By David Chiu

One thing is certain when you see the Sadies perform on stage: You get plenty of bang for your buck. On any given night, the Toronto-based band plays a blistering and homespun 35 to 40 song-set of traditional roots rock, surf, punk, bluegrass and cinematic Western-inspired twang.

“We do a few instrumental songs,” says Travis Good, the band’s guitarist, fiddle player and vocalist, “so some of them are a little short. Yeah, we definitely do at least that many songs. Time goes by fast, especially after you’ve been driving for six hours to get [to a gig].You may as well play as many songs as you can.”

The Sadies—Good, his guitarist/vocalist brother Dallas Good, bassist Sean Dean and drummer Mike Belitsky—are not exactly short on material, having recorded five studio albums. Most recently the band, which has been together for nearly 10 years, released its first ever live album, In Concert: Volume 1, a double-CD consisting of performances from two sold-out shows at Lee’s Palace in Toronto this past February. “We’ve been wanting to do a live record since our first record [Precious Moments],” explains Travis Good. “Our first couple of records we pretty much recorded them live off the floor in the studio. And ever since then, it’s all been about the live show for us.”

For that special occasion, the Sadies were joined onstage by special guests including Neko Case, Gary Louris (The Jayhawks), Greg Keelor (Blue Rodeo), Jon Langford (The Mekons), Garth Hudson (The Band) and the band members’ parents and uncles. 

“It seemed to make sense, especially when we had the idea of bringing our friends out and do some recording with them,” Good says. “We didn’t expect them all to come. Every one of them came, so we had to make a double live record.”

But don’t think that the Sadies’s pace has slackened: They release their next album, Tales of the Rat Fink, in a couple of weeks. It’s the soundtrack to the film about the late Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, who was known for his customized cars and the cartoon character Rat Fink. The band is also preparing to record another studio album. Good explains that luck has something to do with the band’s tight-knit musical chemistry over the years. 

“We never had a member change in the band,” he says. “We had the core four forever. There is no way I can explain how it could work. You just roll the dice and hope that you can get along and play music together.”

Oct. 8. Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette St. (betw. Astor Pl. & E. 4th