Do we like Ji Fraser?
Our score: 8 out of 10. Nothing harmful turned up and Six60's Castle Street scholarships are real good, but his own public stances are thin, so it stops short of a 10.
Ji Fraser grew up on his parents' farm near Whangara, north of Gisborne, before leaving the Coast at 11 to finish school in Dunedin. He picked up guitar at eight, did boarding school at Whanganui Collegiate, then studied design at Otago. He's said that degree was “a total waste of time” for him.
The real education was the flat. He and singer Matiu Walters weren't accepted into Otago's music programme, so the band grew out of flat parties in Dunedin. From there Six60 became the first Kiwi act to sell out Western Springs Stadium, then sold it out again a year later.
Now the harm check, and it's a short one. Searches on trans people, women, migrants, climate and vaccines found no harmful words or acts from Fraser, and no court cases or allegations against him. When Sky News Australia host Rowan Dean criticised a tour poster written in te reo Māori, the band answered with humour and an offer of free tickets, not a fight. Fraser isn't named in that story, so credit the band, not him alone.
The nearest thing to a stoush is small. In 2019 the band played Vibes, which has lyrics about guns and bullets, at the Christchurch benefit concert, and some fans on social media called it a bad choice. The article reports no band response, and it's a long way from anything that would worry us.
The recent stuff is cheerful. Six60 recorded Right Here Right Now in three days to capture a looser feel, and Fraser said he “almost felt sad when we walked out of the studio.” He told The Spinoff he wanted the recordings raw and emotional, with no tricks.
The good stuff is the best bit. In 2021 the band bought the Castle Street flat where it all started, and set up four $10,000 scholarships a year through Otago University. Recipients live in the house, get mentoring, and don't need to be music students. Fraser says Dunedin can be “pretty cold and miserable” and the scheme is meant to ease that. Former drummer Eli Paewai also stayed on as a mentor with the SIX60 Foundation after leaving the band in 2024.