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| Photography: Ken Leanfore |
04 May 2012
You Me At
Six are a dichotomous bunch: the 20-something- year-olds could be the
type of foul-mouthed, trouble-seeking vagabonds who scare your
grandmother into crossing the street, right before wooing your mum with
their fresh- faced guise later that night.
The five Brits are languidly sprawled on uncomfortable
white chairs in EMI’s Sydney office. Drummer Dan Flint is staring at the
floor, his hood masking half his face. “I’m not feeling very well, I
haven’t been feeling well all day,” he offers. They’ve just recorded a
Coldplay cover for Triple J’s Like A Version, which they
unanimously think sounded “like a fart”- they’re discussing the
Soundwave tour and ideas for the evening’s sidewave with A Day To
Remember and The Used.
“We could all bend over and do a poo onstage and throw it out to the crowd.”
A wicked sense of humour was not lost on frontman and
lyricist Josh Franceschi. The 22-year-old who started the band with his
then pre- pubescent school and scene friends (Max Helyer, Chris Miller,
Matt Barnes and Dan Flint) is nonchalantly leading the interview. His
comment is particularly brow-raising given the path the band walked to
gain our attention.
“It was only up until two and a half years ago that we
started getting radio play,” admits Franceschi. “Until then, everything
we did was solely through touring.”
“As opposed to just releasing albums and labels either
giving a shit or not giving a shit,” bassist Matt Barnes chimes in: “We
like to be in control, be on tour and show people that we can do it
ourselves live.”
This stint Down Under may not be their first - in fact,
You Me At Six have been making regular treks to Australia since 2008 -
but it’s the first time they’ve toured with commercial interest
surrounding them. Since the release of breakout single Underdog
in Australia, the pop-punk band have collaborated with Chiddy Bang,
written a theme song for a UK rollercoaster ride, watched their third
album, 2011’s Sinners Never Sleep reach #3 in the UK (#28 on
the ARIA chart) and even outed Noel Gallagher’s solo career after
catching him recording at LA studio, The Sound Factory.
Photography: Ken Leanfore
While their ascent may fit into ‘the road much travelled’
basket, their still embryonic phase can be encapsulated in one memory of
their Soundwave set when Franceschi brought his parents onstage and
shouted, “Give them something to fucking look at!”
“The thing is, like, it’s all in the name of rock ‘n’
roll,” he says through a sideways smile. “I don’t think [my mother] was
too impressed with that.”
“I still don’t think she is impressed with it,” rhythm guitarist, Max Helyer adds.
“She can’t be upset with what was going on. I can’t
control it,” Franceschi says, continuing the polarity. “When I get
onstage, my brain just goes from being a polite articulate young man to
being a piece of shit.”
Parental advocacy has surrounded each member from the
start though; watching their sons leave home for a life on the road is
now the norm, but it wasn’t always that way.
“I think they found it a bit strange when
we first started touring,” smiles Helyer. “They were like ‘should we
let our fifteen-year-old sons go out on a mega bus tour with all their
equipment on their own?’ But then they came down and saw the Astoria
show [2,000 capacity] in London in 2008, and they were like ‘Okay, now
we see why we’ve let them go and do this’. It opened up their minds to
see what’s actually happened to our band.”
Granted, Sinners Never Sleep is rife with break
up anthems, love ballads and adolescent aggravation, but the final track
was reserved for Franceschi’s parents. With lyrics like ‘You told me
just show evil the utmost respect,’ and ‘I only dreamed that when I got
older, you’d be proud of me,’ it’s any wonder his parents were reduced
to tears when he first played it for them.
“One of the most personal songs on that record which is titled When We Were Younger,
is about my mum and dad,” he says. “It was very, kind of, difficult
listening to it for them, but they look at it as a way of me paying
homage to them in the same way.”
Though this attachment is a quality most would associate with an X-Factor finalist
rather than a misanthropist punk band, You Me At Six seem to almost be
at a point where some motherly coddling would be welcomed. “I
think a common misconception about touring life is that it’s glamorous
and very rock ‘n’ roll,” says Franceschi. “But there’s nothing glamorous
about going to bed at 1 o’clock in the morning and having a lobby call
at 6am.
“Guys back home are like ‘You guys are living the dream,’
and for a huge part we are, we’re very blessed to be doing what we’re
doing but it can be very strenuous on the body and very tiring.”
Given, in December and January alone, the band had already
boarded 18 flights, and after a stint through Indonesia and another
round of the UK, they were awarded part of April off. Watching
the five lethargic bodies let their attention ebb to the carpet is no
real surprise, even less of a shock is Flint’s conscious closing of his
eyelids. Interestingly, their own words come to mind: You Me At Six
aren’t the kind of band to gratuitously pander to the needs of their
label, nor the media; they earned their right to sell out Sydney’s
Roundhouse and sit between Machine Head and Alice Cooper on the ARIA
chart through tenacious touring, DIY fan involvement and lyrics that
inject colour into a currently listless pop punk scene.
“I think one of our strong points is that our fans can
really take something from our music and our lyrics because it is so
personal,” explains Franceschi. “I don’t mind doing that, writing lyrics
and being in this band has always been a very therapeutic process for
me, it’s good exorcising the demons.”
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