| You Me at Six | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Weybridge, Surrey, England, UK |
| Genres | Alternative rock, pop punk, post-hardcore (early) |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Virgin, Epitaph, Slam Dunk |
| Associated acts | The Blackout, Kids in Glass Houses, Bring Me The Horizon, Panic! at the Disco, The Alliance, Canterbury, The Liaison, Jefferson Starship |
| Website | www.youmeatsix.co.uk |
| Members | |
| Josh Franceschi Max Helyer Chris Miller Matt Barnes Dan Flint |
|
| Past members | |
| Joe Phillips Steve Foy |
|
You Me at Six is a British rock band from Weybridge, Surrey. Formed in 2004, the group rose to fame in 2008 with the success of their debut album, Take Off Your Colours, which included the singles "Save It for the Bedroom", "Finders Keepers" and "Kiss and Tell", with the latter two peaking at #33 and #42 respectively in the official UK Singles Chart.[1] The band's main influences include American rock bands Blink 182, Incubus and Thrice.
In the early days of You Me at Six they released 2 extended plays We Know What It Means to Be Alone and Untitled. Tracks such as "Gossip" and "The Rumour" were born on this EP. Joe Phillips was also kicked out of the band and was replaced by Dan Flint just before the release of the first album. They were nominated for "Best British Band" at the 2008, 2009 and 2010 Kerrang! Awards, losing each time to metalcore band Bullet for My Valentine. However, they won the title for 'Best British Band' in 2011.[2]
The band released their second studio album, titled Hold Me Down on 11 January 2010,[3] which reached number 5 in the UK. This album included the popular singles "Underdog", which reached number 49 in the UK and "Liquid Confidence" which peaked at number 86. The band released the third official single from the album, "Stay with Me", on 5 September 2010 which peaked at #53.
The band also released a single titled "Rescue Me" on 14 February 2011, which features American alternative hip hop act Chiddy Bang. The band also made an announcement that they would be heading back to the studio in early February/March 2011 in preparation to record their third upcoming album, Sinners Never Sleep, which was released in the UK on 3 October 2011.
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You Me at Six' debut album 'Take Off Your Colours' was released through Slam Dunk Records on 8 October 2008. it spawned debut single "Save It for the Bedroom", "If I Were in Your Shoes", "Gossip", "Jealous Minds Think Alike", "Finders Keepers" and "Kiss and Tell". In September, You Me at Six released a deluxe version of the album with a bonus disc featuring singles "Finders Keepers" and "Kiss and Tell" along with B-sides "Sweet Feet", "All Your Fault" and "Blue Eyes Don't Lie". You Me at Six covered Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" as a Live Lounge cover which became a B-side on the "Kiss and Tell" single.
On 11 November 2009, lead singer Josh Franceschi announced that their second album was completed, and would be released in early 2010.[4] AbsolutePunk.net later announced the album would be titled Hold Me Down and would be released through Virgin Records on 11 January 2010.[5] The band then announced shortly afterwards that they would be making the song, "The Consequence" available for free digital download from their official website.[6] The album was recorded at Outhouse Studios in Reading, produced and engineered by Matt O'Grady and mixed by John Mitchell, as was their previous record Take Off Your Colours.[7] The album debuted at #5 in the UK album charts, however it managed to hit #4 for the mid-week charts. Later, the band announced that the first official new single from Hold Me Down is titled "Underdog". The song was later made available for free streaming on the band's Myspace site. On 28 January, the band announced that they would be releasing an iTunes exclusive bundle, including the second follow-up single of their new album Hold Me Down, "Underdog" (which precedes "The Consequence"). The Underdog EP would also include acoustic version of the track, and an all-new b-side titled "Fact-tastic." On 14 July 2010, the band announced the third single from the second album Hold Me Down, titled "Stay with Me". On 21 July, the band released the music video for the single on their official website < http://www.youmeatsix.co.uk>, and was made available later on iTunes and the band's Youtube channel. The video was shot on location in California before they headed out for the Warped Tour 2010. It was also confirmed that the band would be releasing an official iTunes "single bundle" for "Stay with Me". The bundle, which would be made available on iTunes 29 August, includes an acoustic version of "Stay with Me", along with a cover of the track "Starry Eyed" by Ellie Goulding (on which the band first performed at the Radio 1 Live Lounge in May). On 27 July, however, the band announced on their Myspace site that they would be pushing back the original release date (supposedly dated on 29 August) of the Stay with Me "single bundle", and that to be set on 5 September instead. The tracks to be included in the bundle however, were not made any changes.
In late 2010, You Me at Six collaborated with American rap duo Chiddy Bang on a track titled "Rescue Me" and was later released on 14 February 2011. The single's package included an exclusive B-Side track 'Knew It Was You', which was written back in the old 'Hold Me Down' days. However, it was later confirmed that the track would not be featuring on the band's upcoming third studio album, Sinners Never Sleep.
On 15 December 2010, the band did an interview with coupdemainmagazine regarding to the progress of their upcoming third studio album. Frontman Josh stated that the band just did several demos for the record and that the songs would be of "heavier" than what the previous records Take Off Your Colours/Hold Me Down would be like. He also added on, "We’ve got songs that we’ve written that sound like they could be on a Coldplay or Snow Patrol album. And then we’ve got another song that sounds like it could be on a Parkway Drive record. It's really crazy if you were to ask me!". The album was also said to set for a September 2011 release.
In early 2011, rumours surfaced on the internet that the band had invited several guests to appear on the upcoming album, some of which were Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes, Adele and Hayley Williams. The collaboration of Williams and the band were pretty much talked about on forums and music sites like "Punktastic.com" after frontman Josh expressed a keen interest in doing a duet with Williams after the Reading and Leeds Festival, Soundwave festival, and the sold out 15-date European tour early last year. Williams and the band however, kept a low head on the sayings with no confirmation of a possible collaboration.
On 8 April 2011, it was confirmed on a video uploaded on lads-on-tour.tumblr.com that Oli Sykes is currently recording with the band on their upcoming third album in the Sound Factory studio, Los Angeles.
According to a tweet from Josh Franceschi on 3 August 2011, pre-orders for "Sinners Never Sleep" over at Play.com are the fastest the site have ever seen, to be of the band's what-to-be-seen.
On 8 August 2011, Josh also revealed to fans that the band would be filming the music video for the first single of the new record, titled "Loverboy" in early August. The single artwork was also unveiled hours later the announcement, and will be made available on 25 September.
Sinners Never Sleep was finally released on 3 October, and peaked at Number 3 in the Official UK Album Charts.
Throughout the months of September to November, the band has released one single off the new album, titled "Loverboy" and the EP includes the original track itself, along with both an acoustic and instrumental version of the track & an additional unreleased track titled 'Moon Child'. The EP was released on 23 September in UK.
In early November, the band announced that they would be releasing a new single off the album, and was later revealed to be the track "Bite My Tongue" which features Oli Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon. The official music video which also stars Oli Sykes was released soon after. The EP, which is set to be released on 4 December in the UK, will include the track itself along with two other brand new tracks titled "Just Forget" and "Brother". The band later admitted that the song "Just Forget" was meant to be the original title of the track "Bite My Tongue" but was later made changes to. The song is also a brand new, unreleased song pre-recorded especially by the band itself in the midst of preparation for the new album in late 2010. Josh also confessed that the track "Moon Child" in their latest "Loverboy" EP and "Brother" were some of the songs that didnt make the cut for Hold Me Down as well. Other song titles were also mentioned to be some of those that were not included in the album, like "Over Us", "Retain" and "Your Birthday".
The band is also currently scheduled for plans on touring parts of Southeast Asia and Europe, including countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Japan in mid-2012.
You Me at Six kicked off their year playing a launch show in Kingston — originally intended to be an instore gig at Banquet Records, it was quickly upgraded to the new Hippodrome[8] — in support of their new album Hold Me Down on 11 January. As of February they have played 3 dates, including, also, an HMV instore and an HMV event headline promoting new British music at the Relentless Garage London. They announced that they would be playing several festivals including Punkspring in Japan, the whole Vans Warped Tour;[9] and supported Paramore on all Soundwave dates, as well as on Paramore's tour.[10]
They have completed their third sell-out headline tour in support of their second album Hold Me Down. They were joined by Sean Smith and Elissa Franceschi on selected dates. In Belfast, Matt told GiggingNI.com how it was "exciting to see how much you've grown from a year and a half ago".[11]
It was announce on the Leeds leg of the tour on 16 March that You Me At Six would be returning to Leeds and playing the festival.In August 2010, the band performed on the main stage at the Leeds and Reading festivals.[12] The band also did a Reading and Leeds warm up gig at Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth in August. The band are also doing a full tour of the UK starting in December 2010.
On 18 May 2010, You Me at Six visited BBC Radio One's Live Lounge for the second time, presented by Fearne Cotton. Aside from being interviewed they played a version of "Liquid Confidence" and a cover of Ellie Goulding's "Starry Eyed" at Maida Vale, in London live on air.[13] On 23 May 2010, they played the "In New Music We Trust" stage at the Radio One Big Weekend in Bangor, North Wales. They were joined onstage by Sean Smith for "The Consequence" and Aled Phillips on "Save It for the Bedroom".
In Summer 2011, You Me at Six were intending to support blink-182 on their European Tour, but due to blink-182 cancelling their tour until 2012, You Me at Six will no longer be supporting blink-182, and have instead announced that they will instead be touring in Autumn.
On 15 November 2010, the band announced that they would be embarking on their UK tour, which would be held throughout dates in December, also titled to be their "final Hold Me Down Tour".
On 3 December 2010, the band posted an announcement on their official website stating "both the band and YMAS HQ are extremely disappointed to announce that due to the inclement weather and transport issues, the two You Me at Six shows at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange this weekend will be postponed" and that "it's just not safe for the band or the attending fans to travel over to the show". You Me at Six has also made a reschedule of both the dates and an exchange fund of the tickets bought earlier.
During the first Edinburgh show, Josh announced that the band would be playing at T in the Park.
On 21 February 2011, the band announced that they would be touring with Parkway Drive, Bleeding Through, Confession and more on the Mix N' Mash Tour in May. The band's frontman Josh had also claimed that the band would be heading over to New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan and amongst other countries later in the year, but no official date has been specified yet though.
On 28 February 2011, it was announced that You Me at Six would be playing both Sonisphere UK and V Festival. It was confirmed via Josh's Twitter that these are the only other two festivals You Me at Six would be playing this year in the UK.
On 16 April 2011, blink-182 announced that their headlining tour would be delayed till 2012 due to the fact that they have not finished recording for the new album yet. As a result, You Me at Six will not be touring with them. Upcoming tour dates for the UK in September will be released on 15 June, and the band have announced that they will be touring Australia with We the Kings in late August/early September.
On 10 July 2011, the band announced headlining US tour dates for October 2011 to promote the release of their third studio album.
Josh also recently announced the title of the third studio album as Sinners Never Sleep. The first single to be released is titled "Lover Boy", set to release 25 September 2011.
On 29 August 2011, the fourth track of the album, "This is the First Thing" was leaked online by one of the inside recording team member back in Los Angeles while the band was tracking their vocals. On 1 September 2011, a 30-second snippet of the track from the record "Bite My Tongue" featuring Oli Sykes was leaked on the internet as well. It was removed 30 minutes later due to infringement and copyrighted issues.
The album received major positive reviews upon its release on 30 September, with music site NME.com stating the album to be the "most anticipated rock album of the year". Parkway Drive frontman Winston McCall is also featured on the track "Time is Money".
Their next UK tours starts in March 2012.
The band's bassist Matt Barnes owns a clothing line range called "Cheer Up! Clothing", which was first formed in late 2007.[14] The clothing line sponsors several artists and bands including Four Year Strong, Emarosa, The All-American Rejects, VersaEmerge, and We Are the In Crowd amongst others.
The band's frontman Josh Franceschi himself also owns a clothing range, "Down But Not Out".[15] Josh himself expressed that "the phrase, "Down But Not Out", has been my (Josh) ethos, my way of approaching life for the last two years or so" and have "always wanted to start some sort of clothing company to express myself through a means other than music". The clothing line models' feature several of the band's members as well.
In summer 2011, the band's rhythm guitarist Max Helyer started up his very own clothing range called "Become Antique".
| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | "Save It for the Bedroom" (original release) | Lawrence Hardy [16][17] |
| 2008 | "If I Were in Your Shoes" | |
| "Gossip" | Greg Allan[18] | |
| "Jealous Minds Think Alike" | Shane Davey [19][20] | |
| 2009 | "Save It for the Bedroom" (re-release) | |
| "Finders Keepers" | Nick Bartlett[21] | |
| "Kiss and Tell" | James Copeman[22] | |
| 2010 | "The Consequence" | Lawrence Hardy |
| "Underdog" | Nick Bartlett | |
| "Liquid Confidence" | Adam Powell [23] | |
| "Stay with Me" | Frank Borin | |
| "Rescue Me" (feat. Chiddy) | James Lees | |
| "Loverboy" | Eran Creevy | |
| 2011 | "Bite My Tongue" (feat. Oli Sykes of Bring Me the Horizon) | Tim Mattia |
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