It is as predictable as anything that someone asserts will someday happen. The rock and roll band wants to go home. The rock and roll band wants to go back to where it got its start.
To the days when it was insecure about everything and picked unnecessary fights with members of local bands because it thought they were saying something about it. To the days when its own members decided that it was quite possibly the most important band in Detroit…….and what a coincidence, they were in that very same band. To the days when it opened up the NME and thought it might be incredibly meaningful to meet Julian Casablancas.
It is predictable as anything that was ever going to happen at the behest of the predictor. The rock band would never go home. It had seen too much. It had grown older. It had played too many shows in a row, seen too many local openers, travelled to too many countries. The band can never go home. Not to the way it was.
Look at Kirk Hammett. You think Kirk Hammett circa 2009 has anything in common with the Kirk Hammett that played on Kill ‘Em All? Today’s Kirk Hammett brushes his teeth with caviar and does transcendental meditation on top of the Petronas Towers. His best bet is to cut his hair, put on some eyeliner and hope the teacher of his daughter’s suzuki method violin class (and James Hetfield for that matter) doesn’t notice.
Electric Six is a rock and roll band just like Kirk Hammett. They both just want to go home. But they can never go home.
Electric Six is done trying to not sound like their first record Fire. Electric Six wants to sound like their first record Fire. Electric Six wants big loud guitars and fuzz basses intertwined with the occasional r&b jam. However, Electric Six has been to Estonia. Electric Six has been to Chile. Electric Six belongs to a food co-op and Electric Six works out at the gym. Can it really go to that place?
The answer is our sixth album KILL. The answer is yes we can sound like the first album. But we are going to sprinkle it with what we’ve learned. We can go back to the skull-crushing guitars and disco grooves, but they will be cooked in an avant-garde reduction sauce.
With the album opener “Body Shot”, Electric Six says to the listener “We are still Electric Six. We can still effortlessly combine hip-hop and r&b sensibilities with loud guitars and real drums. We can alternate the falsetto and bellowing vocal styles. We are still Electric Six. And we can reach into you and eat your soul.”
But KILL doesn’t rest on any laurels. KILL seeks to boldly and bloodily go where it can go where no go before. Tracks like “One Sick Puppy” and “Waste of Time and Money” tell the listener that guitars will be used and stories will be told. Stories of betrayal and despair and the good times that can only come from betrayal and despair.
The anchor track of KILL is the triumphant “Steal Your Bones”. Electric Six reaches into Fleetwood Mac territory and tells the tale of a man who would clone his way into a young girls heart. Upon hearing the final mix of this song, guitarist Johnny Nashinal remarked, “The video for this track needs to take place on an aircraft carrier!” Were that we would, but alas President Obama has given all of our aircraft carriers to al-Qaeda just like Sean Hannity said he would.
KILL is a rock/dance/pop masterpiece culminating in the smooth nightlife groove of “White Eyes”. Electric Six loves to end its albums on an adult contemporary note. It’s as if Electric Six is saying, “Fuck you, rest of album!!! We are going to end the album with a song that doesn’t sound anything like the rest of you. That’s how we do things in Royal Oak!!!!”
To summarize, Electric Six is releasing it’s sixth record KILL. Electric Six wants to return to simpler times. Kirk Hammett won’t let us.
KILL is available on Oct. 20, 2009 on Metropolis Records. Come see Electric Six on our “I’m Cutting a Fuckin’ Spot, Tony” tour this fall in a town near you.
AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA AUSTRALIA . :)
The Formula 409 video isn't available due to a copyright claim by WMG? The video to YOUR SONG on YOUR MYSPACE PAGE? Something's gone tits up somewhere...
Great show in Milwaukee-not only did you guys get me out of the house, but you made me boogie and that is why I love your shows. My smile is definitely stuck.
Awwww crap! I was gonna go to the show tonight at St Andrew's Hall but they stopped selling online because it's too close to the show (even for Will Call!) and I don't know if they can be bought at the venue (they didn't answer the phone).
Hope you play your hometown again soon, or better yet - come to Canada! I'm in London, about halfway between Detroit & Toronto.
