We got to sit down and chat with the super talented duo, Sixforty1, about their musical backgrounds, touring essentials, whom they dream to work with and getting to tour with some pretty big names in country music! Read more below:
TV: Tell us about your musical backgrounds, did you always want a career in music or was it something you discovered later in life?
Sixforty1: Austin- Music has always played a huge role in me growing up. My first taste of performing came when I participated in my hometown church’s Christmas plays when I was in middle school. I may be bias, but I think I was the best wise man they’ve ever seen. As I got older I was in choir and the drama class but didn’t really see a music career in my future until college came and I started writing songs in my dorm room. Then once Brooks and I met sophomore year, it was off to the races.
TV: Can you share a little about how this duo came to be and the story behind the name “SixForty1”?
Sixforty1: It all started from a philanthropy event at Murray State University in Murray, KY. We were both nominated by our fraternities to participate in “Mr. MSU” our sophomore year and at that point, neither of us had done anything music related on campus or even knew each other so it was a big deal. Fast forward to the final dress rehearsal before the competition. Brook’s walks in as I’m playing through a couple songs I’m going back and forth with and asks what I’m thinking about playing and I tell him I might play an original and he goes “no way I’m thinking about playing an original too”. We formed a bond over music from that point and planned to write together but that didn’t happen until I had an internship in Brook’s hometown of Louisville, KY that following summer. He texted me my first day on the job and said to come over after work to write so I did and we clicked instantly. Our entire junior year we spent doing open mic nights together up and down highway 641 but still no name yet. It was actually one of Brook’s cousins that gave us the idea to call ourselves SixForty1. Well, actually it was originally “The 641 Band” but we decided to shorten it and spice it up a little.
TV: What’s the inspiration behind your latest EP Started Right Here? What artists did you pull influence from?
Sixforty1: We wanted to dive deeper with our storytelling for this project and we feel like we did that. We pulled from both of our past relationship experiences and molded them together to create this EP which was a fun challenge for us. We both attribute a lot of our early country influences to FGL, Sam Hunt, and Thomas Rhett so we’ve taken things we love about each of their songwriting styles and add our own SF1 twist to it.
TV: Tell us about the process of writing songs together, what does the creative process typically look like for you? What’s the best part of getting to write together?
Sixforty1: Our writing process differs a little every day depending on who we’re writing with, and how we’re feeling. Here recently we enjoy building an instrumental track out to write over. This allows us to focus on finding the best melodies without having to focus on the instrumentation as much while writing which gives more creative freedom. But we still like to sit down the old fashioned way with a just a couple guitars and a song title every now and then and write that way. It’s good to switch it up so you don’t get used to a certain way to do it. After being together for going on 8 years now, we still figure out a little more about each other every time we write a song and we think that’s the best part about writing together.
TV: SixForty1 has gotten to tour with some huge names, Brantley Gilbert, Eli Young Band, Michael Ray, Walker Hayes and more. Can you share a couple highlights from those experiences?
Sixforty1: It’s safe to say that our favorite memory from touring so far was playing our first ever arena show with Brantley back in 2019 in Atlantic City, NJ. We had just moved to Nashville in December of 2017 and didn’t release a song until April of the next year so in reality, that’s not a long time to go from not having a clue what to do to get noticed in a town where the person next to you walking down the street is probably trying to do the same thing, to playing in an arena for thousands of people. It’s pretty surreal when we look back to that moment. Playing with Eli Young Band was also an awesome experience because it was our first time having fans pack a lobby after a show to meet us. That was in Chattanooga, TN and we remember living each other that look like “We’re doing the dang thing now”. We can’t wait to have more memories like these!
TV: What 5 items can you always find on the SixForty1 tour bus?
Sixforty1:
1. Sour Strips
2. Always 10-15 iphone chargers
3. Have to have a pillow
4. At least one gallon jug of water
5. Tylenol
TV: Do you have any pre-show rituals or backstage must-haves when you’re performing?
Sixforty1: Our pre-show ritual is to get the band/crew together and say a little prayer. Then we take a shot before hitting the stage. Nothing too crazy but it gets the job done.
TV: Who are some of your dream artists to collaborate with?
Sixforty1: We would love to collaborate with a few artists, but dream collabs would have to be Ed Sheeran, Post Malone, Machine Gun Kelly or Justin Bieber.
TV: What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced since embarking on this journey together?
Sixforty1: Trying to find a way to be different from everyone else. We want fans to look back on our careers and say “wow they really did something innovative and different.”
TV: What are some goals you have for 2022? Any exciting projects in the works?
Sixforty1: We write down our goals at the beginning of every year. One of our goals was to be the opener on an official tour, and we accomplished that by hitting the road with Tyler Rich earlier this year. Thank you, Tyler! Some other milestones we would like to hit this year are 10 million streams in one year on spotify or across all platforms, and to have our social media numbers grow. Oh.. and we do have new music in the works!