The Sadies go darker. And darker
“I want to fucking be buried at Recordland” says Dallas Good after finishing a set for CBC’s The Strombo Show . “I don’t even care. That place is pure adrenaline.”
An odd burial request for some but it’s hardly surprising that the Toronto-based Good wants to be laid to rest at Calgary’s most comprehensive record store. Beyond his band’s studio albums Good possesses a CV studded with collaborations with Juno-approved artists college-radio backed stars and country legends alike: Neil Young. Gord Downie. Neko Case. X frontman John Doe. Eric’s Trip’s Rick White. Heck The Sadies was even requested to perform with Can-lit icon Margaret Atwood on her Year of the Floor tour which culminated in an excellent session on CBC’s Q .
“We have a couple mutual friends who shoved us down her throat” Good admits with a laugh. “It’s not like she found us flipping through the bins at HMV.”
“But I’d think that if she’s making music she’d give us a call — she has my number. Or I’d go out drinking with her any time. She’d drink me under the table” Good continues. “That’s not fair actually because that implies to the average reader that she’s a total hammerhead. Because I’m a total hammerhead.”
But to define the boozy quartet by its high-profile accomplishments is to miss its best work. Built on country western bedrock — Dallas who along with brother-bandmate Travis possesses the royal lineage inherited from the Good Brothers Can-country mainstays in their own right — its 13-piece oeuvre meanders from the instrumental free-form of its earlier days to the can’t-miss twang-psych of its mid-season to the harder-edged morbid roots of its Polaris-nominated Darker Circles released last year.
Indeed as Darker Circles’ liner notes boast The Sadies in its 13th year isn’t only aging gracefully. It’s getting better. Expanding its sonic horizons. And as modern musicians go that’s a rare — if near-impossible — feat. That evolution is plenty indebted to its collaborative work notes Good but not in the way one might expect.
“We’re less influenced by the people we’ve worked with” says Good. “Once we’ve worked with them we can safely move away from that direction. It’s almost our way of purging certain styles. And hey it’s all about me: After making a record with John Doe of Nashville country covers the last thing I want to do is to write a country song.”
That’s why Good admits he’s “glad to be doing rock ’n’ roll” — and why it’s erroneous to reduce The Sadies to simple alt-country classifications. Good’s evident restlessness — he expects at least three records this year including a full-length with Downie a collaboration with Detroit R&B legend Andre Williams and an LP recorded with his family — explains both his band’s consistent upswing and his fascination with the dustier corners of Recordland.
Indeed Good’s hunger for bending gene-specific conventions (and his snarky sarcastic brand of humility) might be his greatest asset. He describes the three-record curse — the inability for bands to release a troika of good albums — and while it’s delivered with tongue firmly planted in cheek it’s easy to see how The Sadies have avoided such clichés.
“There’s very few bands I give carte blanche. They’re your favourite until they made that record” he says. “You get signed because of a genius record. The sophomore record is all about life on the road. By the third record you have a lineup change — always — or you’re suffering from newfound fame or failure. Those are your three records.”
“Me I’d be happy with one great record and I suppose I’ll know it when I write it” he continues. “I know I can spit out one more before I croak. All I want is one great record in my pathetic little life.”
Getting in a Good mood
As created bang-worthy environs goes if I hear anyone suggest Barry White or R. Kelly one more time — one more time! — I swear I’ll scream (and won’t you be sorry). Thankfully we harnessed The Sadies’ considerable record collection for romantic ideas. Here are their suggestions according to Dallas Good:
Alfred Hawthorne Hill — “Yakety Sax.”
“It’s the Benny Hill theme! Picture everything going fast forward — pun intended. Need I say more?” chuckles Good. “Neko Case once said ‘hearing that is like shitting in my ears.’”
Andrew Lloyd Webber — “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
“Actually no that’s a bad answer. No I don’t mean it in any shape or form. It’s ridiculous and sacrilegious.”
Andre Williams — “Humpin Bumpin’ and Thumpin.”
“Everything he does has sexual overtones to it. He’s been known to incite certain um pheromones. And the opening line is ‘Anyone got a raw egg?’”
