Do we like them?

Do we like Marlon Gerbes?

Our score: 7 out of 10. Nothing harmful found and some real good on record, but the file is thin and there's one old commercial misstep with his band.

Marlon Gerbes is the keyboard, synth and guitar player and producer in Six60, the Dunedin-formed band that became one of New Zealand's biggest. He grew up in Maraenui in Hawke's Bay and went to Napier Boys' High School, and Hawke's Bay Today has covered the night he came home to play for the suburb he came from.

The formative story is about identity. In a 2020 Te Ao News piece the band talked about going from shame to immersion in Māori culture, and Gerbes spoke about his whakapapa to Rangitāne in the Wairarapa. It's a journey he has been open about, and te reo has since become part of the band's songwriting.

The big stoush came in 2022, when Australian Sky News host Rowan Dean criticised the band for using te reo Māori on a tour poster. Six60 answered with humour rather than anger, and Gerbes told a NZ radio show their first reaction was disbelief. That's a good look: they stood by the language without picking a fight.

On the harm test, we found nothing from him personally. No remarks about LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants, vaccines or the climate turned up, and no dodgy collaborations either. Silence isn't an endorsement, so this is a pass on what we could find, not a deep dive into every interview he has given.

One real misstep: in January 2021 Six60 appeared on a Lotto NZ charity scratchie ticket. Fans and the Problem Gambling Foundation objected, and the ticket was withdrawn by agreement between the band and Lotto NZ, with Lotto apologising. That was a band decision, not a Gerbes quote, and they backed out fast.

On the good side, Gerbes and bandmate Eli Paewai personally delivered auctioned band memorabilia to the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre in 2020, and the band has done pandemic-era fundraising for musicians. Add the language advocacy and that's a decent record, if not a long one.