 |
Interview:
Dick Valentine: Lead vocals, star of Danger! High Voltage video Surge Joebot: Lead guitar March 20, 2003 Bottom of the Hill San Francisco Watch the Gay Bar video now!
|
Comedy cock-rock driven by the disco bump is not worth censoring.
It's
just downright insulting to think that "I want to start a nuclear
war... in the gay bar" is a dangerous or seditious line. But there
it is - the state of the world: an annoying bit of censorship that distracts
from the larger censorship - also known as the evening news brought to
you by corporations who broadcast with all their worry in the bottom line.
Oh, now I'm distracted.
Electric Six is more concerned with a different
kind of bottom. So who are they, really? Does Jack White of the White
Stripes really sing the raspy, shrill part of Danger! High Voltage?
According to the band and their manager, it's another singer - but they'll
let the rumour persist because the rumour makes good buzz. Hmmm, maybe
they are interested in the bottom line... but they don't come across that
way, they seem sincerely happy to be getting so much attention
for this crazy song and video.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
Electric Six is a
bunch of guys who weren't making the outside-of-Detroit music scene as
the Wildbunch, even though by their own assessment, being a band in Detroit
is easy: rents are cheap and career expectations are low because there's
no jobs anyhow. So a music identity is in reach, because at least it's something interesting to do. Some corny songs came from the Wildbunch
catalog ("The Ballad of MC Sucka DJ"), but seemingly it took
their reinvention as a gaggle of madmen, each with an individualized and
detailed psychopathology published as their band bio, for these artists
to get the attention they craved. And so the jocular became more profitable
for these struggling extroverts when they were reborn as Electric Six,
added disco to the garage and got on a record label based in the UK.
The riveting and surreal video for Danger! High Voltage elevated
the infectious lyrics of :
Fire in the disco ! Fire in the Taco Bell!
Dontcha wanna know how we keep starting fires?
It's my desire!
to an anthemic frenzy in the dance clubs and as a must-see-to-believe
"this is the best video I've seen all year" moment.
These are guys who are in it for the jokes (and (yawn) the sex, drugs
and rock'n'roll) but the musicianship actually does carry the punch and
grooves for this cock-rock-disco while the lyrics are old jokes by the
second listen. So as long as audiences are in on the joke with the band,
then no harm done in being a comedic band with a good ear and musical
talent. I don't "get" Gay Bar but it's catchy as heck.
Besides, Dick Valentine's superb smirking and singing means they have
their front man in place if they decide to go back to being just another
garage band from Detroit.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
Video Vision (V V):Your music video for Danger! High Voltage has blown everybody away in San Francisco. I want to know everything about it...we all want to know about the actors, the paintings, the directors - everything.
V V:: It was their concept..? They did the sets....
 |
| Click on image to enlarge |
V V : Who were the actors and how were they chosen?
E6: (D) We'll I'm the guy (clears hair from his face and brow)...the woman was a local actress from Toronto named Tina.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (D) They cast her. It was actually kinda funny..because I knew about the video for two months ahead of time...and we shot it on a Friday... they casted her on a Tuesday... so as we were doing the wardrobe and everything.., she's getting into this bondage gear and I'm like... "On Monday you woke up and you had no idea that your Friday was going to be like this..."
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (D) Yeah,... I don't know what she knew or what her concept was of anything that we were doing... I don't know if any of us knew. It was just kinda something that we did. In terms of how it was received in Europe, because it was on TV for quite a bit there, I don't think any of us predicted that that would happen.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (D) I don't know...my mom was offended by it. She had a long talk with me... you know just stuff about going to hell and if this is the type of direction I want to take with my life. She might have a point there.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (D) That's the sort of line that she wants to take. That's her right as an American.
V V: Do you have experience acting before? Did you like it?
E6: (D) Not really, that was it. That was the very first time I had ever acted. It was fun. The catering was really something.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (D) I don't know that we ever got a name... it was done by an 18 year old kid... they had him working around the clock. We've been trying to get a hold of some of them but so far to no avail.
V V: I understand that you're going to do a second video....
E6: (D) We're going to do it in a couple weeks in New York for our song Gay Bar. I don't know if it's going to be played as much in the US as Europe. I'm not sure what the plans are yet for that.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (D) I think we're coming out with a different US single.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (S) Video is sort-of important to us prior to this point... we had done some stuff just on our own because we're sort of compulsive in that area. It's great to be able to make any video or movie or that kind of stuff.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (S) Yeah and then movies. Yes! definitely. We've been working on that for a long time. We wanted to do an exercise video... that might still happen. The Detroit rock scene is really out of shape. We wanted to turn the tide. (D) We also had an idea of a movie where the band breaks down in a van outside a spooky mansion... hilarity and hijinks ensue...
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (D) It's mainly because our label is in Europe which is a singles market. We had the single ready to go and it did very well so it was out and that was probably the impetus. We're relatively unknown in the US so it's just good to have something out there now and tour to support it. I think we'll be in better shape on May 20th when the record comes out.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (S) On the European tours, it varies from city to city just like it does here. Certain towns are more demonstrative than others. I don't think there's a strict US vs European difference. Every night's different - that's what keeps you driving to the next city.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (S) Scotland. Actually there was a show in London that was pretty rough.. .there were 2,500 drunk sixteen year olds with no security... it was like Thunderdome... the audience was like tiers of balconies going up and the floor... so it was us and our guitar tech vs these kids. There was a lot of stage invasion going on and we retaliated physically and still managed to play the songs. We were proud of ourselves. Our keyboard player took up a lot of slack on the security front. (D) There were times when I thought I was going to die but what kept me going was I was telling myself that I gotta get to San Francisco to do this interview.
 |
|
Click on image to enlarge |
E6: (S) We'll meet each town with its own terms... we'll take whatever you've got. (D) I've been to some of the discotheques here in SF and I've seen people move so I'm not too worried about it.
Interviewer: Catherine Lee
Camera & Photos: Rodwin Pabello
Transcription & Editing: Catherine Lee
Special Thanks: Beggars Group - Shelby Bacchus
Bottom of the Hill
© 2003 Evans Media Group, Inc.
Related Links:
XL Recordings (USA)
Beggars Group - distro US arm for XL Recordings UK