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Music

The Sadies

THE SADIES 10TH-ANNIVERSARY NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY at the Horseshoe (370 Queen West), December 31. $25 advance. HS, SS, RT, TM.


Calling The Sadies a busy band is a massive understatement. In fact, you wouldn’t have to work too hard to come up with a convincing argument that they’re the hardest-working band in Toronto.

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Between constant touring, churning out a steady stream of records capturing their trademark blend of country twang, garage rock fury and psychedelic freak-outs, and a seemingly endless series of collaborations and backing band gigs, we can’t even get all the members of the local indie band in the same room for an interview before they’ve jumped on a plane for another European tour.

As exhausting as these workaholic tendencies can be, their constant gigging is a major contributor to their success over the past 15 or so years and one of the reasons each Sadies album is better than the last. Their most recent release, Darker Circles (Outside), features some of their strongest vocal performances yet and shows them maturing greatly as songwriters. As the saying goes, a rolling stone gathers no moss.

“Thankfully, we get a lot of opportunities to do stuff in our downtime. You need to make yourself busy with other projects so you can avoid lag periods and everything that comes with them – in particular the lack of cash flow,” explains upright bassist Sean Dean. “Dallas [Good] and I always believed that if you want to be in the music industry, you have to fight like hell.”

As well-received as their records have been, and as legendary as their live shows are, it’s their knack for jumping in gracefully as the backing band for other musicians that forms a big part of their unique identity.

They’ve provided the rock-solid, earthy backbone for a huge and diverse list of prestigious performers including Neko Case, Neil Young, Gord Downie, Buffy Saint-Marie, Andre Williams and, most unexpectedly, Margaret Atwood.

That list doesn’t even scratch the surface. It doesn’t even touch upon the huge number of surprise guests who have sat in with them on previous editions of their annual NYE party at the Horseshoe. To give you an idea, consider that at least five collaborative albums could be released next year alone, although the Sadies are a bit superstitious about giving away too many details right now.

“They’re kind of like paid vacations for me, and they totally shift your perspective,” guitarist, fiddler and vocalist Travis Good confesses. “Otherwise, doing the Sadies all the time might get to be a bit of a grind, but the collaborations basically cleanse the palate.”

His brother and co-frontman, Dallas, agrees, even if initially it wasn’t so obvious that the strategy would work in their favour.

“It’s been an issue here and there over the years, but in retrospect I don’t regret a single move we made. Unlike most bands, we’re able to keep working all year long, around the clock.”

Spending so much of their lives in vans (“rolling cages” is how Dallas Good describes them) and recording studios has broken up many bands, but the two frontmen have this routine in their blood. They’re the sons of Bruce Good, of the Canadian country icons the Good Brothers, and used to go out on the road with him as children.

While each band member has his own rituals and rules, the one thing they all agree on is the importance of giving each other enough space.

“Don’t talk to each other too much, and wear headphones in the van,” Travis Good cracks. Whatever it takes to stay sane – which is vital if the Sadies are going to keep on trucking for the rest of their lives.

That might seem like a pretty optimistic goal for a rock band, but this is the kind of act that won’t seem ridiculous when they all have white hair. Their familiar yet unique mixture of Link Wray-inspired guitar instrumentals, sludgy stoner rock and sombre classic country comes across as truly timeless and is so far away from trends that they can slowly evolve under their own terms.

“We could still do what we do when we’re fat and bald and can’t walk any more. That’s the good thing about wearing fancy suits,” Dallas Good jokes.

“The pop/rock world is a young man’s game, but we’re not really in that kind of place,” agrees drummer Mike Belitsky. “We’ve created a world we can exist in until we’re old and grey, with our grandkids coming to the shows.”

benjaminb@nowtoronto.com

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