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It’s wrong. All wrong. Dick Valentine, frontman of
camp-disco-garage-rockers Electric 6 confided
in the sold out crowd at the Northampton Roadmender
on Sunday that he was nervous about the release of their
album the next day. Where the bold, brash and bumptious
trash-rock-disco icon of recent media hype? Let me take
you on a guided tour of the phenomenon that is Electric
6, and see if you can find him.
They're polite, to start with, praising local support
band Kapowski who rocked out in the best set I've seen.
It's amazing what crazy rock-posturing, killer tunes
and soaking the front row with water can do. And now,
introducing our Detroit city natives and hosts for one
night only, Electric 6. To your right, guitarist and
70s-pornstar wannabe Frank Lloyd Bonaventure, man with
the enviable task of withholding the meanest riff in
town until the crowd can contain themselves no more
– will he ever tire of playing the opening to Gay Bar?
I think not.
Centre stage we have Dick Valentine, geek-made-good,
who in another life is a slimy garage mechanic with
a penchant for screeching down the house at his local
karaoke bar. Maniacal smile, greasy hair, cheap suit
and t-shirt proclaiming ‘sexy and rich’ add up to make
him the most unlikely rock star in recent history.
Still, he only just manages to live up to his name as
the most preposterous man in rock, beleaguered I suspect
by the constant feeling that no-one was supposed to
take him seriously. But they did. And this is the result
– a band that wants to burn the dance floor, take you
to a gay bar, power the disco and then take naked pictures
of your mother to a soundtrack to make your ears bleed.
They sling in a ‘power ballad’ because their record
company told them it increase album sales (Valentine’s
words, not mine) and finish with a faithful cover of
Queen’s ‘Radio-Ga-Ga.’
But there’s a nagging sense when the fire burns out
we’ll only remember the two singles and the bewildered
look on Dick’s face. Danger, high verl-tage, indeed.
Natasha House for Crud Magazine 2003©
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