SIX60 Tickets

SIX60 have released their new single ‘Before You Leave’, out now. The single is the band’s first new music for 2022 and is taken from the forthcoming album Castle St, due out 7 October.

The New Zealand band made headlines across the world last year for their exceptional sold-out stadium shows during a time when the rest of the world was under lockdown. With a back-to-basics sound and approach, new single ‘Before You Leave’ sees the Kiwi 5-piece in a renewed and refreshed place - with lead singer Matiu Walter’s vocals addressing the new state the world finds itself in, as well as his fresh perspective as a new father. He says: “A lot has changed since our last album. There have been highs and lows: our hugely successful tour was a special moment for us last year, but the pandemic obviously brought the world to its knees. My biggest change though was becoming a father - you always hear when you have kids that your life will change forever and you really can't understand it until it happens. One day you think you have the world figured out and then the next you realise how little you actually know. I felt the overwhelming urge to pass wisdom on and what knowledge and experience I have acquired onto my newborn daughter. She's still a bit young to have a conversation, so with the help of the boys we tried to put it all into this new single.”

The new single, out now via Virgin Music, was written and recorded by the band in their studio in Dunedin, New Zealand. At last able to spend time in the same room together after a long and strict national lockdown, the five musicians relished the opportunity to be reunited again and opted to make their new album live, in-person, in the studio together - performing all instruments and vocals themselves - hailing back to their formative years as a college house party band. Indeed, the forthcoming album Castle St, due out 7 October, hails back to the band’s early days: the album title and cover artwork both refer to the place where the band first met, formed and performed. The album will feature 10 brand new tracks including new single ‘Before You Leave’.

Of the new album, Matiu says: “We are very excited to share the new music, give over the single and get everyone ready for a new album. Our music never really feels finished until it's been experienced by our fans. Some of the early feedback we have gotten is about how live the new music sounds. That's really a product of how we made it. The lockdown that canceled the last tour really forced us to spend significant time away from each other for the first time in a long time, so when we finally got back together it almost felt like being a new band again and we wanted to showcase each individual and what it means to be a band. This isn't the kind of music you can make by yourself in your bedroom. It won't just be our instruments you hear on the upcoming music, but all our vocal harmonies and BVs were done by the band as a whole. It really lets you feel the breadth and spirit of SIX60. An album that really takes a lot of love and trust by the people involved and adding our fans into that circle is a really exciting next chapter.”

Though the most commercially successful and award-winning band in New Zealand’s history, SIX60 gained worldwide recognition last year when they performed a sold-out tour across their home country, while the rest of the world isolated. This captured the world’s attention, as images and footage of their joyous, celebratory performances in New Zealand highlighted just how much the world missed live music performances.

SIX60 were covered by the world’s media at the time, as the band were featured on TV, radio and press across the globe. BBC News highlighted that the shows are “just unimaginable right now - the rock band SIX60 are out every weekend playing to thousands of fans” in their extended segment on the band back in January 2021, ITV’s Good Morning Britain also featured the band, with then-presenter Piers Morgan citing them as “the hottest band in the world right now”. NME featured the band, interviewing Matiu for a feature that noted that the band are “currently the planet’s biggest touring band”, and CLASH Magazine reviewed the show - the only live music review on the planet at the time: “SIX60 are riding high and don’t look like they’ll be stopping any time soon”. In a lead interview in The Telegraph newspaper, the band’s show at Auckland’s Eden Park stadium was named ”the biggest gig since Covid began”. The show was the most-shared entertainment story in the world that week - despite taking place the same weekend as The Oscars.

Formed in 2008 and named after the student house they met in, SIX60 are a multi-award-winning, platinum-selling five-piece pop/rock band from Dunedin, New Zealand. They have released four number one albums, and a string of top ten singles including mega-hit ‘Don’tForget Your Roots’ and live fan favourite ‘Sundown’. Their sound melds roots, reggae, rock, pop, soul and dance - a mix of the band’s five members’ disparate influences.