{"id":30923,"date":"2017-01-06T07:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-01-05T20:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=30923"},"modified":"2017-01-05T11:51:37","modified_gmt":"2017-01-05T00:51:37","slug":"josh-franceschi-six","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2017\/01\/josh-franceschi-six\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Franceschi of You Me At Six"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\u201c\u2026our mission statement for every record from the start has always been that we don\u2019t want to make the same record that we just made and with \u2018Cavalier Youth\u2019 not that there\u2019s any sense of regret but there are some things we would\u2019ve done differently\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Now a decade into their career, the five friends who form You Me At Six are focused on the serious business of becoming Britain\u2019s biggest and best rock band. With four previous albums under their belt the band has returned with what is destined to be their best yet, \u2018Night People\u2019. A raw, real album that shows maturity and growth in a band that can only go up from here and expect to hear more about this band as the year continues.<\/p>\n

Downstairs in his living room at home, Josh from You Me At Six gave us a call to catch up and discuss the band\u2019s amazing new record \u2018Night People\u2019, delving into its creation, tracks, touring Australia, and much more as they\u2019re ready to take on the world\u2026 Check it out!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been about two and a half years since we last chatted, so let\u2019s catch up, how have the last two and a half years been for You Me At Six?<\/strong>
\nYeah they\u2019ve been great, man, you know we\u2019ve obviously put out a record and we\u2019ve been touring a record called \u2018 Cavalier Youth\u2019 and then we took a year off and just sort of behind the scenes were creating music and writing music together but with not sure when or how the record was going to come out. Yeah, we\u2019ve just been taking out time and obviously made \u2018Night People\u2019 the record and we\u2019re about to get into it and go touring again and all the usual good stuff the comes with being in a band really.<\/p>\n

So in that time since \u2018Cavalier Youth\u2019 was there anything that did end up inspiring what became \u2018Night People\u2019?<\/strong>
\nActually in Australia we played a festival called \u2018Groovin\u2019 The Moo\u2019 which I think sort of was an interesting thing for us to do, playing with a lot of different artists and travelling in that way and I think actually, again in England we played a festival called \u2018The Isle of Wight\u2019 festival, a very prestigious crossover festival which I don\u2019t think we were ever going to have an opportunity to play and we played main support on the main stage to The Black Keys and that was an almost a career affirming moment where we\u2019d been waiting for that opportunity for a long time and when it eventually came I think the heritage of that festival inspired us to try and move the band I slightly different direction and also celebrating our ten year anniversary we decided that we wanted to make sure that the next ten years would be a completely different chapter in the band lifespan and to try new things and to try and evolve as much as we could and yeah, it\u2019s been an exciting process putting this record together.<\/p>\n

In listening to it and loving what\u00a0 you\u2019ve done, it\u2019s like I\u2019m hearing a band that\u2019s continuing to grow and mature, do you find that when you go into making a new album you\u2019re taking experience from the last and developing on that?<\/strong>
\nAbsolutely man, also our mission statement for every record from the start has always been that we don\u2019t want to make the same record that we just made and with \u2018Cavalier Youth\u2019 not that there\u2019s any sense of regret but there are some things we would\u2019ve done differently, and from an individual perspective from myself I wish I\u2019d contributed more in writing guitar parts because I basically didn\u2019t pick up the guitar for a few years and I stopped contributing to the band in that sense. I think just making \u2018Cavalier Youth\u2019, I believe that every record is part of the process for the record that follows, I don\u2019t think you can\u2019t be that band without making the record before. I\u2019m sure it had a very valuable impact on this record now.<\/p>\n

So what was the feeling when you got to hear the album in full for the first time?<\/strong>
\nNothing can really ever\u2026 it never stops feeling special when you get in the car with the band for the first time after leaving the studio and usually it\u2019s like we\u2019ve just tracking a song or something like that way, but nothing can ever really replaced that feeling of listening to songs for the first time. For me, when we got the mixes back from Andrew Scheps that\u2019s when I knew we had something pretty special, he\u2019s the guy that is an incredible mixer and he really took our band to a new place it feels like, and it was very exciting to have the sort of tag team with Jacquire King and Andrew Scheps working on our band.<\/p>\n

I wanted to ask about Jacuire King actually, because you worked with him for the first time, what did he bring to the band that worked for this record?<\/strong>
\nI think the main thing that he brought was a much needed injection of confidence to our band, and I think also him encouraging us to record the record live, he couldn\u2019t believe that we\u2019d never made a record live together and we\u2019ve been playing music or ten years and he couldn\u2019t believe that no one tried to capture this band in a live capacity. So that was a new challenge for us but I think it really refocused us as a group and really when you\u2019re recording a record live you need to all be in synch and you all need to trust each other\u2019s abilities and also encourage the evolution as individual musicians but as a collective, so that was a big thing for us recording the record live, I don\u2019t think we\u2019d never even considered doing it like that before so that was a massive step for us to do that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen you live many times before and I feel that\u2019s where you guys truly shine so it is surprising to hear that you haven\u2019t done that before\u2026<\/strong>
\nWell that honestly was the thinking behind it, we\u2019ve actually had feedback en masse in the past that people think we\u2019re a better live band than we are on record and they actually feel like they rediscover the band when they see us live. We thought that if that\u2019s the feedback we\u2019re getting from fans old and new then why are we not trying to see what it would sound like just recording a live record. Then obviously of course there\u2019s punch-ins and there\u2019s re-tracking and almost none of the vocals that you hear on the record were taken from one exact perfect live take but they\u2019re taken from multiple live takes, and I think that in itself gives the record a whole new energy and perspective and I feel like it\u2019s something that now we\u2019ve done now I\u2019m not sure I could go back to making music with people in different rooms just recording to a metronome. I feel like it\u2019s given our band a new lease and now when playing these new songs live on some of our recent touring, we\u2019re already so well-rehearsed and it\u2019s not like we\u2019re struggling to play songs live for the first time, we know it like the back of our hand and I think that\u2019s really given the songs and extra edge when we\u2019re playing them live.<\/p>\n

I always like to single one song on the album to ask about that stands out, but that was hard, so I\u2019ve gone with two\u2026 the first one that stood out for me was \u2018Brand New\u2019 especially with that hook in the chorus, can you tell us about that one?<\/strong>
\nSure, for me one of the most exciting parts of making this record was working with one of the engineers on the record who is a guy names Lowell, he\u2019s worked with The Killers and Brandon Flowers and I\u2019ve always been a big admirer of Brandon Flowers and the way there\u2019s a simplicity to his hooks and his melodies and also he doesn\u2019t try and crowd and drown out the lead vocal with lots and lots of harmonies. \u2018Brand New\u2019 is where I really saw Lowell and I was really stuck for how I should finesse and build on the chorus with the melody and the harmonies and he just really helped me simplify it by I guess in a way with the experience he\u2019s had with working with people like him, and the singer from Manchester Orchestra, the guys from Kings of Leon, James Bay and I think predominantly in the past we\u2019ve worked with producers that have recorded bands that have taken similar paths to us sonically, whether it be Neal Avron who of course has made Linkin Park and Fall Out Boy records, or whether it be Garth Richardson who has made Biffy Clyro records, and I felt that this was the first time we were working with a group and obviously Jacquire King is the main producer but engineers who really didn\u2019t know too much about our band previously and they never seemed like they wanted to know what we\u2019ve done in the past because they wanted to make the best record we could make at that moment in time with them and not be repeating and rehashing old tricks. So the melody for that song really I kind of wanted to have a melody that felt in retrospect where the verses are quite moody I guess in a sense, I felt like it was important to have an uplifting chorus. I remember when the guys were jamming that song for the first time and I knew what the lyrics were before I knew what the melody was in that case and I wanted it to be something positive, the idea of waiting for someone else to make you feel brand new, I don\u2019t know what happened but I found it particularly easy to write that part of the song.<\/p>\n

Now I\u2019ve discussed my love of your ballads with a few of you guys now, and on this record we have the outstanding \u2018Take On The World\u2019. Is writing the ballad style song something that\u2019s now become a must for You Me At Six?<\/strong>
\nWell you know what, our biggest thing is we\u2019ve written plenty of ballads which our fan base in the past will know whether it be \u2018Crash\u2019 or \u2018Fireworks\u2019 or \u2018Always Attract\u2019 and songs like that, but for us I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve ever written a ballad that we feel is a single, whereas with \u2018Take On The World\u2019 I feel like we\u2019ve done that, and I actually feel like it\u2019s one of, if not the most important song on the record for us because I feel like it\u2019s the first time people will hear our band in that way potentially on the radio or that sense. It\u2019s a very important song for us because it\u2019s a song we didn\u2019t actually have, we split the recording into two trips, and the first trip we didn\u2019t even have that song, and we sort of put that song together in the time in between the two recording trips. Jacquire didn\u2019t even know we had that song in the locker so to speak and I remember when we sent it to him for the first time he was like \u201cWow, this record has just taken a whole new step forward\u201d and he got really excited about it, and I must have recorded and re-recorded my vocals on the song so many times because he kept on saying to me \u201cNo, Josh, you sound too stiff, this vocal performance is all about you being comfortable and you really making the listener fee and take them on a journey of I guess feeling fragile at times\u201d because if you listen to the message of the\u00a0 song, it\u2019s a love song but it\u2019s not the typical love song of you\u2019re so beautiful, I love you so much isn\u2019t life so great, it\u2019s more like life is shit and I wish I could make life a little less shit for both of us and I wish I could take some of the pain and frustration out of your life and carry that burden.<\/p>\n

I think one of my favourite songs of all time, whether it\u2019s the coolest thing to say I don\u2019t know, but I think the sentiment and the idea behind \u2018Fix You\u2019 by Coldplay is so beautiful and I\u2019ve always wanted to try write a song that I felt that I could do something along those lines, you know a selfless kind of love and I think with \u2018Take On The World\u2019 we\u2019ve really done that and I think it\u2019s a universal song and I feel like it\u2019s a song that anybody from any age group or any sort of walk of life could understand the idea of \u201cJust say the word and we\u2019ll take on the world\u201d and I don\u2019t know, maybe it\u2019s the kind of song 2017 is going to need more than any other song on the record, really I think I think it\u2019s a song that I hope will bring positivity and an injection of good vibrations into the universe at a time where I think we really need it. We\u2019ll see, that\u2019s the intention behind it and I\u2019m glad you picked that song out.<\/p>\n

Well there\u2019s your tagline for the record\u2026 \u2018You Me At Six, making life a little less shit\u2019<\/strong>
\n*laughs* Yeah absolutely man *laughs*<\/p>\n

Now I have to ask, when do you think we\u2019ll see you back in Australia?<\/strong>
\nMate, we\u2019ve been going back and forth over this for the last few weeks because of course Australia is such an important place, for me it\u2019s like You Me At Six\u2019s musical home and I don\u2019t say that just for the sake of headlines and trying to appease the locals, I really mean that. I\u2019ve always felt incredibly liberated and incredibly happy when I\u2019ve toured Australia and played Australia. I think some of our favourite people we\u2019ve met through touring and working in the music industry are Australian and are Australian musicians , and there\u2019s just a vibe over there that you guys have that really speaks to me and really and\u00a0 I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a single guy in You Me At Six that doesn\u2019t love coming to Australia, so we are trying to work it out, we\u2019re trying to make sure we come at the right time, there are actually some potentials to go over and support some bigger bands which we\u2019re weighing up and trying to figure out if that\u2019s the right move for us, but I\u2019m confident and there\u2019s no doubt about it, we\u2019ll definitely be in Australia in 2017 but if it\u2019s the front half or the back half I wouldn\u2019t want to say yet because I honestly don\u2019t know, we will be back of course.<\/p>\n

Lastly let\u2019s look ahead to the future, so finish this sentence for me, in 2017 You Me At Six want to\u2026<\/strong>
\nBe one of the most important rock bands in the world in 2017, that\u2019s our mission statement on this record because I also feel like there\u2019s a lot of people that haven\u2019t even discovered You Me At Six yet that would really enjoy us if they heard us, so I hope this is the year of discovery for people with this band.<\/p>\n

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Essential Information<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Surrey, England<\/p>\n

Band Members:<\/strong> Josh Franceschi \u2013 lead vocals, Max Helyer \u2013 rhythm guitar, backing vocals, Chris Miller \u2013 lead guitar, Matt Barnes \u2013 bass guitar, Dan Flint \u2013 drums, percussion.<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.youmeatsix.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> Night People (Out now \u2013 Liberator Music \/ BMG) \u2013 Check out our review of the album HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

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