Whichever way you slice it this is an unusual surprise for a town at least an hours drive from the nearest regularly-gigged city and, as such, a gig which saw the enlisting of stage security from local nightclubs; each skinhead bouncer subsequently dressed in sharp suits complete with shirt and tie!! And that’s not to mention the two old ladies selling tea, coffee and homemade scones in an alcove between the venue hall and the bar!
Although an unfamiliar support then, Ludes were given a warm reception from the sell-out crowd. With a drummer that insisted on keeping his huge gaping mouth open throughout the set, Ludes’ playful psychobilly-rock was a wonderfully oblique precursor to Electric Six’s scattershot mish-mash of disco and garage styles. As the band twisted and turned through some hip-swinging, bourbon-soaked grooves they could just as easily be romping and stomping their way through a support slot with Tiger Army, though their indie-rock image will undoubtedly garner more suitable comparisons with The Coral. Refreshingly different nonetheless.
By the time the intriguing cast of characters that form Electric Six swagger onstage, oozing that unmistakable rock star cool, and sliding into the sleaze-rock stomp of ‘Naked Pictures of Your Mother’ the crowd are suitably oiled with beer (as opposed to tea and scones) and are already whipping themselves into a hyperactive frenzy. “This next one goes out to the ladies – most of you know who you are”, jokes vocalist Dick Valentine, introducing the garage-punk strop of ‘She’s White’ with backing shout contributions from handlebar moustachioed Johnny Na$hinal and bassist Frank Lloyd Bonaventure.
Jostling with a cool 50s lilt around the mic Valentine’s striking vocal talents are truly exposed in his jawdropping acappella prelude to the infectious disco beat of ‘Danger! High Voltage’; his erratic tendencies seeing him swing backwards and forwards thrusting back his now-frizy hair with the deranged eccentricity of Mike Patton. Of course the supped-up fuzz of ‘Gay Bar’ sends things into fever pitch, but by the time they are cheered back onstage for an encore, with deafening screams and whistles that even the band seem truly flattered by, their cover of Queen’s ‘Radio Ga Ga’ sees everyone, and I mean everyone jiving and singing along like they’re the prodigal sons of Shrewsbury returning for a triumphal homecoming show!
Far from being a novelty act Electric Six have given a modern reinterpretation of the verve and spirit of both disco and garage-punk and thus fused together an explosive style that only these characters, fronted by the charismatic Dick Valentine, can pull off.
