The Sadies, Heavy Trash Preview

The Sadies, Heavy Trash
Schubas, Chicago
Saturday, September 23, 2006

Everyone involved in this performance is best known for something else, including Neko Case, Jon Langford, and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

Of course, in their normal digs, The Sadies are more than Case and Langford’s studio and touring band. They’re a fiery, Byrds-lovin’ surfbilly concoction aimed at quenching the gods of wet-ass reverb. Currently shifting units of In Concert, Vol. 1 (Yep Roc), the Toronto-based quartet have the ability to switch gears from Spaghetti Westerns to straight country to garage rock to surf music with the ease of picking your nose while you fart. They might paste you with some 40 songs, but it’ll happen in little more than an hour if you’re not paying attention.

Jon Spencer, after a considerable absence, has two new projects on Yep Roc. One, Spencer Dickinson’s The Man Who Lives For Love, is a cohabitation with the brothers Dickinson (North Mississippi All Stars) and their legendary producer father, Jim. The other is Heavy Trash, another superproject of sorts though with the lesser known Matt Verta-Ray of Speedball Baby. Spencer has a way of making everything he does sound like him, and for the most part Heavy Trash fit into his Elvis-on-meth dialogue. This time, however, he brings hisself back to Memphis ’55 as close as he ever could. “Lover Street” wants nothing more than to drag its dick over the Graceland lawn while “Fix These Blues” is gutbucket trash under the influence of amphetimine and grits.

— Steve Forstneger

Click here for a stream of The Sadies and Heavy Trash playing “Justine Alright.”

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly