Interview with Dick Valentine (Electric Six)
We recently chated with dynamic Electric Six frontman Dick Valentine (a.k.a. Tyler Spencer) to find out… well anything we could.
Though most of the Electric Six resides here in Detroit, you hang your hat in Brooklyn – do you come back to the Greater D often?
I would say I’m back there 7 or 8 times a year. We record there. My family is there. Northwest Airlines has fairly cheap flights between NYC and Detroit so it’s not really a problem to come and go.
I would say I’m back there 7 or 8 times a year. We record there. My family is there. Northwest Airlines has fairly cheap flights between NYC and Detroit so it’s not really a problem to come and go.
This past winter you were on Fox News’ “Red Eye” how was that?
It’s pretty surreal being in the NewsCorp building and realizing that Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly are in the studios next to me. When I was in for makeup, Hannity’s personal makeup kit was left out on the table in front of me. It looked like the casing for a uranium bomb and it had his signature engraved on it. But that’s not surprising. Most regular plain old great Americans like him have their signature engraved on their personal makeup kit made of titanium.
It’s pretty surreal being in the NewsCorp building and realizing that Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly are in the studios next to me. When I was in for makeup, Hannity’s personal makeup kit was left out on the table in front of me. It looked like the casing for a uranium bomb and it had his signature engraved on it. But that’s not surprising. Most regular plain old great Americans like him have their signature engraved on their personal makeup kit made of titanium.
For the record, Shepard Smith’s makeup kit was just a plastic bin with a piece of masking tape on which “SHEP” was written in Sharpie.
I suppose I might be going back. Or not. Depends on if they believe my appearance will drive up ratings. I believe it won’t.
Are you the voice of the California Milk Processing Broad’s White Gold?
Well, that is my voice, but it is somewhat affected by a pitchshifter. Basically that came about because the director of the videos and commercials for that campaign is Tom Kuntz. He directed three of our videos a few years back. I was sitting in a Starbucks while we were waiting to play in Indianapolis a couple years ago and he called and asked me if I wanted to do the music for the campaign. It happened that their deadline for getting the songs done was parallel to our recording schedule for Flashy, which our guitar player Zach was recording, so Zach and I did the milk songs while we recorded Flashy.
Well, that is my voice, but it is somewhat affected by a pitchshifter. Basically that came about because the director of the videos and commercials for that campaign is Tom Kuntz. He directed three of our videos a few years back. I was sitting in a Starbucks while we were waiting to play in Indianapolis a couple years ago and he called and asked me if I wanted to do the music for the campaign. It happened that their deadline for getting the songs done was parallel to our recording schedule for Flashy, which our guitar player Zach was recording, so Zach and I did the milk songs while we recorded Flashy.
How are things progressing with your other band Evil Cowards?
Upcoming plans for Evil Cowards include our first record Covered In Gas being released on Metropolis on May 19 and then doing the odd East-coast show here and there over the summer. My partner Wills (William Bates) works full time for a music production company and we can’t really do full-on touring right now but we are talking about doing some more recording this summer.
So how the reaction been to your new album “Flashy?”
Same as all the albums post-Fire. Generally it takes about a year before people digest the songs. We tour for each record right when it comes out and you can see the blank stares whenever we do a song of the new album. When we go out on the road a year later for the next record, I’m sure we’ll have a bunch of people yelling for “Graphic Designer”.
Same as all the albums post-Fire. Generally it takes about a year before people digest the songs. We tour for each record right when it comes out and you can see the blank stares whenever we do a song of the new album. When we go out on the road a year later for the next record, I’m sure we’ll have a bunch of people yelling for “Graphic Designer”.
When can fans expect the next album (and the album after that.)
Well, we’ve been in a groove lately where we put out one album a year and it comes out in October. We do have a new record slated for this October as well.
Well, we’ve been in a groove lately where we put out one album a year and it comes out in October. We do have a new record slated for this October as well.
How’s the “Flashy” album tour been going?
This thing is on autopilot. I have some amazing musicians in this band and I don’t exactly write prog-rock songs, so it’s pretty hard for us to fall apart these days. We’ve actually stopped rehearsing before tours. We just go over stuff at soundcheck.
This thing is on autopilot. I have some amazing musicians in this band and I don’t exactly write prog-rock songs, so it’s pretty hard for us to fall apart these days. We’ve actually stopped rehearsing before tours. We just go over stuff at soundcheck.
We just left a great band that did a couple weeks with us called Bang Camaro. They can have as many as 10 lead singers on stage with them at once. I definitely became a fan.
I read recently on your site that the legendary 1st Avenue in Minneapolis gave you a star on the wall?
Yeah, we play there twice a year and we have a great rapport with the people there, so we have been lobbying pretty hard for our star for a while. We would take them outside and point at this band and this band and point out how much they suck and how they need to be painted over.
Yeah, we play there twice a year and we have a great rapport with the people there, so we have been lobbying pretty hard for our star for a while. We would take them outside and point at this band and this band and point out how much they suck and how they need to be painted over.
Make no mistake – I fully expect for us to be painted over before ten years time is up. But for now, it’s a wonderful feeling being…..immortalized.
When I saw you guys in November at St. Andrews, I thought you all look really fit, how do you stay in shape when your on the road?
Really? REALLY? I always feel like John Popper minus the harmonicas. But I suppose we try to avoid fast food. Take LSD instead of drinking beer, that sort of thing.
Really? REALLY? I always feel like John Popper minus the harmonicas. But I suppose we try to avoid fast food. Take LSD instead of drinking beer, that sort of thing.
What can we expect form the show at the Blind Pig on Saturday?
It’s usually really hot on stage. You can expect to see us soaking in our own juices by the end of the show. Also we are trying to work up a cover of “Tender Love” by Force MD’s. But we’ve been saying that for two years, so who knows…..
It’s usually really hot on stage. You can expect to see us soaking in our own juices by the end of the show. Also we are trying to work up a cover of “Tender Love” by Force MD’s. But we’ve been saying that for two years, so who knows…..
The Electric Six are playing with Living Things and Millions of Brazilians this Saturday, May 9th at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor ($15, 18+ Doors 9:30 P.M.)
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