MENU meets: SIX60

When Six60 first formed, the band were determined to do things differently. Wanting to challenge the traditional way of achieving success, the band embraced the internet. They invested in their website, and initially only released their music for free download via the site . By focusing on social networking they have grown their Facebook following to over 65,000 fans (without having released an album) and when they recorded their 7 track EP, it has been only sold exclusively from their six60.co.nz site and from this they have compiled a database made up of thousands of fans from around the world.
Last year Six60 released their very first single ‘Rise Up 2.0’ and promoted it exclusively via their Facebook fans. It debuted at No 5 with no radio play, just fan sales. After five months the song became an unexpected and unplanned hit - it went to number ONE and sold platinum.
Menu Magazine was lucky enough to catch up Marlon Gerbes (Keyboard / Samples) to discuss the forthcoming album, touring and more..

MENU: What's been keeping you all busy, the album must be due soon?

SIX60: We are really busy putting together our first album. We went into the studio July 1st for just over 2 weeks at The Lab in Mount Eden to track 15 songs. The mixing is scheduled to be finished mid-September and release is October 10th. We’ve primarily been caught up sorting through the mixes and all the other album stuff like artwork, distribution etc. We are quite involved in all aspects which is really important to us!

MENU: A lot of our readers love dubstep and drum and bass infused rock - put their minds at rest, there will be plenty of new party rockers on the album right?

SIX60: We are just like the readers and our minds are at rest. Haha!

MENU: Who, or what would you guys say are your biggest influences? Any particular artists or genres that you all share a passion for?

SIX60: Individually we are influenced quite differently but as a whole our passion lies really close to what we do live - bass heavy slammers, to mellow melodic sing alongs. It’s hard to pinpoint particular genres/artists but we all know when something sounds good no matter what tempo or sounds we are using. This album really reflects those somewhat extremes.

MENU: Now from experience we've found that often recording sessions for days on end can generally lead to some pretty funny adventures and/or mischief - any juicy stories to share?

SIX60: We are a really mellow bunch and basically didn’t get up to any mischief or adventures at all! I don’t know time just flew in the studio. We were quite nervous and determined to lock in our focus that things were totally tamed. Only juice lies in the banter we had…that’s something we are quite known for. It was entertaining informing the studio engineers to the meaning of ‘docking’ and ‘shucking’.

MENU: Last years tours were sell out successes, you even made it across to Australia. How were you guys received there?

SIX60: We were expecting Oz to be about a year behind in terms of our impact and it was probably a bit better than we expected. About a year ago we would play 300-400 capacity shows in NZ and sell out, but in Oz we were nearly selling out 500-800 capacity venues.

MENU: What's the plan for the forthcoming tour?

SIX60: Next bunch of shows are for the album release. Going to Wellington, Invercargill and Dunedin in early October, then Auckland in November. Later we will do the other cities. We have taken on this new strategy of doing shows. Rather than doing every city in 2 weeks we spread a tour over 6 months in little spurts. It really works well with our fans and also helps keep us motivated and on our toes. Personally my favorite is Dunedin. Being the place where it all began it’s always a special show and everyone get’s on that vibe. Def a patriotic bunch down there and we really feed off that.

MENU: And lastly a question we hardly ever get to ask (because it doesn't really apply to DJs), can you guys recall what moment in time you realised things were going be big?

SIX60: La De Da 2010/2011 and just that bit more, Homegrown 2011. La De Da put 10,000 people in front of us, we were nervous and we had to really step up. We nailed it but wasn’t quite where we wanted to be as a band. Homegrown though, we were more ready. Nearly the same amount of people but this time shit was next level. Not only was it epic but we all had a shitload of fun on stage. Just insane!

Six60’s new album is due out on October 10th, make sure you keep an eye on www.six60.co.nz for tour dates, or you can catch them when they return to La De Da this New Years Eve, or at the Neon Break Festival on October 8th if you’re under 18!