When someone mentions Electric Six most people would immediately think of the 2003 hits “Danger! High Voltage” and “Gay Bar”, you may also think of their accompanying iconic videos. Unfortunately, what most people don’t realise is this wasn’t the end of the Electric Six; in the past eight years they have released eight studio albums and continue to tour almost constantly. I had the chance to have a chat with lead singer Tyler Spencer, better known by his stage moniker Dick Valentine, about the band’s forthcoming Irish date.
Starting at the beginning, Electric Six began life in 1996 as The Wildbunch. Performing around the Detroit area for much of the late 90s, the band was forced to change their name when threatened with legal action form a Bristol trip-hop collective of the same name. Splitting briefly at the end of the 90s, the original six-piece reformed in 2001 and started to work on what would be their breakthrough album “Fire”.
2003 was the year of Electric Six; the single “Danger! High Voltage” (which may or may not contain the backing vocals of a certain Jack White) became their signature tune. At the dawn of an era when music videos were no longer shown on MTV, “Danger! High Voltage” and its follow-up hit “Gay Bar” became two of the most recognisable and iconic videos in the history of music. Not only were the videos completely off the wall, the songs too, while tongue in cheek, were instantly recognisable for their disco heavy punk rock sound that made the band so unique.
After losing three original members and gaining three new members, the band went on to record the difficult second album, “Señor Smoke”. The first single, a cover of the Queen hit, “Radio Ga Ga” was met with criticism as the video appeared to feature lead singer, Dick Valentine, dancing on the grave of Freddie Mercury. What most people don’t realise however, it the video is nothing short of genius! Rather than dancing on his grave, Valentine portrays the resurrection of Mercury complete with a backing band of poodles. A video featuring poodles using hair dryers, I ask what could be wrong with that?!
Unfortunately, this for many is where the Electric Six tale ends. The band has gone through even more line-up changes over the years, leaving Dick Valentine as the only original member. Since 2006 they have consistently released albums each year; “Switzerland”, “I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master”, “Flashy”, “Kill”, “Zodiac” and their new release “Heartbeats and Brainwaves”. Marking a first for the band, “Heartbeats and Brainwaves” was partially recorded in Valentine’s own apartment and produced by guitarist John Nash aka Johnny Na$hinal. What drives the band to continue to produce release after release, while also taking part in various side projects, such as Evil Cowards and Bang Camaro? According to Valentine the answer is simple, boredom. “After two or three months you just get don’t really know what to do with yourself anymore.”
You would be forgiven for thinking maybe the newer songs just weren’t as good or as catchy as the well-known hits, however, the opposite is the case. While media interest in the group seems to have waned, their standard of song writing has naturally evolved, subconsciously to the group, leading to recent work being better than anything before produced by the group. “We’ll keep doing it until we think we’ve released a bad album; then we’ll take a break. But we don’t think we’ve released a bad album yet.” Valentine is right, why take a break when the band is at the top of their game creatively? Not only are newer songs surpassing their well-known predecessors, newer videos, which now have a strong input from the band, are also better than anything previously produced by the band.
An end of year Electric Six date in Ireland has become almost a regular fixture, something the group have done purposely, “We like to be associated with the festive season. We want you to think of us when you think of the Holidays.” The band are known for their energetic wild performances, feeding off the energy of the crowd, it is no surprise that one of the group’s favourite places to play is Dublin. “The crowd are insane,” leading to an equally mental live display on stage. With that in mind, their forthcoming date is one not to be missed.
Electric Six play The Academy Dublin on Saturday 26th November. Heartbeats and Brainwaves is available now