Tales of the Rat Fink

TALES OF THE RAT FINK

YEP ROC RECORDS to release THE SADIES’ all-original instrumental soundtrack to hot rods and cool rides in Tales of the Rat Fink, RON MANN’s animated documentary on ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH, Kustom Car culture and the “anti Mickey Mouse,” RAT FINK

Street date October 17 - animated SADIES “monster” drag-racing video out soon!

If this music doesn't put you in the front seat of a hot rod and make your thighs quiver - nothing will!

--Filmmaker RON MANN, TALES OF THE RAT FINK

Greetings Finks and Finkettes,

When word leaked that were teaming up with documentary filmmaker, RON MANN, to create the sounds for his new film, both music and pop culture fans alike knew to expect something special. TALES OF THE RAT FINK is the story of 1950s/60s Kustom car maven ED “BIG DADDY” ROTH and his most beloved creation: a bug-eyed, fanged rodent known as RAT FINK (the “anti-Mickey Mouse”). MANN has described his vision for the largely animated filmas “Fantasia meets She-Devils on Wheels,” and not just any band would have the finesse and flair to musically pull off that vision. But THE SADIES were up to the challenge.

Over the past decade, THE SADIES have created their own instantly identifiable blend of surf, cosmic country and ENNIO MORRICONE-esque spaghetti Western originals, all imbued with the band’s distinct feel and appreciation for psychedelia and garage punk. Fueled by the twin guitars of the GOOD BROTHERS, DALLAS AND TRAVIS, along with drummer MIKE BELITSKY and upright bassist SEAN DEAN, THE SADIES are versatile enough to have backed everyone from NEKO CASE, JON SPENCER’S HEAVY TRASH, JON LANGFORD and cult R&B artist ANDRE WILLIAMS. They were more than ready to collaborate on a film score.

MANN, the award-winning director of Comic Book Confidential and Grass, was familiar with the Toronto four-piece and discovered that, as well as sharing his enthusiasm for oddball pop culture, THE SADIES were already fans of ED ROTH and had the musical goods to create an audio rat race for the film’s animated joyride through ROTH’S hot
rod history.

THE SADIES’ DALLAS GOOD explained in an interview: "Ron gave us complete freedom. We just wrote what we saw as appropriate for the film, and to have that trust from a filmmaker is great. Having said that, making music for this film had razor-sharp parameters that we followed as best we could, for both RON and BIG DADDY (R.I.P.).”

THE SADIES were involved in the collaboration from the beginning, and were told that TALES OF THE RAT RINK would be a history not only of ROTH and his monster creations but a brief history of American Hot Rod culture.

Over the next year, THE SADIES were touring, organizing guests for a double live album (IN CONCERT: VOL. 1 out August 2006), and recording bits and pieces for the soundtrack at studios here and abroad. Says MANN: “Over the next year or so they would mail me a CD from Amsterdam, or Tucson or wherever they'd be on the road and those songs would in turn inspire the movie. They so got it. What amazed me was their versatility as musicians.

They could sound like Dick Dale and Jimmy Page, quite often in the very same song!”

Also fueling the process was the list of voice-over celebrities who agreed to be involved: JOHN GOODMAN, ANN-MARGRET, HE SMOTHERS BROTHERS, “STONE COLD” STEVE AUSTIN, JAY LENO, ROBERT WILLIAMS, BILLY F. GIBBONS, TOM WOLFE, BRIAN WILSON and MATT GROENING. By completion of the film, THE SADIES had submitted over 60 pieces of music. Forty-eight pieces were used in the movie and the best are featured here.

These 26 tracks (think early surf instrumentals, LINK WRAY and JOE MEEK), including sound effects and a groovy rant by BIG DADDY himself on the nature of “art,” make up a rockin’ record guaranteed to put a tiger in your tank and some extra muscle under your hood. THE SADIES’ homage to Cali mid-20th century Kustom car culture, hot
rods, cool rides and ROTH’s bug-eyed monster creations manages to evoke the feel of a bygone era while capturing the excitement of burning rubber, revving engines and gravelly ’n’ greasy, raunch-filled fun.

"It's important for all of us to achieve this side of what we set out to do," says GOOD. "Who knows, it could be exactly the thing that gets us inside your stereo."

*The songs titles all correspond to clubs THE SADIES have played over their extensive, never-ending road trips.

AUGUST

16 WE Peterborough, ON @ Festival of Lights More info: www.festivaloflights.ca

17 TH Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Folk Festival

18 FI Montreal, QC @ The Main Hall

25 FR Rochester, NY @ Bug Jar

26 SA Woodstock, NY Bearsville Theatre

31 TH Montreal, QC @ TBC - Heavy Trash

SEPTEMBER

9/08 FR Toronto, ON @ The Horseshoe – cd release

9/09 SA Toronto, ON @ The Horseshoe – cd release

* CO-BILLED TOUR WITH HEAVY TRASH (The Sadies play a set and also back Heavy Trash)

9/21 TH Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern *

9/23 SA Chicago, IL @ Schubas * (The Sadies headline)

9/24 SU Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry * (The Sadies headline)

9/25 MO Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon

9/30 SA Louisville, KY @ Lebowski Festival

OCTOBER

10/01 SU Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge

10/02 MO Birmingham, AL @ Bottle Tree

10/03 TU Atlanta, GA @ The Earl

10/04 WE Asheville, NC @ the Grey Eagle

10/05 TH Charlottesville, VA @ the Satellite Ballroom

10/06 FR Baltimore, MD @ the Otto Bar

10/07 SA Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s

10/08 SU New York, NY @ Joe’s Pub

(Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, Rat Fink, Beatnik Bandit, Road Agent, Outlaw, Mysterion, Tweedy Pie, Stealth 2000, Surfite, Wild Child,
Angel Fink, Robin Hood Fink, Mothers Worry, & Dragnut are all trademarks of Ed Roth (C) '99/2000.)

Copyright 1999/2000/2001/2002/2003/2004/2005/2006 @utomated Entertainment Little Rock, CA 93543