Meet the secret super producer behind the success of Lorde and Six60

American Malay music maker has never spoken about his behind-the-scenes work with two major Aotearoa artists so far.

“Wait a second…I’m just going to flip this,” James Ho says. The American super-producer’s Zoom screen suddenly spins to show his California living room. The autumn sun streams through its blinds, landing on a collection of off-white leather sofas, potted plants, and a large glass coffee table. “We had a microphone set up here in the middle,” he says, pointing to the ceiling. “We did all the vocals in the living room… They all stood in a circle. We did the whole album like that.

Ho, better known by his Malay production moniker, could talk about any of the superstar artists he’s helped create extremely intimate records. Musicians like John Legend, Frank Ocean and Zayn Malik seek him out when they want to record their most vulnerable personal songs, and Ho’s production credits are full of stripped down fan favorites. Lorde knows it: Ho helped create his second album Melodrama, and he also worked on his third silent album, Solar Power.

Malay helped Lorde make his last two records, and she was instrumental in introducing the American producer to Six60.

But the living room setup that Ho describes for The Spinoff was for Six60, the roots reggae gigantosaurs from Dunedin who scaled heights no other local artist could scale. He had first heard of the band while spending time in Auckland collaborating with Lorde in 2018 and kept seeing their name all over town. “It was unavoidable not to see Six60 on billboards, Six60 on buses,” says Ho. “I asked [Lorde], ‘Do you know these guys? What is that?’ I thought it was a boy band, just because of the name.

He discovered he was on a Six60 collaboration wishlist, and soon several band members arrived at his Los Angeles studio as part of a songwriting session. Singer Matiu Walters couldn’t believe his luck and tried not to let his nerves get the better of him. “The first time we met, I was intimidated,” he admits. “Sometimes I pinched myself… like, why does he work with us?” He calms down, thinking, “Maybe we have something worth believing in.”

They combined clicked and after writing the song ‘The Greatest’ together, Six60 invited Ho to help out. complete work on their third self-titled record, the one that launched them into the stratosphere. Soon, songs like “Please Don’t Go” and “The Greatest” – all co-written and produced by Ho – would reverberate through Western Springs Stadium, then Eden Park, as Six60 became the first band to hit the headlines. of the two rooms. “It became ‘the people’s album’,” says Ho, who quickly became a loyal friend of the band.

For Castle St, Six60’s fourth album and first not to be self-titled, the band found themselves sitting around Ho’s Los Angeles home, swimming in his pool, drinking his collection of pinot noir, feasting on his banquets homemade and recording songs. on studio equipment balanced on boxes and paint cans around the living room. The results, according to Walters, are among the band’s best songs to date. “You can’t do [an album like] this on a laptop in your room,” he says. “It takes relationships, it takes people, it takes history…this is the most important album I’ve ever made.”

Malay
James Ho, aka Malay, at work in his studio. Photo: Supplied

HHow Six60 ended up recording an album in Ho’s living room is a classic Covid story. In mid-2021, Six60 traveled to America to perform at two festivals, but thanks to Aotearoa’s strict lockdown in August, they found themselves in the same situation as many overseas New Zealanders. : stranded, trying to score a ticket from a tense MIQ lottery system and a mandatory two-week hotel quarantine. “WWe bounced between AirBnBs, trying to make it work, trying to survive,” says Walters. His wife and four-month-old daughter, Boh, had joined him on tour. “We were a bit stuck.”

Ho was busy converting his upstairs guesthouse into a dream studio when he heard about Six60’s situation. Despite the messy construction, he quickly invited them to move in. There they set up pieces of studio equipment and started creating music together. “I don’t like big flash studios,” says Walters, who admits that wasn’t how Six60 planned to do their new album, but the laid-back style suited them. “His generosity is incredible…It made the process so much easier.”

Malay
James Ho with Matiu Walters’ daughter, Boh, at his makeshift studio in California. Photo: Supplied

Ho knew they wanted songs that could continue to resonate in the stadiums Six60 used to play at home. So he told them to start daily jam sessions and he started recording the results. “Every day we were creating a whole bed of music that would end up being what you heard on the album,” says Ho, who invited Canadian songwriter Simon Wilcox to participate in songwriting sessions. Mistakes were not only allowed, they were encouraged. “The last album, we spent a lot of time trying to iron out the creases,” says Walters. “This time we shine a light on the imperfections.”

The stripped results, which fans heard for the first time yesterday, are a capsule from that era. Yes, the fourth album Castle St is a sweet affair that is covered in Ho’s fingerprints, with light touches and a prominent attitude without means. But it’s full of sudden explosions, happy melodies and sing-song choruses, all of which were recorded together in Ho’s living room. “Good Wine” is a song named after the bottles of pinot noir that fueled those sessions. Following The Spinoff’s interview with Malay, Six60’s label sends footage of the band rocking under a microphone in their living room, holding wine glasses while recording backing vocals together.

It’s that kind of magic, of a band playing together in a room, that Ho says he always looks for when he hits a record. He says his job is to help capture it, but it’s impossible to manufacture. “I don’t try to direct them and tell them what to do. I listen and see what feels most exciting to me, energy-wise,” he says. He describes his work as follows: “How do we get the best out of each guy and give it meaning?” Spending so much time as friends with Six60 has helped. “I know their personalities and those personalities come through their instruments.”

DDespite all their success at home and across Australia, Six60 have yet to take that giant step in America like Lorde did. Could Castle St be the album that does? “It’s such a strange time,” Ho says, careful to make predictions. “Some of the biggest artists are releasing music and they’re not. connect.” If that happens, he believes Six60 has the songs and the experience to catapult quickly. “They have the ability to take over the top in a second because they are so ready. They’re basically unknown on this side, but when people hear it and see it, they become fans.

Ho remains one of the band’s biggest fans and spends much of our conversation, his first interview talking about his work with Aotearoa’s artists, talking happily about Six60. “Matiu has a crazy voice, he’s one of the singers I’ve worked with the most,” says the man who produced Frank Ocean’s breakthrough album, Channel Orange. He also highlights the work of drummer Eli Paewai on this record. “It’s like the Radiohead level,” he says. “He’s an amazing drummer.”

Now, due to his work with Lorde and Six60, Ho’s career is intertwined with two of New Zealand’s greatest artists. As a result, he travels to Aotearoa regularly, and it’s not always just for work. As well as visiting several times to make music with Lorde, Ho vacationed here, visited Queenstown and stayed at Walters’ family bach in Mangawhai where he hosted one of his infamous banquets. He even lists Depot among his favorite restaurants. And he’ll be back here soon, early next year, to attend the wedding of his Six60 teammate Marlon Gerbes on Waiheke Island.

Their relationship looks set to go the distance. “He helped us tap into a primal feeling,” says Walters. He talks to The Spinoff during a break from rehearsals, where they carefully work out how to fit their new album into their old songs. After their movie Warts and All, which revealed some of the band’s darkest moments, Walters says Ho helped breathe new life into the band. “Malay got it, he believes in us, it’s so great when you’re in a studio like that,” he says. “We are a match made in heaven.”

Castle St is out now.

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