Biography

ANDRE WILLIAMS:

Andre "Mr. Rhythm" Williams is a R&B legend, and you may not even know it. He wrote "Shake A Tail Feather," and sang such uber-raunch cult classics as "Bacon Fat" (covered by the Cramps), "Greasy Chicken," and the epitome of songs about little girls, "Jail Bait." He worked at seminal labels such as Motown, Chess, and Fortune. He wrote songs for, or produced folks Ike Turner, Parliament/Funkadelic, Edwin Starr and Stevie Wonder. The guy is like music's version of Zelig; he's been everywhere, man. Yeah, baby.

After a few hard years in... er... retirement, he stormed back in the late 90's with a record of smutty garage punk called Silky recorded with members of the Demolition Doll Rods and the Dirt-Bombs. Since then he has recorded with the Sadies, Jon Spencer, Two-Star Tabernacle (which included a very young Jack White) and many others. His resurgence of popularity (and notoriety) continues as he tours the world. Recently he was the subject of a documentary, Agile, Mobile, Hostile that premiered at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival. Andre tells it like it is, and if you get all bashful and shit with the blue language, you might want to steer clear--this guy can make Redd Foxx (who gave him his nickname, by the way) look like Bill Cosby. Don't let the shtick fool you, though, the man has put together some of the most bad-ass soul shakers in the history of music. He strips away all the bells and whistles and shoots musical arrows right to your goodie spot. Music at its most feral.

THE SADIES:

We first saw The Sadies when they were backed up Neko Case at Lounge Ax in 1998. She kept saying she had the best band of tree-like men in the world playing with her. Once we got our jaws off the beer-soaked floor, deals were made. We went back to Rob's place and listened to Coasters and Tarheel Slim records all night. Our love was cemented.

We like The Sadies because they can play ANYTHING better than anyone else. Surf, cool cowboy psychedelia, electric bluegrass, spaghetti western soundscapes, garage punk, whatever. They do it and do it the SADIES way. We also like their funny Canadian accents. We like the way they are always shrouded in smoke and the way the stage lights play off their shiny suits. Fronted by the brothers Good, Dallas and Travis, who sing, play guitars (sometimes each others), fiddles and whatnot with lightning dexterity and skill, the Sadies will astound you with how impossibly easy they make it all look.