If you’ve never given Electric Six a listen, it’s about time that you do. Few bands can be silly and at the same time rock your socks off, but the Michigan band manages to pull it off. Their music lies somewhere between The Darkness and MGMT: classic rock guitar and falsetto vocals backed by an insistent, dance-worthy beat and a synthesizer (for an idea of what these guys are about, check out the video for “Gay Bar” on Youtube).
Electric Six swung through Waterloo Wednesday night – their first visit ever, no less – and delivered a raucous if inconsistent set at Starlight. They were hampered by the absence of synth player Tait Nucleus?, who was back in Michigan (the band’s hometown) recovering from lyme disease. As their name suggests, Electric 6 rely a great deal on the synthesizer, and without it they had difficulty establishing and maintaining the abundant energy that is apparent on their albums.
This deficit was evident immediately, and after the energy of openers Sweet Thing, the first two songs sounded tired. The band turned things around quickly with “Formula 409,” lead singer Dick Valentine proclaiming afterward that, “Those are the worst three songs we got.” He backed that up with “Down at McDonnelz,” the call-and-response chorus (“My people need a place to go!” “GO!”) serving to energize the Starlight crowd.
After the energy fizzled somewhat , Valentine promised to “move directly to the dance material,” keying the start of “Improper Dancing.” This featured some freestyle poetry from the deep-voiced frontman, and led into the band’s breakout hit, “Danger! High Voltage.” The song concluded with a brief solo from drummer Percussion World, who was impressive throughout.
The band truly hit their stride on the home stretch, powering through “Gay Bar,” “Gay Bar Part Two,” and “She’s White.” Even though “Gay Bar” was greeted with the most enthusiasm, the anthemic “She’s White” was particularly good, owing to the work of lead guitarist Johnny Na$hinal. Na$hinal was dubbed ‘White Wolf’ for the night by Valentine, who – like any vocalist – attempted to play on the national and local pride of the crowd.
Valentine has the aimless-but-concise stage banter down to an art. Among the highlights was his admission that the band was indeed going to come back out and play three songs (referring to the encore); they merely intended to head downstairs, shoot tequila, and catch their breath.
When they did reappear for the encore, Valentine emerged clutching a giant pylon, which he hugged like a teddy bear for the remainder of the show. The only acknowledgment of his conspicuous new friend came just prior to the final song of the night, when he raised it slightly and finished a thought with, “Because I’m a professional musician.” The band then incited one last round of dancing with – appropriately enough – Dance Commander.
Toronto openers Sweet Thing were also worth noting. Sweet Thing are definitely on the cheerier end of the rock spectrum, as highlighted by the sweet two- and three-part harmonies throughout their set. They’re also capable of rocking out, however. This is most evident on Dance Mother, which features an instantly catchy, falsetto chorus of, “I don’t want to dance motherfucker/ But you’re giving me no choice” (the song is available as a free download at www.sweetthingmusic.com).
