Made up of five twentysomethings from Southern Sydney, Fifty Sixx are a band that have been making a name for themselves amongst fans of hard rock.
I was lucky enough to see them at the start of the year supporting Sunk Loto at Caringbah Bizzo’s –  they were a late addition to the line-up due to a band on the bill pulling out. I thought they put on a great show and had plenty of potential.

They have recently released their debut EP titled Gun Powder Office and
just got back from a national tour. Today, I’m fortunate to share some time with Benny B the voice behind the band.

So…Who are Fifty Sixx?
Well there is Benny B on vocals, Benny K & Stot on guitars, Clav on Bass and Vic B on drums.

How did you all meet?
We all used to know each other from around. Stotty, Tristan and I played
together in our first band for about a year and Benny K and Vic were in
another one and we all left our bands at the same time and it was just the
logical thing to do.

Where did the name Fifty Sixx come from?
We started the recording process without a name and it came to the stage
where we had to get a name and stick to it. So we were in our producer’s
apartment and there was an old poster of Times Square in the 1820s and it was
literally written on the side of a wall on a building. So we looked at each
other said it over a few times and the rest was history. Everyone seems to
think we have some obsession with Nikki Sixx or something but we don’t. Well
maybe Stot does.

You recently finished recording your six song debut EP Gun Powder Office, how did the recording process go?
The most fucked up process I have ever gone through in my life –  long and
tedious. We were still trying to find our  feet and trying to get to know
each other properly, finding what made each other tick… shit like that… but
in the end it was all good we were happy with the result. In my mind that
was our stepping point, that was our EP with our P plates on, testing the
water. The new EP that we are currently writing is a lot more mature and
better song wirtting.

So when it comes to writing process, how does it all happen?
A lot of us write riffs at home or chorus’s that we bring in and try and jam
them out see where they go. Sometimes it can either come out in 5 minutes,
or 3 months, just depends where we want the direction of the song to go,
sometimes we sit on them for months. Normally the songs that take the
longest,  we keep on working till we get it, because we know its going to
become one of our better songs. But there are a lot of different ways either
we follow the drums in a section and feel where its going or go with the
guitar melody or vocal melody.

Where can we get it from?
Any good record store. Its distributed by sony/bmg so they should be able to
order it in anywhere.

You then did a national tour to support the EP, how did that go?

Insane… it was heaps of fun, 19 shows, all over the place. We had never
played a show outside NSW, and we have known Something for Numbers for about six years, they just released their new Album, and we had just released our EP so the timing was great. I think we all loved the fact that we got to travel
the country with our best friends and play music i mean we all talked about
it for years while we were cooped up in the rehearsal room and it was a goal
that we all wanted to accomplish and we did. So we had to start setting our
next goals and start pushing the envelope from here on in.

I saw you guys earlier this year playing with Sunk Loto, you were a late
addition to the bill -  how was that gig?
That was the turning point for us . We always wanted to be able to play with
heavier bands and fit in on the bill. That was one of our goals from the
start, we wanted to be able to share the stage with all types of genres from
heavy bands like Sunk Loto to pop rock bands like Kisschasy.  Plus Sunk Loto
are an amazing band and it was an honour to share the same stage with them.
Loose show as well.

What other bands have you supported/played with?
Something With Numbers, Kisschasy, After the Fall, Gyroscope, Calerway, Smithtown riot, Avalon Drive, Trip Gauge,  Angela’s Dish, Irrelevant, Lost In Line and soon to be many more.

Any other bands you wish to support/play with?
Thrice, The Descendents, Rise Against, A Wilhelm Scream, Lost Prophets, Foo Fighters, The Huntsmen, The Bronx, The Matches. I reckon it would be awesome to support Cypress Hill.

Who are the main influences on the band?
For me personally I like a lot of ambient/heavy progressive rock and Punk
stuff  like Isis, Thrice,The Bronx, Red Sparowes, These Arms are snakes .
Vic loves his metal/rock/punk  like Pantera, Lost Prophets, Rise Against,
Tristan is into softer rock like Jimmy Eat World, The Juliana Theory, and
Benny K is all punk rock Ten Foot Pole, Hot Water Music, Descendents and Stotty loves his older stuff  like Ugly Kid Joe and Guns and Roses ect.

A question, I ask a lot of muso’s is what is the best advice you have
received, and who gave it to you?

“Keep it real” Dave Grohl once said that to Benny K

And last but not least, whats planned for the future of Fifty Sixx?

Playing as many shows as we can, writing as many songs as we can, we have
another short tour coming up with Something With Numbers again down the
coast in January which will be fun, a national tour with Infiction (SA) in
February and a massive tour in march with a band that i cant say yet but i
can say its a USA band. Apart from that just pushing ourselves to write
better songs and plenty of them.

And on that note Benny had to do the bolt to do what all good musicians do,
get to practice!