Consult Your Doctor about Electric Six

Words: Ollie Hopewell

It speaks volumes about our musical heritage that a city the size of Stoke-on-Trent is so

often frequented by bands many would consider “too big” to play in the area; regardless of

this, Stoke persists in its ability to host, champion, and celebrate live music and to appeal to

musicians near and far. When it was announced that Electric Six were touring I was

immediately excited, but my excitement quickly turned to shock as I realised I wouldn’t need to travel to Manchester or London, but to our beloved Sugarmill. It’s not often that I get to use the term “music royalty”, but I can think of few words better to concisely describe the finest export from Detroit since square pizzas and Tom Selleck. But before we get into one of the most Noughties bands of all time, I’ve got a question for you; What do you get when you take the Crooner charm of Bryan Ferry, the vocal style of The The’s Matt Johnson, the sarcasm of Jarvis Cocker, and dress it in a linen suit?

Well, I’m not entirely sure to be honest with you, but there exists an Alt. Pop duo who are

doing their absolute best to be the answer of this very niche-yet-pressing matter. The duo in

question, the aptly named Enjoyable Listens, are the result of a one-night stand between

Abingdon on Thames and Romford, culminating in a lovechild that is as much a comedy

routine as it is genre-bending music. I like to think that in a past life bassist Jamie Savage

was a stoic mountain man in the great American wilderness during the frontier era, while

frontman Luke Duffett would’ve been a socialite in the inner circle of Salvador Dali’s

friendship group; fate had other ideas however, leading the two to becoming one of the most unique and enjoying bands on the circuit.

Opening with That’s Where the Blood Is, I immediately thought of Dave Gahan’s Depeche

Mode and thought I could pigeonhole Enjoyable Listens just as easy as that, but Summer Hit and A Laugh and a Half were soaked in New Romance, showing the duo to be far more

three dimensional that anyone had anticipated. Personal favourite track of the night was

Tear Up The Picture of My Kids, an LCD Soundsystem-esque ballad about a personal feud

with some squirrels. No, you did read that right and you’re not imagining things. The variety

of genre, form, and function is genuinely impressive, especially when you consider that

you’re not guaranteed to get Duffett and Savage every time; sometimes you’re going to have a stage full of musicians with a brass section and other times it’s just Duffett going at it

alone, though I’d argue that the band would feel equally at home performing as a duo at the

Edinburgh Fringe as they would playing with a full stage at Glastonbury, a feat they have

already achieved with a notable performance at the West Holts stage in 2022.

If you’re still unsure of what to expect, I’d point you to watching Christopher Walken’s

performance on Fatboy Slim’s Weapon of Choice while drinking a pint of John Smiths and

doing poppers in a leather armchair. If that’s too much of an ask, I’d say you’d be best

tracking down Enjoyable Listens and watching them in person for the musical equivalent of

Vic and Bob’s Shooting Stars.

Would it be an insult or a compliment to call Electric Six the ultimate Dad Rock band? I’m

going to decide for you and tell you that it is perhaps the finest compliment I could pay them; as technically brilliant as they are bizarre, Electric Six are one of those bands who have a certain timelessness in their work akin to contemporaries Tenacious D and The Darkness. You don’t quite know how to label them, what genre they fit in to, or if your uncle was telling the truth when he told you he was their bassist between 2003-2006, but you know one thing for certain - when Electric Six play fun is guaranteed.

Taking to the stage dressed like a panel from Have I Got News for You, the Detroit six-piece

were welcomed with rapturous applause as the evening crowd treated this more like a

homecoming rather than a mere pitstop on their UK tour. This sentiment was shared by

frontman Dick Valentine who had a somewhat unsettling knowledge of, moreover a burning

passion for, Festival Park. There was genuinely a considerable amount of chat about

Valentine’s enjoyment of “pumping gas” at Festival Park and his desire to one day retire

somewhere within the retail park. Inspiring stuff. Given that this was only the band’s second

appearance in Stoke, they first played at Staffordshire University at the end of June in 2003,

it felt as if they hadn’t been gone long, with the entire band energetically waving to seemingly every member of the audience with huge smiles before a note was played.

Opening with Turquoise and playing straight through Dr. K, After Hours, and Rock and Roll

Evacuation, it wasn’t until cult classic Naked Pictures (Of Your Mother) that we got our first

mosh pit of the night. Ironically, this gave us the first chance to stope for breath as Valentine

et al ripped through the opening six tracks before a brief respite after Staten Island Ass

Squad to tell the crowd “Hanley, I got good news; those were the worst six songs we’re

gonna play tonight”.

Humility and humour aside, Electric Six sound absolutely fantastic and extremely polished in a live setting, though there was a certain raucous chaos that perforated the performance, a chaos that got everybody jumping for rowdy headbanger Down At McDonnelzzz.

Despite the band’s lineup changing quite considerably since their formation in 1995, it’s

rumoured that you’re never more than six feet away from a past member of Electric Six, the

ensemble seem to have struck gold in their current lineup; frontman and founding member

Dick Valentine’s voice and vocal range have only improved since the band’s inception, while

the long-serving Tait Nucleus? and Johnny “White Wolf” Na$hinal have found themselves to

be stalwarts on the synthesiser and lead guitar respectively. Newer members like rhythm

guitarist Herb S. Flavourings and The Janitor on drums have landed on their feet within the

sextuple and offer a fresh-yet-grounded sound that perfectly blends the established sound

with the strident energy of playing live. Since the departure of Da Vé, and Flavourings

subsequent shift from bass to rhythm guitar, the band’s newest addition is bassist Rick

Schaple, who has proven that perhaps the shoes weren’t too big to fill given his excellent

performance on the night.

Following The New Shampoo we hit Mach (Electric) Six with the iconic Gay Bar, stopping

half-way through to get the crowd to applaud themselves and Enjoyable Listens before

kicking back into one of the most paradigmatic tracks of the early 00s rock scene.

Unsatisfied with the borderline riot taking place in the crowd’s central mosh pit, Electric Six

then blitzed into Gay Bar Part Two and She's White to keep up the rapid dance momentum. Dirty Ball and Hot Numbers on the Telephone followed before reaching another classic track from 2003s Fire in Improper Dancing; this was the second grooviest track of the night, I’ll get to number one in just a moment, with the chorus of (Who the Hell Just) Call My Phone? being played between the “Stop!...Continue!” section of the aforementioned track. At this point I just want to point out that I already liked Electric Six before seeing them live, but I have since become slightly obsessed with them, but I think that was already quite obvious.

Dick Valentine continues his ongoing bit of “This next song is from one of the albums” before dropping into an extended cut of the critically acclaimed Danger! High Voltage, with

Valentine singing both his and Jack White’s parts on the night. The Electric Punk and Funk

Rock fusion of Danger! High Voltage blasts everything, new and contemporary, out of the

water and is perhaps one of the most recognisable and camp songs of this century.

Following a brief break, the six are back for their encore which begins with a bolt-out-of-the-

blue in a cover of Sophie Ellis‐Bextor’s Murder on the Dancefloor. For those paying

attention, this was the grooviest track of the night, and I don’t think I have heard a better

cover from any live band.

Ending on Boy or Girl? and Dance Commander, it was plain to see that Detroit band have

still got so much more to give, and the love of their craft will keep them touring for the

foreseeable future. I’d argue that Electric Six are far more iconic within the music scene of

the UK than in their native America, but I gladly welcome them with open arms ad infinitum if it means that we get an official release of their Murder on the Dancefloor cover.