Electric Six interview (AU: 3/13)
Hi Dick. Welcome to Belfast. Youâve been here a few times. Do you ⌠like Belfast?
âI had a tremendous tomato soup on Botanic one time â thatâs really the only lasting impression. I also saw a guy get the shit beat out of him in Wetherspoonâs as well, so those are the two lasting impressions I have.â
Youâre here to perform Fire in its entirety. Itâs been ten years since its release, which is incredible when you think about it. Does it feel like ten years?
âNo, it doesnât. Ten years goes by real quick when youâre having a good time. One day you look up and itâs all gone â all of it â but Iâve had a good time.â
How do you view the album nowadays, as a whole, in retrospect?
âActually, I donât really think about Fire that much. I think about all the ones after. Fire was the one where all the songs were like the Greatest Hits of our band as we were an unsigned band for six years. By the time we recorded and toured Fire we were already tired of them. The albums I like are the ones that are kind of cobbled within a year. Pretty much all the albums after Fire are the ones I likeâ.
It was definitely a breakthrough album, when it finally was recorded and released. Do you crave the level of exposure you had at that time?
âCrave it? No. We never sought it out in the first place. It just kind of happened and we would take it if it came back, so to speak, but we never pursue it and we never did pursue it. If it happens without having to put in effort, thatâs great. Thatâs how I live my life: let things come to you and donât put an ounce of effort into any of it.â
Youâve released seven albums since Fire. In hindsight, do you have any personal favourites and is there anything that you wish you had done differently?
âNot really. I mean, I kind of like them all. I really like the last two weâve done. I like them all. Theyâre like children, except for Fire â thatâs a bastard child.â
Youâre very much all about the live experience. For someone who hasnât seen it, how would you describe the bandâs live approach?
âHonestly, itâs very minimal. I mean, weâre just a bar band. We turn up and play bars. Weâre people who play instruments and thereâs nothing that special about our live shows. Based on the first couple of videos, people want me to come out on stage, ride an elk and make out with an old lady. Those things are expensive, you know? You have to feed the old lady and give her a place to sleep every night. Some people are like, âYouâre making a big mistake not recreating the video on stageâ to which my response is fuck you, youâre making a big mistake caring so much. This is Electric Six.â
Your most recent album, Heartwaves and Brainwaves, is quite different from your previous releases. Were you happy with the reaction it received?
âOh yes. We always try to do something that doesnât sound like the last thing we do. Thatâs the whole point: not repeating what youâve already done. In fact, weâve a full-on guitar album for the next one. I donât think itâs going to be a Deep Purple or anything but it will definitely be more guitar-orientated. Heartbeats is great though â itâs a very fun recordâ.
Itâs safe to say youâre a very fun, entertaining band. Personally speaking, do you necessarily consider that the role of the frontman â to entertain and to maintain that angle?
âWell, if you look at the original line-up of Electric Six, there was a lot of downtime between songs because the band were having panic attacks, they needed to find their cigarettes or bottle of Jack Daniels. There was invariably 3-5 minutes between songs so I had to learn how to talk to an audience because there was nothing else to do. There was a lot of dead air so it kind of happened naturally. I reckon I shouldnât talk so much on stage but itâs fun and therapeutic.â
Your shows in Belfast always sell out. Do you always get such an adoring reception everywhere you go or is just some specific cities?
âYeah, it just depends. Sometimes I look out into the crowd and people are throwing stuff at us and I think weâre having a horrible time and like, you come out afterwards and everyoneâs really nice so you never know. But there are some evil people out there and some dumb, dumb kids that come to our shows.â
Do you like people getting up on the stage?
âI hate it. Growing up as a teenage boy it never once occurred to me that I belonged on stage. To this day, Iâm forty years old now, I still donât understand how people come to point and think, and âyou know what that stage needs? It needs me. And you know why? Iâm awesome.â They always have that look on their face that says, âIâm awesome.ââ
Do you think youâre awesome?
âI donât think so but the band have signed a contract to play here. Contractually we know what weâre doing whereas the eighteen year old kid who looks like heâs got two brain cells, he isnât part of the contract.â
You ended your show in 2011 with the words, âEverybody hereâs going to die someday but with Electric Six, you donât have to feel itâ. Do you think that sums up your approach?
âThatâs what we try to do. We try to make people understand they are going to die and thatâs exactly why we go on tour.â
âYeah, making money is a big part of it.â
âYou do. You need money to live.â
You recently released your debut solo album, Destroy the Children. Why has it taken so long for you release solo material?
âWell, we didnât record a studio album this year so I grabbed the opportunity to get it done. Also, I enjoy playing acoustic shows and knew that it would be a good way to do. Iâm already planning to do a new one.â
You once said 90% of Electric Sixâs songs are about nothing. Do you stick by this?
âI think itâs more at this point.â
Finally, a Dick Valentine-obsessed friend of mine asked me to ask you: what will destroy the world first â nuclear war or the cult of celebrity? And do you play weddings?
âAs for what will destroy the world first, I donât think either of those. I think they will both phase themselves out pretty quickly. My moneyâs on climate change. As for weddings, yes, yes we do. You can have either have the full band or just myself â it depends what you can afford. You need money to live, right?â
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