The Very End Of All with Six Foot Six

The Very End Of All with Six Foot Six

Six Foot Six has emerged from the legendary metal metropolis known as Gothenburg and are ready to take unleash their epic music to the masses.  Featuring the participation of long-time friends Kristoffer Göbel and Christoffer Borg, Six Foot Six now present End Of All, their second magnum opus now available worldwide via Scarlet Records.  Metal fans may very well remember Kristoffer Göbel from his days fronting Falconer, appearing on the The Sceptre Of Deception (2003) and Grime vs. Grandeur (2005) – while Christoffer Borg is best known for his work within the realm of Art Nation. Highwire Daze recently caught up with Kristoffer Göbel to discuss the story behind End Of All, their signing to Scarlet Records, his time spent with Falconer, and other intriguing topics.  Read on…

Introduce yourself, tell me what you do in Six Foot Six, and how long the band has been together.
My name is Kristoffer Göbel – founding member and general writer of Six Foot Six.  It started as my solo project but during the recording and mix of the first album me and Christoffer Borg decided to make a band out of it. That was in the autumn of 2017. I have also been the singer of Falconer and Destiny.

Where are you based out of and what is your local music scene like there?
We come from Gothenburg, Sweden and our local scene is quite famous internationally. We even developed our own sound. “The Gothenburg Sound” includes bands like In Flames and Dark Tranquility among others. Also Hammerfall, Dream Evil and world class drummer Snowy Shaw comes from Gothenburg.

How did you wind up signing with Scarlet Records?
Our earlier label and we decided to part, as good friends, due to disagreements in our visions of the presentation of the band. We also went down a path somewhat harder/heavier sounding than before that wasn’t to that label’s liking. So we went out fishing for a new label. I live part time in Italy and when we, Scarlet Records and I, found each other it was a great match. We have a tendency to talk more about wine and food than music when we talk.

Is there any overall story or concept behind the End Of All title?
On this one I would love to say yes… But no!  The songs are all written separately with vastly different stories. But the album cover and title were chosen with the ongoing pandemic in mind. What better than a plague doctor in the year of 2020?

Select two songs from the End Of All album and what inspired the lyrics.
How can I choose only two songs..? I’ll do my best.  Let’s do the title track and “In God We Trust”.

The song “End of All” is inspired by the episode “The Long Night” in Game of Thrones. I am a big fan of the show and I can reveal to you that there is an GoT-inspired song on the first album as well. And on the next album.

The song “In God We Trust” is about the inquisition that took place in Europe during medieval times. The horrors and atrocities that were done in the name of God should be totally unimaginable today but still holy wars are going on.

What has it been like recording and releasing new music in the middle of a pandemic and so much social unrest in the world?
Well.. Long story short. We did record the album in December of 2019 so the album was ready to be released earlier. However, when we started making the design of the album our photographer and designer got ill with Covid-19. He was out for 108 days. A designer of a new logo was hired but also she ended up with Covid-19 and it was delayed (we actually never ended up using it at all as we decided to go with the plague doctor idea).

Our guitarist Christoffer Borg is also a part time nurse at an ER unit so his time to put into music has been very limited, to say the least.. Based on all this the release was delayed.

What is a live Six Foot Six show like, and have you been able to play at all during the pandemic?
Well this is just a sad story, isn’t it, not being able to play live? There are zero possibilities to perform live in Sweden or Europe now. What we ARE doing is that we are rebuilding our rehearsal studio into an actual studio where we prepare for live recording. So there will be some social media performances in the future👍🏼.

If Six Foot Six could open for any band either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
EASY – Iron Maiden!!  It has always been and will always be my favourite band. Even though Iron Maiden’s fans are seriously into Maiden and usually tend to take zero notice in their opening acts, it’s still a dream! Imagine to be able to say that you opened for Iron Maiden!

When you look back on your work with Falconer, what do you think of it bnow in retrospect, and do you still keep in touch with any of the members?
I am still in contact with them on and off. Stefan helped co-writing some of the songs on “End of All” and the next album in the future to come. He co-wrote the title track and “Break the Wheel”. I even helped him with sorting his thoughts on their last Falconer release.

I had a tough time in Falconer. It was VERY hard replacing Mathias because of his unique voice. I was at that time already a big Falconer fan when I was asked to join. The biggest problem was that Stefan kind of changed their music when he had my voice to work with. Not my decision but I got blamed. Let me tell you something.. I do NOT envy Blaze Bayley or Ripper Owens.  With that said I still like and I’m very proud of my Falconer albums.  Perhaps Stefan and I should start a band, ha ha!

Another early band you were in was Destiny. What do you think of your work with that band in retrospect?
A great platform to grow and develop in. I like my albums and we had a laugh doing gigs together. Can’t say I miss the years but do not want them undone. Great guys!

Are you currently involved with any other bands or projects outside of Six Foot Six?
My normal (when not covid19) main income is from cover shows with the band Rock Circus. We do all kinds of music with an electric guitar based twist and putting on some quite spectacular shows.

What do you hope 2021 brings for you and Six Foot Six?
Gigs!! Sadly it looks like it won’t happen. We will soon be doing some live play-throughs via our Facebook page and perhaps even a streamed live show. That’s our in the near future, anyway. There will also be a vinyl release of “End of All” this spring which we are very proud of.

Any final words of wisdom?
Yes I do, actually. It is a hard time being a musician in these times of turmoil and IF you have the possibility to support us, or any other band that struggles, please do!  Buy our record, buy some merchandise, give a donation on Spotify or on any other possible platform. Everything counts and is more than welcome in these very hard times!

Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions!
Thank you for asking them. It means a lot to us.