The History of Electric Six: 2004 - 2007 Looks like an emergency... (2004) (I'm The) I'm The One You're Looking For (I'm Sure) I'm Sure You've Heard This All Before (I Care) But I Don't Care Any More (I'm Sorry) But I Don't Know What I'm Sorry For [Vibrator] In June 2004, after many months of touring but with much quietness otherwise, Electric Six began posting fresh messages on their official website. Written mostly by Spencer, they started off just talking about what the band was up to but soon got on to talking about more about what would be happening in the next year. One of the first postings was about Mark Dundon (Frank Lloyd Bonaventure) who was appearing on the American version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? He subsequently went on to win $16,000. On July 8th the spoke how London radio station XFM were conducting their annual poll on favourite music of all time, urging Electric Six fans to capitalize on the success of Gay Bar the previous year, coming in at an amazing 37 in the chart. In August 2004, Electric Six said how they'd had a busy month touring: playing in New York, London, Sydney and Ibiza ("It's worth noting that their performance was at reknowned Ibiza club Manumission's 10th anniversary party. Electric Six was the first and, to date, only actual "band" to ever play the main room in that ridiculously huge club"; it was also where Radio Ga Ga b-side Gay Barwas recorded) and later on September 27th announced a new electronic mailing list for fans. It was on Thursday, September 23rd 2004 that Electric Six announced the news that fans wanted to hear: they had got a new record deal with Rushmore / Warner Music. The posting, from the official site, was as follows: After close to a year of free agency, self-loathing and finger-pointing, Electric Six can finally announce it has a new roof over its head in Rushmore/Warner Music. The pairing of this exciting young band and this venerable record company was made official this month after a long, flirtatious courtship and now everybody wins. We are moving forward with Rushmore/Warner Music and we are very excited,' says Tait Nucleus? speaking for his bandmates. Rushmore Recordings is a brand new entity under the Warner Music umbrella and its braintrust of industry veterans Steve Allen and Paul Brown claim they are excited to be working with Electric Six and they have a lot of plans and ideas involving their new act. 'We are moving forward with Electric Six and we are very excited," says Steve Allen, speaking for Rushmore/Warner Music. "We have a lot of plans and ideas for them.' The vacation is over now for Electric Six. No more tomfoolery. And so far, so good! Recording for their as of yet untitled sophomore record is wrapping up today in Ann Arbor, Michigan as John R. Dequindre plops down the last of his bass parts. The band is using the bass guitar on this record, as it did on the last one, to make the songs sound richer....fuller. 'I play bass guitar for Electric Six,' says John R. Dequindre. 'Today, when I leave the studio, primary tracking will be completed for my band's as of yet untitled sophomore release. My instrument, the bass guitar, will make these songs sound thicker.....fuller.' A release date is yet to be confirmed, but indications point to early 2005, making it a healthy year and a half between the upcoming Rushmore/Warner debut and the first and only record on XL Recordings, known as Fire. 'There once was a time that we were moving forward with Electric Six and we recall being very excited then,' says Artie Fufkin, speaking for XL Recordings. Having been dropped by their record label XL Recordings - which was done with little fanfare and without a publicised reason - in 2003, they were happy now to be on the books of a new company. October was the month that really set things going in the band. Spencer announced on October 31st that he was in Toronto, having just filmed the new video for their next single... Radio Ga Ga. Though a cover of the classic Queen song, it had proved extremely popular as an encore at their live shows and felt it would do it justice to release it as a single. Again the video would be directed by Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire. But more on the song in the next chapter. Having promised it a week earlier, a preview of their new single Vibrator was released as a free download on their website on October 18th. The official reason behind the free release was so they could get the song out to their fans quickly after such a gap. The band weren't keen on the actual track and didn't really want to release it as a single. There was a lot of the promotion around the release though, including a promo CD being manufactured. As I said, the band aren't keen on it and say that this track, along with Radio Ga Ga and Boy Or Girl? were emphasised by the record label. This mirrors their attitude to Danger! High Voltage as a track that got them noticed but not one that they prefer compared to others in their canon. However, it wasn't long before the next Electric Six song would be released as a full single release. But, like many times in Electric Six's history, as soon as something good happens something bad occurs. On the 10th November 2004, a message was posted on the Electric Six board to reveal that Cory Martin, one of the two founding members of The Wildbunch way back in 1995 was leaving Martin did reveal that he would be rejoining forces with another Detroit band The Witches but it would be the end of his association with Electric Six. It was a sad day for the band, but with a new single and album on their way, they had to concentrate on continuing... Yet to have your finest hour... (2004) I sit alone / And watch your light / my only friend / through teenage life [Radio Ga Ga] On November 11th, having already announced that the song was being recorded and the video put together, Spencer officially announced that, as from the 12th November, the video for Radio Ga Ga would be appearing on the request music channels on digital television as well as the radio. 'So hopefully you'll be seeing it so often' Spencer said, 'you'll have poodles dancing through your nightmares. That'll make sense tomorrow, we promise.' And indeed the video and song was released the day after. Their version of Radio Ga Ga was much rockier and faster than the Queen version and came with another hilarious video from Kuntz and Maguire. The Video The video features Spencer dressed up as Freddie Mercury, emerging from his grave to sing the song and appear in several scenes with poodles (which may, or may not, resemble Brian May, the Queen guitarist) including a graveyard, a pub, a lounge, a stage and a room among others before returning to his grave. Watch out for another one of Spencer's moustaches and a pair of large sticky-out false teeth that cost $1600 apparently. The song itself was liked by Brian May but the writer, Roger Taylor, wasn't keen. Also, there were some complaints about the nature of Spencer dancing on Freddie Mercury's grave but I don't think these people quite got the tongue in cheek humour of the video. On November 30th 2004 Electric Six announced, on their website, that Radio Ga Ga was the record of the week on BBC Radio One's early morning Nemone show between November 29th and December 3rd. They requested as many fans as possible to write in to help the track get noticed by Radio One producers. In the time between the release of the video and the release of the songs, much happened in the world of Electric Six. Martin was replaced on tour by The Next Level (real name unknown) and Mark Dundon (Frank Lloyd Bonaventure) would be appearing as bass as well, having been out of the band for a while. On the same day that that was announced, they revealed that they were getting a new person to handle their PR. Martin Landau, 24, was now responsible for promoting the band and provided everyone with an e-mail address to contact him with any queries. They want on to start, on November 19th 2004, a street team for people to help promote Electric Six in the run up to the single release. I put my name forward but never heard anything back, which suggests the idea may have been dropped. Going back to Radio Ga Ga and the video was posted on the website in the run up to its release. After a quick post about guitarist Johnny Na$hional learning Spanish, it was time to announce the release of Radio Ga Ga. Released on December 13th 2004 on 2 CDs and a vinyl, Radio Ga Ga managed to reach 21 in the UK charts, having faced stiff competition for the 2004 Christmas number one from the likes of Ronan Keating and Yusuf Islam's Father and Son and, of course, Band Aid 20. It was a good return for Electric Six and showed they were back in business. Now, having released their fourth official single, the time was right to launch their second album under their Electric Six name... The Future is in the Future... (2005) Like Jimmy Carter / Like electric underwear / Like any idea that never had the chance to go anywhere [Jimmy Carter] On Thursday January 13th 2005, a posting on the Electric Six website finally announced what fans had been waiting for: a new album. 'A new year dawns...' said the poster, '... and with it, a new Electric Six album is to be released. Señor Smoke is to be released on February 14th in the United Kingdom by Rushmore / Warner.' The release date - whether intentional or not - was appropriate as it was Valentine's Day and we know what the stage name for the lead singer is... So with a new album in the pipeline, Electric Six got ready for the launch, confirming on Wednesday February 9th the track listing. However, the tracks had been revealed on many other sites previously and I had had the good fortune to get hold of a promotional copy for the album. Sadly, though in my opinion it was as good if not better than Fire, Señor Smoke only managed to reach #105 in the charts, having been released on single CD on February 14th. The reasoning behind this is unclear because they had been touring heavily, but whether it was a lack of promotion or a chart that is dominated by more manufactured bands, the album didn't do as well as expected. I think the album would have benefited from a single release just before. Dance epidemic should have been released as a single in the run up to the release. If they'd released one of the other excellent singles off the album, like Bite Me or Rock and Roll Evacuation, then I think it would have done so much better. Touring Having settled down with the new members, to back up the release of their new album Señor Smoke, Electric Six headed on tour around the UK. As is usual with the fluid band, there were a few line up changes for the tour. Drummer Percussion World was hired for the drumming (as on the album they didn't have a specific drummer after the exit of Cory Martin) and Mark Duncan ( Frank Lloyd Bonaventure) stepped in for John R Dequindre who was on holiday at the time. The touring was mainly concentrated in the UK (From Newcastle-upon-Tyne to London, from Leeds to Bournemouth), but they had time to visit other places including Russia and Prague (where they played at a wedding for some Russian friends). I had the pleasure to see the band performing at Newcastle University and they were fantastic, running through a set that lasted roughly eighty minutes and included songs from both Fire and Señor Smoke, plus performing a cover of the 'Magnetic Fields' track 'Underwear' on most shows. The Metropolis era begins... (2005 - 2006) I am where I am today... because Of T.V... [T.V.] In the book of Revelation it is written, "When God was done laying down the law from Dan to Bathsheba, He needed a place to kick back and yodel and a place where His infinite riches could earn 20% and where He and His family could be spared the wrath of the Nazi war machine. It was on that day that God created Switzerland." Electric Six from Detroit is a collective of spiritually bankrupt people. But they found meaning in the above biblical passage. They understood that God, love Him or hate Him, knew how to make a heck of a country when He wanted to. Electric Six loves to yodel, loves to make money and loves to sit on the political fence. So it was inevitable that their next album would be called simply...Switzerland. Switzerland offers up thirteen songs of all styles, sounds, genres and themes. Wanna have a good time? We can do that! Wanna wallow in regret? We can do that! Wanna get real deep and examine why we are here and who God is? We can do that! We can do that! From the bouncy, peppy "I Buy the Drugs" to the Def Leppard/Journey-esque "Night Vision" to the super-smooth "Infected Girls", old school E6 mavens will find just the right amount of puerile yet groovy (and vaguely intellectual) concoctions that make them want become one with their aggression. Sex is still there to be had, skulls are still there to be smashed. It's all good. But life is more than just a 24-hour party. Just ask Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity. There comes a time when you inevitably ask "Why am I here?" "Is there a heaven and a hell?" "What happens to me after I'm dead?" and "Are you my mother?" The answers may or may not be found in the tracks entitled "The Band in Hell," "Pink Flamingos" and "There's Something Very Wrong With Us, So Let's Go Out Tonight." Electric Six is not afraid to explore the unknown and publish the results. And the results sound good, baby. Real good. Switzerland, like its predecessor Senor Smoke, was recorded at 40 oz. Studios in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At some point during the recording, frontman Dick Valentine was asked what he thought of the recording so far. It is said that he simply nodded and said, "I'd like to do a video for every song on this our finest record to date. Get me my manager." At which point he told his manager, "Let us do a video for every song on this our finest record to date. And if we are to fail in this endeavor, let us be brave in the attempt." To summarize, Switzerland is Electric Six's finest record to date. It is a feel-good, drive-around-in-your-car-with-the-top-down summer staple. That's why it's being released in September. Switzerland Press Release Much of 2005 was uneventful for the band. After the release of Senor Smoke the band continued to tour but nothing much else was discussed. Their tour to coincide with the album included visits to London, Hastings, York, Weisen Festival (Austria), Coventry, Harelbeke Festival (Belgium), Tastefest (Detroit), Big Gay Out (Finsbury, London) and the Azkena Rock Festival (Vitoria, Spain). The release of Senor Smoke was a sticking point through much of 2005. Initial speculation was that it was due to be released in the USA on 14th June but this failed to happen. However, in the autumn of 2005, rumours began to appear that a third album was in the planning. In fact, by November the majority of the as yet untitled third album had been written. Then, in December, the band announced via their official site that they had secured a new record label. I feel that Warner Music could have done more for the band and it was a shame no more singles had been released off Señor Smoke. With more publicity the album could have reached the heights that Fire had set in 2003. However, through Metropolis Records, this situation should change. The record label released Señor Smoke in North America on February 7th 2006, a week shy of a year since its UK release. Sadly, there wasn't any singles released from this album by the label. But, whatever, it's good to see the album finally getting a worldwide release. Electric Six then embarked on a large tour of North America to promote the album, receiving much acclaim for the 40 odd dates, performing tracks from their vast library plus a cover of the 'Stevie Nicks' song 'Stand Back'. The band's presence on the Internet increased in 2006 with the popularity of their MySpace section flourishing. Valentine and Tait appeared on television on a countdown of the funniest music videos ever, shown on VH2. As the World Cup kicked off, Electric Six began posting on the official site after each Switzerland match, revealing a new track on 'Switzerland' each time: 'The Band From Hell', 'Pulling The Plug On The Party' and 'Slices of You'. Christopher Tait also appeared on Detroit Internet radio station Riff2 on the 6th June 2006, debuting tracks 'Pulling The Plug On The Party' and 'I Buy The Drugs' as well as playing some classic Wildbunch tracks. Then, on the 27th June, Electric Six revealed that after a two and a half year gap, they were to releae a new single. An I Buy The Drugs video was recorded at Fraternity House Wayne State in Detroit on Saturday 1st July 2006. The band requested for people to appear in the video via the official site. The band's third album, Switzerland, was released on Metropolis Records in the USA and on Inertia in Australia on 12th September 2006. There were also rumours that the band have secured record deals in France and, of course, Switzerland! On June 26th 2006, through a posting on the official site, Electric Six announced that I Buy The Drugs would be the first song from Switzerland to get a video which was shot at 'Fraternity House Wayne State' in Detroit on Saturday 1st July 2006 at 8pm. You can find out more about this video shoot in the 'videos' section of electricsixlyrics.co.uk. The band continued to supply tracks to be made available on 'MySpace', with 'Mr Woman' debuting on Monday 17th July after the initial uploading of 'I Buy The Drugs' and 'Pulling The Plug On The Party. This was accompanied by some promo photos. On the 21st July, 'Electric Six' released 'Infected Girls' onto 'MySpace' plus the 'Tony Magnum' directed video for 'I Buy The Drugs'. On the 26th July it was announced that Jen would be stepping down as the runner of the MySpace site to be replaced by the Electric Six management. Though the exact circumstances of what happened are unconfirmed, www.myspace.com/electricsix ceased to be the official MySpace site for the band. Instead it was replaced by www.myspace.com/electricsixmusic ("The OFFICIAL Electric Six MySpace Page") backed up by an alternate link on the main official site. The arrival of this new space heralded two new tracks ('Night Vision' and 'Slices of You') plus a new poster to promote the album. Around this time, on 'Wiki-Six', the forum for www.electricsixlyrics.co.uk, the presence of a 'beer coaster' release came to light.. On Sunday 6th August 2006, the animated video for the short and final 'Switzerland' track was unveiled on their official MySpace site. Animated by Brian Oakes, it features Dick at the piano and a body-less rocket-powered Ringo Star in a pope's hat. Information about 'Switzerland' increased in mid-August. Following the album's inevitable leak to the illegal file sharing networks in mid-August, 'I Buy The Drugs' was released as a digital download single on many American legal sites plus 'iTunes' and 'Napster' in the UK. The download came with a relatively high quality copy of the artwork. More release dates of 'Switzerland' were also announced via the official site on Thursday August 17th, confirming the album would be releasing in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands on September 15th; the UK on September 25th or October 2nd; and Scandanavia at some point, all following the US and Australian releases on September 12th. The album became available to pre-order on the 'Inertia Music' website around this point. On Friday August 18th, a competition was announced via the official site / MySpace site for fans to create their own video for 'I Buy The Drugs'. The competition ended of September 8th with the best three versions shown on the MySpace site and the winners winning a signed copy of 'Switzerland', an 'I Buy The Drugs' t-shirt and free admission to one of the gigs on the upcoming USA 'Swiss Vengeance' tour. On September 8th, the competition came to a close. On the same day the video for 'Mr. Woman' was revealed via a posting on the official site, though it had been posted on an external site on the 29th August and had just not been picked up. The winners of the 'I Buy The Drugs' fan video competition were Philip Lickley, with his animated video showing the effects of drugs on a relationship; Shannon Klug, with her atmospheric black and white video showing the effects of a giant mushroom on a monkey; and Dorian Ramirez, whose animation showed the attempts of a TV evangalist to cure the watcher of a drug addiction, but he seems more bothered about eating evil fries. All winners won a signed copy of 'Switzerland', an 'I Buy The Drugs' t-shirt and two free tickets to a gig on the upcoming 'Swiss Vengeance' tour. On September 11th the official video to 'Pulling The Plug On The Party' debuted on YouTube, but was not picked up on the official site then. The 'Swiss Vengeance' tour started two days earlier on 9th September. The video was created by the company 'Cargo Hold Pictures' and Zachary Holman. Casting calls had been held on August 6th and August 8th 2006 and filming took place on August 18th to August 20th. The video was finally highlighted on the band's official MySpace sight on Monday September 18th. September 12th was obviously the release date for 'Switzerland'. It featured thirteen tracks including the lead single 'I Buy The Drugs'. 'Infected Girls' was one of the oldest tracks on the album, dating back to the 'Senor Smoke' sessions when it was nearly completed for then. 'Pink Flamingos' had also been swimming around as an idea since around 2003, a similar length of time from when 'Germans In Mexico' was demoed which, like 'Dance Epidemic' before it was vetoed from 'Fire' as the band didn't like the track. On October 9th the promo video for 'There's Something Very Wrong With Us So Let's Go Out Tonight' debuted on the official MySpace. Directed by Bangs and Blurry it has a dark feel to it and a twist at the end... On November 2nd the band once more posted on their official site about the end of their 'Switzerland' tour and an extra date on December 14th 2006 for the first American date of the 'American Troubador' shows. On November 23rd the band announced via the official site the dates for their 2007 'Switzerland' UK tour. As 2006 came to a close, the video for 'Rubber Rocket' debuted on YouTube on the 29th December 2006. It was a low budget video featuring Dick Valentine singing karaoke. The Fourth Album is announced... (2007 - present) Expectations go out the window when Mr. Woman comes to town [Mr. Woman] Electric Six and Metropolis Records are pleased to announce the impending release of Electric Six's fourth studio record entitled "I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master" which will be released in North America on Oct. 9, 2007. Releases in other territories will follow. To promote the record, Electric Six will be embarking on the It's Showtime! Tour this fall. The tour will be the usual 7-week E6 haul across North America, except this time the band will be heading to Spain for a week in the middle of the tour to play some shows there. A music video or two will be made. We wish to state for the record that we are back on top of our game. The Switzerland era is over and we are no longer shy and introverted. We are now once again outgoing and social. We want to be radio and video stars again. We believe this record has a shot in hell of getting us there. We are going to update our website and do all sorts of neat podcasts. Also, Dick Valentine has recently acquired a purple cape and some professional stunt fangs. But we can't do it alone. We need you, the kids, to march into the offices of MTV and to cause trouble outside of KROQ and BBC Radio One. We need you to start viral internet campaigns pleading that "I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master" becomes the greatest selling record of all time. We need you to broadcast pirate signals declaring this record to be the pinnacle of sound recording. If your parents try to stop you....exterminate them. Tell everyone you know. Talk about it at church, at school, at your orthodontist's office. Write a letter to David Geffen or Clive Davis. There are obstacles in front of us...people, corporations, conglomerates, dependence on foreign oil, slow internet connections, attitudes and perceptions. But all those things, as you will soon see, can be....exterminated. Together, we will exterminate. P.S. Also, we think our new song Fabulous People would be perfect background music on one of those VH1 specials about the out of control spending habits of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. If you are reading this and you work for VH1, let's make a deal. Let's make that deal now. We got some business to do. Let's do it now. Fourth album press release With a new year dawning, on January 13th the band finally confirmed that the fourth album, currently being recorded, will be released in Autumn / Fall 2007 on Metropolis Records. At this point it was unnamed and the tracklist unconfirmed. On the 20th January 2007 Dick appeared on Detroit Internet station Riff2 where he played 'Pink Flamingos', 'Jimmy Carter' and 'I Killed Our Love' live. He also talked about the band's videos, the recording of the fourth album which had been done in the previous two weeks and gave it the working title of 'Something For Everybody'. In February 2007 a series of interviews with Dick resulted in the names of the first tracks such as 'Dance Pattern', 'Dirty Looks', 'Sexy Trash' and 'Lenny Kravitz'. On the 22nd May 2007 it was revealed that touring player Smorgasbord would become one of the main members of the band, replacing Chris Peters. After a long time of waiting, the band proved the third album hadn't been forgotten by revealing the promotional video for 'Infected Girls' on the 28th June 2007. On the 15th July the band announced the title and tracks for their upcoming fourth album. On the 29th July the band announced that live shots of the band from 'Lollapalooza' will be available for purchase in two frame sizes from http://www.frcphotos.com. On the 8th August the online shop returned with two new t-shirts for 'Infected Girls' and the new album. On the 13th August new promotional photos for the fourth album appeared, taken by photographer Alicia Gbur. On the 15th August four tracks from the upcoming fourth album were made available to listen on MySpace: 'Down At McDonnellzzz', 'Randy's Hot Tonight', 'Feed My F***in' Habit' and 'Sexy Trash'. Also that week the album artwork appeared on the online store of record label Metropolis Records and photos from the Lollapalooza set appeared to buy. Around the 12th September the whole of the fourth album leaked, and on the 21st the band announced the track 'I Don't Like You' would appear on all formats of the computer game "MX V. ATV Untamed." After the release of the fourth album on the 9th October, the promo video for 'Down At McDonnelzzz' came into public knowledge on the 15th. In early November a promo video for 'It's Showtime!' emerged and as December came to a close a news posting on the official site announced that the band's fifth album had been greenlighted. Stay tuned to www.electricsixlyrics.co.uk for all the latest news!