Soundwave Festival

Biography

YOU ME AT SIX INTERVIEW

British rockers have certainly been living the dream! Within three short years of forming the band rose to fame with the success of their 2007 debut album ‘Take off Your Colours’ which spawned the singles ‘Finders Keepers’, ‘Kiss and Tell’ and ‘Save it for the bedroom’. You me at Six spent the best part of the next two years on the road in support of the album, breaking down the barriers and winning the hearts of music lovers in the UK. Hitting the road soon after the album’s release the bands played the opening slot of the Slam Dunk Festival which two years later they went on to headline. Playing alongside artists such as Paramore also drew media attention to the band which has certainly helped them forge a strong following in their home country!

In November of 2009 bands vocalist Josh Franceschi announced that album number two was completed and by mid-January the band’s second album titled ‘Hold me Down’ was unleashed on the world. The album which is filled with amazing catchy rock tunes debuted at #4 on the UK charts an outstanding achievement for these young rockers! With a total of twelve tracks the album tackles many of the issues our youth are currently facing … love, isolation, hate, abandonment! After listening to the album countless times now, it is easy to see why so many music lovers are gravitating towards You me at Six! Tracks like ‘Safer to Hate her’, ‘Playing the Blame Game’ and ‘Hard to Swallow’ are stand out gems that showcase the maturity and growth of the band as both musicians and writers.

You me at Six will embark on their first ever Australian tour later this month when they take part in the Soundwave festival alongside Set your Goals, Anthrax, Anti-flag, Four year Strong and many more! The band is also set to play three side-shows on the east coast with female fronted rockers Paramore! I had the pleasure of catching up with You me at Six vocalist Josh Franceschi last week to talk about the bands upcoming visit to Australia, his thoughts on being part of the Soundwave festival bill and the success of ‘Hold me Down’.
Kick back as the ‘Fireworks’ explode with Josh Franceschi!

Soundwave: Hey Josh, thanx for taking the time out to speak with me today, how’s everything going man?

Josh Franceschi: Okay man, we’ve got some time off at the moment, when I say time off… our new album came out literally last week here in the U.K. so we were very busy last week doing promo, but this week all we have to worry about band wise is some interviews and practicing! I’ve been going down to the gym and I wanna buy a new bed, I’m sick and tired of having what looks like a six year olds bed in my room when I’m nineteen years of age [laughs].

Soundwave: [Laughs] To kick off mate, I want to congratulate you on the new album ‘Hold me Down’ a fantastic effort, with some kickin’ catchy tunes! How much time did you spend in the studio on this one?

Josh Franceschi: We spent about two and a half months in the recording studio in Reading here in the U.K. Ironically we worked with the same guys that we worked with on album number one but I think that the difference in the quality of sound and production on album one and album two is quite obvious. Album two sounds far better and I think that’s because we spent about two weeks recording ’Take off Your Colours’ where we spent two months recording ‘Hold me Down’. A lot more time and a lot more care was put into recording the songs, I definitely feel very proud of ‘Hold me Down’. We spent a lot of time making sure everything was just right when we were tracking it and making sure that every vocal harmony and that every guitar part was in there for a reason! We’re very happy with it!

Soundwave: Tell us about the title Josh, why did you guys go with ‘Hold Me Down’ as the name for the new album and what other titles were you guys throwing around?

Josh Franceschi: I can’t actually remember any of the other titles that we were thrown around at the time. The title sounds quite negative, but the way we perceived it is as a very positive title. The phase hold me down is saying how things can hold you down or may have held you down in the past but it’s about overcoming that. It’s not meant to be so philosophical, it’s not meant to be that intense. At the time as soppy as it sounds… I had just broken up with a long term girlfriend, some of us had problems at home with family members, some of our best friends that we had known for years had started talking shit about us, and taking drugs. All of these things were happening that could’ve distracted us from achieving what we wanted to achieve and recording what we wanted to record! I remember walking into the studio one day and saying “hey guys what do you think of the title hold me down”? I came up with the idea of how we could use it for a promo campaign or for merchandise and after we sat down and thought about it hold me down really summed up everything that we wanted to say on this album so we used it!

Soundwave: Now that the whole process is over… looking back is there anything you would’ve changed or wish you’d done differently?

Josh Franceschi: I think this is the first time that I can look back at something that our bands done and didn’t wish we had done something different! I think we did what we set out to do which was record an album which had the good parts from our last album and explored them and developed them more. We improved and developed our sound and I think we’ve done everything that we set out to do! Now, our challenge with album number two was to cement our position in the U.K. as one of the leading U.K. rock bands but also to take it worldwide and make people notice us. So the first half of 2010 is hitting Australia for Soundwave and the Paramore sideshows that we’re doing, we really want to leave Australia with people hearing about You Me At Six a little more and hopefully we will be able to come back to do our own headlining shows.

Soundwave: Josh, ‘Hold Me Down’ was released last week, how has the response been from friends, family and the fans which have heard the new stuff so far!

Josh Franceschi: It’s been pretty mind-blowing to be honest! We went into the U.K. top forty at #4 and we stayed there throughout the mid-week sales. On a Sunday here in the U.K. the single and album charts get released and we ended up at #5 at the end of the week which is a pretty massive thing, to put it into context, ahead of us were artists like Lady Gaga and The Vampire Weekend. I’m not too sure if they are big there in Australia but over here they are massive platinum selling artists! Either above us or below us were all massive acts or acts that have sold many albums in the past. We were always hoping that we would get a good chart position but we never thought that we’d be a top five band! I think life changing is a little strong but it has definitely changed my perspective on our band and the potential it has in the future to do bigger and better things. It was great seeing the response from our fans, we did some in-stores last week when the album came out and it was awesome to see them already singing along to all the songs. A lot of people have been coming up to us or writing on forums saying that they never liked our band before, in fact saying how much that hated us but ‘Hold Me Down’ is an amazing album and I now call myself a You Me At Six fan! When I hear stuff like that I’m like… fuck yeah we did it! We did what we wanted to do which was please our existing fans and get the haters onside as well!

Soundwave: Well, Josh it certainly seems to be working! In a few weeks time Australian audiences are going to get to see you guys doing your thing onstage at the Soundwave Festivals… No doubt you guys are thrilled to be a part of the festival?

Josh Franceschi: Oh mate, seriously I can’t even begin to articulate how excited that we are to be able to come over to Australia. We’re all 19-20 years of age and to know that we’re going to be playing with a lot of our favorite bands and doing some sideshows with our friend’s Paramore, I really feel like it’s going to be a great few weeks! There are lots of bands on the bill like Set Your Goals, A Day To Remember, Four Year Strong, Rolo Tomassi that are all good friends of ours. Our tour manager was saying that the whole tour moves around like a massive convoy, you’re all on the same flights from show to show, you end up in the same hotels or in the same areas, so it sounds like it is going to be a holiday with our friends and we get to play some shows as well… and the sun man, I can’t wait to see the sun, I need to get a tan!

Soundwave: [Laughs] Oh that’s right you guys have had the bad blizzards over there recently!

Josh Franceschi: Yeah tell me about it! We’ve been covered in snow the last few weeks so sitting by the pool with a beer actually sounds fantastic!

Soundwave: Josh, the line-up for Soundwave is amazing, featuring Anti-Flag, Janes Addiction, Him, Anthrax among many others, will you be putting some time aside to check out the other bands and is there anyone on the bill that you just have to see?

Josh Franceschi: To be honest as our bands toured more and more it’s very hard to then go to a show now as a spectator if that makes any sense… there are very few bands that I will go and see at home when I have time off! I’m looking forward to seeing all the bands that are our friends on the bill like A Day To Remember, Set Your Goals’ all the ones I mentioned earlier. I’m also really excited to see My Chemical Romance because I haven’t seen them live since 2006 I know they have a new record coming out and I’m sure it’s going to be great, so I’m looking forward to seeing those guys! I think we clash with Taking Back Sunday on the tour but I would have loved to have seen them! I’m looking forward to discovering some new music as well, I have been looking at the line up and checking out various bands Myspace pages and listening to new music which is always good to do.

Soundwave: Mate when you fly half way around the world to do a festival such as this… besides playing the shows what do you most look forward to?

Josh Franceschi: I’ve got a few friends in Australia who I went to school with that recently moved to out there, I know it sounds a little touristy but we want to check out all the hot spots, the koala bear sanctuary, we have booked in and that’s going to be insane. It’s difficult to say but I love going to different places and just trying to soak up as much culture and as many facts as I can about the place! My parents are so envious, they’ve travelled to every single place in the world except Australia and I’m getting to go to the one place they never got to see in the world.

Soundwave: There’s no doubt that when you’re playing on the large festival bills it can be a fantastic way to expose the band to a lot of people who may have never heard you before … for those punters attending Soundwave that plan on checking out You me at Six, in a few words how would you describe the band live and what can the Australian audiences expect when you take to the Soundwave stage?

Josh Franceschi: I know our stage time is probably during the hottest part of the day but I’m looking forward to playing a lot of new stuff from ‘Hold Me Down’, if you come and see You Me At Six one thing that sets us apart is that we’re a British band, we’re not Australian or American… I guess that’s the one thing that’s really different about us, you can expect a lot of energy and fun, us jumping around and getting right into it!

Soundwave: Josh unfortunately we’re out of time, I do want to thank you again for speaking with us today, it’s been a pleasure, I look forward to catching your set at Soundwave! Do you have any last words for our readers?

Josh Franceschi: Thanks for reading; we’ll see you in the sun!

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YOU ME AT SIX began in Weybridge, Surrey in 2005 as most bands do: friends coming together and playing music to pass the time. United by their love of bands such as Fall Out Boy and Blink-182, the UK based quintet started out just like any other, practicing in their families’ garages and playing shows to their friends.

Since the autumn of 2007, it’s been a whirlwind for YOU ME AT SIX... Two Kerrang! Nominations, tours supporting everyone from Fightstar to New Found Glory, Paramore, Angels & Airwaves and Fall Out Boy as well as numerous headline tours and festival appearances came their way. Their debut album ‘Take Off Your Colours’ was also released and “is a great first album from the boys, I think this album will prove a lot of people wrong.” – Alt Sounds

YOU ME AT SIX will be at wreaking havoc at Soundwave 2010 and as Sonic Dice can attest to... “after witnessing a show like this I can only imagine YMAS getting bigger and bigger.”

The track 'Always Attract' features harmony vocals by singer Josh Franceschi's sister, Elissa Franceschi.