WHAT IS PULSE?
Pulse Music Journal is Saskatchewan’s hub for music indulgers. We ‘eat/sleep/breathe’ the music and entertainment industry – plug into our outlet while we highlight new music, recap live performances, interview the biggest names, connect with local legends, and the newest initiatives surrounding our local music scene. We are honoured to be a leading cultural staple in the Saskatchewan music and entertainment scene.
WE SUPPORT SASKATCHEWAN’S ENTERTAINMENT & MUSIC SCENE
Whether it’s reaching out to a newly released project, musician or creating a spotlight for local talent to be heard on any of our stages, as well as opportunities to be heard opening for larger acts on a full-venue stage. We look forward to assist and launch newest concepts that strongly support the local music in this province. The local music scene is super important to us – we are a small province, but we have big dreams. Let’s grow and support each other – putting Saskatchewan on the map for premium music and entertainment experience.
ALEX BENT AND ENJAY ARE CUTTING THEIR TEETH
Ever heard of 6M? Probably not, they are fresh on the scene as of May 2nd 2021. Although they have technically only been a band for about a month now, they have travelled a long winding path to get to this point. Alex Bent and Enjay are 6M. 6M celebrates the creative bond and free flowing energy that happens when Alex and Enjay collaborate together. We got a first taste of what 6M would be when Alex Bent produced the track “Awful” for an Enjay release. Later the two could be found working alongside fellow collaborators at the secret unofficial clubhouse, ‘The Store’. The two would create almost every time that they linked up. After Enjay and Alex were working on the first single 6M WAYS TO DIE, they decided they didn’t want to stop. 6M is about to finally release their LP into the world. They will be premiering the album in full on Trifecta Sound’s ISO Radio show on Saturday, June 5th in an exclusive 2-hour episode (8PM CST, tune in here). This is just they start of 6M – we cannot wait to watch them grow, perform live, and see where ever this project will take them.
Alex Bent and Enjay sit down with us to discuss their latest project, 6M. The two-piece band has the second single “Clay” out today, and they are set to release their full-length LP on Sunday June 6th. We go over the history of the two collaborators, and now bandmates. They share the identity of 6M, what made them decided to start working together, and the story about how 6M began to be what it is today.
We chat about how working with Toria Summerfield, Josh Maison, mileshigh, Gabe Gill, saltskin, and other collaborators can contribute to a project. Enjay and Alex Bent share how The Store impacted their creativity, and free flowing ability to work together. We talk more in-depth about the upcoming LP, why they decided to release other 6M tracks on Soundcloud before the album, we chat about the future of 6M, possible live performances, and so much more.
ALEX BENT AND ENJAY ARE WELL ESTABLISHED SOLO ARTISTS
TOGETHER THEY ARE 6M. WHAT IS THE IDENTITY OF 6M? HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO WORK TOGETHER TO RELEASE NEW MUSIC TOGETHER?
ALEX BENT: 6M is really just whatever both Enjay and I agree on is cool haha. We found a place in the music we make where we can intersect. It doesn’t feel like either of us are compromising which is really exciting. We’ve been friends for years and have both played big parts in each other’s careers. We’ve been able to motivate and inspire each other through a lot of difficult situations and this project is really just a celebration of our friendship and the hard times we’ve bonded over.
ENJAY: Alex and I met a few years back and have been pretty close friends for a while. We made a few things together prior to 6M. Alex had featured on a song of mine and later on began to start helping me out with production.
In 2019 we made “AWFUL” and that was kinda the beginning of 6M in a way. It had that sound and that vibe but it wasn’t officially 6M yet, just an Enjay song produced by Alex. Once we started meeting up weekly at The Store it accelerated pretty quickly and we were making dope new shit almost every time we hung out.
We had both tossed around the idea of being in bands before but never pulled the trigger. Alex sent me the beat for “6M WAYS TO DIE” and originally it was just going to be something we made at The Store but we were inspired to keep making new things, so we didn’t stop. We kept coming each week with new material and that’s when we decided to be a band. The name came from that original song.
ON MAY 2ND, 6M INTRODUCED THEIR SOUND TO THE WORLD.
THE RELEASE OF PUNKS, AND BLEST WERE SHORTLY FOLLOWED BY THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF 6M SUNDAYS. WHAT IS 6M SUNDAYS? WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO RELEASE MUSIC IN THIS ‘COUNTDOWN’ FORMAT EXCLUSIVELY ON SOUNDCLOUD?
ENJAY: 6M Sundays kinda feels like our version of The Store almost. We’ve tried to get together still and work on stuff, release new tracks or hang with our community in Discord. Moving forward we’re still going to hang on Sundays and work on shit whether that be recording or jamming or whatever.
The countdown thing was something Alex came up with and it reminded me a lot of Kanye’s GOOD FRIDAY series. Him and I are both huge Kanye fans so we talked about how exciting things were to be a fan when he was doing those weekly releases and I think that’s kinda what inspired us to do that.
As far as dropping it on SoundCloud I just think it’s a dope platform. It had its wave and it’s definitely died down a little since the big SoundCloud days but there’s something dope and underground about platforms like SoundCloud and YouTube. That’s still where a lot of new artists start so it felt nice for us to debut our band and the first batch of songs over there. Helps make the album feel bigger when it comes to streaming as well.
ALEX BENT: We got in the groove of releasing new music every Sunday on Soundcloud. We ended up releasing 5 or 6 songs that make up a ‘prequel’ to the album more or less. We kinda got off on the idea of ‘underselling’ the project by just spamming people with Soundcloud loosies before we kicked into high gear with the album. I just wanted to feel like I was a kid playing in bands again. We never had the patience to wait or treat releases properly. It felt so cool to still have that phase with this band even though we both know better.
“FOUND A PLACE IN THE MUSIC WE MAKE WHERE WE CAN INTERSECT”
– ALEX BENT
TORIA SUMMERFIELD, JOSH MAISON, MILESHIGH, GABE GILL, SALTSKIN
YOU HAVE INTRODUCED NEW MUSIC WITH COLLABORATIONS AND FEATURES WHILE WORKING TOGETHER. THE PROCESS OF COLLABORATING IS DIFFERENT FOR EVERYONE. WHAT IS EACH OF YOUR PROCESSES OF WORKING WITH OTHER CREATIVES? HOW DID MAKING MUSIC IN THE CREATIVE SPACE ‘THE STORE’ HELP ORCHESTRATE YOUR FLOW? WHAT INSPIRATIONS (MUSIC, MUSICIANS, CULTURE, ETC) FUEL YOUR CREATIVE MINDS?
ALEX BENT: I think all of those artists you mentioned are the types of people who can get in a room and have no ego. We’ve all been able to help each other out and contribute to each other’s things without making it a huge ordeal. Keeping it low key and offering the best sounding thing for the sake of things just sounding good is our main motivation with this.
The Store was really something I wanted to do to get over the fear of having to create something out of nothing with an audience in the room, so to speak. I didn’t really expect it to turn into what it did even though we only really held consistent sessions for a few months. It’s turned into a secret unofficial clubhouse for all of us to get together and make what’s on our mind. It’s really turned into a safe place that’s given us the confidence to execute our ideas.
ENJAY: Most of what we created was very free flowing. We just let things happen and if they were dope we simply let them be dope. We didn’t put a lot of work into changing or editing ideas once we had them. That made it really easy to bring other artists’ ideas into the 6M universe and still feel like it made sense.
Being at The Store was incredible. It forced me to be accountable and show up every week with my best shit. The caliber of artists we had come in and out every week felt dope while it lasted. I can’t wait to get back to that.
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THE FIRST SINGLE RELEASED OFF THE LP ARRIVED.
ON MAY 26TH 2021 WHICH WAS FOLLOWED BY THE MUSIC VIDEO. THE LP RELEASES ON SUNDAY JUNE 6TH 2021. WHAT CAN YOU TELL YOUR FANS ABOUT THE RELEASE? WHAT VIBE CAN WE EXPECT? ANY INFORMATION THAT YOU WANT TO DROP BEFORE THE LP DROPS?
ALEX BENT: The album is short but hard hitting. We really just wanted to kick people in the face and get out as quickly as possible. I think it’s my best production work and it’s some of Enjay’s best performances for sure. We’re really just excited to get this album to people out there who might need it right now.
ENJAY: The album is a classic. This is the kind of energy and feeling that doesn’t come around often. Everything felt so right in the creation process. I used the state the world was in as a way to force myself to look inward and really talk about who I am on these songs.
The vibe is just raw. It’s pure and aggressive but still light hearted at times. The sounds are so big and so powerful, I really think people will connect with the way the album sounds and the things I say on it.
“EVERYTHING FELT SO RIGHT IN THE CREATION PROCESS”
– ENJAY
LONGTIME COMING, BUT WORTH THE WAIT.
THE TWO MAN BAND SEEMS TO BE HAVING FUN WITH THIS PROJECT. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM THE FUTURE OF 6M? WHAT WOULD A LIVE 6M PERFORMANCE LOOK LIKE?
ENJAY: The live performance is gonna go nuts. You know with Alex on the drums and me rapping we’re going to light it up every chance we get. I think there’s a space in the scene that we can fill with what we do. We can give people a few months to feel out these songs and get familiar with them when the album drops, then I hope when we finally can hit stages again we can perform to a crowd singing back to us. I think a lot of people need to get that kind of angry energy out. Music is really therapeutic in that way.
You might even see us improvise in the meantime if we can do it in a unique way. The whole idea of 6M is that if we do something it has to be done in the most dope way possible. So whatever we do next you can expect it to be on that next level.
All photos inside article supplied by guest.
*hover over photo for issued credit.