last month electric six played the ideal place to host them in NYC – bowery ballroom, of course! – on friday the 28th. keeping up with their intense album-and-crazy-tour pace, they just released their EIGHTH studio album, heartbeats and brainwaves, which is decidedly more electronic (read: SYNTHS and tait nucleus front & center!) while still delivering the kind of tracks that are gloriously and unmistakably “electric six-y” – ie: total rock swag! as nuts as they get and as genre-defying (or is that genre-promiscuous?!) as they are, they always keep a bit of continuity from record to record which true e6 fans can always pick up on!

from the promo:

When we live, we transmit energy. We generate biorhythms, gamma rays and heat signatures that can be interpreted by machines. When you put it that way, being alive doesn’t seem very funny either. It just seems like one of those BORING science projects they make you do in high school. Yawn!!!!!!!

Okay, so we are going to die and everyone is going to laugh. Along the way, we transmit energy and it’s really boring. When do I get to have some fun???

This is precisely where Electric Six comes in, son!!!!!!

AHAHAHA.. some standouts for us on the new disc are “gridlock!”, “french bacon,” “hello! i see you!” (!!!!!!), and eric’s fave “interchangeable knife,” which actually features some killer vox from the constellations‘ frontman elijah, who we caught opening for electric six in september 2010 – super awesome surprise!! you can also stream a few tracks on e6′s FB. but moving on – THE CONCERT!

first openers were rocker locals new york rivals. they have a lot of power and have only been a band 2 months! the singer’s voice stood out to me a lot – the expressiveness, high and low registers and screams reminded me of the amazing vox of muse frontman matt bellamy, which is always a good sign! they got heavy but also offered up some slow jamz, so it was cool. second was a slightly 80s-tinged rock outfit called KITTEN, a very young band (seriously – they’re in their teens) from the west coast with a firecracker of a frontgirl. i wish her mic was turned up louder and we could understand her more when she spoke BUT she gets super points for going absolutely batsh!t crazy onstage while still singing – jumping, gyrating, headbanging, spinning, standing on the bassdrum and banging the cymbals, jumping off of things and even doing handstands in between verses! jeeeez! good on ya, girl.

ELECTRIC SIXXXXX brought it with the bizarre and the awesome as usual – i only wish they played for LONGER!!!! we did get a few MUCH lesser-heard gems sprinkled in there like switzerland‘s “i wish this song was louder” and “there’s something very wrong with us so let’s go out tonight” (have they even played those live before?!?), as well as throwback wildbunch track, “don’t be afraid of the robot”!!

and.. uh.. also – things like this happened.

and uh.. a bunch of other things (like dick valentine – err – “conquering” a fan with his microphone..) so please do check out the other electric six vids on our youtube channel AND go spend your hard-earned lunch money on some e6 gold! because, as mr. valentine says…

’nuff said,

- da leopard

Key Words: Justin Bieber, Robert Pattinson, Glenn Beck, Lady GaGa, Louis Pasteur, You. If you’ve ever attempted to continue living on planet Earth in our lifetime, you understand full well that there are many forces acting against you. The forces acting against you are oppressive, like the humid march of days. These forces like to play with things before they destroy them. You are being destroyed by forces. You. 

You should by now also understand there are two forces working on your behalf. The only reason you still have a fighting chance are Detroit’s premier over-21 band Electric Six… and the benevolent violence and magnetic gravitational pulses of the stars, planets and moons in the cosmos.

WHY, YES!

the band is playing brooklyn’s THE BELL HOUSE this thursday, june 2nd with township & les sans culottes (we saw the latter on one of e6′s summer concert cruises – they were pretty french.. and pretty awesome!). electric six is currently touring on the truckload of juicy material they’ve amassed over the years since their debut, 2003′s fire – count ‘em: señor smoke, switzerland, i shall exterminate everything around me that restricts me from being the master, flashy, KILL, andddd finally, the most recent, zodiac (whew!).

check out some quick clips from the last time electric six came to town (in september @ bowery ballroom) below & after the jump!

formula 409 + guitar SOLO!

it ain’t punk rock

the rubberband man (cover)

down at mcdonnellzzz

and of course… danger! high voltage

(psst.. there’s some more on our youtube)

CAN’T. WAIT. to dance improperly in the middle of the.. er.. bell house,

- da leopard

you know all is well in the world when ELECTRIC SIX has cranked out yet another album and is getting ready to embark on yet another massive tour. OH. YES.

what do they have for us this time?

ZODIAC!!!!

check it:

Now, why call the record “Zodiac”? The answer: why do anything at all? Which is also a question. Which has an answer. The answer is….because it has already been written. While Zodiac is perhaps our most collaborative, most unique and most fun record, we also had nothing to do with it. You heard me. The experience of making a record called Zodiac has opened our eyes to how REAL all this shit is. The record was already made. All Electric Six did was not stand in the way.

THE SHIT IS REAL. REEEAAAAL. and it ain’t even 2012 yet.

check out this album’s gems:

1. After Hours
2. American Cheese
3. Clusterfuck!
4. Countdown to the Countdown
5. Doom and Gloom and Doom and Gloom
6. Jam It In The Hole
7. I Am A Song!
8. It Ain’t Punk Rock
9. Love Song For Myself
10. The Rubberband Man
11. Table and Chairs
12. Talking Turkey

i’d like to announce that i am already a fan of ‘jam it in the hole’ and ‘i am a song!’ even without having heard them. at all.

the cap & i will be catching them later this month on their ‘Rent is Too Damn High!’ tour. it’ll be the 8192719827891st time we’ve seen them – well, not that many.. but everytime feels like the first. (wink) we’ll have some notes for y’all! maybe other things if you’re good. but first:

STOP! check out this interview i did with the man himself, DICK VALENTINE, at the start of their KILL tour last year, for QRO Mag … CONTINUE!

- the leopard

WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE PIX LIKE THIS, LOTS. LYNXES. YAY.

we love lynxes. why? because.. LOOK AT THEIR EARS! ALIEN CATS! THAT’S WHAT THEY ARE! AND THEY’RE SO CUTE! ANTENNAE EARS! LYNXES! MIND CONTROL! ahem. anyway, we love them so much we’re dubbing our weekly (or multi-weekly..?) links post.. S-N-T LYNX. (hohoho we so clever hohoho) we’ll round up the awesome/weird/ridiculous/repulsive links we found during the week and post them to you with a.. PICTURE OF A LYNX(ES). it’s really supposed to go up at the end of the week, so don’t ask why we’re posting this on a tuesday. we don’t know either.

* top 10 quirky science tricks for xmas parties [richard wiseman]

* dance routine set to electric six’s ‘dance commander’

* slacker parkour.. aHAHA (but we don’t like your website name.. why would you want to be a hipster of any sort, let alone an artificial one?) [the artificial hipster]

* i LOVE me some muppets. especially when 3 muppets who don’t actually SPEAK in the regular sense of the word are SINGING (?!) ‘carol of the bells’

* i’ll realign your chakras, muthafucka! [my love for you]

* amazing photography of abandoned/industrial NYC areas [kensinger photography]

* a letter that will seriously melt your heart (and includes the phrases ‘disco menace’ AND ‘bunnyhead genius’) – AMAZING [icing]

* super crazy vibrant HD photography.. whoa [too much glass]

* on the subject of lynxes.. OHMYGODDDDD [apparently i can't write 'flickr' without it disappearing out of this post, so.. FLICKR, fuck you wordpress]

* ahem. if that didn’t blow your mind with cuteness, TRY THIS

well, i won’t spend any time saying ‘anndddd we’re back’ (err.. i just did) or go on and on about how we’ve been gone so long. things are difficult in america, kids! that’s why we’ve moved to CANADA!

*cue canada national anthem*

.. just kidding. although i know sometimes captain WISHES we did. ;D

we’re still here in good ol’ queens, bklyn & of course manhattan, working thru trying times & scraping by like the rest of NYC & Les États-Unis. fortunately, we end up having some awesome experiences along the way! the cap & i have still been seeing tons of shows, checking out new music, and enjoying old favorites. particularly, coming up we’ll be linking to our coverage of..

gONNA gET gOT
MIZ METRO
FRESHKILLS
DEMANDER
& of course.. THE GIRAFFES!

in addition to some random stuff on consider the source, electric six, and otherssssss..

we have some obstacles to get thru before we post & etc, but rest assured, we’ll be here and we’ll be OUT THERE!

aiight,

da leopard
4
sugar-n-thunder

SPEAKING OF ELECTRIC SIX..

THIS RIGHT HERE is the most NSFW-iest video i have ever fucking seen. and it is totally and completely over the top and AMAZING.

click & enjoy.. BRAND spanking new ‘BODY SHOT’video from electric six’s upcoming album ‘KILL’, set for release 10/20/09!

oooooyesoyesoyesoyes.

PS

just wanted to mention that these are our top searches since we’ve been gone..

“gummy bear robot chicken, rumanian buck, fill with holy ghost fire, electric six, electric six fire”

uh, LMFAO. american classics.

3 words: demented. rock. GENIUS. taken to a whole new level.
and when i say whole new level, i mean, head mics AND backup dancers. and lipsynching to get to the grammys. ERR — i mean, RAW TALENT.

electric six‘s tyler spencer (not to be confused with the didjeridu player of the same name.. [what?] and perhaps better known as e6 frontman dick valentine!) and fall on your sword‘s william bates come together to form..

EVIL COWARDS!

evil cowards live @ their FIRST SHOW, mercury lounge on 2/13/09!
filmed by captain, of course..

‘sex wars’!! HOW CAN YOU EVEN WAKE UP TO SEE ANOTHER DAY KNOWING YOU MISSED SEEING THIS?

check these TENDER MOMENTS (‘my mind is rotting’):

as you can see, the cap & i were in the nosebleed seats. ;D these clips are three of EIGHT the cap has posted on his youtube. check them all out!!

they opened that night for deadbeat darling [i LOVE their song 'picture perfect world'], who packed the house — it was their single release party for ‘without a trace’ and their first official NYC sellout. i actually really, really dug them. they have a record coming out in the coming months, and a gig @ piano’s on april 9th..

and i don’t know about you.. but i fucking love evil cowards. mr. spencer, you are completely insane. but the best kind of insane there could ever, ever, EVER be. EVER. insanity is awfully close to genius, right? RIGHT?

from their myspace:

“Tyler Spencer is an American. Nowhere is his robust Americanism more pronounced than in his ode to the two most American of endeavors – love and war. In the funky ‘Sex Wars’ we pay homage to the greatest generation, our GIs and our jarheads. Yes, they went overseas and they killed some guys, but they also liked to fuck. Somehow the two things become the same. That’s what this song is about. And it’s catchy!!!!!

William Bates in an Englishman. The album closer ‘Chopping Up the Teacher’ is sung by Bates in his native tongue – English. When you are English, anything is possible. You have abandoned the Church and your toes are still tapping. But you still need to confess. Best to do it while you are pissed and hanging out with your mates at the Hawley Arms.

To summarize, Evil Cowards are releasing their debut album entitled ‘Covered in Gas’ on May 5 on Metropolis Records [DID YOU HEAR THAT, KIDS?!??! that's actually also the date ELECTRIC SIX comes back to their unofficial home @ THE BOWERY BALLROOM!!! fuck yes!!!]. Every song on the album is catchy while bathing in the majesty of William Bates’ unique production. The band will do live performances over the summer that promise to be as entertaining as the record itself. Choreography, nudity, live animals, prosthetic limbs – all these things will feature in the Evil Cowards live show. Neither Electric Six nor Fall On Your Sword are ceasing operations [thank jesus]. Evil Cowards are here to stay. [woohoo!]“

and that would be that, ladies and gentlemen. i can’t wait till the cap puts up the last vid.. [yo cap.. are you going to?!] let’s just say that after the final moments of evil cowardice a hipster behind me exclaimed, ‘that was the raddest thing i’ve ever seen.’ but no, little trendy scum of new york city, that was BEYOND rad. rad does not exist in the evil cowards’ vocabulary.

just love. and war. MAKE IT. make them both.

sugar & thunder loves fucks you. HARD.

and by this, i mean THIS.

fucking classic.

LMFAO. story of my life ;D

the gummy bear scene is one of the sure-fire cures for depression, in my opinion..

just like electric six’s golden debut, FIRE.

PERFECT.

i’m sure we’ll go into greater detail on this topic in the future but BREAKING FUCKING NEWS. first thing i noticed.. the electric six site is updated with FLASHY GRAPHIX! because electric six’s 5th album just came out this past week.. secondly.. the golden dogs are not touring with electric six and local H?!?!??!?!?!?!

“DETROIT, Oct. 14 — Electric Six regrets to announce today that due to circumstances beyond their control, our friends The Golden Dogs are unable to join Local H and us for any of the scheduled tour dates. This does not change the fact that we believe The Golden Dogs are the best live band we’ve ever seen.”

why?!?!? why?!?! WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“If you are in a band in any of the towns we are scheduled to visit, you may be doing the math and realizing that there are some open support slots available now. The decision for any bands that may be added to bills will be made by local venues and local promoters only. Neither Electric Six nor our booking agent, The Agency Group, will be involved in deciding who fills the vacant slots.”

there are 2 things i’m thinking.

1) FUCK. fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck. this was going to be one of the most insanely amazing shows EVER.

2) i wish THE GIRAFFES could fill the slot in NYC (11/22 @ webster hall). oh sweet baby jesus.

JDSklajsklaJSaklSjakl i don’t know what to say! this sucks so hard.

i hope all is well with the golden dogs!! sugar -n- thunder loves you!!!

more updates soon..

- audrey

So watch and love

I suggest hitting the “Watch in High Definition” if you watch it from youtube.. it lookz betterz.

And with that said… next film will hopefully be “Ogden.” Which is about a man who is either a 1930′s senator that somehow is stuck in the present or he’s just a crazy guy.

Ha! Busdicker…
-Captain

okay, these things need to be mentioned.

the limewire music blog is pretty flippin’ awesome (esp. since jens from the giraffes writes for it!) — they have events and reviews and pix going up all the time..

here’s their take on the giraffes @ mccarren park for the brooklyn kickball league tournament on 7/12! we were there.. of course. they attracted a pretty sweet crowd, too! biggest of the afternoon, i think. someone should also attest to the fact that really old men AND little mexican girls were diggin’ the giraffes. HARDCORE. they just wandered over and didn’t leave. who needs a record label?

AND check out the always awesome todd kancar’s pix in the giraffes’ photo albums on myspace.. ya gotta log in to see ‘em.. just do it! we know you have one! tool.

we unfortunately missed most of goes cube‘s set after getting hung up on beers and free hot dogs (!!!!!!!!!) at the turkey tavern down the block (or whatever the fuck it was called).. but we stayed for freshkills then called it an afternoon.

the next day we rolled out of bed at almost 1 (har, kim deal busted us when she told the audience she was up at 10 AM! while the rest of us had probably rolled out of bed at 12 and walked over hahaha) and sauntered on over to the same neighborhood for THE BREEDERS show @ mccarren park pool on 7/13, a jellyNYC pool party, apparently. very, very fucking awesome. seriously, cheers to jellyNYC. i’ve never been to something like that in the city — which either makes the pool party particularly awesome, or me particularly lame for not going out to more free city events. i’m leaning towards both. ANYWAY.

we later found out that the show was hella hard to get into after awhile, as i guess they were shutting people out around the time the breeders were supposed to go on, which was after 5, even though the pool wasn’t full. not cool. there was a line when we rolled up at 4 something, but we got in towards the middle/to the end of UK electronica/pop/disco house (oo yeah!) openers the whip, who did sound REALLY awesome, but we didn’t get down into the crowd to fully watch as a result of walking around and exploring, buying $6 beers, etc. arg.

beers in hand, though, we did get down there.. there was a slip n slide on one side, soccer/kickball or something going on as well, tons of people were in bathing suits and half naked, hula hooping, taking pictures, beers, tatts, emo sunglasses.. etc. ;D fucking great atmosphere. it was seriously unreal how beautiful the day was (BLARING sunshine) and how many people were out. as a venue, the pool is AWESOME. FUCK turning it back into a real pool. people can use fire hydrants and piss in the street, okay? where are you going to see a super rock show while standing in an EMPTY POOL? nowhere. except maybe my house, but there would be water in the pool, and the band would be standing outside. anyway. ;D

the next band to take the stage blew us the fuck AWAY! presenting drums/synth wonders MATT + KIM from brooklyn! i fucking love them. as if opening their set with the hilarious and immediately recognizable intro to THE FINAL COUNTDOWN wasn’t amazing enough, their songs were totally fun and they were absolutely OVERFLOWING with good energy. seriously. kim was adorable with that HUGE smile on her face as she banged away on her kit — and oh, did i mention the two little girls kim used to babysit dancing around with huge sound-blocking headphones on during their set?? ADORABLE OVERLOAD. =D

BUT THEN, as if things couldn’t get any better, matt said something was about to happen.. and the RUDE MECHANICAL ORCHESTRA appeared onstage to close their set with them! YOU NEED TO SEE THIS. there was dancing and green sparkles and horns and half nakedness/crazy costumes and a tuba with FLAMES painted on it. AMAZING. even KIM WAS DANCING! they started with “uh oh, this war has got to go,” sung to the tune of “crazy in love” haha, and then played a GREAT song of matt + kim’s called “yea yeah” (seriously, i LOVE it — listen to it on their myspace).

SO YEAH! after that DAYTON, OHIO (woot woot)’s own THE BREEDERS hit the stage and of course they were awesome and hella comfortable, kelley even played the violin, haha! “cannonball” was a highlight for me — the crowd was so into it. here’s a bunch of pix from metromix of all the bands — check the 11th pic of matt with his hand up — there was a SHITload of people out. amazing.

i also just found this internet mag, QRO magazine — they have a lot of cool NYC events, pix, vids, and reviews goin’ on.. here’s a QRO review with pix and video, and a lovely gallery of 3 sets of matt + kim. cheers, QRO mag! but someone’s gotta get you guys into the giraffes!

AND while i’m at it, here’s another throwback from the lens of the lovely jackie roman: captain’s birthday demander/giraffes/bang camaro show! i was too busy rootin’ around downstairs and laughing as the cap filmed what would become his birthday advice video to go upstairs and see the explosion of men onstage that was bang camaro but.. who cares. ;D

now i have to go and clean. -shakes fist-

rock steady,

- da leopard

ps FIGHT COMMUNISM. LOVE ELECTRIC SIX.

haha, speaking of which. southpaw show, late last year: THIS -points to pic below- is up on my wall! ;D

photo by ted chase

the set list, not the wires.. uh.

GENIUS.

from their myspace:

Electric Six Announces the Impending Release of “Flashy”

Electric Six, in conjunction with Metropolis Records, is proud to officially announce the North American release of our fifth record, entitled “Flashy”, on Oct. 21 of this year. Release dates in other territories will follow.

“Flashy” was recorded at the Colonel’s very own Hamtramck Sound Machine studios.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Gay Bar Part Two
2. Formula 409
3. We Were Witchy Witchy White Women
4. Dirty Ball
5. Lovers Beware
6. Your Heat is Rising
7. Face Cuts
8. Heavy Woman
9. Flashy Man
10. Watching Evil Empires Fall Apart
11. Graphic Designer
12. Transatlantic Flight
13. Making Progress

A music video for “Formula 409″ was recently shot in Detroit, Michigan and should be made available for consumption within a couple weeks.

For now, you can hear the entire record, all 13 songs at once, on our myspace page. And we are delighted to preview one track, “Transatlantic Flight” by its lonesome. This is a very important song.

++++++++++

so THAT’S why “flashy” sounds like a zillion songs being played at once! oh, you trixy electric six. ;D and wait a minute.. did they just say “GAY BAR PART TWO”!??!?!??! fuck yes..?!?!??!! and “face cuts” just sounds delicious.

anyway.. CHECK IT OUT! they’ll also be on a ROCKS OFF boat cah-roozing around NYC in a matter of weeks! WEEKS! -grabs computer monitor and shakes it-

okay yeah, so.. hopefully we’ll be writing more soon.. ahem, captain ;D the giraffes @ mccarren park were fucking brilliant/hilarious as usual, by the way, and we actually managed to get into THE BREEDERS show at mccarren park pool — they were AWESOME, but i think the second opening act stole my heart.. MATT & KIM! more on that with links to pix & video soon. oh, and we were also around for the snoop dogg/311 (?!) show in coney island.. on the outside, that is. HAR.

rock steady,

- da leopard

SAVE CONEY ISLAND!