Matthew Brammer (Six Below Zero)
SPB: Six Below Zero is both a solo project and you live in Wyoming, so I imagine you have limited live opportunities -- that said, does the project ever play live and does that possibility affect how you approach songwriting?
Brammer: Consistently playing live is, and always has been, a challenge in my area. It's so rural, the hardcore/metal/etc. fanbase is so small, there's a major lack of venues and DiY spots, and there's just such a lack of dedicated musicians in general. There's no real stable scene, in spite of the constant efforts of some good folks around here over the years.
But then as I've gotten older, other things took over as well...family, kids, small business, health issues, etc. It's gotten less and less feasible from a time and financial perspective for me to put stuff together even just for a few one-offs a year.
And at the end of the day...and this is gonna come as a shocker to some -- it's almost blasphemous in hardcore, haha --- I'm somewhat of an anomaly in the hardcore scene, in particular, in that I never really caught the bug for playing live or touring. I'm more of a creative type than a performative artist. I love making music, but for numerous reasons I just don't really care for playing live at all (let alone the grind of touring life). So several years ago I decided to fully shift to solo/studio projects, of which Six Below Zero is a more recent one and probably my "main" at this point.
With all that in mind, I don't have any plans for live shows....but I won't say it'll never happen. It would just really have to be the right time, the right opportunity, and the right people popping up that want to make it happen. Otherwise, I'm content with the creative outlet.
As for the songwriting process...nah, it really doesn't change or affect my approach to songwriting overall. Every once in a while if something is feeling flat or uninspired, I do take a moment to think about how it would translate live or what I would need to do to get that energy back, because that unspoken energy really is the driving force behind this type of music (even in its recorded form). But it's not really something I dwell on or consciously have to strive towards; I just kinda (luckily) have the ability to bring that energy on my own. I do get people that tell me "man this shit would kick ass live," so as long as I keep getting that feedback I suppose I'm doing alright.
On the flip side of that...there are other projects of mine where not having to play live does allow me to pull off things in the studio that I wouldn't necessarily be able to do live, and I'm able to write more complex arrangements and have all sorts of layers and such. But Six Below Zero, by its very nature, is incredibly straightforward and to the point....and I try to keep it as unpretentious as possible. Just a fun, groovy, straightforward kick to the face with no BS and a focus on the [lyrical] message. It's cathartic, it's powerful, and it's the essence of hardcore.
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