Tue 10/21: Electric Six / Local H @ The Vogue

September 23, 2008 by ASquared

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Electric Six are set to rock The Vogue in Broad Ripple on October 21st with help from the bands Local H and Goldendogs. Tickets are available at Indy CD and Vinyl and any TicketMaster outlet.

Electric Six is a six-piece metro Detroit-based band that plays what has been described as a brand of rock music infused with elements of "garage, disco, punk, new wave, and metal." The band met recognition in 2003 with the single "Danger! High Voltage", and subsequently recorded five full-length albums: Fire, Señor Smoke, Switzerland, I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the Master, and Flashy.

Electric Six incorporates a variety of styles, resulting in being termed a "genre-blurring" band. The group's sound has been described as a synthesis of "disco, synth pop, glam, and arena rock," including the falsetto vocals of disco, laden with "rampant solos, be they guitar riffs, synth wails, or strutting drums" that enforce the band's "energetic sound." However, the band members themselves have rejected such genre classifications as "disco-metal" and "disco-punk."

Critics have termed their lyrics as "disaffected, angry, ironic and lustful," expressing "macho flippancy" and "tongue-in-cheek pomposity." Dick Valentine has estimated that "80 percent of our songs, maybe even higher than 80 percent" are "about absolutely nothing." Songs by Electric Six are often concerned with subjects like war, nuclear war, human sexual behavior, masculinity, dancing, hypersexuality, fast food and fire (the band's official biography states that their debut album Fire was so named because they "noticed an abundance of the word fire on this record and...decided to go with it.". Lead singer Dick Valentine had commented on these lyrical tendencies in song content with regards to the band's third album:

"[...] for the first time, none of the songs have the word "dance" or variation of "dance" in the title. But fear not. We have songs with "drugs" and "girls" and "tonight" and "night" and "louder" and "party" in the title, so we haven't given up on our philosophy just yet."

Valentine cites Freddie Mercury, Talking Heads, Devo, and Captain Beefheart as his musical influences, as well as Black Sabbath, Queen and KISS for the rest of the group.

Local H is a rock band, formed by Scott Lucas (lead vocals, guitar, bass) and Joe Daniels (drums). The two began playing together in their Zion, Illinois high school in 1987. After failed attempts at recruiting a bassist, Lucas took the unique approach of adding bass pickups to his electric guitar. Local H is held in high regard amongst its fans for their frequent and energetic live shows.

Local H's first album, Ham Fisted, was released in 1995. Their 1996 follow up album, As Good as Dead had a successful release thanks to the popularity of the smash hit "Bound for the Floor." Other singles helped propel album sales as well as the band's popularity. 1998 saw the release of Pack Up the Cats, a critically acclaimed album which spawned the single "All the Kids Are Right" and found its way on many critics' top ten year end lists. Unfortunately, the album's chances of success were stifled when their label, PolyGram, merged with Universal and the album was all but forgotten during the transition.

Daniels left the band in July 1999, leaving Lucas to recruit former Triple Fast Action drummer Brian St. Clair in September 1999. Brian has also worked for Chicago-based Liz Phair, and Cheap Trick. The two released their fourth album Here Comes the Zoo in 2002 under the Palm Pictures record label. The No Fun EP followed in 2003 and their fifth album, Whatever Happened to P.J. Soles?, was released in April 2004 to favorable reviews.

In 2005 the band received a good deal of publicity after performing a cover of the Britney Spears hit "Toxic". The studio-recorded cover was available on the band's website, and it can now be found as the last, and only studio recorded, track of Alive '05, a live album the band released in 2005. "Toxic" has been performed in recent concerts.

Their seventh album, 12 Angry Months, was released on May 13, 2008 on the Shout! Factory label. The album is a concept album about the different emotions felt for the 12 months after the end of a romantic relationship.

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