SIX60 Interview

SIX60 Interview

Since their last sold out Australian tour in April, Six60 have not slowed down, living up to their reputation of being one of today's hardest working bands.

The band completed their first European tour selling out three London shows playing to over 3,000 people, and performing for the first time in Germany, France, Holland and Czech Republic.

Their platinum single 'Forever' was featured on an Indie 500 story in the USA that screened on ESPN and ABC, is being played on over 130 College Radio Stations in America and has made the Top 20 shortlist for the 2012 APRA Silver Scroll awards.

The Six60 September Australian tour sees the band taking their dynamic and energetic live show to much bigger venues where they will be treating fans to a brand new show.

Tour Dates
Wednesday 12th September 2012: ANU Bar, Canberra, ACT
Thursday 13th September 2012: Tivoli, Brisbane, QLD
Friday 14th of September 2012: Enmore, Sydney, NSW
Saturday 15th of September 2012: Uni Bar, Adelaide, SA
Friday 28th of September 2012: Forum, Melbourne, VIC
Saturday 29th of September 2012: Metro City, Perth, WA
Tickets from www.ticketek.com.au, www.moshtix.com.au and www.oztix.com.au

Interview with Mattiu

Question: What are you looking forward to most about returning to Australia?

Mattiu: We're looking forward to performing on our forth headlining tour which will be the biggest one, to date. We will have a chance to meet the fan base, play at bigger venues and bring a new show. I love touring and every time I've been to Australia it's been a ball.


Question: What was it like working with Paul Mac?

Mattiu: It was amazing! We worked from a distance using Skype and it was cool to have someone like Paul Mac, with his reputation, experience and expectation use that to work on one of our songs; it was incredible.


Question: What should audiences expect from your upcoming show?

Mattiu: I hope we have lots of people at the shows that can experience our new show that is a lot more polished, very energetic and lots of fun. We'll be trying out new things in preparation for the new album.


Question: Where does your inspiration come from when writing tracks?

Mattiu: We're always listening to music and enjoy current music as well as being massive fans of older music but we pride ourselves on not confiding ourselves to a genre. When we write songs we leave it open because we don't like songs feeling forced. We come up with concepts and ideas and then we ponder and jam and whatever happens naturally is the best thing.


Question: What music/artists do you listen to when you are not playing your own?

Mattiu: I listen to a lot of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Lauryn Hill and at the moment I am listening to a lot of Florence and the Machine.


Question: What's next after this tour?

Mattiu: We will be finished in Australia at the end of September and I might be able to go to the Grand Final (laughs) but after that on the 1st of October we are heading to the States for a three week tour of the States and Canada.


Question: Was there a moment you contemplated throwing in the towel?

Mattiu: No, I don't think so. I've maybe been fed up but I never have considered stopping or not being involved in music.


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Mattiu: I really like performing live - I love entertaining and being on stage in front of a crowd, that's my love and that's what we love. It's not just live though, you've got to get into the studio and write songs and all that jazz! In saying that we're relatively new to the studio as we've only had one studio album, it's still something we're getting used to.


Question: What/who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?

Mattiu: That's hard to answer because we all met at University where we played guitar and I was a shower singer but I never felt like a musician or consider it to be a career option. Meeting the right people, with a bit of luck and a lot of hard work music eventually presented itself as an option. I've always loved music, for as long as I can remember.


Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

Mattiu: The biggest challenge was not doing too much because obviously we got busier and busier and you can get so busy that it's detrimental to the way you progress. I found it very difficult but also very beneficial that we took the time to chill out and have a break whilst not doing particular things. As an artist it is really hard because you just want to keep going and play every show.


Question: What's a typical day like?

Mattiu: We get up pretty early and have a couple of meetings every day and then we are working on new material as we are at the beginning stages of our new album which is a tedious process that has to be done!


Question: What has been your favourite part of becoming a music artist?

Mattiu: Performing live! You have these moments sometimes where everything fits and you feel like you belong whether that's on the stage or in the studio.


Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Mattiu: I can imagine doing a duet with Lauryn Hill or Mick Jagger that would be awesome - you've got to aim high!


Interview by Brooke Hunter