Sadie Hell

The music has been described as "huge with key changes, disconnected parts and hollers – a kind of Bohemian Rhapsody for the post-screamo set" ~ Fateema Sayani, March 1st, 2007, The Ottawa Citizen. The band's sound has been referred to as "emotionally raw, cello-laden" ~ Chris Whibbs, November 30th, 2006, Ottawa Xpress. Chris later reviewed a live show in which he remarked "Sadie Hell got things off to an appropriately dramatic start, as vocalist Ben Welland’s beautiful strumming and guttural howl felt perfect in the enclosed, and somewhat creepy, setting. So formidable was that voice that the missing cellist was hardly noticed" ~ April 2007, Exclaim! Magazine.

Exclaim just recently reviewed a Sadie Hell show and had this to say: "Sadie Hell is a rotating cast of Ottawa musicians, and each gig has its own flavour. The problem, though, is when you rotate musicians it sometimes gets a little sloppy, but Welland’s considerable charisma on the stage helped us forget. Bearer of a powerful voice and the look of a Maori doing the Haka when he hits those emotional highs, he’s the centre of attention, and, luckily, he wears the mantle well" ~ Chris Whibbs, April 2008, Exclaim! Magazine.

Apart from the current members - songwriter Ben Welland and drummer Sean Laframboise - past Sadie Hell shows have featured Mallory Giles on vocals and glockenspiel, Jacquie Neville on viola, Liam Jaeger on guitar and organ, Cindy Olberg on cello, Angus Cruikshank on drums, Sam Welland on djembe and guitar, Luke Welland on piano and guitar, Justin Jarvo on bass, Felix Del Tredici on trombone, and Glenn Nuotio on organ...

It's a deliberately revolving door, and the shows have become notorious for showcasing as many as six, and sometimes as few as one musician on stage.

There was also the "Hellbros" cd release show in which Peter Jurt, Christian Yurt, Josh Roy, and Curtis Delaney joined Cindy and Ben on the now infamous Sadie Hell song "The Wolf Can" (infamous due to the fact that the song involves participatory wolf-like howling!) It's a little known fact that Peter, Christian, and Josh used to all play in Sadie Hell before the "Hellbros" formed. Three songs that Ben wrote in that time period can still be heard at Sadie Hell live shows today...

The demo recording of the song "Live The Evolution" (the song you're listening to right now!) was recorded in October of 2006 by our friend Dean Hadjichristou at Addictive Sound in Ottawa. That same demo recording ended up being released as the bonus track on a record put out by the Toronto independent label Zunior. Sales of the star-studded collection of Canadian indie music entitled the "Our Power: Solar Music Compilation" go towards raising money for a Toronto environmentalist initiative by the same name. Learn more about Our Power at ourpower.ca

You can preview the songs and purchase the album through zunior.com for $4.44

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