Detroit’s finest disco-punk misfits Electric Six have dusted off a hidden gem from the vault — a cover of One, Harry Nilsson’s 1968 classic, out now via Metropolis Records. Recorded during the same sessions as their fourth album, ‘I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master’, the track sat unreleased for nearly two decades before finally seeing the light of day.
And yes — it goes through the machine. Frontman Dick Valentine explains it best: “Many years ago, we ran the song through our processor, our updater, our music machine. We then sprinkled the song with some sevendust, and voila!!! You are about to hear a crunchier, angstier version of this sad but catchy pop music classic. Electric Six recorded this at the behest of a video game conglomerate for use in an advertising campaign. This is the convergence in the Electric Six Venn diagram circles of video games, shameless lust for money, and video games. One is the loneliest number indeed….but SIX…is the most electric!”
So yeah — originally a video game ad commission, now a proper single. Very Electric Six. The track joins a legacy of notable One covers including Three Dog Night and John Farnham (both 1969), Filter (1998), and Aimee Mann (1999). The Electric Six version is, predictably, the most unhinged.
The Album It Came From
One is one of five bonus tracks included on the upcoming remastered reissue of ‘I Shall Exterminate Everything Around Me That Restricts Me From Being The Master’ — out May 8th as a 2xLP on translucent ruby red vinyl and digital. It’s the album’s first-ever vinyl release, which honestly feels like it should have happened sooner for a record this unhinged.
When the album first dropped in 2007, Valentine had this to say about it: “Every song in one way or another is the result of excessive access to excess: from the jazzy cabaret-ish album opener ‘It’s Showtime!’, to the radio-ready Coldplayish ‘When I Get To The Green Building’, to the triumphant new wave/stoner rock big bang in the magnificent ‘Dirty Looks’, Electric Six feels that they’ve done a good job at weaving fun, good times and high-octane pleasure into the fabric of this crazy world, damned by its excess.“
The reissue is available now for pre-order on Bandcamp.
They’re Also Touring — A Lot
Because Electric Six are the kind of band that simply does not stop, they’ve got a hefty run of live dates lined up across North America and the UK this spring and summer.
North America: April 29th – May 23rd
UK:
Download Festival – District X — June 11th
UK Tour — June 12th–28th
Formed in Detroit in 1996 and still fronted by the one and only Dick Valentine, Electric Six have spent nearly three decades smashing together garage rock, new wave, punk, disco, and metal with a comedy sledgehammer. If you somehow missed them during the Danger! High Voltage / Gay Bar explosion of 2003, here’s your chance to catch up — and catch them live.
Stream One now: https://ffm.to/e6one
Pre-order the reissue on Bandcamp: here
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