Electric Six announce new bass player – Rob Lower

In a past on the band’s Facebook page, the replacement bassist for Keith Thompson has been announced as Mighty Tiny’s Matt Tompkins, AKA Rob Lower. You can see the full quote about the new member – and his photo – below. We’ll confirm more details as soon as we know!

Crazies, since many of you have asked, the next man up for Electric Six in the bass department is this guy, Rob Lower. He’s been a friend of the band for a few years now, played in one of the all-time favorite support acts we’ve ever had….Mighty Tiny from Boston, MA. He’s got what it takes, and most importantly….he make us younger. Much younger. Because of him, our median age is now 24. He looks great in this promo pic….young, arty, driven….give him a few weeks in a wrinkled leisure suit, force him to play Dance Epidemic over and over again every night, and he’ll be a soulless, disheveled sack of potatoes just like the rest of us. We’re looking forward to our time out on the road with Rob Lower this summer and beyond. He’s been on the road with us before and we know he’s got what it takes to get us to the finish line. Come out and see us break him in real good and dirty…..tour starts this Thursday in Cincinnati. You need to be there. Ladies and gentleman…this is Rob Lower, and he’s the next man up!!!!!!!!!

rob-lower

Electric Six Tease Surprise New Project

An interesting piece has appeared today on the Electric Six Facebook page:

One week from today, on June 4, Electric Six will announce its latest project, one which we are confident will be of great interest to many of you. This is something we’ve been kicking around and attempting to realize for quite awhile but we never had the schedule set up the right way for everyone, nor did we find the right partners to make it happen…but now it’s all fallen into place. It combines many of the things you’ve come to know and love about Electric Six...music, story telling, high energy performances and risky behavior. We’re excited to tell you all about it so stay tuned for much, much more on that front very soon.

What it won’t be is this:

– Anything to do with the new, as of now untitled album. The new record is great and we’re on the verge of completing it, but no title as of yet. It’ll be out in October on Metropolis, just as it always is. You can set your clock by Electric Six and its albums. More on that topic in the months ahead.

– Anything to do with the vinyl box set we discussed previously. We’ve gone over and over this in our camp. We’ve spent tons of time talking to third parties and amongst ourselves in an attempt to figure out if we could realize this particular project, only to conclude that we really can’t at this stage. We know there are a good number of you who expressed interest in this and believe us, we appreciate that. However, the scope in all respects (not least of which is the cost involved for Crazies, including shipping and everything else) is simply too great relative to what we anticipate the demand to be, and thus we don’t feel we can go down this road at the moment.

What we hope to do eventually is make available vinyl versions of “Smoke,” “Switzerland,” “Exterminate” and “Kill.” We know there is interest in this and we hope to find a way soon to satisfy that. The “how and when” is an open question at this point but know that we’re thinking about it and we intend on finding a way to make it happen We’ll get there.

Electric Six re-raise the vinyl box set idea

The band have once more asked for thoughts on how much interest there would be for a special edition vinyl box set of album number two onwards. You can see the quote below and click here to see the post and comment.

Crazies…we wish to turn back to a subject first broached late last year, a proposed vinyl box set. We had tremendous response on this page to the idea but now that we have a bit more in the way of tangible information, we want to mention some of the particulars. Some of this has changed a bit since we last spoke on this subject.

We would be offering a 10 album set, running from “Senor Smoke” through to “Mustang.” This would include “Absolute Pleasure” as well as a TBD bonus album (we’re not sure yet what we’ll do with that one but it’ll be something good). It would not include “Human Zoo” because Metropolis is still selling through their copies. Some of these albums would consist of two record sets due to running length. Artwork will be the same as the CD covers for each particular release. The records will be pressed on 150 gram colored vinyl…colors will be varied but each one will be consistent across the set (so, for example, all “Senor Smoke” copies could be royal blue).

The cost of the set will be $250 plus shipping and handling. Now, this is where we need you to really think for a minute. Domestic (US) shipping isn’t any big deal…best as we can tell, it looks like something in the neighborhood of $15 or so. Canada is a little steeper but still double digits in USD costs. Everywhere else is where it gets expensive. While we can’t commit to an exact number because so much of the weight is still in flux (we need to have a specially designed box made to house this set and we don’t yet know exactly how much that will weigh), we have seen enough to believe that international shipments other than Canada will be in the low to mid $100 range It will vary some depending upon destination…Australia is more expensive than the UK, for example), given the weight and dimensions of the package. Assuming we go through with this campaign, you would be given an exact shipping cost to add to your pledge at that time, so there will be specificity but for now, this is a best guess.

So, the bottom line is this isn’t going to be cheap. It won’t be cheap to buy and it won’t be cheap to produce. Our costs and the effort involved is substantial as well, so given that we now know a bit more about what we’d be looking at, we come to you again asking for feedback. Are you interested in something like this, keeping in mind the cost inclusive of shipping and in some instances the potential for customs fees? Again, as in previous campaigns, we are required by law to indicate bona fide value of the contents of a package for customs purposes for international shipments. We’d need to sell a good number of these to make it viable, as you need a certain amount to have economies of scale kick in and get the per unit price to press up a piece of vinyl at a reasonable rate. So, we need to hear from you once again…if we don’t see a good level of interest here, we’ll likely conclude that the concept may just not be viable but please, give us your HONEST feeling as to your interest.

Here Come The Bags to be released in cassette form

Dick Valentine’s third solo album Here Come The Bags! is to be released in cassette format as well as CD and download, thanks to a partnership with Solid 7 records. The cassette will be available at the upcoming UK and Ireland solo dates.

See below for the full quote from his Facebook page.

So this is exciting. For the first time ever? (you tell me…many of you know my catalog better than me) I am releasing music on a cassette! In partnership with Solid 7 Records, “Here Come The Bags!” is being released in cassette format. I shall have cassettes in my bag to sell you at my upcoming UK/Ireland solo acoustic shows. Did you not know that cassettes are trending right now on worldwide instagrabs? ‪#‎tapeworm‬ ‪#‎herecomethebagsasshole‬! Well, they fuckin’ are. And I’m gonna be on the apex of that forefront. Reach into my bag! Get a CD…or a cassette! Or a rabid ferret. Got a couple of those in my bag, just for intrigue and danger…..

Two Demos Available Now on Band Soundcloud

Further to their removal from the Kickstarter Mimicry and Memories release, Electric Six have released instrumental demos of White Eyes and Bleed For The Artist on their Souncloud page.

See the quote below for their Facebook page.

As copies of “Mimicry & Memories” are being received, we’ve had a couple of folks ask us about the absence of two songs which were announced as part of the package, specifically “White Eyes” and “Bleed For The Artist.” These were deleted because they were demos which lacked any vocal and after considering further whether they were worthy of being included, those involved in their creation decided they shouldn’t make the cut after all. While we corrected the track listing on Kickstarter, we apparently forgot to send out an update to that effect, so apologies to anyone who was disturbed by their ommission.

That said, we aim to please. We’re making these two tracks available for free download via the Soundcloud account linked below. So have at them.

Track Listing For ‘Here Come The Bags’ Released

From Dick Valentine’s Facebook page:

When you reach into my bag for a copy of “Here Come The Bags!” next month, you will be reaching for twelve songs. Here are the titles of those songs:

1. Black Sea Brides
2. Saddam Hussein
3. Enough Embarrassment For One Day
4. The Marching Band That Never Goes Away
5. Burkina Faso Lover
6. Black Willow
7. List Of Lovers
8. Stretching Out The Tunes For Mario
9. One Dimensional Steve
10. Japanese Bulls
11. Gila Monsters
12. Dead Carnation

Couple o’ things. Black Willow is a song written and recorded by Mark Mallman. It was meant to be on his album “Double Silhouette”. He did not feel it was right for that album, so he gave the song to me. It was very nice of him to do this for me. So I just replaced his vocals with my vocals. It’s weird to me hearing my voice instead of his…but the rest of you won’t know the difference. So it’s okay.

Also, Stretching Out The Tunes For Mario is a garage band demo of what was meant to be a bigger production….however, at the end, my daughter grabbed my microphone and began singing. That can never be replicated in the studio and I want her to be on my album, so the garage band version is good enough in this case.

I’m very happy with “Here Come The Bags!” April can’t get here soon enough. I look forward to baggin’ with you.

Smorgasbord to Leave Electric Six After Eight Years

A post earlier this morning on the band’s official Facebook page followed a goodbye on Twitter as part of a photo caption, confirming that Electric Six bassist for the past eight years Keith Thompson, better known as Smorgasbord, is to leave the band.

The post, which you can see in full below, included references to songs he’d helped write and also mentions of the man ready to step into his bassist boosts.

Comments about his time in the band are available on Facebook. Here are three:

Keith made Electric Six bigger and brighter than ever, always came across as a very open and sincere person and there’s been countlesstimes I’d seen him go above and beyond for people even if it was just a quiet chat and a friendly word. Just a real earnest person and it shows in his music and his playing. I’ll miss him on and off the stage but I’m happy he’s happy going off and doing more for himself. Thankful for everything he brought for us! Bring on the new bassist.” [Khalil Donaghey]

“Had a great time talking to Smorgasbord in Baltimore on 4/20/10. Really cool dude. Thanks for the tunes and good luck with your future endeavours!” [Kevin Tray]

“Mr. S. Bord, best of luck on all your new endeavors. Thank you for your time served as 1/6 of the hardest rocking band in all of music.” [Steven Krise]

Good luck to Keith for the future and thanks for eight years. (You can also support one of his projects on Kickstarter).

 

It is bittersweet to announce that after 8 years of amazing musicianship, songwriting and road doggin’, we are letting our dear Smorgasbord move on to the next chapter of his life. Life in Electric Six is a form of purgatory….a wonderful purgatory…but a purgatory nonetheless. Smorg wants to spread his wings and fly a little bit….we love him….so we are setting him free. 8 years is an eternity in band years…but it went by way too fast. We’ve known this day was coming for a while, and every one of us did our best to talk him into staying. But again….see the part about loving someone and setting them free.

Smorgasbord was the primary songwriter for tunes such as “Who The Hell Just Call My Phone?” “White Eyes” “After Hours” and “Cheryl vs. Daryl” to name a few. He brought such a unique approach to our unique approach and we’ll always be grateful.

We’ll try to maintain his level of enthusiasm for our maintaining our Instagram account. It will be tough to replicate.

We all wish you nothing but the best, Killer Keith.

The rest of E6 moves on and we have a guy lined up to play some bass. He’s cool…he has fingers….he has ears.

But for now, let’s get into the Smorgasbord groove one more time. Go get your copy of Human Zoo and put Satanic Wheels on repeat tonight. Go ahead and do that now.

Electric Six fansite