BREAD STAINS IN THE FLUID: A SIX CLIPS CAREER RETROSPECTIVE
(This photo is on hand-ripped photo paper that was included under the tray card of the Roughs CD, which I still have! Credit: Jon Copeland.)
I am proud of my status as the world’s foremost Six Clips expert! Saying you’re an expert on the career of an unsigned, mostly unknown band from a decade ago is about as useless an exercise of self-aggrandizing as being the mayor of your city block, but IDGAF; Six Clips ruled! Yup, I was one of the dudes who stood up front at their shows and actually nailed the fist-pumps in the chorus of “Phoebe” on the off-beats, a distinction that only fellow hardcore Six Clips fans and the band members themselves will appreciate.
As a newly minted Ann Arbor college transplant in the early ’00s on a mission to infiltrate the city’s heavy music scene, I idolized Six Clips as soon as I discovered them, opening for Guster (lol) at a University-sanctioned event. From that moment on I ate up everything they did; as an impressionable yungin’ with hard rock aspirations of my own, Six Clips seemed larger than life to me. Later on, of course, I learned they were just normal dudez struggling to making it. I have no idea what I’d think of them if I was just discovering them now, but going back and listening to their catalogue — and I’m pretty sure I have everything the band ever recorded — this shit still holds up. Six Clips are the best band you’ve never heard of, the best band that could’ve and should’ve become huge.
Let’s explore Six Clips’ full discography, with audio, naturally.
Brothers Drew and Chris Peters were the backbone of Six Clips, with Mark Dundon on bass and Dan Carroll on drums, both holdovers from their previous Sony Music-signed band Getaway Cruiser. I wasn’t around for Getaway Cruiser, but if you lived in Michigan in the late ’90s you probably remember them. There’s a nice synopsis of their career (and former former band whirlingRoad) at AllMusic.com, and I was able to dig up one of their songs on YouTube.
Six Clips’ electro-fueled brand of heavy alternative rock wasn’t necessarily original, but where they really excelled was at writing really fucking catchy songs. I always thought their shows were pretty great too; vocalist Drew Peters was captivating, part Layne Staley, part Scott Weiland, part androgynous freak of nature. In hindsight, the electro-alternative movement of which Six Clips were a part had already kind of peaked by the time Six Clips were making their big push, and maybe that’s ultimately part of the reason they never got too far; bands like Stabbing Westward, Gravity Kills, and Filter had already dominated the radio for years, and by the year 2000 public interest was waning. Still, in the context of Detroit’s rich electronic music scene in those late ’90s / early ’00s years, the musical concept of Six Clips did seem genuine and novel, which, ultimately, it was. Good songs always trump musical trends, though, and unfortunately the myriad great songs Six Clips penned were certainly deserving of recognition but never broke through.
Six Clips released two EPs, Roughs and Roughs II. The midi-sequenced blips and bloops that made Roughs so charming were somewhat muted on Roughs II, but what II lacked in electronica it made up for in heavy, radio-ready rock riffs. Six Clips also released a ton of individual songs through MP3.com and their own official website throughout the years… and I have it all! Stream my mix of Six Clips’s career discography in the below player, and, if you so desire, download the entire thing in one handy .zip file. I hope the Peters brothers don’t mind I’m posting all this shit; if the quasi-rebellious “unauthorized copying is encouraged” footnote on Roughs still holds true, they won’t. Since I’m sure they will stumble upon this article eventually… hey guys, will you please tell me what the fuck bread stains are doing in the fluid anyway?
Favorite tracks: “Almost Suicide,” “Asleep in a Crowd,” “Phoebe,” “Stop Today,” “Free to Go,” Caribou”
–>DOWNLOAD SIX CLIPS ENTIRE DISCOGRAPHY<–
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I have no idea what the dudes from Six Clips are up to today. Drew Peters was a co-owner of Ann Arbor’s 40 Oz. Sound recording studio, which as I understand it is now defunct. Guitarist Chris Peters and bassist Mark Dundon did time in Electric Six; I heard Dundon eventually left for law school, but I have no idea where Dan Carroll ended up. This Wikipedia page, last updated in July of this year, purports that that the two Peters brothers currently work together writing and producing songs for the likes of the Black Eyed Peas, Kid Rock and Ted Nugent; glad they’re still making music, even if they’ve left their heavy rock roots behind.
This band was incredibly important to me at one time in my life. I hope some of you reading this enjoy the music even though it strays from the br00tal stuff we usually cover at MS.
-VN
