Electric Six VIP Meet & Greet Ticketholders
Session Info for our VIPS

The Zoo, Brisbane
Thursday, 9th March 2023
Please meet at the entrance of the venue by 5:30pm for a 5:45pm start

The Gov, Adelaide
Friday, 10th March 2023
Please meet at the entrance of the venue by 5:30pm for a 5:45pm start

The Rosemount, Perth
Saturday, 11th March 2023
Please meet at the entrance of the venue by 5:45pm for a 6:00pm start

The Rosemount, Perth
Sunday, 12th March 2023
Please meet at the entrance of the venue by 5:15pm for a 5:30pm start

Danger! Danger! Detroit’s very own Electric Six finally bring their sleazy fusion of rock and dance music back to Australia in March 2023 to Celebrate the 20^th Anniversary of ‘Fire’ (Danger! High Voltage, Gay Bar, Dance Commander, Synthesizer) + Fan Faves

An Electric Six show is a combination of a concert, a theatrical experience, an art exhibit! With such an epic set list includes the classic from ‘Fire’ – Danger! High Voltage, Gay Bar, Dance Commander, Synthesizer + Fan Faves – Down at McDonaldz, Randy’s Hot Tonight, I Buy The Drugs + More

Its been a long wait for Electric Six to return down under. The band were last in Australia and New Zealand in 2005! Electric Six deliver energy and absurdity in equal measure and are “still the best live show around”

From Dick Valentine…

They say the only constant…is change.  And they may have a point….because for seventeen years Australia and New Zealand have been constantly deprived of Electric Six.   But that is about to change.

Behold, Electric Six comes to you for the first time since 2005, and is desperate to make up for lost time.  Electric Six has seventeen albums now and negotiates the rock and roll dancefloor Down Under as only this collection of middle aged dance ninjas can.  Last time you saw us we were young idiots, hungry for attention and money.  This time the only thing we hunger for…is you.

We come at you now as tenured rock lords, savvy enough to give you all the hits (Gay Bar, Danger! High Voltage and those other ones) along with choice cuts from our legendary below-the-radar career.  Constantly changing, changing constantly…the only thing you need to do is be there.  You’ve grown up with Electric Six.  Now we’re here, live in the flesh, to send you off to the next chapter of your life.  Don’t change for you….don’t change a fucking thing….for me.

Electric Six emerged out of Detroit’s music scene in the 90s, igniting stages with their electrifying fusion of genres – one part comedy rock, one part disco inferno and a whole lot of garage rock grit. Their sonic palette blends elements of metal, new wave, and punk rock into a sound that’s uniquely their own. Each member of Electric Six takes on a persona, adding layers of intrigue to their already magnetic stage presence. And while the lineup may have shifted over the years, one constant remains: the irrepressible energy and vision of co-founder, lead vocalist, and mastermind behind the madness, Dick Valentine. With 15 studio albums, several rarities collections and cover albums, live albums and live DVD, Electric Six have produced an incredible body of work over their near 30 year career.

Electric Six formed in 1996, originally called The Wildbunch. Initially the band consisted of Dick Valentine (Tyler Spencer) on vocals, M. (Cory Martin) on drums, The Rock and Roll Indian (Anthony Selph) on lead guitar, Surge Joebot (Joe Frezza) on rhythm guitar, and Disco (Steve Nawara), formerly of The Detroit Cobras, on bass. Valentine stood as the architect of their sound, crafting both music and lyrics with unwavering fervor. They honed their craft amidst the electric atmosphere of venues like the Old Miami and Gold Dollar clubs, both iconic hubs of creativity in Detroit’s thriving music scene, the same scene that spawned groups like The White Stripes. The Wildbunch released their debut single, “I Lost Control (Of My Rock & Roll),” and the eight-track An Evening with the Many Moods of the Wildbunch’s Greatest Hits…Tonight! in 1996 on Uchu Cult Records. In 1998 they released Don’t Be Afraid of the Robot: Live at the Gold Dollar and in 1999 they released Rock Empire. The Wildbunch were forced to change their name to Electric Six due to legal pressure from the Bristol trip hop group, The Wild Bunch. During the The Wildbunch’s brief hiatus in the late ’90s, Valentine formed a new band The Dirty Shame releasing the album, Smog Cutter Love Story in 2000. The album showed an early working draft of the song “Vengeance and Fashion” which would later appear on Electric Six’s album, Fire.

In early 2000 while still called The Wildbunch, the band recorded the single “Danger! High Voltage” – It was released as Electric Six’s debut in December 2002 on XL Recordings. The single peaked at number two on the UK singles chart and was named Single of the Week by NME. The song also got a lot of attention following a “rumour” that the second vocalist on the song, credited as John S O’Leary, was actually the White Stripes’ Jack White. This was before the White Stripes blew up. At the time the band denied this was the case. Electric Six’s guitarist Surge told an interviewer that “It’s a fan. We put a competition out, and he won. He’s a mechanic, it wasn’t Jack White.” Bassist Disco joked “Yeah, he was probably the only person that entered.” In a later interview, the band’s drummer, M said that lawyers had advised the band to “neither confirm or deny the presence of Jack White”. In 2018, Dick Valentine came clean and confirmed that White was the other vocalist. Ironically at the time of the single’s release the New York Times described “Danger! High Voltage” as “catchier than anything on the radio by the White Stripes.” The song is 234 on the best songs of the 2000s by Pitchfork Media.

Electric Six followed the success of “Danger! High Voltage” with the release of their debut album Fire in 2003. Produced by Damien Mendis and Stuart Bradbury, who also created club mixes of “Danger! High Voltage” under the name of Soulchild. Rolling Stone called Fire, “the summer’s most brilliantly demented party record.” The album launched two further singles, “Gay Bar”, which reached #5 in the UK Singles Chart; and “Dance Commander”, which peaked at #40. Fire was declared gold in the United Kingdom on September 5, 2003.

After the recording of Fire, Electric Six went through a line up revamp. Disco, Rock and Roll Indian, and Surge Joebot left the band and in came Frank Lloyd Bonaventure, the Colonel, and Johnny Na$hinal. This new line up played at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2004. The band went into the studio to record their next album in 2004. Bonaventure and M both left around this time and were replaced by John R. Dequindre and Percussion World. M’s departure left Valentine as the sole original member of Electric Six. Electric Six’s second album, Señor Smoke arrived in February 2005 in the UK but would take a full year to be released in America due to legal troubles with the band’s former record label. The album’s title is a reference to Aurelio López (1948-1992), a former pitcher of the Detroit Tigers whose nickname was Señor Smoke. The album contained a controversial cover of Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga”, included on the record at the label’s request. The music video showed lead singer Dick Valentine playing the ghost of late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and performing with a backing band of poodles. Queen’s drummer and “Radio Ga Ga” songwriter Roger Taylor said that he was “unimpressed” by the video. Allegedly Queen’s guitarist, Brian May, was more receptive to the clip. Valentine addressed the hysteria around the video jesting “Some have claimed this video portrays me dancing on Freddie Mercury’s grave, but that wasn’t the idea. Actually it’s more like we are resurrecting Mr. Mercury for the duration of the song and his grave is the logical starting point.” Before later admitting “I guess a video like that can be taken the wrong way, but we hadn’t looked at it like that.”

Electric Six released their third album, Switzerland, in the fall of 2006, and I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me from Being the Master followed in October of 2007. 2007 also saw the introduction of the band’s new bassist, Smorgasbord. In 2008, Electric Six released the album, Flashy. Flashy received positive reviews. Heather Phares wrote the album left it ‘…unclear if Electric Six are the highest of the lowbrow or the lowest of the highbrow.” Electric Six promoted Flashy with a tour of the US, UK and Spain. While on tour they released a compilation album, Sexy Trash, which contained 30 tracks demos and previously unreleased material. Two more studio albums followed with Kill in 2009 and Zodiac in 2010. Zodiac included a cover of The Spinners’ 1976 song, “The Rubberband Man”.

Electric Six’s prolific spree of studio albums continued in 2011 with the release of Heartbeats and Brainwaves. This was the first album to feature Johnny Na$hinal as producer. The album show cased a more synth-pop direction. Gregory Heaney for allmusic.com, noted “… the band seem to really be exploring the electric part of their name with a decidedly more electronic approach, letting layers of synthesizers take center stage with a sound that evokes the moody dance jams of Depeche Mode and New Order.”

In 2012 Electric Six released their first live album, Absolute Pleasure. It was recorded in Minneapolis and Chicago. The album was initially conceived as a double album with the first disc being the band’s debut album, Fire, performed in full and the second disc being a greatest hits set from across their discography. This plan changed after the shows were recorded and the release wound up being a single disc compilation of the shows. Also in 2012, Dick Valentine released his first solo album, Destroy the Children. The year also saw the departure of Electric Six’s guitarist, The Colonel and the arrival of Da Ve stepping in. Da Ve would remain with the band for over a decade before departing in 2023.

Electric Six released their 10th studio album Mustang in 2013 and followed it up promptly with Human Zoo in 2014. Dick Valentine also managed to release the solo album, Halloween Fingers in 2013. In 2014 the band launched a Kickstarter crowd funding campaign to fund a covers album called Mimicry. Each member of the band selected a song to cover and there were even funding packages that offered up to four fans the chance to choose a song to be included on the album. Songs covered by Electric Six for Mimicry includied “The Look” by Roxette, “Cat People (Putting Out Fire)” by David Bowie, “Do You Love Me?” by Kiss, “Easy Lover” by Phil Collins and “Everywhere” by Fleedwood Mac. Mimicry came with a second disc, Memories, which was a sequel to the compilation, Sexy Trash and offered more rarities, B-sides and demos.

After the release of Mimicry, Smorgasbord left the band and was replaced by Rob Lower, from the band Mighty Tiny. This line up would go on to record the album, Bitch, Don’t Let Me Die! Shortly after the recording, Electric Six’s long-time drummer Percussion World left the band to join the Celtic punk group, Flogging Molly under his birth name, Mike Alonso. Noah Appel, also from Mighty Tiny would join Electric Six and take on the moniker, Two-Handed Bob.

Electric Six launched another Kickstarter campaign. This time for a different kind of project. Electric Six wanted to make a mockumentary film starring the band as themselves. Originally it was pitched as a 45 minute pilot for a TV series that would follow fictionalised exploits of the band. While in editing Electric Six made the call to spin the original concept into an 85 minute feature film. The film was released alongside another covers album from the band. This time featuring songs such as “All Night Long” by Rainbow and “When The Lights Go Out” by Oingo Boingo. The album also included two remixes of older Electric Six songs alongside four new original tracks.

In 2016, Electric Six released another studio album, Fresh Blood for Tired Vampyres. Mark Deming for allmuic.com surmised that “Mania has always been the commodity Electric Six were most determined to deliver, and 13 years after their debut album, they can still whip it up and lash it out.” Shortly after the album’s release Two Handed Bob left the band, Todd Glass played drums on the band’s next album, How Dare you, which arrived in late 2017. The band found a new full-time drummer in the interestingly named, Hyperkube Bonanza. Electric Six then launched another successful Kickstarter campaign to fund a double album, You’re Welcome! For this project, one disc would be a new set of covers and the other disc would be a brand new live album. The live album contained a show recorded at the O2 Academy in Oxford on the 22nd of April 2017. The band immediately followed this up with yet another Kickstarter campaign for a further two albums, the first being A Very Electric SiXmas, a Christmas studio album and Chill Out, a live album of stripped down and acoustic versions of the band’s material.

2018 saw Electric Six release their 14th studio album of original material, Bride of the Devil. With a horror themed title and an album cover tribute to George A. Romero’s classic horror film, Dawn of the Dead, Bride of the Devil was released just in time for Halloween. The album is a prominent guitar driven hard rock record and was produced by keyboardist Tait Nucleus (Christopher Tait). Bride of the Devil would mark the end of an incredibly prolific 15-year streak of original studio albums.

The Covid-19 pandemic put a slow down on Electric Six’s prolific touring and recording activities. The band returned in 2021 with Streets of Gold on Cleopatra Records. Another album of cover songs and re-recordings of the band’s big hits including “Danger! High Voltage” and “Gay Bar”. In 2023 Electric Six released their first new studio album of original material in five years, Turquoise. Turquoise received positive reviews from fans and critics with Distorted Sound’s Sam Khaneka reflecting that “Over 20 years into their career, it’s clear that ELECTRIC SIX will march only to the beat of their own drums – and the world’s a better place for it.” – the band hit the road to promote the album featuring a new line up of Dick Valentine with long standing bandmates Johnny Na$hinal and Tait Nucleus, a return of Smorgasbord on Bass and featuring new comers, Dr J and Herb S. Flavourings.

With over 20 years or relentless releases and consistent globe-trotting touring, Electric Six have carved out a unique and unmistakable anthemic party rock sound backed by absurdist attitude and wit. As Mark Deming wrote in his review for Bride of the Devil for allmusic.com “…the songs and the performances possess the manic energy and stupidly clever/cleverly stupid outlook that E6 have elevated into an art form and a cottage industry.” As self-described “musical cockroaches”, Electric Six’s immense and prolific catalogue is a testament to their boundless creativity and unwavering commitment to rock ‘n roll.