SIX60’s Ji Fraser on staying real and living Right Here Right Now

From Dunedin flats to stadium stages, SIX60 have built a career defined by loyalty, authenticity, and staying in touch with where they began. With Right Here Right Now, the band captures a version of themselves that is both present and unfiltered. In this interview, Ji Fraser reflects on brotherhood, pressure, and what it means to keep choosing honesty in a world that keeps getting louder.

When you think about going from flatting and jamming in Dunedin to selling out stadiums, what has surprised you most about your journey in music thus far?

It’s always been about making music with my brothers; to be able to be on this incredible journey with them is really special. I guess it surprises us that we have been able to do all this together. 

New Zealand can lift artists up fast and pull them apart just as fast. When did you first feel that pressure, and how did it land with you personally?

I think if you are true to yourself and your fans they will go for that ride for you. We never felt it from the people more from the industry, but if you put the people first and not the industry or the business then it doesn’t really matter. 

You recorded Right Here Right Now live in single takes. What pushed you toward that choice at this point in your journey?

We wanted it to be real, an authentic snap shot of us right in that moment. We also feel in the fake AI world we live in we want people to feel how authentic SIX60 is. 

Dunedin shaped you in those early years. What parts of that place still live inside the band today?

Every part, when we go back it’s like we never left. The house is also gonna be the centre of it, but really every street in that city brings back some memory. 

Even with huge success, some people still question where SIX60 sits in the local story. Does that ever get under your skin, or have you learned to let it go?

We let it go a long time ago, of course you’d love nothing but positivity, but it is what it is. When you step out in front of a stadium full of people singing every word back to you your not thinking about the doubters. 

This record feels loose and open, like you gave the songs room to breathe. Did you need to fall back in love with just playing together again?

It was the most fun we have made in an album since the gold album really, we love playing with each other, but sometimes the album process is hard. So we took the feeling of playing live and brought it in the studio and than on the album.

Your music holds meaning for a lot of people’s lives. Do you feel that weight when you write now?

You try not to, you can only do you best and make it feel authentic and real. If you're true to yourself it reflects in the outcome. 

How do you stay true to who you are without turning that into something forced or packaged?

We won’t change for anyone else, if that hurts us in the rest of the world thats ok, we want to succeed as us, or it won’t matter. 

When you listen back now, what does this album say about who SIX60 are today?

It’s all in the title it is SIX60 Right Here Right Now in the moment, living in the present and enjoying and loving life.