As their name suggests, Bloomington’s Six Foot Blonde are turning heads.

“We used to sing with another girl (Emma Spartz) that was 6-foot-2 and both of us at the time had blonde hair,” vocalist Julia Rusyniak said of the memorable band name.

“It also represented somebody taking control of their confidence. And it represented Emma and I dancing on stage, not being afraid to wear heels, and be the tallest person in the room and celebrate our confidence as women and musicians and belters with powerful voices. It stemmed from, ‘Oh, you’re both tall and blonde,’ and became something so much more.”

Spartz stepped away from the band in 2022, but Julia Rusyniak will be joined by bassist Dom Heyob, drummer Brian Healey, guitarist Elliott Obermaier, guitarist Zach Patrick, and her brother/keyboardist John Alex Rusyniak at The Socialite at Proof on Friday, June 14, for an all-ages show with local support from Private Education.

Changing lineup, sound

Maybe it’s their name, but it feels like I’ve been hearing about Six Foot Blonde for years. However, the Indiana University alums and students are relatively new.

“In the middle of the pandemic, that was a little bit of our sanctuary — to be able to play together in our COVID bubble,” Obermaier said. “Coming out the pandemic, we had a couple opportunities to play at a local venue called Bluebird. That went really well throughout our college experience. 

“Eventually, that transferred to venues like the Hi-Fi (in Indianapolis) and Chicago. Before we knew it, we were kind of swept along for the ride.”

The band released two singles and an EP with Spartz and a horn section of Adam Cohen and Kaleb Weisenfluh. 

The songs have a neo-soul feel to them, reminiscent of Fort Wayne acts like Kangaroo Kourt and Sun.Dyle. However, with the departures of the horns and Spartz, Six Foot Blonde’s sound has changed a bit, evident on the single “Perpendicular Universe,” which was released in August.

“So many of (Spartz’s) influences were blues and soul and mine, I’d say, were pop, indie, and soul. So, our common ground was soul,” Julia Rusyniak said.

“Our future stuff is a bit more indie, but we still pay ode to our roots and the live-music feel.”

The band is actually in the midst of releasing an album in August, with singles dropping this summer.

Happy accident

Although they formed during the pandemic, the members have been connected much longer.

“We all knew each other in some sort of way,” Julia Rusyniak said. “My brother’s childhood friend, Brian our drummer, grew up down the street from us. Elliott and Dom went to high school together. 

“I feel like it worked out very serendipitously. We’re really lucky that we all decided to go to IU. It worked out beautifully.”

Julia Rusyniak is actually still enrolled at Indiana, with Patrick pursuing his master’s. However, none of the Hoosiers were focusing in on music while in school.

“None of us were music majors despite IU having such an amazing music program,” Obermaier said. “Dom and I were the only ones to have any sort of music minor or music study. Because we never meant to (form a band), I think that made it a lot easier of, ‘Oh my gosh, this is happening to us! Let’s just go in,’ rather than feeling like we were working constantly.”

They all have other focuses at this point in their lives, but the band is at the top of the list, which leads to their trip to the Summit City.

“We’re on our first national tour this summer,” Obermaier said. “Fort Wayne is a city we’re well aware of and there’s a lot of former IU students that mentioned, ‘Hey, you should play Fort Wayne. There’s a vibrant scene up there.’ We played with The Namby Pamby (at the 2023 Burning Couch Festival) and they said Fort Wayne is a great spot. We’re in Detroit the next night, so it worked out.”