In what was the calm before the storm, perhaps it was appropriate for San Diego’s Little Hurricane to open up proceedings on Saturday night in New York City, just two nights before the full brunt of Hurricane Sandy devastated so much of the city and its surrounds. For my girlfriend and I, it has been a crazy couple of days to say the least. But alas we survived the storm and now live to tell the tale of a band called Electric Six from Detroit and their eerily named support act… read on!*
Hitting the stage to the sounds of rain and thunder, the San Diego duo wasted no time, jumping straight into “Lies”. The band play Blues Rock and Roll with a certain charm usually only achieved but a four piece. Occasionally taking to a distorted mic, and using CC on backup vocals, the pair sound like much more than ‘just’ a two piece, and they definitely work hard on stage from start to finish to achieve this.
CC showed class on the drums in a sequined dress, while Tone had the classic blues rock riffs down pat as he howled out impressive vocals. The set, much as it did when they were in Australia last month, put focus on their record Homewrecker – even the iconic amp case and light from its cover made up part of the stage setup. But for the most part, this was a no frills event. The sound was loud, the production impressive and they produce as close to a perfect articulation of the genre as I’ve ever heard. And it’s fair to say they’re just getting started…
Amongst the set came “Trouble Ahead”, which was a favourite of mine, featuring a whole heap of cowbell – always a winner for yours truly. Other highlights included “Shortbread”, “Homewrecker” (with some great slide guitar) and “Crocodile Tears” which ended the set. Watch out for this band. They’re coming fast and furious into plenty of eyes and ears… and hopefully plenty more before too long.
And then came the headliner of the night, the ‘Detroit Six’, Electric by name, Electric by nature. Their always hilarious frontman, eyeing off the Halloween dressed crowd, started the set by apologizing for not realizing that people were celebrating Halloween tonight (it being the Saturday closest to October 31st), and so they would happily ‘phone in the Halloween theme with the hits’. They kicked things off appropriately as such with “Devil Nights”, followed by a song about ‘the ecstasy of accepting the devil as your master’, “Hello! I See You!”, and a “When I Get to the Green Building”. Then came what was for many a huge surprise. In preparation for their upcoming 10th Anniversary tour of the UK for their debut record Fire, in which they will be playing the album in its entirety, the band did the same tonight, kicking off with the album opener “Dance Commander”.
Things continued in order, giving the crowd all their favourites, from “Danger! High Voltage” to “Gay Bar” and my personal favourite, “Synthesizer”, which closes out the album. Not to mention other gems like “She’s White”, “Naked Pictures Of Your Mother” and “Improper Dancing”. It’s fair to say that Fire is an impressively fun record from start to finish, and it’s no different live. The Mercury Room crowd, thrilled to hear all their favourites, happily danced the night away, and gave the room and the band plenty of energy to work with. Lead singer Dick Valentine took this in his stride and provided plenty of entertaining banter along the way, including introducing his nameless drummer as a local – something he’s been doing since his earliest performances to get a cheeky rise out of the crowd.
Tonight was the third time I’d seen the band; the first since 2006 in Vancouver. Indeed it’s been since around this period that the band were last in Australia. Since then the band have continued releasing albums without fail; they are currently on number nine, ten if you include Dick’s solo album. Though none have had the same fanfare as Fire, beyond the odd track here and there, their consistency has to be respected. But it’s telling of their quality, perhaps, that they have plateaued as they have, eternally playing and filling 250 capacity rooms on a seemingly endless touring cycle.
You can’t help but respect that consistency either.
With Electric Six, there aren’t many bells and whistles, and with the exception of Dick’s always entertaining banter, there isn’t much to say about the rest of the performance. A poor sound mix didn’t help either. But I’m pulling at loose hairs here – with music like this, it’s all kind of irrelevant. Electric Six are a fun band who make cool music. Did I have a great time? Hell yes. Will I see them again? Definitely. Will they finally get down to Australia sometime soon? Well, let’s start putting money in a big Crocodile pit and see how we go…
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*I would like to take a quick moment to suggest donating to the Red Cross to support the victims of this horrible natural disaster. Not all were as lucky as we were. Head to http://www.redcross.org/ to make a donation today.
