NZMM Day 8 – Six60

Six60 is a New Zealand band originally formed in 2008 in Dunedin by university students Eli Paewai, Chris Mac, Ji Fraser, Marlon Gerbes and Matiu Walters. Their debut album, Six60, was released in 2011, and they’ve been touring the world on the strength of that album ever since.

The video above was their second single (and the first I was aware of), “Don’t Forget Your Roots”. It reached Number Two and went triple platinum. At the 2012 New Zealand Music Awards, the song won Single of the Year, Highest Selling New Zealand Single and Radio Airplay Record of the Year awards. The band also won Best Group and Peoples' Choice Award, and the album won Highest Selling New Zealand Album (the album was Number One and went triple Platinum). That’s a lot of success.

Their first single, released in 2010, was “Rise Up 2.0” (video below). It went to Number One and was two times platinum. In 2011, the song was nominated for two New Zealand Music Awards, but didn’t win.

I prefer “Don’t Forget Your Roots”, but I don’t dislike any of their stuff so far. Although they’ve put out a couple EPs since their debut album, they haven’t released a new full-length album, so I’d say they’re pretty overdue. In the meantime, these songs are still played on the radio in NZ. That’s a good thing, as far as I’m concerned.