We interview Austin and Brooks of Sixforty1 on the day of the release of their new single ‘Somebody’s Gonna,’ about the new track, their journey to Nashville and their growing fanbase.
How are you guys doing? Happy single release day!
Austin: Thank you, we appreciate that.
How exciting is it? It must be a strange exciting day, because obviously this is not how you usually release music.
Brooks: Yeah normally, we have a little party and we go downtown. Now, obviously we’re staying inside but we’re still getting to interact all the same on Instagram and stuff.
Can you talk a bit about the new single. How long ago did you record it and what was the story behind it?
Austin: So we wrote it with our good buddy Brandon Day a few years ago, so me and Brooks, we moved to Nashville in October of 2017 and we wrote ‘Somebody’s Gonna’ May or June around two years ago. It’s been stuck in our heads ever since and it’s just one of those songs that you roll your windows down and drive too, which we thought was really cool. We were just figuring out the right time to release it, which is always a hard decision to make. We just decided that the first song to kick off 2020, it would be a great time for this song and what’s to come. We’ve got a lot of stuff in the works, so it’s a good kickstart.
You guys met back in Kentucky. So, has it always been country music for you both, or did that only happen when you guys met?
Brooks: I would say that we weren’t writing country music until we met each other. We figured, we both went to this school in Western Kentucky and listened to Pearl Jam and FGL and Jake Owen stuff at the time. It was kind of like, ‘I think we could write this sort of stuff,’ Nashville’s just round the corner. So that’s how that sort of started.
Austin: Brooks had schooled me on some alternative 2000s rock whenever we first met, because I didn’t know half the songs we were trying to cover in our little bar gig that we played in our college town. Brooks would have to teach me the words, because I had no idea.
Brooks: He didn’t know what anything was, like ‘Lovin Is What I Got’
Austin: See, she doesn’t know either! (laughs)
Oh gosh… My excuse is it didn’t make it over to the UK!
Austin: It didn’t cross borders, at least you have an excuse.
I can’t imagine – I might be wrong – that when you first met, you automatically decided to make music together. So, how did it evolve from a first meeting to deciding to become a duo together?
Austin: It was really weird, we met sophomore year at a sorority philanthropy event in our college. It was like a male beauty pageant, as you can see we didn’t win (laughs) but it worked out for us in the long run. We were both playing original music as the talent portion, so we thought yeah we should try to do this and write together some time, not thinking anything of it. Later that year, we met at a fraternity party.
Brooks: It was one of those things, we knew we were in school and going to finish our degrees, so yeah right we’re never going to write together. At this fraternity party, we were completely sober – wink, wink –
Austin: It was a toga party, who’s sober at a toga party.
Brooks: It was 1am and he was like ‘dude, we’ve got to write together.’ I say, ‘yeah definitely.’ Austin said, ‘I’ve got an internship in your hometown this summer, so let’s do it.’ I thought ‘yeah sure, like that’s ever going to happen.’ I don’t know if you texted me saying I’m in Louisville…
Austin: I remember plain as day, it was my first day on the job. I was in my little cubicle at work and I get a text from him saying ‘hey, if you’re not doing anything after work, come to the house and we’ll see what we can do.’ I thought, ‘well I don’t know anybody else here in the city, so I might as well.’ I went over there and it’s kind of been history ever since. We connected right off the bat and kind of hit the ground running.
How long after that did you guys decide to move to Nashville, because obviously everyone says that you have to move to Nashville to make it but it’s a big decision to move there ultimately.
Brooks: It took a while, and honestly we never really thought about what we were doing, it just happened as we went on. It’s kind of like serendipity. We never decided to be a duo, we just did it without saying anything and then we never decided to write music, we just started doing it. We tried our best to get through the horrible college music phase of our life. The music was ok that we released, but it wasn’t on the level that we’re on now in a way. Then, when it came to Nashville, we both had our own plans. I was going to try to go to professional school, and he moved to Knoxville Tennessee to work with Pepsi. So, it was kind of like ‘we think we want to move to Nashville’ and we kind of have this window here, because he could find a job in Nashville and I have some flexibility with my schedule, where I can drive down and move there for a couple of months before anything. Because he found a job, I just thought screw it we’re moving there. He moved down in October and I moved down in December 2017. Then, we got lucky and we released a song and the guy who’s now our manager Aaron…
You guys have all the Aarons on your team…
Austin: I know right.
But also incredible people, did that happen very soon after you moved to Nashville?
Austin: So we moved to town. We released our first single ‘Plain Crazy.’ We just happened to put a sponsored ad on Instagram, it was like a $100 to see what happened. Aaron tells the story all the time, he was literally chilling and scrolling through Instagram and his sound just happened to be on and he heard our ad. He DM’ed us on Instagram, just slid into the DMs and we hit the ground running. Then, we met Aaron Tannenbaum our booking agent through Aaron, probably three or four months after we met Aaron.
Since then, what you guys have done in terms of touring, you have built this incredibly engaged fanbase, which must be very cool?
Brooks: Yeah thank you, it’s definitely cool to see people coming back. We recognise these names, we recognise these faces. They try to come to every show they can and it’s like ‘wow, we’re actually creating a fanbase.’ It’s one of those things, where you don’t want to be crazy or insane about it at the beginning and forcing yourself to believe that you can have fans one day, but then when you do it’s kind of surreal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkMhRx3hP7U
The past few singles, I’ve noticed a shift in your music. They’re bigger tunes, they just seem to be on a different level, have you felt that transition since you’ve been in town , in terms of your songwriting and style?
Brooks: Yeah I’d say that we’ve grown as songwriters and we’re definitely writing with some amazingly talented people, that’s definitely reflected in the songs that we’re putting out right now – a big difference.
You’ve obviously also supported some amazing people – the likes of Michael Ray – do you feel like you’ve brought that into your music as well?
Austin: Yeah I think we’ve definitely brought that aspect of professionalism into our music that we didn’t have before. We kind of put more thought into what we put out now and how we shape the song itself. We definitely put more time into the studio itself than we did. We used to just go in and sing and whatever came out came out, but this time we make sure it’s perfect. Like Brooks said earlier, we do have a following now and it’s great to see. We just want to put the best stuff out for them all the time.
In terms of what’s up next, no one knows at the moment, but are you ready to release new music off the back of this single?
Brooks: We’ve got it ready. We’re waiting for the right time, so to speak. Right now, we’re excited about ‘Somebody’s Gonna,’ we want that to take a ride and see what it does. Hopefully we’ll put out another one soon. Right now, all you can do is put it out there on your social media account, we’re kind of taking that route.
Austin: We’ve done a handful of livestreams, either from our socials or other companies’ social media which is great to expand it somewhat
Final Few
Wine or whiskey?
Austin: Wine for him, whiskey for me.
Favourite song you’ve ever recorded?
Brooks: Mine might be one of the ones we’ve got coming up next, but they’re all our babies. We love them all.
Record you’d bring to a desert island?
Brooks: Montevallo.
Austin: Mine would have to be ‘Me and My Game’ by Rascal Flatts.
What are you listening to on repeat at the moment?
Brooks: Young Once – Sam Hunt.
Austin: I’m listening to a lot of Morgan Wallen right now.
Would you rather give up songwriting or performing?
Austin: I’d rather be performing.
Brooks: I like getting up onstage.
If you had a biopic made about Sixforty1, what would be the opening track?
Brooks: I got it, Kickstart My Heart – start off the movie right.
Austin: Life is a Highway.
Complete the sentence….
Music is…
Austin: Expression for me, it’s the best way for me to get my thoughts and feelings out.
Brooks: Whatever you want it to be.
Country music is…
Austin: Comforting – it’s comfort food.
Brooks: Crazy.
Sixforty 1 are…
Austin: cool guys. (laughs)
