Everything about Electric Six totally explained
Electric Six is a six-piece metro
Detroit-based band that plays what has been described as a brand of
rock music infused with elements of "garage, disco, punk, new wave, and metal." The band met recognition in 2001 with the single "
Danger! High Voltage", and subsequently recorded four full-length albums:
Fire,
Señor Smoke,
Switzerland, and the recently released
I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the Master.
History
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. Throughout the latter half of the '90s, they played regularly at the Old Miami and the Gold Dollar in Detroit, the center of a scene that produced breakout acts like the
White Stripes.
The band's first formation was comprised of Dick Valentine (Tyler Spencer, vocals), Rock and Roll Indian (Anthony Selph, guitar), Surge Joebot (Joe Frezza, guitar), Disco (Steve Nawara, bass, former member of
The Detroit Cobras), and M (Cory Martin, drums). Dick Valentine is and has always been the primary songwriter (both music and lyrics) of Electric Six. During the band's temporary split at the end of the 1990s, Tyler Spencer formed his own band called
The Dirty Shame 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.
Mainstream success (2001-2003)
The 2001 release of "Danger! High Voltage" was an underground hit, particularly in the United Kingdom. Although this was presented as fact in multiple sources, then-guitarist Surge said in an interview:
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, 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 and tour
After finishing the recording of
Fire, three members left in June, leaving Dick Valentine, M, and Tait Nucleus? (Christopher Tait). 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 (Mark Dundon, bass) (both-ex members of Ann Arbor's whirlingRoad,
Getaway Cruiser and
Six Clips) subsequently joined the group, though they'd been associated with the group for some time. In time, Johnny Na$hinal (John Nash) joined the group on guitar, Dequindre switched to bass, and Bonaventure left the group.
In the spring of 2004, Electric Six played at the
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
Señor Smoke (2005)
The band's second 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, 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." 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; however, Queen guitarist
Brian May reportedly liked it.
According to Dick Valentine -
Switzerland (2006)
In November 2004, drummer M. called it quits, leaving Dick Valentine as the sole original member of the former Wildbunch. Their new drummer, Percussion World (Mike Alonso), 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
I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master (2007)
In May 2007, "Swedish" bassist Smorgasbord! (Keith Thompson, member of
Johnny Headband) joined the band, replacing John R. Dequindre on the bass, who reportedly wished to spend more time on his other musical projects.
I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the Master, Electric Six's fourth studio album, was released
October 9,
2007. It has sixteen tracks. In the UK the album was pushed back to the 22nd of October.
16 out of 18 tracks recorded were used on the album. It is likely that there will be no singles in support of this album, however the band have had several music videos produced and spread over the internet for a number of tracks on the album.
The band are currently touring to promote the new album, a tour carrying them through to the early months of 2008, they've recently confirmed preliminary February dates for the UK (prominently England), though it's expected that there are still more to be announced.
The band recently announced on their website that they've begun work on their fifth album.
Sound, style, and influences
Electric Six incorporates a variety of styles, resulting in being termed a "genre-blurring" band. The group's sound has been described as a synthesis of "disco, synth pop, glam, and arena rock," 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." However, the band members themselves have rejected such genre classifications as "disco-metal" and "
disco-punk."
Critics have termed their lyrics as "disaffected, angry, ironic and lustful," expressing "macho flippancy" and "tongue-in-cheek pomposity." Dick Valentine has estimated that "80 percent of our songs, maybe even higher than 80 percent" are "about absolutely nothing."}}
Valentine cites
Freddie Mercury,
Talking Heads,
Devo, and
Captain Beefheart as his musical influences, as well as
Black Sabbath,
Queen and
KISS for the rest of the group.
Discography
Further Information
Get more info on 'Electric Six'.
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