You Me At Six are phenomenon of their own making. Starting out as teenagers in Weybridge, Surrey, the boys began by playing local youth centres, sharing bills with metal and hardcore bands just to get a gig.
Ten years on and the band’s resume features such quintessential superstar credits as sold-out shows at Wembley Arena, arena tours around the UK, as well as regularly appearing on the lineups of prestigious international festivals.
The band will soon be returning to Australia once again for Groovin The Moo and Tone Deaf caught up with Josh Franceschi to find out more about the band’s rise, their love for Australia, and what the future looks like for You Me At Six.
1. They Freakin’ Love Australia
“Groovin The Moo came to us and offered us a festival. We recently changed some stuff around with our team in Australia in terms of our agent and stuff. We really wanted to do something different and we also loved the idea of seeing the more regional parts of Australia.
“Although we’ve been a fair few times in the last five years, we haven’t had a chance to get into sort of the other parts of the country and that really enticed us. So just that along with the fact that the offer was good, which made it work financially and it gave us a chance to come and see one of the countries we love and love touring in.
“That was it, it was a no-brainer really. We’re sort of off cycle now, other than this and a few festivals we’re doing in England and one or two we’re doing in America, we’re sort of done now for the year. But this was an opportunity we couldn’t turn down.”
2. They Created Their Own Scene Back Home
“First and foremost, there wasn’t really a scene for our kind of band at the time in Weybridge. Going back about ten years ago when we started playing together and making music, we would put on our own shows at youth centres and we basically played with metal bands or hardcore bands because we had no other choice.
“There weren’t really any other bands like us around where we were from. But we wanted to play shows and we didn’t really care who to, we just wanted to play music. What ended up happening is we’d be the band on the lineup that would stick out because we wouldn’t do the old shooting down the microphone thing too much.
“We were around when Myspace started kicking off and I would just message promoters and book tours and we’d take the train or jump on a bus with merch and CDs at 16 or 17.
“So I think the reason You Me At Six first started getting noticed in England was because people were talking about this band who were doing stuff that wasn’t really in their age group, if you know what I mean?”
3. They’d Like To See More Bands Go DIY
“Every band’s journey is different and I don’t think there’s a right way or a wrong way of doing it. What I would say is there’s definitely a culture thing right now for people trying to start a band where the first step seems to be get on the social networks.
“You try and boost your Instagram or Twitter followers, get really great promo shots and all that stuff, buy all the gear and that, and they just forget about getting in a garage or a rehearsal space and covering some of your favourite bands and doing it as a hobby to start off with.
“I don’t know if that mentality still exists, but I do meet some incredible young musicians that come to our shows. They give us their mixtapes or demo tapes and I really love that. It just shows that there are still people doing it that way.”
4. They Regularly Perform Covers Of Top 40 Pop Hits
“We’re actually inadvertently sometimes forced to do covers, because there’s a radio station in England called Radio 1, BBC Radio 1, and they do a session called the Live Lounge. You go in, you play your latest single, and you also play a song that’s on the playlist.
“There’s not a lot of rock bands or a lot of guitar bands on the playlists on the radio, so we just go through and pick songs that we like and that we think would be different. So we thought since there’s a lack of rock bands, we might as well put a rocky, punky spin on some pop songs.
“We did that with Lady Gaga and Ellie Goulding, we actually did Coldplay’s ‘Paradise’ at one point as well. A musician should always look to every possible genre for influence and we have very eclectic tastes in You Me At Six. We like anything and everything, really.”
5. They Headlined Wembley At 22
“To be honest, who and what they did previously never really went to our heads, because we just thought that we have to put on the best show and be the best band that we can be in that moment in time. Looking back on it now, we’ve gone on to do bigger and better things since the Wembley show, we’ve headlined our own arena tour.
“At the time, I had just turned 22, everybody else was 23, and we were still very young men figuring out exactly what it meant to headline an arena and play those sorts of shows, and we were just trying to soak it all up and spent our whole budget from the show on production and lights.
“It was a celebration more than anything, of three records of hard work, and of the UK rock scene, because one of their own had taken on the mantle.”
6. Several Members Have Their Own Clothing Lines
“Ironically enough, two of us have just started to wind our stuff down. I can only speak on my behalf, but for me, first and foremost, music and fashion or at least having a taste in a different style, goes hand in hand, really.
“I did a lot of street wear stuff and it was something I did with my friends, that we really enjoyed doing because we love those sorts of clothes. It was something I did socially, I did it with my dad as well, which was a really fund experience.
“It’s something we’ve always enjoyed doing and now there’s other stuff in music which has taken my interest. I recently did a song with a guy called Kid Arcade, a dance song, there’s different stuff happening for all of us, we’re investing our time in other areas.”
7. Their Next Album Will Be Their Best
“We just got off the tour we were doing and we all said that we need a bit of time to figure out what it is that we all want to do, and I feel like that is making music with You Me At Six. I don’t feel like we’re going to put as much pressure and have a stop watch like we have with other records.
“Dan’s just built a studio in his house and we’re gonna do a lot of writing there and ease ourselves into it. We’ve got three different labels, one in England, one in America, and one in Australia, and they’re all asking us when they can expect new music, so if something comes out, we could drop a single sooner rather than later.
“It all depends on how that process goes. It’s a very exciting thing, I’m only 24, the other guys are 25 and 26, so we’re all still really young and we’ve got a lot of different stuff we’d like to try musically, but we’ve got a lot of time to do it and we’ve learnt a lot over the last 10 years.
“It’s a great place to be in, it’s just a matter of time. We want to come back and make sure the next You Me At Six record is the best one.”
You Me At Six will soon touch down in Australia to play Groovin The Moo – check below for all dates and details.
Groovin The Moo 2015
Saturday, 25th April 2015
Oakbank SA (ANZAC Day)
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
Sunday, 26th April 2015
Bunbury WA (ANZAC Long Weekend)
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
Saturday, 2nd May 2015
Bendigo VIC
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
Sunday, 3rd May 2015
Canberra ACT
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
Saturday, 9th May 2015
Maitland NSW
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
Sunday, 10th May 2015
Townsville QLD
Tickets: Groovin The Moo
Groovin The Moo Sideshows
TUESDAY 28 APRIL – CAPITOL, PERTH – 18+
Luca Brasi not appearing. With special guests AVASTERA.
www.oztix.com.au
THURSDAY 30 APRIL – THE HI-FI, MELBOURNE – 18+
www.thehifi.com.au
WEDNESDAY 6 MAY – THE METRO, SYDNEY – Licensed All Ages
www.ticketek.com.au
THURSDAY 7 MAY – EVANS THEATRE, PENRITH – 18+
www.ticketek.com.au
