Hardest working man in Rock and Roll? Dance Commander? Man of irreconcilable paradox? You decide. Dick Valentine, front man of Electric Six (a band SFist knows and loves) took a few minutes to answer our questions in advance of their Saturday performance. If you can’t get enough of Electric 6’s insanely catch dance beats (be singing them for the next 3 months at least), and still aren’t satiated by watching all of their awesome videos here, then make sure to check them out on Saturday at the Independent. Let’s just say you might not hear any Journey covers, but we think you’ll see the true heart of South Detroit.

Best venue in the world?
Glasgow Barrowlands.

Best fans in the world?
The Scottish.

You’ve said that the greatest fans are in Scotland, yet you named your album SWITZERLAND. Please explain.
Doesn’t have anything to do with people who see our band. We wanted to name the album after a place we’d never been.

So have you been yet?
No, not yet. It hasn’t worked out. We’re an American Band we tour America first... maybe in 2007 the Swiss will wake up and smell coffee

Which of your songs is destined to become the next San Francisco theme song?
Boy or Girl

Why?
When you walk through the streets of San Francisco hard time telling who is what. And that’s the way I like it for the record.

How often do you eat at Taco Bell?
NEVER! I had a job in 1990. My job was to go around the country and do lighting maintenance work at Taco Bells, replacing fluorescent lights in Taco bells. On way out they’d say “have a seven layer burrito”. Sooner or later you never want to eat there.

So Fire in the Disco has nothing to do with a fantasy about burning down a Taco Bell?
Really, that is a song about nothing. It has nothing to do with Taco Bell. It is a song about nothing.

What's your favorite song to perform?
Germans in Mexico

Best show you've ever played and what made it great?
Christmas party for the Russian mafia. The tension made it great.

Favorite collaborators?
Quincy Jones. I’ve never collaborated with him, but I marvel at his propensity to collaborate.

Lamest Crowd Request ever
Yelling for Gay Bar after we’ve already played it.

What should fans here expect from your show on Saturday?
They will see a work ethic. This is our job and we treat it as such. We never phone it in.

How will they pick up on the work ethic?
They’ll see it in our eyes. They’ll feel in their soul.

Halloween could be considered the national holiday of San Francisco: any tips for costumes this year?
Flame retardant! Nobody likes to end up on fire, and try to do something really scary.

Like what?
Oh, I haven’t dressed up for years. The last time I dressed up for Halloween I was Christopher Walken. I put some white powder in my hair; I was sort of him in all of his roles.

What question do people never ask you?
Who are you dating?

Well, who are you dating?
My girlfriend

How long have you done that?
Six years.

Does she tour with the band?
We play 200 shows a year, so no. It would be foolish for her to go to that many shows.

Has she been to Switzerland?
I don’t know. Maybe.

Like an advance scout?
Yes, she ferrets things out. She’s little my little ferret.

Where have you played in San Francisco?
Slim’s, The Great American Music Hall, Bottom of the Hill….

Any highlights from those shows?
At GAMH... I ended up talking to some woman. After she went away someone told me she was Peaches [Christ]’s manager. That’s high San Francisco society.

If I could go back to a time in San Francisco it would be the late 70’s and early 80’s. Bands like Journey, the Tubes, Huey Louis and the news, greg kin band... it was just a great time… I’d like to go back there.

What is your favorite Journey song?
“Don’t stop believing”… . born and raised in south Detroit… The funny thing is there is no such place as South Detroit.

Would you ever consider covering it?
Well, so far, there are no Journey songs in our repertoire. We’re lazy people…. with a work ethic... We’re really good at working the same songs over good. When it comes to trying something new we shut down.