Ciara's Country (CC): After such a long time of not being able to tour, it must be nice to be back on the road and playing those songs for people – what’s that like?
Austin Gee (AG): It's amazing. We just played in St Louis, Memphis, and Birmingham, and it's so good to have people in the crowd putting their hands up, waving them, and just swaying along our music. There's nothing better. We don't have the all the platforms like other artists to get that exposure, so to have people in the crowd in Birmingham, Alabama or Memphis, Tennessee, singing our songs means the world. It makes us know that what we're doing is resonating, and we’ve just got to keep pushing and keep grounded.
CC: Which songs have you been saying have been going down really well?
Brooks Hoffman (BH): It's always Somebody’s Gonna and Forget Those Heels. Those seem to go over really well every time just because they're so catchy.
AG: Plane Crazy and Maybe I Might too. They’re oldies but goodies, so we have a few people every night enjoying those too.
CC: I love how you just said ‘oldies but goodies’, because in my head, I was thinking ‘they’re SixForty1 classics’. It’s amazing to think that even though you guys have only been around a few years, you already have ‘oldies but goodies’!
BH: Whenever we do an album, they might even make the cut. You never know.
CC: You're giving me so much to look forward to right now! I'm already looking forward to the Greatest Hits album in like 20 years time.
BH: Trust me, we’re looking forward to the reunion tour and all that stuff when we’re eighty.
CC: I'll be there! Speaking of touring, am I right in thinking that you guys are currently on the road with Lakeview?
BH: Yeah, we are. Have you heard of them?
CC: I absolutely have! I'm loving all of the duos that are coming up in country music lately – yourselves, Lakeview, Seaforth; so your Nashville Hits The Roof tour is one I so wish I could go to!
BH: Yeah, the Lakeview guys are super. They're great dudes, they have great music and their live show is awesome. I think we feed off of that a lot and vice versa, so we're excited to be on the road with them. It's been dope.
CC: Was that a business decision where someone high up said, ‘you guys should tour together’, or did you have some pull in saying ‘we'd like to go on the road with them’?
BH: I think it was just actually an email that was sent to us like ‘ I think y'all know each other, do y'all want to tour with these guys?’, and we were both like, ‘yeah, let's do it’. It’s been a good time so far, and we’ve got a couple more weekends to go, it’s spread out throughout the fall. We love those guys.
CC: Very important question from me, then - when is that joint tour making its way to Europe?
BH: Gosh, that'd be awesome.
AG: Hopefully one of these days we’ll come overseas. I've always wanted to go to go to Europe in general.
CC: Let’s make it happen! As well as your tour with Lakeview, you’re also going to be touring with Brantley Gilbert – tell me more!
BH: We just have two dates with Brantley as part of ‘The Worst Country Tour Of All Time’ - we're doing the West Virginia State Fair and then the Ozarks Amphitheatre with him and Michael Ray, so that'll be a good time.
CC: How do you guys feel about joining a tour called ‘The Worst Country Tour Of All Time’?
AG: I don't mind it! With all the other supporting acts on that tour, it’s a great exposure opportunity, and we've been on the road with Brantley before. It'll be nice to go back out and hang with the guys a little bit more, and it's a great resume builder too.
CC: I was looking at your ‘touring resume’, and you’ve toured with some pretty big names! As well as the ones we’ve mentioned, you’ve toured with Eli Young Band, Walker Hayes, Niko Moon, and Muscadine Bloodline.
BH: Yeah, we’ve been lucky, and we’ve got a few more things coming up with REO Speedwagon, and Dwight Yoakam, so those will be fun and interesting too.
CC: I was just listening to REO Speedwagon this morning! Obviously we're on the same wavelength.
BH: They're amazing. Hopefully we get meet them and pick their brains a little bit.
CC: Is there a dream artist who you would love to be on the same lineup as?
BH: I think it's pretty obvious that we love Florida Georgia Line, so I'd love to tour with them. I'd love to be on the road with Sam Hunt, Dylan Scott, Dustin Lynch, I feel like those would be amazing fits for us.
CC: Oh, that would be perfect. Your sounds would fit so well together, I reckon it would be a proper party.
AG: For sure!
CC: So you’ve got some great suggestions for big name artists like yourselves, but I’m always on the lookout for underrepresented and up and coming artists too. One of the ways that I like to find out about them is by asking the artists I love what they're listening to - do you have any underrated artists that you think everyone should be listening to?
AG: Our friends in general! Tyler Braden - he's doing a great job right now. Sean Stemaly, he's blowing up and he's one of our good buddies. It's great to see those guys taking off like they have. Those are my two choices.
BH: Yeah, I agree, those two guys are killing it. There's a bunch of cool new acts in Nashville, and if you go to the bottom of our Spotify page, it also gives you similar artists, so I like to go to that section and discover new music there. It's a great tool.
CC: Yeah, I’ve seen artists like Chase Wright, Josh Kerr, and Walker Montgomery in the same playlists as you – they’re great too! My last question for you today is what is one question that you've never been asked in an interview, but would love to be?
BH: How I make my coffee. Man, you’ve stumped me. Hmm, maybe if we weren't doing country music, what genre would we be?
AG: Yeah, we've never been asked that!
CC: Got an answer for me?
BH: I would honestly say we love Justin Bieber, Lauv, The Band Camino type of pop music. I think we'd be doing stuff like that.
CC: And that works really well with country crossover too. Maybe you can give us a side album that’s more pop.
BH: I can see that happening in the future, us really branching out and doing a lot of pop stuff eventually.
AG: I think so too. I think that's the way country music is going too - like you said, there's so many crossovers. I think it's more acceptable these days to branch out and try to do your own thing. I think that's a great thing for the genre as a whole.
CC: I look forward to seeing your country and pop sides! And since you mentioned it, I have to know - how do you make your coffee?
BH: I do one Splenda, a little bit of half and a half, some honey, and that's it. Stir it up, pretty simple.
AG: I just have straight black with a little bit of honey. This might be weird, but I take a little bit of frozen whipped cream, I dip it in there and I stir it.
BH: That’s not weird, I want to do that too!
CC: I’ll be keeping that in mind for when I finally see you guys on tour – I’ll make sure to bring you guys the perfect cup of coffee. Thank you so much for your time today, I really appreciate all we’ve chatted about and I’m so excited for what’s next for you two!
BH: We’re so excited too!
AG: Thanks for having us on!
Brooks and Austin were incredibly lovely interviewees to have on, and I'm really looking forward to their EP and future tours our side of the pond. There'll be even more interviews to come, so stay tuned on my Twitter @CiarasCountry, and make sure to follow @SixForty1 to hear what's next from them. Thanks so much for reading!
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