Review: The Sadies, The Tunnels

Purveyors, peddlers and pushers of high grade Americana, Bristol based CRH Music Promotions bring us an incredible line up tonight at The Tunnels showcasing Toronto’s best kept secret The Sadies; a band whose high level of skill is rivalled only by their creative diversity; and with it being the last show of their UK & European tour, we get both of these in bucket loads.

But first on the bill we have Sophia Marshall whose gentle guitar playing and sweet whiskey vocals immediately captivate the audience. Previously of UK americana duo The HaveNots, Sophia has since gone solo and this Autumn she released her debut album Bye Bye. Performing on the album and joining Sophia on stage is her sister Sarah who adds ukulele accompaniment whilst effortlessly blending vocal harmony and subtle percussion throughout the set. Although having only just released her first solo album, Sophia Marshall is no stranger to the americana and alt-folk scene. Whilst stood on stage in her cowboy boots recalling a wild night from when she supported The Sadies ten years ago, she even threatens to drink their rider. Definitely one to watch out for.

The mood shifts gears as garage rock band The Bad Losers take to the stage and front man John McLean casts an elongated shadow against the Halloween skeleton backdrop. Mclean, formally of Bristol based band The Bones, towers above the rest of the band comprised of guitarist Iain Weir, bass player Cliff Gee and Phil Ollerenshaw on drums and backing vocals. They dive straight into their set of abrasive guitar fuzz and catchy melodies, then comes the primitive and foot stomping Coming Home, harmonica blasting out, guitar wailing as the room begins to pack out to the sound of their sixties freakbeat psychedelia. The band closes with the chugging and anthemic Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day and they leave us until next time, which incidentally is at The Golden Lion on December 9.

As The Sadies make their way on stage they’re met with cheers, applause and also a growing number of embroidered shirts. A guy in the audience shouts out “We love you!” to which Dallas Good responds “You might love us but reserve judgement.” which pretty much sums up the band’s cool but modest demeanour and wit. The band, fronted by brothers Dallas and Travis Good have now been on tour for a month around Europe and the UK including “Belgium, the Netherland and even Wales”.

Their set goes from spaghetti western style soundtrack instrumentals to gnarly fuzzed out punk, to ethereal space rock. For the most part Dallas takes the lead on vocals apart from a few here and there sang by Travis, notably a storming bluegrass number Through Strange Eyes, from their album Northern Passages released on Yep Roc Records earlier this year. Dallas does the age old tradition of introducing the band; “Mike Belitsky on drums. On double bass, Sean Dean”, then he gets to Travis who now has swapped his beat up Gretsch for a fiddle and they proceed to launch into a turbo charged rendition of trad-folk murder ballad Pretty Polly.

After breaking the strings on his fiddle, oh well, it’s the last night of their tour and “only a fiver” for a new pack of strings, and continuing to reach peak momentum they wind up the set and leave the stage to chants for more. They have a brief break before embarking on a ten song encore of covers and classics and leave me and the rest of the crowd with the certainty that reserving judgement was unnecessary but we do indeed still love them. My advice is if you get the chance to see them live then you sure as hell don’t want to pass it up.

The Sadies, Northern Passages is available to purchase through their website.

Photos: John Morgan