It’s a shame when rock bands that take a playful stylistic stance, like The Darkness or Andrew W.K., fulfill the prophecies of their critics and disappear after a couple of novel hits. Bands that are serious about having fun can have trouble holding the public’s attention. LMFAO might just buck this trend but, unfortunately, Electric Six did not.
The Detroit band hit the peak of their popularity in 2003 with a pair of catchy singles. Their rise was aided by surreal music videos for equally bizarre songs “Danger! High Voltage” and “Gay Bar.” Nearly a decade has passed since then and the band has faded into relative obscurity, despite releasing a steady stream of records that have failed to spark the same interest.
Thankfully, they didn’t heed Neil Young’s advice regarding burning out versus fading away. The band is back on the road and band leader Dick Valentine has some advice to help attendees get the most out of the event. First off, skip the ecstacy (MDMA).
“If you have an even number of people, then split ’em down the middle,” he suggests. “We played a festival in Calgary over the summer and there were a lot of people there on MDMA and I was not. I was watching the way they were taking everything in and it didn’t look fun to me, but I don’t know what’s going on inside their head.”
As for Valentine’s experience as a performer, he doesn’t sound too keen on the idea of a rolling audience, but it depends on the night. “Sometimes I do prefer talking to people after the show who are out of their minds,” he says. “It’s food for thought. At the end of the day I’m a business man, I’m writing songs, trying to get people to buy the songs, trying to get people to buy the t-shirts, and the more I know about the customers the better it is for me and my family. It’s market research.”
The corporate side of the job also includes managing human resources. In the past 16 years, Electric Six has been through a great many musicians.
“People have evaluations at the end of the year. It’s a lot of forms, we have marks 1-5, 1 being poor, 5 being excellent,” says Valentine. “We sit down with the board of directors and establish where everyone is at the end of the year.”
Valentine leaves us with one last pair of broadly applicable nuggets of advice. “Stay in school, and don’t believe everything you read.”
Electric Six
Club 9ONE9
March 24
$18
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