Electric Six at The Craufurd
On the 25th August I went to The Craufurd Arms in Wolverton to see Electric Six. The band from Detroit, fronted by Dick Valentine, achieved fame in the early noughties with songs like “Danger! High Voltage” and “Gay Bar”. The gig was my second outing in Milton Keynes in two days that featured bands from across the Atlantic (see separate Anvil review).
DSM 1V
Electric Six was supported by a UK outfit I’d never heard of called “DSM 1V”. I thought that an odd name for a band and so I went and looked up the reference. It turns out that it is a diagnosis term for a major depressive disorder.
And that was sort of appropriate given that the melancholic eighties inspired electric pop/rock band with a synthesized drum machine reminded me a little of REM … and Michael Stipe and his men were a miserable bunch.
Again, like REM, DSM 1V’s music didn’t inspire me. But moustachioed and mullet haired front man, Guy McKnight, was interesting and had a great voice. To me, he looked a bit like Freddie Mercury, behaved like Iggy pop and danced like a proper space cadet. Whilst the rest of his band mates were unanimated, McKnight was manic, intense, angry even and if he’d be fronting a punk band and the music was heavier and faster, he’d have been brilliant … as it was he looked/behaved like a nutter who might lose it at any moment.
McKnight tried to get a relatively uninspired audience rocking to his manic beat but the pogoing, the forays over the barriers and out into the audience, the invasion of personal space and the direct, borderline aggressive staring didn’t really work on the night.
When the set was done, the band cleared off the stage and that was pretty much that.
During the downtime between acts, I recognised and talked to a few folks that I recognised from the Anvil gig the night before, I wasn’t the only one have two nights out on the bounce.
Electric Six
Whilst Electric Six has been prolific in producing music over the years, I only have “Fire” in my CD collection and that is the album that contains the tracks that the band is best known for (see above).
The 25th was the first time I had seen the band perform live so I didn’t know what to expect in terms of presentation or antics. When the band members were in their civvies pre-set and doing their equipment and sound checks, I’ll be honest, they could have been the roadies for all I knew.
When the band members dressed in their performing finery finally took to the stage, there was no doubting who the fans had come to see. Electric Six got a much warmer welcome than DSM 1V. The gig was a sell out and the Craufurd’s show hall was packed for the headliners; the audience a full mix of ages from teen to middle agers, lots of women in the audience too.
When I first saw front man Dick Valentine, I thought he had a look like Tom Hanks about him, mannerisms like Harry Hill and a dress sense like your secondary school history teacher. Non-descript slacks, comfortable shoes, a red shirt with a broad collar and a green velvet sports jacket.
All the band members were wearing “smart” clothes and most of them were wearing shades … no tour shirts on show. The primary guitarist, referred to as the “White Wolf”, wore a white suit, he reminded me of Kelsey Grammer or Alistair Petrie. The secondary guitarist in his sports jacket, slacks, shirt and shades looked like Goodfella, Ray Liotta, and the bass player reminded me of Jason Statham. So, without even contemplating the keyboardist and the drummer, you’d got a school teacher, a gangster, a hard man and a show off. Electric Six’s music crosses genres and defies categorisation, some hard rock, some glam rock, some pop etc... the outfits worn defied the rock categories for sure.
I don’t have the set list to share, I didn’t get to pick one up at the end of the gig and, to be honest, there were a number of tunes I simply didn’t recognise. Singing along was always going to be a struggle for me, but it certainly wasn’t a problem for many others present. All in all, there were between fifteen and twenty songs including the encore.
Though Gay Bar, Danger! High Voltage, Dance Commander and many other cool tracks were shared, it was probably the final track of the evening that actually impressed me the most. I think it may even have been called “Show-stopper”. During this tune, the band completely switched around. Valentine took to the drums, the drummer took to the microphone and sang, the White Wolf picked up the base, the base player picked up the Wolf’s guitar, the keyboard player took the second guitar and the second guitarist took over keyboard duties. The revised band played flawlessly and, in that act, proved that all the members are flexible and skilled musicians.
Electric Six, whilst not as heavy or as fast as the bands I usually see did genuinely impress. The gig was good fun, good natured and well appreciated by all in attendance.
Full marks to The Craufurd Arms too, its ability to attract transatlantic talent to Milton Keynes is to be applauded as loudly and enthusiastically as Electric Six was.
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DSM 1V
Electric Six was supported by a UK outfit I’d never heard of called “DSM 1V”. I thought that an odd name for a band and so I went and looked up the reference. It turns out that it is a diagnosis term for a major depressive disorder.
And that was sort of appropriate given that the melancholic eighties inspired electric pop/rock band with a synthesized drum machine reminded me a little of REM … and Michael Stipe and his men were a miserable bunch.
Again, like REM, DSM 1V’s music didn’t inspire me. But moustachioed and mullet haired front man, Guy McKnight, was interesting and had a great voice. To me, he looked a bit like Freddie Mercury, behaved like Iggy pop and danced like a proper space cadet. Whilst the rest of his band mates were unanimated, McKnight was manic, intense, angry even and if he’d be fronting a punk band and the music was heavier and faster, he’d have been brilliant … as it was he looked/behaved like a nutter who might lose it at any moment.
McKnight tried to get a relatively uninspired audience rocking to his manic beat but the pogoing, the forays over the barriers and out into the audience, the invasion of personal space and the direct, borderline aggressive staring didn’t really work on the night.
When the set was done, the band cleared off the stage and that was pretty much that.
During the downtime between acts, I recognised and talked to a few folks that I recognised from the Anvil gig the night before, I wasn’t the only one have two nights out on the bounce.
Electric Six
Whilst Electric Six has been prolific in producing music over the years, I only have “Fire” in my CD collection and that is the album that contains the tracks that the band is best known for (see above).
The 25th was the first time I had seen the band perform live so I didn’t know what to expect in terms of presentation or antics. When the band members were in their civvies pre-set and doing their equipment and sound checks, I’ll be honest, they could have been the roadies for all I knew.
When the band members dressed in their performing finery finally took to the stage, there was no doubting who the fans had come to see. Electric Six got a much warmer welcome than DSM 1V. The gig was a sell out and the Craufurd’s show hall was packed for the headliners; the audience a full mix of ages from teen to middle agers, lots of women in the audience too.
When I first saw front man Dick Valentine, I thought he had a look like Tom Hanks about him, mannerisms like Harry Hill and a dress sense like your secondary school history teacher. Non-descript slacks, comfortable shoes, a red shirt with a broad collar and a green velvet sports jacket.
All the band members were wearing “smart” clothes and most of them were wearing shades … no tour shirts on show. The primary guitarist, referred to as the “White Wolf”, wore a white suit, he reminded me of Kelsey Grammer or Alistair Petrie. The secondary guitarist in his sports jacket, slacks, shirt and shades looked like Goodfella, Ray Liotta, and the bass player reminded me of Jason Statham. So, without even contemplating the keyboardist and the drummer, you’d got a school teacher, a gangster, a hard man and a show off. Electric Six’s music crosses genres and defies categorisation, some hard rock, some glam rock, some pop etc... the outfits worn defied the rock categories for sure.
I don’t have the set list to share, I didn’t get to pick one up at the end of the gig and, to be honest, there were a number of tunes I simply didn’t recognise. Singing along was always going to be a struggle for me, but it certainly wasn’t a problem for many others present. All in all, there were between fifteen and twenty songs including the encore.
Though Gay Bar, Danger! High Voltage, Dance Commander and many other cool tracks were shared, it was probably the final track of the evening that actually impressed me the most. I think it may even have been called “Show-stopper”. During this tune, the band completely switched around. Valentine took to the drums, the drummer took to the microphone and sang, the White Wolf picked up the base, the base player picked up the Wolf’s guitar, the keyboard player took the second guitar and the second guitarist took over keyboard duties. The revised band played flawlessly and, in that act, proved that all the members are flexible and skilled musicians.
Electric Six, whilst not as heavy or as fast as the bands I usually see did genuinely impress. The gig was good fun, good natured and well appreciated by all in attendance.
Full marks to The Craufurd Arms too, its ability to attract transatlantic talent to Milton Keynes is to be applauded as loudly and enthusiastically as Electric Six was.
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