Sixfthick - 2006: International Year of the ‘hick or Chinese Year of the Shitbird.

After getting their house in order, Sixfthick gave us a right rogering in April of this year with the release of their eagerly anticipated CaneTrash/TrainCrash double CD. Couple this with some typically scorching shows on both sides of the continent and some new video footage, and the feeling from punters old and new is a liking for this ‘hick kinda lovin’.

With a long awaited European tour coming up in September, the Sixfthick brethren have got all their shots up to date, their livers primed and all are keen as the proverbial to get some more shows under the belt before they jet off overseas.

Deservedly so, things are looking good for the rock 'n' roll ‘lifers’. I caught up briefly with half of the frontal sibling assault, ‘Geoffro’ Corbett to see if he agreed.

“I think so. We’re definitely busy and getting busier. We’re finally doing the Euro trip that we probably should’ve done five years ago…yeah, so it’s good. At this point it’s the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, possibly Spain or Sweden. Not sure which way we’ll go, north or south. We only have a month to do it in, so we’ll only scratch the surface. We should go back and do it again, straight away nearly. That’s the plan, if it goes well we’ll be saving the pennies to get back over there for sure.”

An ongoing project for ten years now, Sixfthick’s ‘cane-shed-swamp-punk’ sound brings back memories of the late ‘70s, early ‘80s Australian ‘underground’ scene. Their style sits easily with the seedier side of life; music for pimps, pushers, junkies and thieves. The smaller and dirtier the venue, the better.

“That’s it. One of the weirdest things when we first started going to Melbourne was all these crusty guys coming out of the woodwork, coming up to us saying ‘hey! (I) really like youse cunts; yr like St Kilda bands 20 years ago.’ and I thought yeah, it must be a good thing, then. Having said that, we are getting a lot of new punters coming along and you get like ‘…where the fuck have you guys been for the last ten years?” laughs Corbett.

“Obviously you do get people drifting in and out of rock and roll, so you know… but you do get the ‘lifers’ which is cool… but there’s a new crowd there. A younger crowd too which is good. We’ll see if they’re around next year,” he sniggers.

Usually the first thing you hear about Sixfthick is “…you gotta see these guys…” such is the impact of their live shows. The accompaniment provided by Dan Baebler on guitar and the rhythm, Fred on drums and Tony Giacca on bass is ‘titusaficious’ and second to, well, very few. Combined with Geoff and brother Ben’s television-evangelistic call and respond vocals, you’ve got a pretty tidy package.

The brothers can sing damn fine too, but that is only a small part of the live output. It’s the on-stage theatrics that allow Sixfthick to rise up above the rest. Yet this can be difficult to harness in a recorded situation.

“Yeah, It’s a live thing,” states Geoff. “That’s what’s sold us for the last ten years. It’s only been in the last few years that we’ve been able to translate that onto record and even then still I think we’ve got some way still to go... We went into the studio with a definite idea of how we want it to start then its gotta go on it's windey little journey, you know because we don’t have Ben in the nude setting his cock on fire. We need something more,” he jokes. “Although pictures of that on the cover would have been good!”

With Sixfthick on the myspace game like everyone else, I ask Geoff what was the motivation behind that, as I was surprised that the ‘Hick would be into ‘that kind a thing’

“Myspace: mmm… yeah there’s some good bands on there but there is some fucking crap too… fucking Arctic Monkeys! yeah we have one. I put it up to put the feelers out overseas; to friend up a few people that might be into the band through (label mates) Digger and the Pussycats and Spooky records and was surprised to know that people have actually fucking heard of us. We haven’t even started organising shows and we’ve already got about half a dozen offers over there which is really good. I don’t know that increases your record sales any, but you never know…”

While overseas looks to be coming together quite nicely, on the local front things are just as sweet. Increased crowds since the release of CaneTrash are definitely noticeable here in Brisvegas and it seems Melbourne and Sydney, Western Australia is getting in on the act as well.

“WA was really good last time. We’ve been over there four times and were back over in July, which is great, love it… We did some really, really good shows over there about five years ago … full on tore the joint apart type shows and we didn’t know how we’d get on this time cause its been ages since we were over there; just word of mouth from those few shows was enough to get folks there last time and fingers crossed there’ll be even more punters to sample the delights on offer in July…” offers Corbett, with a maniacal laugh and a grin to match.

Whenever Sixfthick takes a breather, there is always plenty to keep the brothers Corbett and fellow ‘Hicks Fred, Dan and Tony busy as all have various side projects of their own. But it’s the ‘mothership’ that is always number one and while it can be a struggle sometimes, these ‘lifers’ will always find a way to record

Says Geoff: “The ‘Hick always takes precedence over the side projects. It’s the one thing we have complete and utter fucking control over, so you know its always good to keep that one up the front and whatever else comes along, comes along and you do it; you don’t knock stuff back. If you really like doing it, you’ll fuckin wash dishes or whatever, you’ll find a way to record a record. If someone wants to give you money to do that, them that’s a bonus cos I hate washing dishes. But you gotta keep busy or you end up with bad habits…”

There was probably a point last year when Sixfthick were, well, humbled. That’s when they found out that they had the support for the Beasts Of Bourbon gigs last August, something they again did recently and with Geoff’s former bands all having some common ground with Sixfthick, (albeit agricultural, they being The Grim Rippers and Greenacres) he also has a spot for The Beasts.

“…the Grim Rippers and Green Acres. Bit of a theme there , I can’t escape it, it’s in the blood. Well, the first ever song I did live was , and this is why I got so excited playing with the Beasts last year, the first song I ever did live was Dropout …. In the Grim Rippers, they just got me up to do a song and I said lets give this one a go and that was it, I was hooked… It was really great those supports. We are sorta like the amphetamine driven version of the Beasts of Bourbon.”

I couldn’t agree more and the sight of Brian Hooper walking along at front of stage, rocking out with crutch shaking in the air, during the ‘Hick set in Melbourne last August is a sight that I will never forget. Nor will I forget the sight of ‘Hick drummer Fred fighting his way to the front of the pit like a sixteen year old for the Beasts set at the same gig.

As confronting as they may seem on stage, you have to remember where the hearts of these rock 'n' roll lifers lay: they genuinely love what they are doing, and are grateful for the opportunities afforded them. They are also some of the nicest guys you’re likely to meet.

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