March 8, 2026 • 24 mins
Matiu Walters is the lead singer and guitarist of New Zealand’s band Six60. The group formed in Dunedin in 2008, and across the last 16 years have broken all the rules to become New Zealand’s biggest band. In 2019, they became the first New Zealand act to sell out Western Springs Stadium and in 2021 became the first band to ever play Eden Park to a sold-out crowd of 50,000. He attended Otago University which is where the band formed. Despite being one of New Zealand’s most popular musicians – he's unassuming and humble. He's married with two children.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio,
Real Conversation, Real Connection. It's Real life with John Cowen
on News Talk s ed bday.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to real life. I'm John Cowen. A Sex sixty
is an incredibly successful band, tart topping sales and full
venues everywhere, including capacity crowds at Western Springs at Eden Park.
The only New Zealand band we ever do that. So
I'm honored to have the lead singer and front man
of Sex sexty on the line with me tonight, Matthew Walters,
and it's great to have you. Welcome Matthew C.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Thanks thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I know that you're very busy at the moment with
your album launcher. Thanks for squeezing us.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
In all good I'm happy to talk.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Your latest album. It's already taking off, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah. I think it's been about three weeks now, and
we're just we're just really stoked, honestly, we're we're just
really proud of the music and the whole experience was
was joyful, So yeah, we're just stoked.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Well, the last I saw was that there have been
I think four million streamings from it from Spotify to
a better million listers and then three weeks No, I.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Know, man, like a obviously you're always wanting, hoping that
your music is going to connect and you want it
to do well. You want people to like it, you know,
and but you but you know, like with an album
like this, I think it's such an honest work and
to see people connect with it and you know, live
their life to it, you like this so quickly just
(02:04):
just means a lot. And it's just really cool to see.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
You said, have some lovely phrases there, live their life
with it. And that is so true of your band.
I mean it's the soundtrack of so many Kiwi's lives
for a decade or so. Yeah, Radio, you go into
a shop, you go to a party, it's it's your music,
and that that must be very gratifying.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Oh, we're everywhere too much sometimes, you know, Like sometimes
I just want to have a coffee with my you know,
have breakfast at a cafe with my family without having
to hear my voice.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Do you have people coming up and singing you their song,
singing your songs to you?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Uh? Not? Not that so often. But there's a funny
thing that when you do go into a cafe or restaurant,
rather than coming up and saying hi, the people who
work there will just slip your music on, like for
some reason they think that's something that I wanted, you know,
that I that I want. But you know, in any case,
they're just they're showing.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Some you know, there's a showing appreciation.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Yeah, yeah, and I and I appreciate that, but it's
it's just been a look, it has been a wild,
amazing ride. You know. We're just had humble beginnings, just
a group of mates who really enjoyed playing music together.
And I suppose you know, you know, we are quintessentially
keep we in our personalities and we write about the
human experience, which and people have just really latched onto
(03:28):
it and it's just beautiful to see how they live
their lives to the music.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, your latest album certainly does that. It's called right here,
right now, let's just hear let's just hear a little
bit of the book of the title song right here,
right now, Let's hear a little bit of the.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Sweetsies.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
It's a lovely it's a lovely song about family life
and about how you get that right. You've nailed it,
and I could sense the pride. And I've seen pictures
of you with your kids, and there must be lots
of time and you're thinking, yeah, it's great to play
in front of fifty thousand people, but it's also good
to get it right with your kids.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Oh, that's the most important thing in my life. And
becoming a father and a husband, you know, obviously puts
a lot a lot of things into perspective, and it
was really seismic for me. I'm not gonna lie. I
was quite challenging having my first child and especially as
a musician and my relationship with time.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
But I.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Just have so much love in my life at the moment.
I'm very I consider myself very lucky. And yeah, that's
so much of what we do is and what we
stand for is fano and family and togiveness. You know,
we're always we're always wanting our music to bring people together.
That's really our purpose, I think, And yeah, I think
(05:03):
we've catched it really well on this new album.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
For sure, You've been in the music world long enough
to probably bumped into people who have wanted fame and
ended up losing everything else and on the farther side
of things, and the messed up their relationships and there
with their partners and kids. That must be something that
that ways heavy on you.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You think, of course, of course, you know, like and
it's not even the music, you know, like life. Balance
of life is challenging and quite often you can people
can fall into uh, into these lots of same or
money or all these kind of things. And especially you
(05:46):
know a lot of artists, you know, we tend to
like those kind of troubled creatives, you know, people who
make it to the mountaintop, and quite often they are
people who have sacrificed too much to get there. So
I don't I don't, I don't envy them in that way.
But the nature of this of the industry, you know,
(06:09):
we have to travel a lot and be away from
our family and that's definitely a challenging thing for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
What's it like after say, playing a really big gig
in front of thousands of people and lots of applause
and excitement of perhaps traveling and and then having to
recompress back into family life, do you does it take
a little while to sort of for your feet to
come back to the ground. Are you do you find
your you know, you can't quite handle the noise and
(06:35):
busyness for a bit. What's it like coming back into
the family life.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, it's actually it's actually really really challenging. It's like
you're you're kind of re entering you know, there's like
this vertigo of this this kind of slow down that
you're re entering an atmosphere which there's no real method
to it. No one teaches you how to kind of
deal with that thing. I think talking to Teddy Swims
about this recently, you know, he was he's obviously had
(07:01):
this amazing run in the last couple of years, and
we're just here just we're just talking about how unhuman
actually what it is that what we do, and that
no one should You're not really no one's meant to
be up there receiving that kind of adulation, you know,
because it is intoxicating. Yeah, And and like, don't get
me wrong, like it's amazing and we're grateful, but I
(07:24):
don't and you don't want to come across like that.
Playing two thousands of people is some somehow, somehow like tough.
There's suffering involved in it, but it's like, this is
a hard balance, you know, because you have this Dolph
and these this huge rush and then you kind of
just boom back to changing happies.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Mate. It must be like when you're cruising along the
motorway at a at motor highway speeds and then you
come to a small town and you have to crawl
through at fifty kilometers an hour.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
That's a great it's a great analogy.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, no, I can, but at least you have also
the experience of playing these small, intimate gigs. And I'm
very apprecid that you set aside time to do more
than fifty little gigs last year from the top of
the country to the mood and that must be quite
a different buzz.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, it was. It was really different. It was refreshing
for us. We were able to take an entirely different approach,
completely different to the kind of preparation that goes into
pulling off these stadium shows. And we were craving this
the closeness really a connection. Playing stadiums is amazing, but
you're really you're really playing to this this you know,
(08:36):
like a mesh, you know, you can't really make anyone out.
And then we now we slip around and play to
these tiny towns in front of two hundred people who
are who are at your feet. It's a completely different
experience and a completely different preparation thing and different. And look,
we just pride ourselves on we love to be able
(08:57):
to you know, one weekend we're playing it's Stuart Island,
and then the next weekend where where twenty thousand people
in Sydney or whatever, you know, and then and then
on a boat or you know. I just like all
these different stages we can make work. And that's I
guess because we took We did it currently the old
(09:19):
school way.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
We started from the bedroom and into the garage and
into the backyard and into the small club and really like, yeah,
it was by the time we got to playing stadiums,
we were we were prepared. You know, we knew what
we were doing.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
One of the lovely lines in the in that song
that we played before we didn't actually hear it. In
the little clip that I played was about your dad
playing his guitar. And I was looking at a video
of what are your gigs and there's your dad standing
up in the audience with his guitar strumming away and
I just thought that that's beautiful. That was and that
must have been really cool. In fact, we've got a
(09:53):
little video, a little little clip of you singing if
your dad. Let us listen to that.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
From around there. Please melogy.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
The deep discuss my SiTime.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Please, that's not if you just joined us. That's the
lead singer of six sixty, Matthew Walters, but playing with
his dad and after the break, I want to talk
a bit about his dad and his mum and his
granddad and some of the things that have shaped him
and made him who he is today. This is real
life on news talks. He'd be be back with you
(10:38):
in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on Newstalk ZB.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
He's alive. He's alive.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
He's alive.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
He's father with me. Just remembly past Pools.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Welcome back to real life. I'm John Cown talking with
Matthew Walters, lead singer and frontman of six sixty. And
that's a song from his latest album. It's called Red
Mist and Matthew, I'm a bit sad that I said
we're going to be talking about your dad straight after
the breaking and then you go and choose that song
which is definitely which is definitely not about your dad,
(11:26):
is it definitely?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Definitely not? Definitely not some other family members.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Maybe, yeah, because that song's got a sort of a
once with Warriors feel about today.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yeah, absolutely, it's about a man who works hard and
goes to church but then drinks and uses his fists.
And that's a scary, scary thought.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, I mean it's more than a thought, it's it's
a life experience of some people.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Yeah. I mean I think everyone knows people you know
like that or have confronted people like that, and in
many ways, in many ways, the song makes me laugh.
But as a story, you know, it's about you know,
someone with callous hands who works hard and but he
has a big heart. You know, the kind of person
(12:15):
that you can trust in a weird way, yeah, I think, yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
You don't want to cross them, no, especially if they've
had a drink. Yeah. Especially. Hey, we were talking but
before the break about about a man. I don't think
we're talking about your dad now. But he sounds like
a very interesting guy and there's lovely watching these videos
of you playing with him, playing guitar with him. But
(12:42):
he was an amuser. He was a lawyer. Yeah, yeah,
how did you feel about you becoming a becoming amuso?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
He you know, my parents are very supportive. He kind
of had like a measured response to it, I suppose,
as a lawyer would. Once I told him that there's
something I wanted to pursue, I'll tell you one thing.
You always I always remember when I told him, he said,
just know that if your goal is to play at
the pub down the road, you'll only ever play at
(13:11):
the pub down the road. And that really really stuck
with me and always reminded me to kind of set
the bar high and shoot for the stars and that
kind of thing. So yeah, I'm grateful to him for
that for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Okay, so if you're going to do it, do it well.
And yeah, and your mom had a pretty well everyone's
mom's significant in their lives and formative and everything. But
she helped shape some of your musical tastes.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
For sure. She's the real Well she wasn't. She is
an artist herself, and we grew up around a lot
of a lot of art actually, and a lot of singing.
As as many Mali families can attest to, there's a
lot of there's a lot of chorls and singing and
hymns and a lot of just a lot of music,
(13:56):
a lot of singing together. And I think, you know,
my mom would take me to gigs when I was younger,
and really, you know, exposed me to different types of
music and helped develop my taste, I suppose, and my
love and my love for the stage and performative art.
But music was just always always around us, from you know,
(14:21):
from Toper Hacker all the way to the Stones and
and you know, just just everything. We just had music everywhere,
and the guitar was always passed around and and and funny,
you know in that song right here right now, like
that's it's true one of my dad. It's the same
four cards every single time. But you know there's a
play a different song and I just start the exact
(14:42):
same four cards and sing a whole different song over
the top. So I you know, I really, I really
have this appreciation.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I've got to got to con fierce after seeing the
lyrics of a song. And I watched that video of
your dad playing very closely, and his left hand wasn't
doing a lot of dancing on the border.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
The economical type of player.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, Hey, I was how you felt during that tour
of small places when you were playing up at Potahi
Marai and Tako, because uh, that's where you papa back
to your tierara and so did that did that feel
very special or did it feel scary or what? Did
(15:28):
it feel like a little.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Bit of both? You know, like that's you know, I
guess that's where I'm from, But I was born and
raised in Central Aucklands, and I don't you know, so
there and I don't speak Mardy, so it's like there's
a there is a fakoma and like a you know,
yeah around it. But it was this amazing kind of pilgrimage. Really,
(15:50):
my father and my uncle, my brother all went up.
We just lost my grandfather Mudhu a few months before,
so it was actually it was just one of the
most beautiful spiritual times had I got. Getting to share
that with my brother and my uncle and my dad
was really really beautiful. I mean completely like real different
(16:10):
shows to like we came from playing you know, to
forty thousand people now like the two hundred of my
relatives in Porte.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
That'd be a tough gig.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
It was tough in a way. Because you just, you know,
sometimes you just so trained it and used to getting
this immediate response. You know, that thing doesn't work. But
it was. I think we learned a lot on that tour,
a lot of good things, you know, But it was
just the whole tour was really beautiful. The community, honestly,
that's what it was. It's just amazing at these small
(16:43):
towns and the people on this tour was the best
part of it.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
You mentioned that being spiritual, and you mentioned your grandfather
Muru Muru Walters, who's a giant and in Maori culture.
He was an artist, he was Maori all black, and
he became a bishop in the Anglican Church. And I'm
just wondering whether that aspect of spirituality ever shook down
into your life.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
I don't know. He was he was, He wasn't forceful
in any way on his It was his beliefs or
his expectations of us, you know, as a man who
was you know to think he is such such a
giant in art and song and in the church. But
we didn't, you know, none of us speak Mardi or
(17:31):
necessarily religious, you know. But look, I think I'm I
think I wrestle with God as much as the next
person I'm thinking about I think about that a lot,
but I don't consider myself religious. But there's just so
there's so much that I can't explain, do you know
(17:55):
what I mean? And I think music itself is a
spiritual practice, and in a way, the process of writing
songs and creating art is you can reveal a lot
about yourself. That's to me, that's kind of what the
purpose is. You know, it's a growing You're growing in
this practice and you're kind of capturing these thoughts and
(18:19):
this process and song.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I'm so glad to hear you say that, because I
was you could be worried that a person that has
been so successful as you, you obviously know what works.
You know how to write a pop song, You know
that you can where to put the books and the
and the and everything like this, and it could just
become Yeah, I'm a journeyman in this. I can do this.
(18:43):
But it sounds like music is still something that you're
exploring and it does something for you.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
I love this, like and I think I was I
was born to do this, And nothing about, nothing about
going through the motions excites me at all about anything
in life. To be honest, if I'm not trying to
be at the forefront and can kind of contribute I
suppose to the to the fabric of music, New Zealand culture, art,
(19:15):
and I've got to feel like I'm giving. It's got
to feel like I'm giving something, like I'm adding something
positive to the mix, not just taking from it. If
that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, it makes well. It makes a refreshing sense. And
that I have talked to some use those where I
get the sense that there I have a desperate to recoup,
to recover something that they've lost or the board, and
you don't sound like either of those things.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I've been there and I'll probably be back there. It's
a crazy rollercoaster, you know. But it's easy to get jaded,
but I just I just refuse to be deterred, you know.
I maybe I may be tired and it may be
jaded in times, but it's not enough of an excuse
to kind of waste my I don't waste away and
do and do something without purpose, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, Oh, well, that's that sounds like a good pride
in your heart to keep doing something. And I notice
one of the things you're doing now as being a
bit of a mentor you're promoting and so how did
this gig that you did up north, what was it
called a Sweet Home? That was that was your that
(20:22):
was you try to give something back. Well, that was
trying to promote the New Zealand music in a real way.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Yeah. Yeah, like you know, obviously, having your own festival
is something we're wanting to do for for a while
and be able to kind of to hold the reins
and curate and create an environment that we you know,
that of this faro and of this being together and
(20:49):
putting it on a grand scala that was really from
something we're really proud of and a challenging thing too,
kind of being on the promoter side of a festival,
not just not just the art side, you know. So
we're excited to be in that space where we're you know,
we're just I think we're just keen and we like
to do cool stuff and we'll give you anything a try,
(21:10):
you know, And yeah, festival is something we've been for
a long time we wanted to You're going to do
it again? Oh yeah, absolutely, okay, absolutely would like it,
would like it to stick around, make it an annual thing.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Your music is so New Zealand so and your fan
base is huge here. I sort of wonder do you
do you do you still get a buzz going overseas
And if it's just a whistle for all the Kiwis
to get.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Together, well, obviously, looks that's just we're Kiwis and love
our music. And but there I see I see fans
of our music. Do you know that I love to
go and see the world, Matthew.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I apologize for asking another question when my producer is
actually waving my direction saying we're going to wrap it
up and we're going out on another one of your songs.
And what's the final song you've picked for us?
Speaker 3 (22:06):
The song is called Endlessly. It's I think. I think
it's the best song I've ever written. The best songs
just fall out of the sky. So I just fell
on my laptos one.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I'm so glad you didn't fall fall out of the
sky when you were filming that video. If you want
to see an exciting video, look at this terrified band
standing on a ledge at the top of the sky
tower singing Endlessly. It's been wonderful talking to you, and
I wish you all the best and look forward to
talking to you again.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Sometimes you're likewise.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Thanks Sean, this is real life. I'm John Cown. I'll
be talking with Matthew Walters of Sex Sexy, looking forward
to being back with you again next Sunday night.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
So Mas, your feed mounts such the as long as
the mountains, her sounds to shine, the rivern's wide. Andy
when Nick comes to, will always sleep.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
Don't like go, don't be afraid you got me. I
won't let you down. Fine, Sup, mounds.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Your feetbat such sun, as long as the mountainer, the
sun still shine, and the river runs wide. Indeed, when
it comes to, We'll always be ellas sleep.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
For more from News Talks at be listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk sed B.
Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio,
Real Conversation, Real Connection. It's Real life with John Cowen
on News Talk s ed bday.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Welcome to real life. I'm John Cowen. A Sex sixty
is an incredibly successful band, tart topping sales and full
venues everywhere, including capacity crowds at Western Springs at Eden Park.
The only New Zealand band we ever do that. So
I'm honored to have the lead singer and front man
of Sex sexty on the line with me tonight, Matthew Walters,
and it's great to have you. Welcome Matthew C.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
Thanks thanks for having me on.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
I know that you're very busy at the moment with
your album launcher. Thanks for squeezing us.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
In all good I'm happy to talk.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Your latest album. It's already taking off, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Yeah. I think it's been about three weeks now, and
we're just we're just really stoked, honestly, we're we're just
really proud of the music and the whole experience was
was joyful, So yeah, we're just stoked.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Well, the last I saw was that there have been
I think four million streamings from it from Spotify to
a better million listers and then three weeks No, I.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Know, man, like a obviously you're always wanting, hoping that
your music is going to connect and you want it
to do well. You want people to like it, you know,
and but you but you know, like with an album
like this, I think it's such an honest work and
to see people connect with it and you know, live
their life to it, you like this so quickly just
(02:04):
just means a lot. And it's just really cool to see.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
You said, have some lovely phrases there, live their life
with it. And that is so true of your band.
I mean it's the soundtrack of so many Kiwi's lives
for a decade or so. Yeah, Radio, you go into
a shop, you go to a party, it's it's your music,
and that that must be very gratifying.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
Oh, we're everywhere too much sometimes, you know, Like sometimes
I just want to have a coffee with my you know,
have breakfast at a cafe with my family without having
to hear my voice.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Do you have people coming up and singing you their song,
singing your songs to you?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Uh? Not? Not that so often. But there's a funny
thing that when you do go into a cafe or restaurant,
rather than coming up and saying hi, the people who
work there will just slip your music on, like for
some reason they think that's something that I wanted, you know,
that I that I want. But you know, in any case,
they're just they're showing.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Some you know, there's a showing appreciation.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Yeah, yeah, and I and I appreciate that, but it's
it's just been a look, it has been a wild,
amazing ride. You know. We're just had humble beginnings, just
a group of mates who really enjoyed playing music together.
And I suppose you know, you know, we are quintessentially
keep we in our personalities and we write about the
human experience, which and people have just really latched onto
(03:28):
it and it's just beautiful to see how they live
their lives to the music.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Well, your latest album certainly does that. It's called right here,
right now, let's just hear let's just hear a little
bit of the book of the title song right here,
right now, Let's hear a little bit of the.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
Sweetsies.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
It's a lovely it's a lovely song about family life
and about how you get that right. You've nailed it,
and I could sense the pride. And I've seen pictures
of you with your kids, and there must be lots
of time and you're thinking, yeah, it's great to play
in front of fifty thousand people, but it's also good
to get it right with your kids.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Oh, that's the most important thing in my life. And
becoming a father and a husband, you know, obviously puts
a lot a lot of things into perspective, and it
was really seismic for me. I'm not gonna lie. I
was quite challenging having my first child and especially as
a musician and my relationship with time.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
But I.
Speaker 3 (04:38):
Just have so much love in my life at the moment.
I'm very I consider myself very lucky. And yeah, that's
so much of what we do is and what we
stand for is fano and family and togiveness. You know,
we're always we're always wanting our music to bring people together.
That's really our purpose, I think, And yeah, I think
(05:03):
we've catched it really well on this new album.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
For sure, You've been in the music world long enough
to probably bumped into people who have wanted fame and
ended up losing everything else and on the farther side
of things, and the messed up their relationships and there
with their partners and kids. That must be something that
that ways heavy on you.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
You think, of course, of course, you know, like and
it's not even the music, you know, like life. Balance
of life is challenging and quite often you can people
can fall into uh, into these lots of same or
money or all these kind of things. And especially you
(05:46):
know a lot of artists, you know, we tend to
like those kind of troubled creatives, you know, people who
make it to the mountaintop, and quite often they are
people who have sacrificed too much to get there. So
I don't I don't, I don't envy them in that way.
But the nature of this of the industry, you know,
(06:09):
we have to travel a lot and be away from
our family and that's definitely a challenging thing for sure.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
What's it like after say, playing a really big gig
in front of thousands of people and lots of applause
and excitement of perhaps traveling and and then having to
recompress back into family life, do you does it take
a little while to sort of for your feet to
come back to the ground. Are you do you find
your you know, you can't quite handle the noise and
(06:35):
busyness for a bit. What's it like coming back into
the family life.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, it's actually it's actually really really challenging. It's like
you're you're kind of re entering you know, there's like
this vertigo of this this kind of slow down that
you're re entering an atmosphere which there's no real method
to it. No one teaches you how to kind of
deal with that thing. I think talking to Teddy Swims
about this recently, you know, he was he's obviously had
(07:01):
this amazing run in the last couple of years, and
we're just here just we're just talking about how unhuman
actually what it is that what we do, and that
no one should You're not really no one's meant to
be up there receiving that kind of adulation, you know,
because it is intoxicating. Yeah, And and like, don't get
me wrong, like it's amazing and we're grateful, but I
(07:24):
don't and you don't want to come across like that.
Playing two thousands of people is some somehow, somehow like tough.
There's suffering involved in it, but it's like, this is
a hard balance, you know, because you have this Dolph
and these this huge rush and then you kind of
just boom back to changing happies.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Mate. It must be like when you're cruising along the
motorway at a at motor highway speeds and then you
come to a small town and you have to crawl
through at fifty kilometers an hour.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
That's a great it's a great analogy.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, no, I can, but at least you have also
the experience of playing these small, intimate gigs. And I'm
very apprecid that you set aside time to do more
than fifty little gigs last year from the top of
the country to the mood and that must be quite
a different buzz.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, it was. It was really different. It was refreshing
for us. We were able to take an entirely different approach,
completely different to the kind of preparation that goes into
pulling off these stadium shows. And we were craving this
the closeness really a connection. Playing stadiums is amazing, but
you're really you're really playing to this this you know,
(08:36):
like a mesh, you know, you can't really make anyone out.
And then we now we slip around and play to
these tiny towns in front of two hundred people who
are who are at your feet. It's a completely different
experience and a completely different preparation thing and different. And look,
we just pride ourselves on we love to be able
(08:57):
to you know, one weekend we're playing it's Stuart Island,
and then the next weekend where where twenty thousand people
in Sydney or whatever, you know, and then and then
on a boat or you know. I just like all
these different stages we can make work. And that's I
guess because we took We did it currently the old
(09:19):
school way.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
You know.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
We started from the bedroom and into the garage and
into the backyard and into the small club and really like, yeah,
it was by the time we got to playing stadiums,
we were we were prepared. You know, we knew what
we were doing.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
One of the lovely lines in the in that song
that we played before we didn't actually hear it. In
the little clip that I played was about your dad
playing his guitar. And I was looking at a video
of what are your gigs and there's your dad standing
up in the audience with his guitar strumming away and
I just thought that that's beautiful. That was and that
must have been really cool. In fact, we've got a
(09:53):
little video, a little little clip of you singing if
your dad. Let us listen to that.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
From around there. Please melogy.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
The deep discuss my SiTime.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Please, that's not if you just joined us. That's the
lead singer of six sixty, Matthew Walters, but playing with
his dad and after the break, I want to talk
a bit about his dad and his mum and his
granddad and some of the things that have shaped him
and made him who he is today. This is real
life on news talks. He'd be be back with you
(10:38):
in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on Newstalk ZB.
Speaker 5 (10:48):
He's alive. He's alive.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
He's alive.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
He's father with me. Just remembly past Pools.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Welcome back to real life. I'm John Cown talking with
Matthew Walters, lead singer and frontman of six sixty. And
that's a song from his latest album. It's called Red
Mist and Matthew, I'm a bit sad that I said
we're going to be talking about your dad straight after
the breaking and then you go and choose that song
which is definitely which is definitely not about your dad,
(11:26):
is it definitely?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Definitely not? Definitely not some other family members.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Maybe, yeah, because that song's got a sort of a
once with Warriors feel about today.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yeah, absolutely, it's about a man who works hard and
goes to church but then drinks and uses his fists.
And that's a scary, scary thought.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, I mean it's more than a thought, it's it's
a life experience of some people.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Yeah. I mean I think everyone knows people you know
like that or have confronted people like that, and in
many ways, in many ways, the song makes me laugh.
But as a story, you know, it's about you know,
someone with callous hands who works hard and but he
has a big heart. You know, the kind of person
(12:15):
that you can trust in a weird way, yeah, I think, yeah, but.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
You don't want to cross them, no, especially if they've
had a drink. Yeah. Especially. Hey, we were talking but
before the break about about a man. I don't think
we're talking about your dad now. But he sounds like
a very interesting guy and there's lovely watching these videos
of you playing with him, playing guitar with him. But
(12:42):
he was an amuser. He was a lawyer. Yeah, yeah,
how did you feel about you becoming a becoming amuso?
Speaker 3 (12:50):
He you know, my parents are very supportive. He kind
of had like a measured response to it, I suppose,
as a lawyer would. Once I told him that there's
something I wanted to pursue, I'll tell you one thing.
You always I always remember when I told him, he said,
just know that if your goal is to play at
the pub down the road, you'll only ever play at
(13:11):
the pub down the road. And that really really stuck
with me and always reminded me to kind of set
the bar high and shoot for the stars and that
kind of thing. So yeah, I'm grateful to him for
that for sure.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Okay, so if you're going to do it, do it well.
And yeah, and your mom had a pretty well everyone's
mom's significant in their lives and formative and everything. But
she helped shape some of your musical tastes.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
For sure. She's the real Well she wasn't. She is
an artist herself, and we grew up around a lot
of a lot of art actually, and a lot of singing.
As as many Mali families can attest to, there's a
lot of there's a lot of chorls and singing and
hymns and a lot of just a lot of music,
(13:56):
a lot of singing together. And I think, you know,
my mom would take me to gigs when I was younger,
and really, you know, exposed me to different types of
music and helped develop my taste, I suppose, and my
love and my love for the stage and performative art.
But music was just always always around us, from you know,
(14:21):
from Toper Hacker all the way to the Stones and
and you know, just just everything. We just had music everywhere,
and the guitar was always passed around and and and funny,
you know in that song right here right now, like
that's it's true one of my dad. It's the same
four cards every single time. But you know there's a
play a different song and I just start the exact
(14:42):
same four cards and sing a whole different song over
the top. So I you know, I really, I really
have this appreciation.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I've got to got to con fierce after seeing the
lyrics of a song. And I watched that video of
your dad playing very closely, and his left hand wasn't
doing a lot of dancing on the border.
Speaker 3 (15:04):
The economical type of player.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, Hey, I was how you felt during that tour
of small places when you were playing up at Potahi
Marai and Tako, because uh, that's where you papa back
to your tierara and so did that did that feel
very special or did it feel scary or what? Did
(15:28):
it feel like a little.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Bit of both? You know, like that's you know, I
guess that's where I'm from, But I was born and
raised in Central Aucklands, and I don't you know, so
there and I don't speak Mardy, so it's like there's
a there is a fakoma and like a you know,
yeah around it. But it was this amazing kind of pilgrimage. Really,
(15:50):
my father and my uncle, my brother all went up.
We just lost my grandfather Mudhu a few months before,
so it was actually it was just one of the
most beautiful spiritual times had I got. Getting to share
that with my brother and my uncle and my dad
was really really beautiful. I mean completely like real different
(16:10):
shows to like we came from playing you know, to
forty thousand people now like the two hundred of my
relatives in Porte.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
That'd be a tough gig.
Speaker 3 (16:21):
It was tough in a way. Because you just, you know,
sometimes you just so trained it and used to getting
this immediate response. You know, that thing doesn't work. But
it was. I think we learned a lot on that tour,
a lot of good things, you know, But it was
just the whole tour was really beautiful. The community, honestly,
that's what it was. It's just amazing at these small
(16:43):
towns and the people on this tour was the best
part of it.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
You mentioned that being spiritual, and you mentioned your grandfather
Muru Muru Walters, who's a giant and in Maori culture.
He was an artist, he was Maori all black, and
he became a bishop in the Anglican Church. And I'm
just wondering whether that aspect of spirituality ever shook down
into your life.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
I don't know. He was he was, He wasn't forceful
in any way on his It was his beliefs or
his expectations of us, you know, as a man who
was you know to think he is such such a
giant in art and song and in the church. But
we didn't, you know, none of us speak Mardi or
(17:31):
necessarily religious, you know. But look, I think I'm I
think I wrestle with God as much as the next
person I'm thinking about I think about that a lot,
but I don't consider myself religious. But there's just so
there's so much that I can't explain, do you know
(17:55):
what I mean? And I think music itself is a
spiritual practice, and in a way, the process of writing
songs and creating art is you can reveal a lot
about yourself. That's to me, that's kind of what the
purpose is. You know, it's a growing You're growing in
this practice and you're kind of capturing these thoughts and
(18:19):
this process and song.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
I'm so glad to hear you say that, because I
was you could be worried that a person that has
been so successful as you, you obviously know what works.
You know how to write a pop song, You know
that you can where to put the books and the
and the and everything like this, and it could just
become Yeah, I'm a journeyman in this. I can do this.
(18:43):
But it sounds like music is still something that you're
exploring and it does something for you.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
I love this, like and I think I was I
was born to do this, And nothing about, nothing about
going through the motions excites me at all about anything
in life. To be honest, if I'm not trying to
be at the forefront and can kind of contribute I
suppose to the to the fabric of music, New Zealand culture, art,
(19:15):
and I've got to feel like I'm giving. It's got
to feel like I'm giving something, like I'm adding something
positive to the mix, not just taking from it. If
that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Yeah, it makes well. It makes a refreshing sense. And
that I have talked to some use those where I
get the sense that there I have a desperate to recoup,
to recover something that they've lost or the board, and
you don't sound like either of those things.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
I've been there and I'll probably be back there. It's
a crazy rollercoaster, you know. But it's easy to get jaded,
but I just I just refuse to be deterred, you know.
I maybe I may be tired and it may be
jaded in times, but it's not enough of an excuse
to kind of waste my I don't waste away and
do and do something without purpose, you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (20:01):
Yeah, Oh, well, that's that sounds like a good pride
in your heart to keep doing something. And I notice
one of the things you're doing now as being a
bit of a mentor you're promoting and so how did
this gig that you did up north, what was it
called a Sweet Home? That was that was your that
(20:22):
was you try to give something back. Well, that was
trying to promote the New Zealand music in a real way.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Yeah. Yeah, like you know, obviously, having your own festival
is something we're wanting to do for for a while
and be able to kind of to hold the reins
and curate and create an environment that we you know,
that of this faro and of this being together and
(20:49):
putting it on a grand scala that was really from
something we're really proud of and a challenging thing too,
kind of being on the promoter side of a festival,
not just not just the art side, you know. So
we're excited to be in that space where we're you know,
we're just I think we're just keen and we like
to do cool stuff and we'll give you anything a try,
(21:10):
you know, And yeah, festival is something we've been for
a long time we wanted to You're going to do
it again? Oh yeah, absolutely, okay, absolutely would like it,
would like it to stick around, make it an annual thing.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Your music is so New Zealand so and your fan
base is huge here. I sort of wonder do you
do you do you still get a buzz going overseas
And if it's just a whistle for all the Kiwis
to get.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Together, well, obviously, looks that's just we're Kiwis and love
our music. And but there I see I see fans
of our music. Do you know that I love to
go and see the world, Matthew.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
I apologize for asking another question when my producer is
actually waving my direction saying we're going to wrap it
up and we're going out on another one of your songs.
And what's the final song you've picked for us?
Speaker 3 (22:06):
The song is called Endlessly. It's I think. I think
it's the best song I've ever written. The best songs
just fall out of the sky. So I just fell
on my laptos one.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
I'm so glad you didn't fall fall out of the
sky when you were filming that video. If you want
to see an exciting video, look at this terrified band
standing on a ledge at the top of the sky
tower singing Endlessly. It's been wonderful talking to you, and
I wish you all the best and look forward to
talking to you again.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Sometimes you're likewise.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Thanks Sean, this is real life. I'm John Cown. I'll
be talking with Matthew Walters of Sex Sexy, looking forward
to being back with you again next Sunday night.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
So Mas, your feed mounts such the as long as
the mountains, her sounds to shine, the rivern's wide. Andy
when Nick comes to, will always sleep.
Speaker 5 (23:13):
Don't like go, don't be afraid you got me. I
won't let you down. Fine, Sup, mounds.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
Your feetbat such sun, as long as the mountainer, the
sun still shine, and the river runs wide. Indeed, when
it comes to, We'll always be ellas sleep.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
For more from News Talks at be listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
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