a wider backdrop than any Sadies record before it, New Seasons is named appropriately enough right out of the ’60s, complete with an album cover that looks like it was shot just behind the witch-infested Black Sabbath farmhouse. Pun intended, it’s a very Good record, occasionally creepy and acid-trip personal. Ever since brushing shoulders with Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor, the band has embraced its Byrds side – to the point of making more listenable country Byrds records than that band ever did. You can call that sacrilege, but go on and revisit Sweethearts of the Rodeo again; its full marks for ambition and bucking the sound of the times gets bogged down a little by some of the hokier or lifeless songs. But it’s the Sadies I like on this psychedelic twang album, not the fact they have Gram Parsons records. If anything, it’s something else fittingly sneaking in that’s great: Mr. Gordon Lightfoot – meaning solid, vulnerable folk not afraid to show its personal roots that still rocks the echoes at the same time. Like Lightfoot’s early work – and buy his beige box set if you have the chance – the new Good brothers, bassist Sean Dean and drummer Mike Belitsky go through an interesting evolution here. One of the not-well-kept secrets of the Sadies is that they’re practically a metal band when they get going, especially Travis Good, who can shriek like he’s in 3 Inches of Blood. You can see all this Oct. 19 at the Starlite, friend. Yet this album cleverly ignores this live talent with a selection of songs that sound, through deliberate production by the Jayhawks’ Gary Louris, like unearthed classics. Not musty, but fundamental, with looping, jangling harmonies and long-shelved sentiments like, “How’d we become so tangled?” The ritualistic exhale at the end, a combination of crazed drumming with their caterer Muni Paco’s pleasant sigh, rounds up the effort nicely. What I love most about this Toronto band is how they follow their instincts and go for art over kitsch, though you need to look closely to understand the difference. Why they’re drawn to this particular era of experimental music is obvious by what they bring back out, always with that signature giddy-up guitar. Definitely worth picking up.
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The Sadies 2022 photo by Chris Colohan
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The Sadies 2022 photo by Chris Colohan
Click enlargement (right) for hi-rez version to download
(Drag or right-click and Save as to download hi-rez)
The Sadies 2022 photo by Chris Colohan
Click enlargement (right) for hi-rez version to download
(Drag or right-click and Save as to download hi-rez)
Click enlargement (right) for hi-rez version to download
(Drag or right-click and Save as to download hi-rez)
Click enlargement (right) for hi-rez version to download
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Belle Starr 
Blue Rodeo 
Jim Cuddy 
Elliott BROOD 
Greg Keelor 
The Sadies 
Skydiggers 
Suzie Ungerleider 
Belle Starr 
Blue Rodeo 
Jim Cuddy 
Elliott BROOD 
Greg Keelor 
The Sadies 
Skydiggers 
Suzie Ungerleider