April 30th, 2009
Danger! High Dolt-Age!
I dunno…I do like Electric Six’s tongue-in-cheek, cock-rock-and-roll camp — it’s hard not to enjoy all the fieeee-yahhs and sooo-loooooows bellowing from the mouth of frontman Dick Valentine, who’s actually not seven feet tall and intimidating like he sounds on album but kinda small and semi-nerdy looking (there’s an almost Rick Astley disconnect between his appearance and his voice). And what’s not to love about the band’s killer chops and songs like “Dance Commander,” “Gay Bar,” “I Buy the Drugs,” and of course “Danger! High Voltage!”?
But, as Valentine once told me in an interview, “Our crowd is skewing more and more to, like, aggro-meathead dude, and I love it when those guys wanna bro down with us after the show, and then they realize that we’re just these scrawny guys in our 30s with sinus problems that don’t want anything to do with their lifestyle.” I wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him, but then I saw it for myself when E6 played the Khyber last November — the joint was surprisingly (to me, anyway) full of violent meatheads and assfaces who were getting more hostile and belligerent with every beer; it felt more like being in the stands for a Flyers-Rangers game. And then there was the ridiculously skanky couple who were dancing/dry humping at the lip of the stage right next to me — the chick knocked over one of the mic stands twice while her dude was groping her, and he managed to splash most everyone in a 10-foot radius (band included) with his beers throughout the set. Nast.
So who knows if tonight’s E6 show at Johnny Brenda’s will be more of the same. I really hope not, because as good as the band was that night, the crowd really ruined the vibe of the show. Anyway, here’s some photos I shot of E6 that night:
