SEE Magazine
Issue #393: June 14, 2001
Copyright © 2001. All Rights Reserved

Music PREVIEW by Scott Lingley The Sadies with Carolyn Mark Thursday, June 21 at the New City Likwid Lounge Right at the beginning of what promises to be a great wild-band-on-tour story, Travis Good of the Sadies stops telling it. He confesses it’s a bit paranoid, but past experience has been unkind. "You know why I stopped? I just remembered – it was in Edmonton, too – being in fuckin’ U.S. Immigration in downtown Edmonton with Neko. It was just a horror story. Remember that? The show got shut down. I just had a flash of that and remembered I have to go to the States next week." To clarify, it was in Edmonton a few years ago where American-born country belter Neko Case made an off-hand comment about her immigration papers not necessarily being in order to a Journal reporter. Immigration cops read about it on the front page of the entertainment section, shut down the show and detained Miss Case. Good swears that’s not why his band hasn’t been to Edmonton in close to two years, blaming tour routing for the oversight, and notes that the Sadies intend to pass through frequently as they turn their attentions to winning over their country of origin. The persuading starts Thursday, June 21 at the New City Likwid Lounge with guests the fabulous Carolyn Mark and The Derby. For those who don’t know it, Travis and his brother and bandmate Dallas spent some of their formative years playing with their father and uncle in a fine Canadian country act called the Good Brothers. Travis recalls a Calgary Stampede pancake breakfast gig where they performed with country legend Wilf Carter and the Osmond Family (the ones who were never on TV). This rich family tradition must confer a certain authenticity upon the Sadies, who smash country, bluegrass, blues, surf and rock ’n roll attitude together and brandish it like a broken whisky bottle. But not everyone playing the so-called alternative country can have such a pedigree. Would Good be interested in laying down some criteria for taking up the country music torch? "It’s just music – I think anyone should play it," Good says. "There’s probably a lot of music that isn’t genuine. Whatever. You don’t have to listen to it. There’s no criteria for any kind of music – anyone can play any kind of music they want any time." Of course, there’s a chance they’ll suck. "I sometimes get the vibe that some guys start calling themselves ‘alt-country’ because they’re really just a shitty band. They’re trying to play these songs and they really can’t do it very well so they go, ‘Okay, we’ll turn it up, then we’ll be alt-country.’" Further to their pedigree, the Sadies have just released Tremendous Efforts, their third LP on insurgent country wellspring Bloodshot Records. But if this affiliation puts them firmly in the alt-country camp, the Sadies are not making themselves easy to pin down. Good points to the presence of non-standard instrumentation on the album and on the road. "You know, on this tour we’re going to be bringing a vibraphone/mandolin player." In defending the presence of this mystery mallet player in a hard-rockin’ country band, Good proffers a little wisdom that musicians right across the board would do well to heed. "Vibraphone finds its place. He knows when to play and when not to play. An important part of being a vibraphone player – or a player of anything, I guess – is to know when not to play anything at all." Good practices what he preaches by not practicing with his band when they aren’t touring or recording. But when would they have time? Good has been known to play with Gord Downie, Greg Keelor and Bob Egan, while drummer Mike Belisky spends his spare time on his own recordings, touring with the Perenice Brothers and working on one-off side-projects like Chappaquidick Skyline. The bass player apparently enjoys cottaging. These distances help the Sadies stay spontaneous. "We never rehearse. We honestly – this is the truth – we never, ever rehearse," Good stresses. "[A song] is pretty fresh that way, if you only practice it for 20 minutes."

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