Kill Sadie

Kill Sadie
Kill Sadie at a Seattle house show:(l-r) Jay, Erin, Bob
Background information
Also known as	Killsadie
Origin	Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Genres	Emo, post-hardcore, indie rock, math rock, post-rock, experimental rock
Years active	1997–2001
Labels	One Percent Records, THD Records, Old Glory Records, Modern Radio, Redwood Records, Satellite City, Dim Mak Records
Associated acts	These Arms Are Snakes
Past members	Erin Tate, J. Clark, Steve Snere, Patrick Scott, Cory Murchy, Andy Wolff, Rebecca Dunbar, Bruce J Wuollet, Bob Eisenbise, Josh VanLoon, Jason Aronen, Erik Hanson, Knol Tate

Killsadie or Kill Sadie was a Minneapolis-based post-hardcore band who formed in 1997 and eventually split in 2001 after a large number of line-up changes. It proved to be a launching ground for several influential modern emo, hardcore, and indie musicians, who found larger success in other outfits such as Minus the Bear, Pretty Girls Make Graves and These Arms Are Snakes. Rather than seek popular appeal or radio play, the band adopted the familiar DIY ethic of constant touring. They are often grouped with many of the 80s-90s emo bands such Rites of Spring and Texas Is The Reason although their musical style would probably be better described in reference to the members' subsequent projects.

The band formed in 1997 in the Twin Cities area (Minneapolis/ St. Paul) of Minnesota. An early influence was D.C. band Swiz, who also inspired the font used on early releases. Reminiscent of bands like Fugazi and Drive Like Jehu in work ethic and spirit, they pushed away from the hardcore scene that rooted their sound to experiment with adding sonic presence, electronic beats and sampling, as well as multi-layered vocals.

The band's name was taken from an incident at a party. Founding drummer Erin Tate was informed by his brother Knol (guitarist) that a girl named "Sadie tried to kill [him]." Tate responded that "someone should kill Sadie." The band's name is often broken into two words ("Kill Sadie") though it is just as common for the phrase to be combined into a single word.

They were eventually driven apart not only by moving from Minneapolis to Seattle, but mainly by directions they wanted to take the band, as is evident in the member's later projects.

Always different and fresh, Kill Sadie's sound ranged from soft ethereal jazz to screaming hardcore. The band mixed these two with stark originality and influenced many before they broke up. The smooth watery bass work and almost harp sounding guitar taps were rare to find in hardcore punk bands, a classification that barely describes the band's style. Their closest contemporaries were probably At the Drive-In, Murder City Devils, or on their lighter side Sunny Day Real Estate.