February 22, 2026 • 13 mins
Electric Six are coming to New Zealand soon, their singer Dick Valentine called up for a chat about the staying power of Electric Six, Detroit’s fiercely supportive ‘90s scene, the MTV explosion of Gay Bar and how their cult status has kept them touring decades after their first hit.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome record, so Radio Hotchy's Off the Record podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
That's the record with Big Sandys.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
You're coming back to New Zealand for your upcoming tour.
How does New Zealand sit on the Elite tric six
touring map.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's it's uh, it's at the edge of the earth.
For us, it's it's so exotic.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
It feels you know, I know, you speak the same
language and a lot of the same matterisms and customs
and food, but it's still very exotic and and you
know for us as Americans, you know that when I
was growing up, everyone's like, fuck.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
This, I'm moving to New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
It was that it was the destination du sure of,
like you know, Americans like, you know, fed up with
living in Americas. I'm gonna move into New Zealand someday
and like, oh no, you're not and be like, oh
watch me, and then like one person actually does and uh,
and then that person wants guest list now. So you know,
for for us, it's it's exciting. And now we're doing
two Wellington's. I love that venue so much. I feel
(00:57):
i feel like I'm doing something with my life. And
I played the San France so it's just very exciting.
Tuning fork also very exciting. Yeah, great, great, What a
great green room, What an incredible green room. Now, I mean,
you know, I know you're there to see me on stage,
but I really just am so comfortable in.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
That green room.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
When you play the tuning fork, You're just like, if
I've only done this, or if I'd only been nicer
to that person back then, maybe maybe things would have
gone differently. And I you know, I don't only have
to play five shows a year instead of five hundred.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, yeah, because how many shows do you guys do
a year?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
You know, since we all started having kids, we've scaled
it back a bit. But you know, the sad truth
is I could be on stage every night. Yeah, you know, yeah,
we like back back in the you know, two thousand
and three, two thousand and four, those years we had
probably two hundred fifty shows each year, and then you
know these these days, I'd say it's a little less
(01:50):
than one hundred.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah that's still. I mean I remember two thousand and
three and I first heard high voltage and I was like, WHOA,
what is the.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So I remember that I have the same memory of
that year, and yeah, it was we we literally.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Went from zero to to being kind of everywhere, and
it was it was interesting, you know, it was definitely
definitely a unique moment. And then we learned to kind
of after that, you know, once uh once our reality
check has been a beautiful reality check. We just kind
of became a band with a with a fan base
and we just go out there and tour it and
(02:27):
and you know, it's still still still a great position
to be in. You just don't have to do as
much television, which is you know, I missed doing television,
but I also don't.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
It's kind of like the scene has changed a lot.
Like TV isn't what TV was, and you know, we
would tune in to television to watch the music shows. Now,
with TikTok and social media, I feel like a lot
of that has watered down the effect of television.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, and as you know, TikTok and all that you have,
you have to actually think, you have to be creative.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You have to like put yourself out there.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
When I was doing television, you just you can roll in,
you can be on like kayludes, and you know you're
very passive. You know, you just do what the people
in the television tell you to do so if you know,
there's a lot of pressure doing your own TikTok, your
own real because like you have to like create the content.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
You know, you roll into TV.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
You can be drunk, you can be high, and they
just ask you a few questions and then you're broadcast
a million millions of people.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
It's a it's a it's a much easier situation.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, well, I mean those early days in Detroit. So
you was it ninety six that you guys first got
together making music? How was that? Can you walk me through.
We'll give me a quick sort of description of what
it was like then leading up into the kind of
MTV explosion that happened for you.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Oh sure, well, I mean, yeah, we were a local
band in Detroit for a good five six years. The
thing about Detroit, I believe still now, but especially in
the in the nineties, the local scene was just it
was just so.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Supportive.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
You know, we'd play local shows and there'd be two
hundred people there and you know a lot of them
would be in other bands, and like we'd go see
those bands. And once we started touring, we realized many
many places are not like that. I think we kind
of thought that, you know, every city was like that,
but Detroit was just the music was so important, and
so that allowed us to be a local band and
and and get something out of it, uh, you know
(04:22):
in those early years, and so it was it was
a lot of fun, you know. But obviously touring is
a different animal. You have to have a different kind
of mindset and outlook, and yeah, it's it is definitely different.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
So when you were and that lead up to MTV,
did you have any idea that you would get this.
I mean, you can hope that you would get that big,
but you were just like you say, you were touring,
you were doing your local gigs. How did the MTV
thing come about? Did you get signed?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah, we got We got signed to XL Recordings and
kind of on the back of the whole white stripes,
you know, blowing up. You know, we were in the
same same scene, same time as them, and you know
we had some demo deals and sniffs from American record
labels in the six years prior to that. And what
we learned was when when you actually get signed, when
(05:08):
it actually happens, it happens really quickly. You know, those
other kind of mysfires we'd be calling them up like, hey,
how's it going.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Like, oh, we're still looking at you guys, you know,
and you realize that, like they have no intention of
signing you, but they you know, they also don't want to, like,
you know, in case maybe you have a hit down
the road, they want to, Hey, remember us, that kind
of thing. But when you get signed, it's like it
within five minutes of making contact.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
And so that's that's kind of what we learned. And uh, yeah,
I think the.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Whole time, in those early years, I think we knew
we were a good band. We knew we had a
you know, as good good an opportunity as anybody to
to make it. But you know, also it didn't Detroit
at that time. It didn't it didn't even seem possible,
Like it just didn't seem like a place where anyone
was interested in seeing music coming out of there, or
that anyone was even paying attention.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
But yeah, you got the attention of everyone. So you've
had is it fifteen studio albums?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I mean I really should I should get the exact number.
I mean it's around there. Yeah, and yeah, we've And
that's another thing is you know, a lot of us
have you know, had kids in the last decade or so,
and we were we'd put out an album a year
for like twelve years, and then COVID happened and we
kind of like looked and we're like, hey, we don't
need to do this anymore. We have tenure, like we've
(06:22):
we've already kind of proved our point. So we are
working on a new.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Album, but like the the the.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Impetus to make it, do it, you know, finish it
this year is just it's just gone, like we'd rather
spend time with our families and the album will come
out when it comes out.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, I mean that's the beauty of it. When you've
got more of that control, Like you say, you've got
a huge catalog of music behind you, there's no urgency
to get this one.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Absolutely, Like we we go on tour now and we're
like we go like to the back catalog and like, wow,
we've never played this song before, like track number eleven
off of album number four, Like we you know, so
we're doing a better job of like you know, in
addition obviously playing gay Bar and Danger every night, like
you know, dusting off like you know, face cuts off
a flashy or something like that. Yeah, you know, just
like playing songs we never even played.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Back in the day.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
And yeah, when you have a catalog of one hundred
and fifty songs, it's it's a lot of fun because
you can just you pick and choose, and you know,
do a song you've never done before, and it kind
of keeps it fresh even.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Though you're playing it like a zombie song.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So that's thirteen fifteen years old, but it's new to
you because you've never played it before that.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So that's fun.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Because I would describe your music sort of disco groos
with that sort of garage rock and a little bit
of setire mixed in there. So was it always the
sort of blueprint with where you were coming from when
you started doing your music.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I mean I I just wanted to be a fun band.
I didn't want to be boring.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I didn't you know.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
We take elements of it seriously, and you know, I
want to be a good band and put on a
good show. But for me, it was always escapism from
like having a shitty day job, and so I just
you know, wanted the band to be fun at the
end of the day and yeah, I think that, you know,
it actually bodes well for us because I've learned that
still so many people start bands and they're very very
serious and they want it to be like you know,
(08:07):
they take they take it all way too seriously, at.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Least from from my perspective, and so.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
We kind of have the our own little like niche
of people who identify with us, because there's so few
bands that take our approach. It's actually now when you're
in Electric six, it's actually nice because nobody is trying
to be Electric six.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah. Well, I mean Electric six have definitely made their
imprint here in New Zealand. But as we're talking about it,
it's like your songs kind of walk that line between
sort of comedy. I guess it's like sincerity almost. Are
you ever surprised at you know, you put like you're
putting a song out there, how fans react to it, because,
(08:46):
like you say, you're just having fun. People kind of
take on a song in their own they add all
their own feelings and connections to it. I guess. So
when you see a song blow up, did you ever
think gay Bar was going to be a song that
would go huge?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah? No, I mean not really.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
I mean, we knew it was one of our stronger songs,
but you know, when it was written, it was you know,
at no point was I like, oh, this is going
to be like a big hit that's going to last,
you know, it's going to book us in clubs all
around the world for twenty five years. That was not
That was definitely not on my mind. And all we
had to extend it when we when we recorded it,
I mean, it was like a minute and a half long,
so it was just like this little almost like interlude
(09:24):
that we'd play every night, you know. And so yeah, no,
the short answer is no.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
And when you write your music, are you writing your
music more for a live audience or are you writing
your music for those listening to it with headphones on
or both.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I'm not much of an auto audiophile. I don't really
collect records or listen to music so much. So I
do I kind of live for the live experience. So
I guess if I write a song, I do, I
am thinking about like how it's going to go over
live or what. But you know, we have you know,
it's a six man band. We have you know, everyone
has different approaches. We've recorded all our all our albums
in the house since album number two. So yeah, I
(10:05):
mean it's just you know, ever, everyone brings their skill
set and their approach and their ideas, and you know,
we've definitely uh yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
We are a studio band as well. Obviously we have
studio records.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
But you know, me personally, like I pretty much only
think about the live experience. That's that's what that's what, Uh,
that's what gets me out of bed.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Do you get nervous before shows?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
I never did, I mean, And that's that's kind of
the again. That goes back to like I I don't
you know, I love it. I love music, I love
playing shows. I love being in this band. But I
don't like reveer it. I don't like look at it
like this is why I'm on earth. So for me, like,
for me to like play a show, it's it's it's
there's there's never been nerves. It's always been just like
it's gonna be a lot of fun out there for
ninety minutes. And yeah, I I personally if if things
(10:47):
go wrong or if if there's technical problems that I
thrive on that I love, like, you know, uh, getting
to do outside the box things when things are going wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
So you know, to me, there's no such thing as
a bad show. So I don't get nice.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
It's like being in the moment and just seeing what
happens and just it's kind of that improv fly.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah. I mean, it's electric six.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
It doesn't matter like we're We're probably the seven thousand's
biggest band on the planet right now, so I can
just walk off stage and you know, nobody would care.
I guess.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I guess with the cult success that he had so
early on, do you reckon that that it's more sustainable
than that's kind of ongoing mainstream success that other bands
experience because you had cult success and you've been able
to use that to your advantage going forward.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I think, well, you know, our radio hits were on
the first album, so we're going into the second album
that was you know, there was pressure being put on,
but like you know, I either kind of denied it
personally or didn't feel it. And that's the only time
we've ever been like, hey, you need to write another
gay bar or you have to have another hit, and
then after that it's just kind of we just we
(11:55):
just tour it a lot, and then you know, kind
of like became a cult following and a fan base.
And you know, people just into album three, into album four,
into album five. They're not on the radio. You buy
them at the shows. You know, we sell thousands of copies,
not millions. And and you know, fortunately our record company, Metropolis,
like they were hands off. They never like, they never
said it needs to sound like this. We would just
(12:17):
turn in fourteen songs, that's the album, and they'd put
it out. And so it's a cool position to be in.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
That's red well. I can't like to experience Electric six live.
When you guys get here, are you feeling like that
distance for you to travel to get here? It feels
more like a huge event tour because you're having to
come this far.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
I love It's the kind of the weirdest, like when
you're leaving for Australia or New Zealand and you're sitting
in California or whatever and you know you're gonna be
on the plane for fifteen hours and the door shuts.
There's no feeling like that. It's just like, okay, I'm fucked.
I'm on this thing for there's nothing I can do
about it. I got to sit here for fifteen hours,
make the best of it. Yeah, so yeah, it's it's
(12:57):
kind of cool. I like that feeling.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, absolutely. Is there anything about New Zealand you're really
looking forward to seeing again or experiencing again once you land?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I mean we were all only three days there. I
mean I love Wellington.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I really just love walking around town and like walking
through the park and everything. So the fact that we
have two nights there so after the day after the
first show, I'll have all day to just walk around
and take it in. So yeah, that's I'm looking forward
to that awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well, really looking forward to seeing you when you play
at Turning Fork here in Auckland. Thanks for your time, Yeah, thank.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
You so much.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Thanks for having me Radio hold Aches off the Record podcast.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Why not subscribe so they download automatically and don't forget
to rate us five stars?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Thanks mate. Find out more about this.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Podcast and the people who make it at hodache dot
co dot nz.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It
Welcome record, so Radio Hotchy's Off the Record podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
That's the record with Big Sandys.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
You're coming back to New Zealand for your upcoming tour.
How does New Zealand sit on the Elite tric six
touring map.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It's it's uh, it's at the edge of the earth.
For us, it's it's so exotic.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
It feels you know, I know, you speak the same
language and a lot of the same matterisms and customs
and food, but it's still very exotic and and you
know for us as Americans, you know that when I
was growing up, everyone's like, fuck.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
This, I'm moving to New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
It was that it was the destination du sure of,
like you know, Americans like, you know, fed up with
living in Americas. I'm gonna move into New Zealand someday
and like, oh no, you're not and be like, oh
watch me, and then like one person actually does and uh,
and then that person wants guest list now. So you know,
for for us, it's it's exciting. And now we're doing
two Wellington's. I love that venue so much. I feel
(00:57):
i feel like I'm doing something with my life. And
I played the San France so it's just very exciting.
Tuning fork also very exciting. Yeah, great, great, What a
great green room, What an incredible green room. Now, I mean,
you know, I know you're there to see me on stage,
but I really just am so comfortable in.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
That green room.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
When you play the tuning fork, You're just like, if
I've only done this, or if I'd only been nicer
to that person back then, maybe maybe things would have
gone differently. And I you know, I don't only have
to play five shows a year instead of five hundred.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Well, yeah, because how many shows do you guys do
a year?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
You know, since we all started having kids, we've scaled
it back a bit. But you know, the sad truth
is I could be on stage every night. Yeah, you know, yeah,
we like back back in the you know, two thousand
and three, two thousand and four, those years we had
probably two hundred fifty shows each year, and then you
know these these days, I'd say it's a little less
(01:50):
than one hundred.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Yeah that's still. I mean I remember two thousand and
three and I first heard high voltage and I was like, WHOA,
what is the.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So I remember that I have the same memory of
that year, and yeah, it was we we literally.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
Went from zero to to being kind of everywhere, and
it was it was interesting, you know, it was definitely
definitely a unique moment. And then we learned to kind
of after that, you know, once uh once our reality
check has been a beautiful reality check. We just kind
of became a band with a with a fan base
and we just go out there and tour it and
(02:27):
and you know, it's still still still a great position
to be in. You just don't have to do as
much television, which is you know, I missed doing television,
but I also don't.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
It's kind of like the scene has changed a lot.
Like TV isn't what TV was, and you know, we
would tune in to television to watch the music shows. Now,
with TikTok and social media, I feel like a lot
of that has watered down the effect of television.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Yeah, and as you know, TikTok and all that you have,
you have to actually think, you have to be creative.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
You have to like put yourself out there.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
When I was doing television, you just you can roll in,
you can be on like kayludes, and you know you're
very passive. You know, you just do what the people
in the television tell you to do so if you know,
there's a lot of pressure doing your own TikTok, your
own real because like you have to like create the content.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
You know, you roll into TV.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
You can be drunk, you can be high, and they
just ask you a few questions and then you're broadcast
a million millions of people.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
It's a it's a it's a much easier situation.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, well, I mean those early days in Detroit. So
you was it ninety six that you guys first got
together making music? How was that? Can you walk me through.
We'll give me a quick sort of description of what
it was like then leading up into the kind of
MTV explosion that happened for you.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Oh sure, well, I mean, yeah, we were a local
band in Detroit for a good five six years. The
thing about Detroit, I believe still now, but especially in
the in the nineties, the local scene was just it
was just so.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Supportive.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
You know, we'd play local shows and there'd be two
hundred people there and you know a lot of them
would be in other bands, and like we'd go see
those bands. And once we started touring, we realized many
many places are not like that. I think we kind
of thought that, you know, every city was like that,
but Detroit was just the music was so important, and
so that allowed us to be a local band and
and and get something out of it, uh, you know
(04:22):
in those early years, and so it was it was
a lot of fun, you know. But obviously touring is
a different animal. You have to have a different kind
of mindset and outlook, and yeah, it's it is definitely different.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
So when you were and that lead up to MTV,
did you have any idea that you would get this.
I mean, you can hope that you would get that big,
but you were just like you say, you were touring,
you were doing your local gigs. How did the MTV
thing come about? Did you get signed?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah, we got We got signed to XL Recordings and
kind of on the back of the whole white stripes,
you know, blowing up. You know, we were in the
same same scene, same time as them, and you know
we had some demo deals and sniffs from American record
labels in the six years prior to that. And what
we learned was when when you actually get signed, when
(05:08):
it actually happens, it happens really quickly. You know, those
other kind of mysfires we'd be calling them up like, hey,
how's it going.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Like, oh, we're still looking at you guys, you know,
and you realize that, like they have no intention of
signing you, but they you know, they also don't want to, like,
you know, in case maybe you have a hit down
the road, they want to, Hey, remember us, that kind
of thing. But when you get signed, it's like it
within five minutes of making contact.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
And so that's that's kind of what we learned. And uh, yeah,
I think the.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Whole time, in those early years, I think we knew
we were a good band. We knew we had a
you know, as good good an opportunity as anybody to
to make it. But you know, also it didn't Detroit
at that time. It didn't it didn't even seem possible,
Like it just didn't seem like a place where anyone
was interested in seeing music coming out of there, or
that anyone was even paying attention.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
But yeah, you got the attention of everyone. So you've
had is it fifteen studio albums?
Speaker 3 (06:00):
I mean I really should I should get the exact number.
I mean it's around there. Yeah, and yeah, we've And
that's another thing is you know, a lot of us
have you know, had kids in the last decade or so,
and we were we'd put out an album a year
for like twelve years, and then COVID happened and we
kind of like looked and we're like, hey, we don't
need to do this anymore. We have tenure, like we've
(06:22):
we've already kind of proved our point. So we are
working on a new.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Album, but like the the the.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Impetus to make it, do it, you know, finish it
this year is just it's just gone, like we'd rather
spend time with our families and the album will come
out when it comes out.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, I mean that's the beauty of it. When you've
got more of that control, Like you say, you've got
a huge catalog of music behind you, there's no urgency
to get this one.
Speaker 3 (06:46):
Absolutely, Like we we go on tour now and we're
like we go like to the back catalog and like, wow,
we've never played this song before, like track number eleven
off of album number four, Like we you know, so
we're doing a better job of like you know, in
addition obviously playing gay Bar and Danger every night, like
you know, dusting off like you know, face cuts off
a flashy or something like that. Yeah, you know, just
like playing songs we never even played.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Back in the day.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
And yeah, when you have a catalog of one hundred
and fifty songs, it's it's a lot of fun because
you can just you pick and choose, and you know,
do a song you've never done before, and it kind
of keeps it fresh even.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Though you're playing it like a zombie song.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
So that's thirteen fifteen years old, but it's new to
you because you've never played it before that.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So that's fun.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Because I would describe your music sort of disco groos
with that sort of garage rock and a little bit
of setire mixed in there. So was it always the
sort of blueprint with where you were coming from when
you started doing your music.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Yeah, totally.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I mean I I just wanted to be a fun band.
I didn't want to be boring.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I didn't you know.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
We take elements of it seriously, and you know, I
want to be a good band and put on a
good show. But for me, it was always escapism from
like having a shitty day job, and so I just
you know, wanted the band to be fun at the
end of the day and yeah, I think that, you know,
it actually bodes well for us because I've learned that
still so many people start bands and they're very very
serious and they want it to be like you know,
(08:07):
they take they take it all way too seriously, at.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Least from from my perspective, and so.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
We kind of have the our own little like niche
of people who identify with us, because there's so few
bands that take our approach. It's actually now when you're
in Electric six, it's actually nice because nobody is trying
to be Electric six.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah. Well, I mean Electric six have definitely made their
imprint here in New Zealand. But as we're talking about it,
it's like your songs kind of walk that line between
sort of comedy. I guess it's like sincerity almost. Are
you ever surprised at you know, you put like you're
putting a song out there, how fans react to it, because,
(08:46):
like you say, you're just having fun. People kind of
take on a song in their own they add all
their own feelings and connections to it. I guess. So
when you see a song blow up, did you ever
think gay Bar was going to be a song that
would go huge?
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Yeah? No, I mean not really.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
I mean, we knew it was one of our stronger songs,
but you know, when it was written, it was you know,
at no point was I like, oh, this is going
to be like a big hit that's going to last,
you know, it's going to book us in clubs all
around the world for twenty five years. That was not
That was definitely not on my mind. And all we
had to extend it when we when we recorded it,
I mean, it was like a minute and a half long,
so it was just like this little almost like interlude
(09:24):
that we'd play every night, you know. And so yeah, no,
the short answer is no.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
And when you write your music, are you writing your
music more for a live audience or are you writing
your music for those listening to it with headphones on
or both.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
I'm not much of an auto audiophile. I don't really
collect records or listen to music so much. So I
do I kind of live for the live experience. So
I guess if I write a song, I do, I
am thinking about like how it's going to go over
live or what. But you know, we have you know,
it's a six man band. We have you know, everyone
has different approaches. We've recorded all our all our albums
in the house since album number two. So yeah, I
(10:05):
mean it's just you know, ever, everyone brings their skill
set and their approach and their ideas, and you know,
we've definitely uh yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
We are a studio band as well. Obviously we have
studio records.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
But you know, me personally, like I pretty much only
think about the live experience. That's that's what that's what, Uh,
that's what gets me out of bed.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Do you get nervous before shows?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
I never did, I mean, And that's that's kind of
the again. That goes back to like I I don't
you know, I love it. I love music, I love
playing shows. I love being in this band. But I
don't like reveer it. I don't like look at it
like this is why I'm on earth. So for me, like,
for me to like play a show, it's it's it's
there's there's never been nerves. It's always been just like
it's gonna be a lot of fun out there for
ninety minutes. And yeah, I I personally if if things
(10:47):
go wrong or if if there's technical problems that I
thrive on that I love, like, you know, uh, getting
to do outside the box things when things are going wrong.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
So you know, to me, there's no such thing as
a bad show. So I don't get nice.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
It's like being in the moment and just seeing what
happens and just it's kind of that improv fly.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah. I mean, it's electric six.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
It doesn't matter like we're We're probably the seven thousand's
biggest band on the planet right now, so I can
just walk off stage and you know, nobody would care.
I guess.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
I guess with the cult success that he had so
early on, do you reckon that that it's more sustainable
than that's kind of ongoing mainstream success that other bands
experience because you had cult success and you've been able
to use that to your advantage going forward.
Speaker 3 (11:35):
I think, well, you know, our radio hits were on
the first album, so we're going into the second album
that was you know, there was pressure being put on,
but like you know, I either kind of denied it
personally or didn't feel it. And that's the only time
we've ever been like, hey, you need to write another
gay bar or you have to have another hit, and
then after that it's just kind of we just we
(11:55):
just tour it a lot, and then you know, kind
of like became a cult following and a fan base.
And you know, people just into album three, into album four,
into album five. They're not on the radio. You buy
them at the shows. You know, we sell thousands of copies,
not millions. And and you know, fortunately our record company, Metropolis,
like they were hands off. They never like, they never
said it needs to sound like this. We would just
(12:17):
turn in fourteen songs, that's the album, and they'd put
it out. And so it's a cool position to be in.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
That's red well. I can't like to experience Electric six live.
When you guys get here, are you feeling like that
distance for you to travel to get here? It feels
more like a huge event tour because you're having to
come this far.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I love it.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
I love It's the kind of the weirdest, like when
you're leaving for Australia or New Zealand and you're sitting
in California or whatever and you know you're gonna be
on the plane for fifteen hours and the door shuts.
There's no feeling like that. It's just like, okay, I'm fucked.
I'm on this thing for there's nothing I can do
about it. I got to sit here for fifteen hours,
make the best of it. Yeah, so yeah, it's it's
(12:57):
kind of cool. I like that feeling.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Yeah, absolutely. Is there anything about New Zealand you're really
looking forward to seeing again or experiencing again once you land?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
I mean we were all only three days there. I
mean I love Wellington.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
I really just love walking around town and like walking
through the park and everything. So the fact that we
have two nights there so after the day after the
first show, I'll have all day to just walk around
and take it in. So yeah, that's I'm looking forward
to that awesome.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Well, really looking forward to seeing you when you play
at Turning Fork here in Auckland. Thanks for your time, Yeah, thank.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
You so much.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Thanks for having me Radio hold Aches off the Record podcast.
Speaker 1 (13:37):
Why not subscribe so they download automatically and don't forget
to rate us five stars?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Thanks mate. Find out more about this.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Podcast and the people who make it at hodache dot
co dot nz.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
It
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