05/31/10 4:51pm
by Dan Lovranski (CHARTattack)

The Sadies have definitely reached a point in their career where all their hard work, dedication and countless touring has paid off. Their last record, New Seasons, was so well received that many reviewers labeled it the group’s definitive statement.

While plaudits like that would scare most bands, singer, songwriter and guitarist Dallas Good and the rest of The Sadies just took it in stride.

“Well,” says Dallas, “that record was a culmination of everything we had done in our career up to that point. It was a reinforcement.

“But at the same time, I didn’t look at it like, ‘OK, we can put The Sadies on the iceberg and push it off now because we got the goods out of them.’

“We were just happy once we took a little less of the emphasis off the country and western and instrumental music, people weren’t reeling, and going ‘No, no, no.’ That’s what we were expecting.”

It’s apparent they will probably receive even more praise with their new Darker Circles album, as it’s the group’s most realized record to date. They’ve taken everything that has made them great and perfectly synthesized it.

While earlier albums were almost just snapshots of their all-encompassing live show, moving from surf instrumentals to murder ballads to full-blown psychedelia, Darker Circles really has unity to it, especially when it comes to the sense of self-reflection and darker tinges of the lyrics.

“That’s me. I’m Captain Good Times,” says Dallas. “On this album, I definitely had a lot more of a steadfast contribution with the first half of the album. It’s five of my songs in a row. The same theme, the same dark crap.

“Unfortunately, the rest of The Sadies have been stuck in the same little metal box on wheels with me for the last 15 years, so they end up singing about very similar themes. There’s no way around it.”

But instead of tearing the band apart, as it might in some cases, their work ethic and desire to work with each other seems to have overcome any of that bleak worldview.

“We were only in the studio for about 12 days,” states Good. ” I think it was 18 all together with the two sessions. It wasn’t that much time considering we hadn’t been performing the songs prior to the recording of them. There was a lot of learning on the spot, but still, that was the way we were the most comfortable working.

“We’ve gotten to a point as a group of six, with our engineer Ken Friesen and producer Gary Louris, it’s pretty tightly oiled, at least in a way we’re all happy working with. After 15 years, that’s saying a lot.

“We should be at that stage where we’re going in at different times and trying to avoid each other and definitely not trying to piss each other off. But the truth is we’re still really enthusiastic.

“That’s why I can look at one of the guys and say, ‘That part sucks, try this,’ or say ‘Just do away with that entire middle eight part because it’s not going anywhere.’ That’s a great thing to have. When the enthusiasm dries up, that’s when it gets negative. We’re still good.”

You can see The Sadies here:

May 31 Canmore, AB @ The Canmore Hotel
June 1 Nelson, BC @ The Hume Hotel
June 2 Kelowna, BC @ The Habitat
June 4 Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore
June 5 Seattle, WA @ The High Dive
June 6 Bellingham, WA @ Wild Buffalo
June 7 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
June 9 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Hall
June 10 Los Angeles, CA @ Echo
June 11 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
June 12 Joshua Tree, CA @ Poppy and Harriet’s
June 15 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
June 19 Toronto, ON @ Port Credit Memorial Park
June 25 Youngstown, OH @ Cedars Lounge
June 26 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
July 1 Toronto, ON @ The Harbourfront Centre
July 9 Sudbury, ON @ Ramsey Lake (The Northern Lights Boreal Festival)
July 24 West Kingston, RI @ Swamp Stomp 3
July 30 Charlottetown, PEI @ Hunter’s Ale House
July 31 Halifax, NS @ The Paragon
Aug. 1 Sackville, NB @ Sappyfest
Aug. 5 Rochester, NY @ George Eastman House
Aug. 6 Kingston, ON @ Marysville Wolfe Island  (Wolfe Island Musicfest)