Electric Six

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Biography

Electric Six is a six-piece Detroit-based band that plays what has been described as a brand of rock music infused with elements of " garage rock|Garage , disco , punk rock , new wave music|New wave , and Heavy metal music|metal ." The band met recognition in 2003 with the singles " Danger& #33; High Voltage " and " Gay Bar (song)|Gay Bar ", and subsequently recorded eight full-length albums: Fire (Electric Six album)|Fire , Señor Smoke , Switzerland (album)|Switzerland , I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the Master , Flashy (Electric Six album)|Flashy , KILL , Zodiac (Electric Six album)|Zodiac and Heartbeats and Brainwaves . They have also released a rarities album, Sexy Trash .

History

Formation and the Wildbunch years

The band formed in 1999 and was initially known as The Wildbunch, eventually dropping that name due to pressure from the Bristol trip hop The Wild Bunch (sound system)|collective of the same name . Throughout the later 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 was originally composed 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 (Electric Six album)|Fire track "Vengeance and Fashion." The band reformed by 2001 to record and release the first release of "Danger& #33; 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 2003 release of " Danger& #33; High Voltage " (produced and mixed by Damien Mendis and Stuart Bradbury ) proved a massive hit, particularly in the United Kingdom. The single also garnered the band public attention after a rumor got out that a pre-fame Jack White (musician)|Jack White from The White Stripes sang backup vocals on single track "Danger& #33; (High Voltage)" when it was recorded. Although this was presented as fact in multiple sources, then-guitarist Surge said in an interview:

In another interview, former drummer M. said: "My attorney has advised us to neither confirm nor deny the presence of Jack White."
Still, the rumor persisted that Jack White was featured on the song " Danger& #33; High Voltage ."Laurence, Alexander (2003). Free Williamsburg Retrieved on May 17, 2006 Initially both he and the Electric Six denied this, and the vocal work was credited officially to the unknown John S O'Leary. Collective editor (2002). BBC.co.uk Retrieved on May 17, 2006 Later it was learned that "John S O'Leary" is merely the pseudonym used by White when checking into hotels.

The band's 2003 debut Fire (Electric Six album)|Fire (also produced and mixed by Damien Mendis and Stuart Bradbury) earned the group significant critical success, landing the "Danger& #33; High Voltage" single at number 2 on the UK singles chart . Their second single, " Gay Bar (song)|Gay Bar ", released in 2003, reached No.& nbsp;5 in the UK 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 had been associated with the group for some time. In time, Johnny Na$hinal (John Nash) joined the group on guitar, Dequindre switched to bass, replacing Bonaventure.

In early 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 (band)|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 Meddows-Taylor|Roger Taylor , who wrote the song, said that he was "unimpressed" with the video; 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, titled Switzerland (album)|Switzerland , in November 2005 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." At present, eight videos have been released.

I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master (2007)

In May 2007, "Swedish" bassist Smörgåsbord& #33; (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 released on October 22.

16 out of 18 tracks recorded were used on the album. There were 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.

Flashy and Sexy Trash (2008)

A fifth album, Flashy (Electric Six album)|Flashy , was released on October 21, 2008.

The band promoted the album in the US, the UK and Spain on their 'Hitting the Walls and Working the Middle' tour. A 30 track album of demos and previously unreleased material entitled Sexy Trash was released and made available at those shows.

In May 2009, Metropolis records released "Covered in Gas" by Evil Cowards , a project by Valentine and Fall On Your Sword's William Bates.

KILL (2009)

KILL was released on October 20, 2009 in the US with the UK release following on November 2, 2009.

Dick Valentine told the audience at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia on April 30, 2009 that the new fall release would be titled "Jared Styles"; however the final name for the album simply became KILL .

A music video for first track on the album, "Body Shot", has been released on the internet.

Zodiac (2010)

On February 14, 2010, Dick Valentine announced via the Electric Six website that the band is in the process of recording their 7th studio album.
Valentine also mentioned that this album would contain a cover song that they have been contemplating for a long time. This cover has since been confirmed as " The Rubberband Man " by The Spinners (American band)|The Spinners .

On April 30, 2010, Dick Valentine confirmed at a concert at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana that the seventh album would be a twelve-track compilation titled Zodiac (Electric Six album)|Zodiac . It was released on September 28, 2010.

Heartbeats and Brainwaves (2011)

The band's eighth studio album is titled Heartbeats and Brainwaves , as announced through their official website on June 22, 2011. It was released on October 11. Previews of five tracks from the album were posted on the band's official Facebook page.

Untitled live album and Dick Valentine solo album (2012)

On January 30, 2012, the band announced via their website and Facebook that they are going to record a live album, set for release in the fall of 2012. The album will be recorded at shows in Minneapolis and Chicago in May, and will be a double record. The first disc containing the entirety of their first album, Fire (Electric Six album)|Fire , and the second containing their "favorite tracks from all the other albums". A live DVD of Fire will also be filmed at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on December 15.

Lead singer Tyler Spencer released his first solo album Destroy The Children under the Dick Valentine moniker on May 14, 2012.

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 "90 percent of our songs, maybe even higher than 90 percent" are "about absolutely nothing." Songs by Electric Six are often concerned with subjects such as human sexual behavior , masculinity , dancing, hypersexuality , fast food and fire (The band's official biography states that their debut album Fire (Electric Six album)|Fire was so named because they "noticed an abundance of the word fire on this record and...decided to go with it."). Lead singer Dick Valentine had commented on the aforementioned lyrical tendencies in song content with regards to the band's third album:

Valentine cited Freddie Mercury , Talking Heads , Falco (musician)|Falco , Devo , and Captain Beefheart as his musical influences, as well as Black Sabbath , Queen (band)|Queen and Kiss (band)|KISS for the rest of the group.

Discography

UK cite book
2003
2005
2006
2007
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2009
2010
2011

Charting UK singles

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2004

Copyright Citations

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