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Electric Six

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Electric Six

Electric Six is a six-piece Detroit-based band that plays an "energetic"[3] and "unique"[4] brand of rock music infused with elements of "garage, disco, punk, new wave, and metal."[2] The band met underground recognition in 2001 with the single "Danger! High Voltage," and subsequently recorded three full-length albums: Fire, Señor Smoke, and the recently released Switzerland.

Biography

Formation and the Wildbunch years

The band formed in 1996 and was initially known as The Wildbunch, eventually dropping that name due to pressure from the Bristol trip hop collection of the same name.[5] Throughout the latter half of the '90s, they played regularly at the Old Miami and the Gold Dollar in Detroit,[6] the center of a scene that produced breakout acts like the White Stripes.[7]

The band's first formation was comprised of Dick Valentine (vocals), Rock and Roll Indian (guitar), Surge Joebot (guitar), Disco (bass, ex member of Detroit Cobras), and M (drums). Dick Valentine (real name Tyler Spencer) is and has always been the primary songwriter (both music and lyrics) of Electric Six.[8] During the band's temporary split at the end of the 1990s, Tyler Spencer formed his own band called The Dirty Shame[9] and released one CD entitled Smog Cutter Love Story which featured, among other tracks, a first version of Fire track "Vengeance and Fashion." The band reformed by 2001 to record and release the first release of "Danger! High Voltage" and record the track "Dealin' in Death and Stealin' in the Name of the Lord" with Troy Gregory for his Sybil album.[10]

Mainstream success

The 2001 release of "Danger! High Voltage" was an underground hit, particularly in the United Kingdom.[2] The single also garnered the band public attention after word got out that a pre-fame Jack White from The White Stripes sang backup vocals on single track "Danger! (High Voltage)" when it was recorded.[11]

The band's 2003 breakout album Fire earned the group significant critical success, landing the "Danger! High Voltage" single at number 2 on the UK singles chart. Their second single, "Gay Bar", released in 2003, became a hit as well in the UK, reaching #5 in the charts.

The album made it into several best-of-2003 lists,[12][13][14] as well as reaching the top 10 in the UK album chart, and another single "Dance Commander," which gave Electric Six its third Top 40 single in the UK.

Lineup changes

File:ElectricSix 2003.jpg
The band's lineup in 2003.

After finishing the recording of Fire, three members left in June, leaving Dick Valentine, Tait Nucleus?, and M. The Colonel (Zach Shipps, guitar, ex member of Brendan Benson, The Atomic Numbers and Mood Elevator), John R. Dequindre (Chris Peters, bass/guitar) and Frank Lloyd Bonaventure (bass) (both-ex members of Ann Arbor's Getaway Cruiser and Six Clips) subsequently joined the group, though they had been associated with the group for some time.[15] In time, Johnny Na$hinal joined the group on guitar, Dequindre switched to bass, and Bonaventure left the group.

Señor Smoke

The band's sophomore album, Señor Smoke, was released in the United Kingdom on February 14, 2005. Since the band had been dropped from their previous American record label,[16] a North American release of the album was delayed until February 7, 2006, when it came out on Metropolis Records.

The first single from the album put the band at the center of controversy, especially with Queen fans following a cover of the Queen hit song "Radio Ga Ga."[17] The controversial music video shows lead singer Dick Valentine as the ghost of Queen's flamboyant lead singer Freddie Mercury and a backing band of poodles. Queen drummer Roger Taylor, who wrote the song, said that he was "unimpressed" with the video;[18] however, Queen guitarist Brian May reportedly liked it.[19]

Recent developments and new album

In November of 2004, drummer M. called it quits, leaving Dick Valentine as the sole original member of the former Wildbunch. Their new drummer, Percussion World, has been affiliated with the band and its members for some time, and has been named as a permanent member of the band.

Electric Six finished recording their third major album, entitled Switzerland, in November, 2005[9] and released it in North America on September 12, 2006. The band intends to record a video for every song on the album, "a lot of them...low budget."[9]

Sound and style

Electric Six incorporates a variety of styles to form a unique sound, resulting in being termed a "genre-blurring" band.[20] The group's sound has been described as a synthesis of "disco, synth pop, glam, and arena rock,"[1] including the falsetto vocals of disco, laden with "rampant solos, be they guitar riffs, synth wails, or strutting drums" that enforce the band's "energetic sound."[3] However, the band members themselves have rejected such genre classifications as "disco-metal" and "disco-punk."[21]

Critics have termed their lyrics as "disaffected, angry, ironic and lustful,"[22] expressing "macho flippancy" and "tongue-in-cheek pomposity."[23] Songs by Electric Six are often concerned with subjects like nuclear war, human sexual behavior, masculinity, dancing, and fire (The band's official biography states that their debut album Fire was so named because they "noticed an abundance of the word fire on this record and...decided to go with it."[6]). Lead singer Dick Valentine had commented on these tendencies in song content with regards to the band's new album:

[...] for the first time, none of the songs have the word "dance" or variation of "dance" in the title. But fear not. We have songs with "drugs" and "girls" and "tonight" and "night" and "louder" and "party" in the title, so we haven't given up on our philosophy just yet.[24]

Discography

Main article: Electric Six discography

See also

References

  1. ^ a b All Music Guide: Review of Señor Smoke.
  2. ^ a b c All Music Guide: Electric Six: Band overview.
  3. ^ a b "Electric Six" at Epitonic.com.
  4. ^ "Electric Six review: Download Festival 2004" by Guy Powell, eFestivals, June 10, 2004.
  5. ^ "Sax as a Weapon: You Didn't Know that Rock 'n' roll Burned", by Amy Phillips, April 2 - April 8, 2003, The Village Voice.
  6. ^ a b Meet the Electric Six from the official website.
  7. ^ "The White Stripes: Candy Coloured Blues - Unauthorized", The New York Times, 2003.
  8. ^ "Fanning the Fire: Boozing with the boys of Electric Six", by Eve Doster, Metrotimes December 25, 2002.
  9. ^ a b c "Dick Valentine, Musician, Electric Six", Gothamist, June 9, 2006.
  10. ^ Troy Gregory: Sybil, from Fall of Rome Records official website.
  11. ^ Pitchfork Record Review: Danger! High Voltage EP
  12. ^ Metacritic: Best of 2003
  13. ^ Best in Music 2003, FREEwilliamsburg: The Williamsburg Brooklyn Culture Guide, December 2003 - Issue 45.
  14. ^ Favorite Music of 2003, Perfect Sound Forever music magazine.
  15. ^ Clocked In: Don't You Want to Know How They Keep Starting Fires?, Ann Arbor Paper, Volume 2, Issue 2: September.
  16. ^ NY Rock Confidential by Jeanne Fury.
  17. ^ "Electric Six Upset Queen Fans With Radio Ga Ga Video", ContactMusic.com, November 24, 2004.
  18. ^ "Queen 'unimpressed' by Electric Six video", Kerrang!, December 3, 2004.
  19. ^ "Electric Six Go Radio Ga Ga", XFM Online.
  20. ^ "Electric Six Revitalized and Ready to Hit the Road", ChartAttack.com, June 6, 2006.
  21. ^ "Detroit's Burning" by Matt Schild, Aversion.com, June 11, 2003.
  22. ^ "Rocking through the pain", by Eric F. Lipton, The Daily Page, March 23, 2006.
  23. ^ All Music Guide: Review of Fire.
  24. ^ Frequently Asked Questions 2006: January 19, 2006, from the band's official site.
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