Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, king of the ’60s car customizers, is the subject of a new documentary with a soundtrack that combines contemporaneous west coast surf ‘n’ rod with ’50s rock, jet-age lounge, ’60s southern twang, and ’80s instrumental revivalism. Like Dick Dale and Gary Usher before them, the Sadies tour both beach and drag [...]

Is there such a thing as distinctly Canadian music? If so, the Sadies would be among its foremost purveyors. One thing’s for sure: This eclectic band has no intention of carpetbagging in the States. The double-disc In Concert Vol. One has a conspicuously Canadian flavor. Recorded during a two-night stand in February 2006 at Lee’s [...]

The Sadies look like the kind of badasses who started skipping classes in elementary school. Singer-guitarist Dallas Good comes across as the lifelong rebel who grew up smoking Lucky Strikes behind the portables, and you just know his bandmates were on a first-name basis with their principals. But here’s betting that all four members of [...]

The Sadies’ signature melange of honky-tonk-surf-rhythm-&-blues perfectly suits this collection, in which Jon Langford unleashes his angry heart on the dark side of manhood (ambivalent love, indiscriminate aggression, the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle), hurtling headlong, bruised and half-blinded, riddled with remnants of what could be self-knowledge and compassion. Like another Langford side-project, Skull Orchard, this [...]

Hmm, think the Sadies love the Byrds? From the Nudie suits that brothers Dallas and Travis Good often wear onstage to their cover of “Wasn’t Born To Follow” on the band’s 2001 album Tremendous Efforts, the Sadies have long styled themselves as Canada’s cosmic cowboys. Though this obsession continues on Stories Often Told, the band’s [...]

How often do we read about artists who claim their work converges country feel with a punk-informed sensibility, only to discover that either their awareness of traditional music is puddle-deep or their attitude is milder than it ought to be? That complaint could never be registered against the Sadies, whose country credentials are beyond reproach, [...]