Six speaks about an “exciting” song he’s got with Martian and why he never includes punchlines in his storytelling.
Before his sold-out Newcastle show on Saturday the 1st of September, I interviewed Matt Colwell, better known as Melbourne recording artist, 360, or simply Six.
During our discussion, we spoke about his early 2017 collaborations with Daniel Cooper, better known as Martian (formerly Mini Coop). As he sang the praises of the Melbourne MC, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Six spoke about the collaboration they had in the works that had him excited, describing the song’s production as reminiscent of his favourite musician, composer Hans Zimmer:
[Martian’s] a crazy talented dude. Fucking freak show right there. […] Him and I have been working on this song… only in very early stages at the moment, but it’s like he’s very very talented in the sense that he can write these beautiful fucking piano riffs and shit […] he could literally score a movie, like on that Hans Zimmer shit. Really, really good. And I was talking to him and I was like, “If you’ve got anything like that, any musical shit, just send it over, man.” And he sent me that, this one that we’re working on and I was like, “Fuck, man, this is so sick.” It’s something that reminds me of “Tiny Angel,” so I can just go to absolute fucking town and write some just crazy crazy story telling over it. […] Yeah, I’ve got this… this amazing track from him now, that he’s completely produced it, in arranged it into… it sounds like a symphony, it’s crazy. He’s amazing in so many aspects. Like he’s a great rapper, he’s a great producer, he’s also incredibly musically in every aspect. Like guitar and play every instrument in the world kind of thing. He’s just a freak. A jack of all trades, that dude. But he’s so talented in so many ways. So I think he’s more than just a rapper, way, way more. Way more. Like he could write songs for people, he could do musical arrangements for movies, and just do so much shit. He’s just got a real gift for making songs.
Following our Martian centred discussion, I posed some questions raised by Joey Maker, a member of the collective 4Fins, alongside Clue, Johniepee and Martian himself.
Maker was curious about how Six negotiated differences in form and subject in his songwriting, ‘When you’re writing a song like “Child” vs a really punchline driven song, do you find it difficult putting really personal things out there? Also, do you consciously separate the two styles when you’re writing?’
100% yeah. I think having punchlines in deep songs can really take away from the message. And I think there’s a way you can do it, a subtle way you can do it. And I do it in “Tiny Angel” actually. There’s moments where there’s wordplay in there. Like […] it’s a deep, storytelling [song, so] I’m not gonna say, “It’s got me feeling colder than a fucking ___”, [or] some sort of punchline like that. It’s more shit like, “It dawned on me, I can’t wait to see my son rise”. There’s all those little wordplay moments, just small things that I think, they can be added in and they actually still keep the listener captivated. Where I feel like if you drop a punchline in a real deep song […] it can take away from the message and I feel like it’s something that I’d always keep separate. If I’m writing a deep song, I’m writing a song that’s strictly about the message and I’m not tryna write punchlines for that shit.
The next instalment of Talking Music with 360 drops later this week. Part 7 will include a rhyme scheme breakdown of what Six dubbed one of his most technical verses ever.
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