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Starting off your week with an interview featuring Brighton, UK based Six Time Champion. The guys are no stranger to the site, having been featured numerous times with their brilliant pop-punk melodies rapturing fans from all over, and creating a great deal of interest and excitement over here on the other side of the pond as well. We caught up with the lovely lads of James, Simon, Steve, Hus, and Rich to catch up and see what they've been doing all this time, including recording their brand new LP, and what life has been like since they were last featured on the site. Here is the transcript from our chat:
Give us your names and your roles in the band?
I'm Steve and I play bass in STC, we have Simon and Hus on guitars, Rich on drums and finally James on vocals.
How has life been since the last time we spoke last January?
Life in STC has been fairly quiet since January until recently. From January until April we were finalising and narrowing down the songs we were going to take to the studio to record of More Than Me. We played a few shows in this period but we were mainly focusing on getting the record just right. The rest of 2016 up until release has been spent gearing up for the release and everything that goes along with that. It's only recently things have started to get busy and we were hoping this would be the case off the back of the new release.
Let's get a sense of how Six Time Champion normally operates and how you usually write songs together?
Rich and Simon have always written the majority of songs, they work on parts of, or whole songs and then bring them to the practice room where we can all have our input and work on the songs from there.
How has the UK music scene changed since when you first started and where do you see it headed?
When we first started STC, this was when pop punk was really gaining momentum as a genre. I feel that these days that 'hype' has passed and the genre is hugely overly saturated. Not to say there isn't some fantastic pop punk bands still coming through the works, especially in the UK. As everyone knows in music, trends come and go and the cycle changes so who knows what genre will take the spotlight next.
Take us behind the recording process for "More Than Me" and what the whole process was like and how the sound differs from your previous material?
We went back to a studio and producer we had previously used for this release, John Mitchell at Outhouse Studios. We really enjoyed working with John on 'Let Me In' so it made sense to go back for a full release. The whole process is fairly laid back with John but the end product is always of the best standard. We think this release sounds a lot more polished than the Expecting Honesty. We wanted to keep the typical STC rough edge, but push the boundaries of our song writing and I think the end product has done it justice.
What is your favorite song off the new LP that you're most proud of and is representative of these effort as a whole?
My favourite track from More Than Me is 'Lost'', it's fast paced, fun and a song you can really get into live. The song I am most proud of would be 'Down', I think the song shows the song writing capabilities the band has and was written collectively in the practice room.
Who is your musical hero and how have they helped shape or influence you to this point?
I've never really had a musical hero, I have more looked up to bands as a whole. Bands such as Linkin Park got me into 'heavy music' and made me want to make music and be in a band.
In your honest opinion, besides The Beatles, who would you consider the greatest British band of all time?
For me personally it would probably be Muse or Iron Maiden.
What's in store for you guys next, planning any shows in support of the new effort?
We have some stuff in the works for early next year, and hopefully if everything comes together we will have a busy 2017!
Lastly, how have you guys bonded together as musicians since forming this band?
It may sound cliche to say but we're a band of 5 best mates. We're all there for each other when needed, band or personal life related. And being on the road with your 4 best mates is potentially the most fun thing you could do and hopefully they'll be a lot more of that to come.
Thanks once again to the guys for being ever so kind in doing this interview! Being absolutely obsessed with everything coming out of the UK, it's great to see these guys evolve and transform into 5 best mates who would do absolutely anything for one another and have the entire world in the grasp of their hands. For more on Six Time Champion, please 'Like' them on Facebook over here, follow on Twitter right here, and check out their music on Bandcamp conveniently located here.