A folk-inflected roots rock band formed by singer and songwriter Stephen Kellogg in 2003 in Northampton, MA (most of the members were students at the nearby University of Massachusetts at Amherst), Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers (or the SK6ers, as the diehard call them) built a solid fan base through nonstop touring, mostly on the college circuit. Centered around Kellogg and bassist and keyboardist Keith Karlson and drummer Brian Factor, the band has also featured at one time or another guitarists Chris Soucy and Kyle Riabko, and somehow the group found the time amidst all the touring to build up a fair discography under one configuration or another. Kellogg had already released three independent solo projects, South of Stephen in 2000 and The Early Hits (1992-1997) and Lucky 11 in 2002, as well as albums billed to the Stephen Kellogg Band (Rain Summer in 1995) and Stephen Kellogg & the Root Cellar Band (Buffalo in 1997), by the time the Sixers came together. As the Sixers, the group released Bulletproof Heart in 2004, the self-titled Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers in 2005 (a major-label release with Universal Records, which later dropped the band), The First Waltz in 2006, Glassjaw Boxer in 2007, and The Bear (on Vanguard Records) in 2009, with several EPs also scattered along the way. ~ Steve Leggett