You Me At Six are becoming one of the hardest bands of 2011 to miss. They are about to begin their adventure to Australia with We The Kings and I had the chance to have a chat with rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist Max to discuss the roller coaster ride of a year they have had.
You Me At Six have been a busy band – you only have to check out their Myspace to see they have been playing show after show, festival after festival. So I had to ask Max, “compared to America’s Warped Festival and UK’s Reading Festival, how did Soundwave compare?” Max explains, “Soundwave is probably the best festival we have done in our lifetime as a band, it’s one of the best festivals to play! The way you get catered for, it’s so relaxing – obviously the festival itself has always got amazing bands on the line-up, some of the best line-ups in the world you know?”
The conversation steers towards the experiences Max has had touring Australia previously with You Me At Six “Everything is always fantastic in Australia, nothing ever goes wrong!” But I had to ask, “did anything happen last time you hope doesn’t happen again?” Max answered, “The only thing I’d like to have this time is for it to not be so rushed, I’d like some more time to see the cities.”
With a new album in the pipelines, I ask Max how much he is willing to reveal, “Well, we are about 90% of the way through it. It’s been about a 7-8 month process, so we are all itching to get something out, but it’s all in good time, patience is a virtue; be prepared but be prepared to fail”. It’s hard to even comprehend why Max would use the word fail having recently received KERRANGS British Band Of The Year award 2011. I ask what that was like for such a young band “umm…MINDBLOWING. We were never expecting to win, we just went down to have a good time and catch up with some friends we haven’t seen in a while.” For this accolade, You Me At Six were up against fellow UK heavy weights Bullet For My Valentine, Bring Me The Horizon and Enter Shikari, “we were all like … wait what’s going on here? (laughs) we celebrated in style!”.
This year hasn’t all been a party for You Me At Six, they had to cancel their appearance on the Australian Mix n Mash tour with Parkway Drive and Bleeding Through before finding out the UK tour for Blink 182 (which they were supporting) had been cancelled.
I had to ask … how that felt? “Well … in one word … pissed. It was the same situation for both, with the Mix n Mash we didn’t think we would have our album out in time, and we were like crap, we aren’t going to get the album done in time, we didn’t want to let Parkway Drive down but this album is our baby, and if it didn’t get finished soon it may not be out until 2012 – thankfully for them being good friends, they understood the situation we were in, though that was a tour we were looking forward to quite a lot”.
“It was the same deal with Blink 182, just in reverse. They hadn’t finished their album and needed to make their deadlines as well, we were devastated at that, you know? They are like our idols and that was such a big achievement and accomplishment for us to tour with that band.” Though clearly excited that You Me At Six is on Blink 182’s radar, Max explained both shows were cancelled only a couple of days apart – now that’s a rough week. “In the recording studio we hit rock bottom – But everything happens for a reason you know?”
It very much indeed does. Now having a clear schedule, You Me At Six were contacted by Coca-Cola Olympics in regards to the up-and-coming Future Flames event focusing on youth, charity and music. The band will be representing the UK with the likes of Dizzy Rascal and Kaiser Chiefs.
I had to ask, like I do with all my interviews…”can we expect to hear any new tracks when we see you in August and September?” Max replied, “Well … we might have a little bit of a surprise for you, we are being careful with releasing it, we don’t want to drag it on, you know, with people saying ‘When’s the new You Me At Six coming out?’ We want it to be like, POW! Right in the kisser … I’ll put it this way, you might be the first to hear something new!”
And Max’s final words to all the You Me At Six Aussie fans? “Grab your tickets soon because they are going fast! And get ready for the new album coming soon!”
You Me At Six are touring with We The Kings for Soundwave this September and October -check below for dates and info!
Sat 27 Aug Brisbane, The Tivoli – All Ages
Sun 28 Aug Sydney, UNSW Roundhouse – Lic A/A
Tues 30 Aug Melbourne, The Hi-Fi Evening, 18+ Buy Tickets
Wed 31 Aug Melbourne, The Hi-Fi Afternoon, Under 18s Buy Tickets
Thurs 1 Sep Adelaide, Fowlers Live – Lic A/A Buy Tickets
