Etch Magazine, August 1997
Live review - Mac's Bar Lansing, MI April 4, 2025

Gadzooks! This was the big event I had been waiting for! Two great bands celebrating their new releases on independent labels. Unfortunately Motor City Guitar-rock brat pack ELECTRIC SIX crashed the party and stole the show right out from under them! I liked the The Six; it was a great film. As for the band--no thank you! Bobby DeNiro's kids played all them tricky notes with all the arrogance and attitude that made every great "too cool to be true" band (like the Stones) what they are today. Everybody said the sounded a lot like Captain Beefheart, but to me they sounded more Captain & Tennille doing Beefheart covers. Their rendition of the Verve Pipe's "Freshmen" really hit home though! Why didn't these guys headline the show? I didn't have any interest in them or seeing their singer half-naked and singing about the "gay bar." I paid a lousy three bucks to get in and it wasn't to see the The Six! It was THE HENTCHMEN that I was there to see, and it seemed like I was the only one who was diggin' them at all. I'm not one of those "lo-fi" types either, I just love the sounds that The Hentchmen's Johnny could make with that authentic compact Farfisa! Amazing stuff! Lo-fi? Hi-fi? Who cares? As long as it isn't under or overproduced crap! The Hentchmen played another incredible set of raw garage rock, which included "So Many Girls," "Hot Rod Millie," and "Cindy B.," to a crowd that would've rather seen the The Six do an hour-long encore. Oh, well -- at least they got some retarded Boy Scout to do a monkey dance, and prompted an obnoxious drunken biker to request "Secret Agent Man." Who knows? Maybe that song would've gotten things moving.