A Bit On The Side: The story of the rock star entrepreneur

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Not content with rocking out for 24 hours a day, some of our best loved rock stars are intent on becoming businessmen as well. Joanna Stass tracked down three rock star entrepreneurs to talk about the story behind their business ventures…


A Bit On The Side: The story of the rock star entrepreneur

Interview: We Are The Ocean

We Are The Ocean are the latest British band about to try and conquer the  USA. Before they want on stage to support The Blackout at Portsmouth Pyramids, we had a chat about their secret plans for Slam Dunk Festival, why they don't scream so much any more, and the British music scene they are (temporarily) leaving behind...

How are you finding touring with The Blackout and Canterbury?

Jack Spence (bass): We’ve managed to hit Hull, Lincoln and Edinburgh. We’ve never been to Lincoln before and Edinburgh we went to ages ago. But it’s good to do some venues that aren’t just London, Manchester, Birmingham.

Alfie Scully (guitar): You can really tell the people coming to show appreciate the package.

Jack: Lincoln last night was probably the best crowd. They’re thirsty for it because they don’t get that many shows. Whereas in London they’ve probably got another show to go to the next day.

Alfie: Also there’s been no tour awkwardness, no getting to know each other because we’ve all toured with the bands before.

Jack: It’s a reunion tour!

You’re all British bands on this tour, but are there any other British acts you admire at the moment?

Alfie and Jack in unison: Loads!

Alfie: Deaf Havana, TwinAtlantic, Straight Lines, who are a really good Welsh band.

Jack: There are loads of bands from Wales. They’re lucky, they have the cream of the musical crop. Canterbury are one of my favourite bands . The UK scene is really thriving at the minute. You’ve got You Me At Six at the top, who are making it more accessible and helping everybody out.

Alfie: It’s a very close knit community.

You’ve toured with a lot of bands, who has been your favourite?

Jack: There are different ways to answer this. I think the band we liked the most and listened to the most were Thrice and Underoath. They were tours when every night, you want to watch the bands.

Alfie: There’s those tours and then there’s the tours where you havnt necessarily first heard of the band but then you meet them and it’s mindblowing. They turn out to be really nice guys and you stay friends with them.

Jack: Then there’s the ones where you just get along with the bands so well. Like a year ago, we did a tour with Mayday Parade and they were just the nicest guys. So there are different reasons but weve been really lucky with every tour we’ve had. There’s no band we havn’t got on with.

You’ve also played a lot of festivals, which has been the most memorable?

Alfie: Reading Festival 2011. Brilliant festival.

Jack: It’s the biggest thing we’d done

Alfie: It was a good head-turner, that we were going to open the main stage.

Jack: Our second album was out, we’d had a great tour and so that was just the cherry on the cake, right at the end of festival season.

You’ve become regulars at Slam Dunk Festival now, will you be back next year?

Alfie: Ooh I don’t know, they’ve had us for every one so far. I think now, if they we’re to not put us on, we’d take it personally.

Jack: I think we should do a secret set. Beacsue if we’re announced everyone will be like ‘ah they’re playing again?’ But I kind of want to see how many times we can do it now. Every year we climb up the bill slowly so if we keep doing maybe we’ll headline the main stage and we can say ‘right that’s it, never again!’

Alfie: Even if we don’t play next year we should just demand that our music videos are played throughout the sit.

Jack: There has to be a We Are The Ocean presence, whether you love us or hate us.

You have just signed with Side One DummyRecords in the US, so what are your 

plans for conquering America?

Alfie: Well we can’t just go over and start dictating. We need to make friends first and lure them in.

Jack: We’ll use out Brit charm and accents. We just want to get over there now. We we’re supposed to go over there in December (supporting Dance Gavin Dance), but that’s been cancelled.

Alfie: But the album is on iTunes over there at the moment and the physical release will be at the beginning of next year.

Jack: We want to branch out and take this album over there and see how it goes. And the way to do that is touring. But America is so much bigger than the UK so it’s impossible to hit everywhere.

Alfie: It will be like starting again, it’ll be wicked.

Jack: Exactly, in a little cheap van just trotting along the highway until they’re sick of us.

You’ve been to America before though right?

Jack: We recorded our debut album in Baltimore and then we went to New Jersey and did BamboozleFestival. We didn’t get paid and we weren’t announced because we didn’t have the right visas to get paid. So it was just a little favour for our manager while we were out there.

Alfie: It was all a very ‘under the table’ type thing. It was a really good experience though we got a surprisingly good reaction considering nobody knew who we were or what time we were playing.

The album ‘Go Now & Live’ has been out for a while now. Are you pleased with the reaction it has received?

Jack: The whole campaign leading up to know has been more than we expected. The reviews were good, the old fans liked it and new fans came.

Alfie: It was ‘the difficult second album’. And you’re always going to have you naysayers but a lot of the feedback online and at shows has been good stuff.

Jack: It’s always hard because nobody wants to rehash the same album but at the same time you don’t want to do a new albums and all your old fans don’t like it. So we had to find a sound we were happy with but it was still the band.

Alfie: We always had that worry that people weren’t gonna get it. But we like it so we don’t care!

There’s a bit less screaming from Dan (joint lead vocals) on the new album compared to your debut ‘Cutting Our Teeth’, was that a conscious decision?

Jack: It wasn’t like we sat down and said ‘no more screaming!’

Alfie: No and if you watch the live set you’ll still see Dan going crazy with pure aggression and energy. We wanted to keep but harness the albility and use it as a musical dynamic and have more melody in the songs.

Jack: I think Dan wants to challenge his own voice as well.

Alfie: We just wanted to raise the bar with the second album and try something new.

What have you got planned next?

Alfie: In December we maybe want to write some more songs and see where it can go.

Jack: And then in the new year, we want to get touring. But we don’t want to over saturate anywhere so we want to get a nice cycle of UK, Europe, America, Australia going.

Alfie: We have been touring the UK for a very long time now

Jack: It’s worked well for us, getting our name out, but we’re at the point now where we can’t do it as much anymore because people are going to get sick of us.

Are you nervous about making album number three?

Alfie: I wouldn’t say we’re nervous. I’ve found that practising and writing with the band has been the most fun it has ever been.

Jack: And because we’re starting really early this time it’s a lot more fun when there’s no stress. When it comes to we’re going to the studio in a week and we’ve only got four sings, that’s not as fun. But as we’ve already started writing it’s going to be fun, not much pressure at all. 

Interview: You Me At Six

You Me At Six frontman Josh Franceschi talks about the struggles the band faced with their new album and his brutally honest view of the music industry and fellow artists…

Sinners Never Sleep got to number three in the album charts, are you secretly a little bit bitter that Adele and James Morrison beat you?

Not really because ultimately we had the midweek number one which, within the industry, is the one that everyone looks at. Literally our manager was getting phone calls and emails from everyone saying ‘who are You Me At Six and why are they ahead of James Morrison and Adele?’ So that was really cool and what I really liked was Zane Lowe at Radio 1 and Kerrang! Radio and everyone from the rock world was really getting behind it and saying ‘lets keep a British rock band up there in the charts’. And to be honest, had we come behind someone like Ke$ha or some other pop shit, then we’d have been beaten to the post by nothing special at all. But you’re talking about two world class household names, James Morrison and Adele. If you’re gonna lose out to anyone it’s got to be someone of that stature.

You went to LA to record the new album with Garth Richardson, how was that experience?

We recorded at Sunset Sound and the Sound Factory as well. It’s a very weird experience living in LA. We lived there for just over two and a half months and we all got apartments. It was really cool because although we made a few friends we quickly discovered that LA is the kind of place where everybody wants to be famous. And so as soon as a few people found out that we were in a band, we had people who would just show up at our apartments, that we’d met once at a bar, and be like (in a bad American accent) ‘lets hang out and go get coffee!’. And I was just like ‘look I don’t really like you mate, fuck off’. But what was cool was that we just spent a lot of time with each other so in terms of our band regrouping and enjoying each others company that was really cool. 

You then got John Mitchell & Matt O’Grady to finish off the record, what sparked that decision?

It’s very hard to get a good connection with somebody, especially when you’re recording, and we’ve had that connection and vibe with them for the last four years.  We were excited to work with Garth Richardson but there was a part of me that was like ‘I don’t know if I want to, I think I want to keep working with Matt and John’. When we got back from America and sat with the album for a few days we were like ‘this is shit’. They don’t get it, they don’t get what we’re trying to do. So I called up John, when both of their studios were fully booked with bands, and I was like ‘look, you know I wouldn’t ask this of you if I didn’t think it was absolutely necessary to salvage our album’. I’m not happy that we dicked over other bands, but they told all of them that we needed two weeks to do our thing and they dropped everything. And when you’ve got someone that cares about you that much, it really shows in their work. We also learnt a few things because we sat with them and did it. They’re both some of the most talented people I know, they’re like the sixth and seventh members of You Me At Six. So I think we learnt our lesson and next time we’re just going to go to America or somewhere but record it with them because it’s just such a better vibe. But that’s not me shit-talking Garth, because Garth is a legend…but he’s no Matt O’Grady.

Oli Sykes (from Bring Me The Horizon) and Winston McCall (from Parkway Drive) feature on the album, how did that come about?

A lot of our friends are in hardcore bands. I don’t really connect with people in some of the softer, poppier bands, especially American bands because they’re all just fake, horrible people. All they care about is what they can get out of you. The first year we did Warped Tour, literally every day there was somebody with their head up our arse just trying to get on our UK tour. But then you’ll meet a band like Parkway Drive who are like the Australian version of us and again, it’s the same with Matt and John, it’s the same with all of our friends, when you meet people it shouldn’t matter from what walk of life they are. And I’ve always wanted to do something with Oli because I did ‘Fuck’ on their album and he’s always said he really want to return the favour. Then when we wrote ‘Bite My Tongue’ and the middle eight needed something that was going to make everyone realise just how pissed off this song is meant to be. Oli was in LA at the time and so he came down to the studio. And then with Winston, we had the song called ‘Time Is Money’ and at first the middle eight was completely different but it was shit. It sucked big time. He was on tour in England at the time so I did some guide vocals for him and he went from Cardiff to John Mitchell’s house in Reading for an hour, recorded it and then went back to Cardiff and literally as he arrived back at the venue went straight on stage. I don’t know many people that we’ve met in our career or any sugary pop American band that would have dropped everything to come and help out their mates. I think we’ve got quite a few similar fans as well. 

A lot of people have been saying that your new album is more mature and a lot more honest. Do you think that’s true?

I think that’s what we wanted to do. We got to a point at the end of the Hold Me Down cycle, where I wanted to end it with ‘Fireworks’ as a single because I think that could have taken our band to a slightly different audience. But our label were adamant that we had to at least try and do this collaboration with Chiddy Band. I don’t necessarily regret it because Chiddy is a good dude and actually I think ‘Rescue Me’ is a cool song that got us some attention from different worlds that we probably wouldn’t have been involved in otherwise. But I think a lot of people saw through what we were trying to do with ‘Rescue Me’. At that moment in time the charts were full of singers and rappers collaborating. So then we thought we just need to be ourselves and people will either love us for it or hate us for it. So nothing was deliberate and I think when you go for a straight up honest record they’re your best. And that is why I think Sinners Never Sleep is our best album to date. We have fans out there that were going to love it regardless, even if it was the shittest thing we’d put out they would still say they loved it because they‘ve got that attachment to us. And there were always going to be people who pick it up and think ‘nah, I’m not into this’ but then a few weeks later they’d find something within the songs that they could enjoy. Then there’s people who like Horizon or Parkway and even people who like Snow Patrol or Coldplay who realise that we’ve got songs that sound in that vein and discover that they like our band. And when you’ve got those three things together it’s a pretty cool position to be in. And I’m really happy with it so I don’t really care if anyone else likes it or not.

You’ve had a few disagreements with your label Virgin Records over this album, and ‘Time Is Money’ is about that, is everything sorted out now?

Our label are the best label we could ask for. That song is about our label, it’s about our management but in general it’s just about the music industry. There’s so many dickheads. I got to the point where I was like at the end of the day, you’re not the people who have to go out and represent this, we are, and so we have to believe in it completely. So I put a few people straight, we fired a few people. I went up to somebody who is involved in our international side and asked them what their favourite You Me At Six song was, and I don’t mean any of the singles. They couldn’t even tell me a song title. So I said ‘please, no longer have anything to do with our band, we’ll find someone else’. Bands can just become products and that was something that I just felt needed to be put to rest. And as soon as we came to the label with really clear ideas, like the album artwork was all our idea, they really helped capture that because we made everyone feel like part of the family.

You’re heading off to America for a headline tour next year, are you getting a bigger fan base out there now?

When we did Warped Tour, it was nuts. Especially on the East Coast, we did really well. Texas and other places weren’t as flattering. But I think with America, and I don’t mean this in a disrespectful way but it really is just all about touring. If you put yourself in front of them, there’s a chance you’re going to be successful there. If you look at Asking Alexandria for example, they did nothing over here but then did 18 months of solid touring in America and they now do 3000 capacity venues. And they’re not exactly the best band in the world, they’re not the worst band by any means and I love them, they’re good dudes, but I feel like if You Me At Six could do what we’ve done in England and just tour places, because that’s how we got to where we are in England, we could do well over there. I also feel like we have the advantage of the fact that we’re English, for some reason Americans are into that. 

What’s next for You Me At Six?

We’re booked up until at least this time next year. And it sucks because I just bought Arsenal season tickets. It’s funny because Dan’s never been able to see United play and he’s a big fan so we basically booked our US headlining tour around me and Dan going to the football. Then they said we were going to start our tour January 15^th and I was like ‘Arsenal are playing United on January 21^st, so shall we start January 23rd yea?’ That’s the kind of band we are.

Where do you see You Me At Six in 5 years time? What’s your ultimate goal?

Well the dream was to be able to have a ten-year anniversary gig. And we’ve been around since 2006, so we’ve hit the five-year mark. Longevity is key for us. I don’t want to be big for a year, making loads of money and then selling out and having no career. We want to keep achieving stuff that ultimately seems unrealistic. We’ve got some offers though for some UK festivals next summer that are just insane, I don’t understand why we’re getting them.

The Rise Of The Planet of Pop Punk

They say that everything comes back into fashion at some point, be it shoulder pads, crop tops or Noel Edmonds. But right now it’s the turn of pop punk. There is no denying that since the return of pop punk titans Blink 182, the genre has experienced a sudden surge in popularity. From Jimmy Eat World’s triumphant album shows which saw fans singing along to every single word of 2001’s smash hit ‘Bleed American’ to New Found Glory’s packed out Reading & Leeds warm up gigs championing their new T-Shirt slogan ‘Pop Punk’s Not Dead’, it is clear that these 90s icons are as popular as ever.

And talking of Reading & Leeds, this year’s line-up is scattered with more pop punk bands than ever before. Gone are the days when pop punk’s finest were restricted to Slam Dunk Festival alone. With New Found Glory, Jimmy Eat World, Panic! At The Disco, The Offspring and Decedents popping up across the weekend, 2011 seems to be the year pop punk creeps back into the mainstream. Even headline act My Chemical Romance could be considered inductees into the realm of pop punk with their latest, more upbeat, release Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys.

This year has also seen an unashamedly summery pop punk record from the sugary Simple Plan, featuring collaborations from Rivers Cuomo and Natasha Bedingfield no less, and a packed out tent for ‘popcore’ pioneers Four Year Strong’s headline performance at this year’s Sonisphere Festival. And it’s not just the old stuff making a comeback, with the relatively new kids on the block All Time Low and You Me At Six playing bigger and bigger shows across the world, its certain that there is room for fresh faced pop punkers on our stages too. You don’t even need a pair of Dickies and a blonde mohawk to listen to them either.

Why pop punk ever went out of fashion still remains one of life’s unanswered questions. Much like ‘why do Jedward exist?’ We’ll just never know.

But ‘why has pop punk suddenly wormed its way back into our hearts and onto our iPods?’ is slightly easier to consider. It could be that warm and fuzzy ‘getting drunk down the skate park’ nostalgia that listing back to classic records like Blink’s ‘Enema Of the State’ or Sum 41’s ‘All Killer No Filler’ brings? Or it could be that the genre is just generally a big ol’ barrel of fun? And who, apart from Alan Sugar, doesn’t like fun? Whatever the answer, let’s hope that the infectious hooks, huge sing-a-longs and teenage angst of pop punk continues to park its behind in the world’s festival lineups and iPod playlists for a while longer. New Found Glory for Glastonbury 2013! Just me? Okay…

Introducing: The City Calls

Shiny happy south coast pop punk anyone? Then look no further than Southampton five-piece The City Calls.

Since forming in 2009, the band have already achieved quite a lot. Support slots for bands such as Futures, Twenty Twenty and The Mission District, sold out headline shows in their home-town and even a slot on the bill at 2010’s Glastonbury Festival. “To play at one of the most prestigious, famous and biggest festivals in the world was an honour and I think we all cherish a damn good memory from it” said front man Lucas.  

After releasing their debut EP ‘Dirty Tricks’ last summer, the band have already finished  recording a follow up which will be released later this year. Lucas said; “We recently finished up in the studio and we are super excited to get the final mixes and get the record out to the public. It's a big step for us. We put a lot of time, heart and practice into these songs and its sounding great.”

Writing their pop-punk anthems is a structured process for The City Calls. “Scotty (guitar/vocals) will write out chord progressions, some lead lines and a structure for the song and we'll go through it all with two guitars until we're happy with it all” said Lucas; “I'll then spend a few days listening to a demo of the song and collecting melody ideas and start writing the lyrics. Then we take to the rehearsal room and make it sound as big as possible.”

New single ‘Truth Or Dare’ is effortlessly infectious with a teenage angst fuelled chorus and plenty of sing-a-long moments. It’s also accompanied by a suitably sunny and fun-packed video. The band have a quintessential You Me At Six vibe and also list Blink 182, All Time Low and New Found Glory among their influences. However, Lucas adds; “We could get into Scotty's love for The Police and John's (drums) love for Muse.”

Fans of the video blog, the band have several tour and studio diaries on YouTube, allowing the fans to see what they are getting up to. “When we’re not making music, we're normally out there letting people know about the band, working on other things that help the band grow: Merchandise, Promotion, Partying” said Lucas.

The band start touring the UK on April 15^th so if you’re partial to a bit of energetic pop-punk - as well as colourful hoodies and the sweepy fringe - then look out for them in town near you.

The City Calls - Truth Or Dare from iammightyrecords on Vimeo.

Interview: Not Advised

You wouldn’t have thought Hanson would be listed among the influences of the hottest new pop punk band in the UK right now. But Southampton five-piece Not Advised, who are personal favourites of You Me At Six, are not afraid to admit their love of 90’s pop, as well as deep fried food, comfy chairs and their blossoming bromance.

You’ve been together for quite a while now, how did the band come about?

Andy (drums): The band came about when we were 14 years old, just jamming in school practice rooms. I didn’t know Jack before I started secondary school, that’s where we met.

Jack (guitar): Rock brought us together.

Andy: Then we started playing as the band Not Advised with different members. Then we stole Jim and Ash from other local bands to make a supergroup and decided to go out on the road and start playing music.

Which bands influenced you to become musicians in the beginning?

Andy: Blink 182 got me into music.

Jim (vocals): There are two for me. A band called New Found Glory and a band called Goldfinger, both got me into the rock circuit.

Ash (guitar): Hanson was the first CD I ever got. I listened to that a lot and I always wanted to play drums, but I wasn’t allowed.

Did you have the long hair to go with it?

Ash: Well, not straight away.

Greg (bass): Anyway, yea I think Blink 182, New Found Glory and, when we got a bit older, Fall Out Boy got us motivated.

Jack: Yea and I was big on my Oasis when we were first starting out.

You guys are from Southampton, just up the road. How is the music scene over there these days?

Andy: It’s alright. When we first started touring and playing properly, Southampton was a really cool place to play. Really great local bands and Joiners is a great venue. But I couldn’t really tell you now. We tour quite a lot so Southampton is just like playing any other town now. We obviously enjoy it because we get to see friends and stuff. We have friends in bands there. A band called Lost On Landing are really good. There have always been good bands in Southampton and I’m sure there still are.

Gary: People are doing well, you never hear of people not turning out to shows.

Jack: It was definitely a cool place when we were starting out. It definitely helped us as a great place to build from.

Where is your favourite venue to play in Southampton?

Andy: We’ve only ever played one!

Jack: Yea, Joiners has been great because we played out first show there and then we built up over the years and now it’s a case of Joiners being the smallest venue on our tour, which was a nice place to end it. It’s always been a cool place for us, it’s where we started.

Which UK bands are you guys excited about at the moment?

Gary: The guys we just took out on tour, Pegasus Bridge.

Jim: Canterbury as well, they’re really good.

Andy: Deaf Havana, Futures.

Jack: Out Of Sight, rest in peace! The You Me At Six guys have helped us out a lot too.

You’re quite good friend with You Me At Six and have supported them in the past, will you be bribing them for backstage passes for the Blink 182 tour this summer?

Andy: Yes.

Ash: That was the first thing we confirmed last time we saw them.

Andy: Nah, we tried in January but it didn’t work. The amount of people that will be calling them, pretty much everyone they know, plus a few others.

If you could support any band, who would it be?

All: Blink 182

Jack: They are the kings of pop punk. It’s the dream.

Andy: They came back at Reading and it was insane

Greg: I’d say Iron Maiden.

Jack: All those pop rock bands that can break out onto the radio really. Like Blink 182, Paramore, My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy. Those sorts of bands are the ones we look up to. That’s where we want to be so any of those bands would be cool to play with.

Pop punk is quite a saturated genre, how do you guys keep your sound fresh and different from the competition?

Andy: We stop worrying about everyone else and just do what we want.

Jack: People call us a pop punk band but we never set out to write pop punk songs. I think if you just listen to our band without looking at us or the bands we play with, you’d probably just think we’re a rock band or an alternative band. We don’t have a problem with people labelling us but we never really care. We just write songs that we want to write and if people like them then that’s cool.

You’ve done a hell of a lot of touring, where is your favourite place to play?

Greg: Mine would be Newcastle.

Jim: Scotland is always good.

Jack: Scotland was really supportive early on. Now, we’re lucky that we have a good fan base so we have lots of nice fans everywhere. But when we first started touring, Scotland was one of the first places that caught on and really helped us out. I remember when we turned up and played our first show in Edinburgh, there was a big queue of people to see us even in the morning. And that had never happened for us before. So it’s always been really cool to go back there to see new faces as well as the people who helped us out from the start. It’s a special place for us.

Did you try any deep fried Mars Bars while you were up there?

Jim: Jack did!

Jack: Yep, I like everything deep fried, even haggis. No straight haggis.

What is your favourite track to play live?

Jack: The new ones I guess. Because we toured the EP ‘After The Fight’ quite a lot, we play those songs time and time again. So now that we’re writing the album we get to test run the new songs and that’s exciting not only for us playing them but also to see people reactions.

Andy: I still like playing ‘Right Now’ though.

Gary: I like ‘The World’s Not Ready’ as well because it always gets a good reaction.

Ash: Mine would be The A.R.K.

Andy: So to answer your question, all of them.

Jack: Anything that gets a reaction from the room. That’s the most important thing. So any time when people are jumping or singing, that’s the coolest part of the set.

Have you ever had any crazy fan experiences on tour?

Andy: We got a lot of gifts in Scotland. Jack, tell your story.

Jack: Well I was sat upstairs in Glasgow, minding my own business and Ash text me saying I’ve got to come outside the venue. So I go downstairs, not really knowing what to expect, and this lovely girl had made her own Jack hoodie. She got it printed with ‘I <3 Jack Fairbrother’ on the front and a picture of me on the back. That was the most ‘out there’ thing that I’ve ever had. It was really quite sweet.

Jim: There are actually two girls coming here tonight who have come all the way from Edinburgh, which is insane.

Jack: I sound like a fatty, but food! We get a lot of food. We get baked goods like cookies and cupcakes and Danishes and sweets.

Ash: We’ve also got some scrapbooks of every time people have seen us play and what we mean to them.

Jack: And globes as well. We shot a video which involved a globe and so people make globes and bring them to the show. That’s really nice.

What could you not live without on the tour bus?

Jack: We drink lots of vitamin water, play Tiger Woods, and watch films.

Andy: Ash smokes quite a lot out the window.

Jack: We’re not really fussed about the travelling; it’s all about the gigs.

Andy: On the last tour we just did, the travelling wasn’t that long because the dates were planned quite well. So I think we mostly just watched Pineapple Express.

Jack: And some Star Wars. I think it’s gone from not what features the van has but to how comfy the seats are. If you get a nice leather recliner like we had on the last tour them I’m set.

Andy: We talk quite a lot too I think.

Jack: We just amuse ourselves with stupid in-jokes. We’re all good friends. It’s a bit of a bromance.

I understand that Ash had to take over vocal duties when Jim got ill on tour last year, are you all quite multi-talented in the band?

Ash: Definitely. If Greg can’t make a practice or something then Jim steps in on the bass

Jack: As well as playing drums, Andy writes loads of the initial guitar parts, which is quite unusual for a band I suppose.

Andy: Yea, we’re all really multi-talented.

Jack: We’re actually the best musicians, times about five.

Greg: I play every instrument. Even the oboe.

Andy: Nah seriously, when I first started in the band, I couldn’t play guitar or anything like that. I think it’s just the fact that you’re around these instruments so much that even if you just pick it up and mess around on it for five minutes a day, you end up playing those five minutes so many times that you’ve probably played guitar for about three days straight.

Jack: I think I’m the exception to the rule. I can’t play drums. But I think it helps with writing as well because when people pick up an instrument that they’re not used to, they’ve got a new perspective and come up with ideas that perhaps we wouldn’t normally think of.

Talking of writing music, how is the new album coming along?

Jim: It’s going really well actually. It’s in full flow now.

What can we expect from the new record?

Jim: Tunes. Absolute tunes.

Andy: Chugging riffs. More of the same feel and emotion that we put in to our songs but maybe in a slightly different way.

Jack: It’s cheesy I know, but it is a natural progression really. There’s more depth and more going on. But we’re not trying to be anything else, we just thought, lets write some songs and see how it comes out.

Andy: We still always go with the songs that when we’re jamming and we get that funny tingling feeling inside and we start smiling. And we all stand there smiling at each other, again it’s a bromance. We tell each other “You’re the best! That riff is the best!”

Greg: We’ve got some monster riffs on this record.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

Jack: We’re on a tight schedule to get this album done. So we’ve postponed summer and we’ve just been sat in our practice room trying to get the songs written and ready for the studio. Then we’re going to record in early summer and hopefully tour. But the focus is the album so next year we’ll be doing all the stuff we’ve missed out this year.

Andy: I think we’ll be doing a few support tours in the summer and do an even bigger headline tour in October/November time when the album comes out.

Jack: But for now we just want to get the CD right. We’ve got a strict deadline that we’re working towards.

Andy: We’re about a third of the way through with enough time left.

 

Interview: You Me At Six

2010 was the year of You Me At Six after the band scored a Top 10 album. I caught up with them before their sold out show at the B.I.C to talk about their successes… as well as Dragons Den, Fifa and ‘curry-gate’.

2010 has been a huge year for you, but if you could have done anything differently what would it be?

Matt (bass): I think everything has shaped up the way we wanted it to be.

Dan (drums) - now with bleached blonde hair: I would have dyed my hair earlier on in the year. I should have thought about it earlier because I’m quite fond of it.

You went to America this summer for Vans Warped Tour, how do American tours differ to here in Britain?

Matt: There’s a lot more driving. Everyday you’re driving for like 8 to 10 hours. There are always travel days where you’re literally driving all day long. Whereas in the UK you travel for four hours and that’s long. You’re like ‘Oh four hours? Really?!’ Then we went over there and its 10 hours every day. That sucks. But there isn’t really that much difference. I guess the fans are different because maybe we’re not as well known over in America.

Dan: We’ve been touring the UK for like the last three or four years whereas in America we’re just kind of starting out again. That’s really fun though.

How was getting to play with Paramore on their recent tour?

Matt: Paramore were really good dudes… and girl. They were really fun to go on tour with. The shows were always massive with them as well because they’re like the biggest band in the world at the moment.

Dan: Yea it was fun that we got to go out to Europe. We’ve only headlined out there and it’s always been really small. So the chance to support someone like Paramore in Sweden where I think we played to like six or seven thousand people, that was incredible. It was a really good opportunity for our band and hopefully it paid off. I think it did.

You guys are going to be supporting Blink 182 on their European Tour in the summer, how does that feel?

Matt: It’s like a dream come true. My two favourite bands when I grew up were New Found Glory and Blink 182. We did a tour with New Found Glory about two years ago and were doing a tour with Blink next year so I’m losing my mind basically. It’s like the best Christmas present ever!

Dan: At Reading Festival I actually got to meet Travis Barker and I was freaking out. I was full on shaking and I couldn’t speak properly. And then I got invited on stage and was sitting about two feet behind him when they were playing. It was the best day of my life. And now we get to play with them every day!

Is there anyone else that you’ve ever been star struck over?

Matt: I don’t think we’ve properly been star struck.

Dan: Yea with Travis Barker I think that’s the only time in my whole life that I’ve ever been star struck or seen someone and just been shaking. Because he’s like a hero to me. When I was younger, he was one of those people I always looked up to.

Matt: I’d probably be star struck if I met Will Smith or Brendon from Coach Trip. I think he’s awesome.

Dan: Brendon from Coach Trip?

Matt: Have you not watched Coach Trip before?!

Dan: No, what’s that?

Matt: It’s the best thing ever!

Dan: I’d be star struck if I met Eminem. Or Jay Z. That’d be sick.

Matt: Basically A List celebrities.

Dan: If Notorious B.I.G. was resurrected. That’d be sweet.

Clearly you have done pretty well at getting high profile support slots but is there anyone you would love to support that you haven’t had the chance to yet?

Matt: Well my number one in the world was Blink 182 to be honest.

Dan: I reckon it’d be sick to support someone like Green Day or Linkin Park. Just because we like Linkin Park. The other day we put the old album on and were just rocking out.

Matt: We still know all the words to Hybrid Theory.

Dan: Every single word.

Matt: From being 12 years old listening to it in our bedrooms.

How are you going to cope with nerves before supporting Blink 182?

Dan: I think it will probably just be the first show we’ll be a bit nervous. We’ve done arenas before so it should be alright.

Matt: Yea we played Wembley with Fall Out Boy so we’ve played big venues but we haven’t played anywhere as big as The O2. So it’s gonna be scary. But it’s even more scary when your parents are watching you. When you’re playing to a load of random people it’s not actually that bad but when you’ve got all your family down, you feel like you have to be good.

Dan: Yea, like Leeds Festival, I just had a great time and didn’t even think about it when there was like 30,000 people there. But then at Reading Festival, because my mum and my sister were there and my auntie and my cousin, I was pooing myself.

You guys are with a major record label, but some bands, such as Enter Shikari, are now going back to independent labels. Do you think bands do better with a major label?

Dan: I think there are pros and cons. We were on an independent for quite a while, Slam Dunk Records. We sort of made it up with our manager. That didn’t quite work out so right not we’re trying a major label and its going quite well. I think they have the financial backing and they also know people in the industry so they can open up doors for you.

Do you think the business side of the music industry has a negative effect on music?

Matt: Well the business side of the industry is full of arseholes.

Dan: There are always problems with everything. Like if you’re on an independent you’re gonna find problems and if you’re on a major label you’re gonna find problems. That’s something you have to realise quite early on otherwise you’ll kill yourself.

Matt: Yea stuff is always going wrong. Stuff is going wrong the whole time.

Dan: I’m sure even in Paramore’s world there’s times when they’re pissed off about something or something is going wrong.

Matt: Yea and when stuff is going wrong, people don’t know it’s going wrong. Like on out first album, the first 5000 copies that went out were missing a page. You open it up and it was white behind the CD.

Dan: Yea we were going crazy about that.

Matt: We were going mental but everyone was like ‘Oh it’s probably supposed to be like that’. And we’re just like ‘Nope’. So if you do have ‘Take Off Your Colours’ with a white bit behind the CD, that one went wrong.

Dan: You could almost say its limited edition.

What is your favourite song to perform live?

Dan: I think mine has been ‘Stay With Me’.

Matt: Yea same. We go off and then come back on for our encore. We don’t say anything and then there’s the first note and the lights and stuff. It looks pretty cool.

You’ve spent a lot of time travelling all over the world together, how do you usually pass the time when travelling on the tour bus?

Dan: People have been playing Fifa for money the past two days. Josh is up like £400.

Matt: Yea one of our friends from America came over and he and Josh were playing £100 games. Josh beat him basically every time. Then he went to the casino and won again.

Dan: And then everyone was like ‘Matt, Dan, why don’t you join in?’ and it’s like ‘Because I don’t want to just give you my money because you’ll clearly beat me’.

Matt: Yea we suck at Fifa.

Dan: I’m alright but I probably wouldn’t win. We’re fans of Call of Duty more than Fifa. Chris is wicked at Call of Duty.

Matt: Chris is already level 50

Dan: And Max is good

What could you not live without on tour?

Matt: A fridge to put the beers in.

Dan: A bed.

Matt: No the fridge, I could deal with sleeping on the floor if I’ve had too many beers.

Any particular food you can’t live without?

Matt: Well I always have curry but someone ate my curry last night. It’s stressed me out basically.

Dan: He’s been going mental for the past three days because someone stole his curry.

Matt: Twitter is going crazy. If anyone knows where my curry is by the way let me know. There’s a cash prize.

Dan: Yea £5000. We think it’s Max though.

Matt: Last night we got really drunk and I was like ‘Max, did you eat it?’ and he said ‘Actually, I might’ve eaten it’. And I was like ‘Well did you?’ and he said ‘I dunno’

Dan: Basically, he admitted to eating it

Matt: He’s the curry thief.

Dan: He keeps talking about it so I think he’s guilty.

If you ever have any major arguments, what or who is usually the cause?

Dan: It’s usually really little things.

Matt: I get stress out when I’m like ‘Are you ready to go out now?’ and everyone’s like ‘Yea yea yea’ And then we’re just about to go out and someone goes ‘Oh will you just wait for me for five minutes?’ and 15 minutes later they come and them someone else goes ‘No wait for me I’ll be like two minutes’ and then another 15 minutes later someone goes ‘Wait for me!’ and I’m just like ‘No. I’m done’ and they start stressing out that I’m not gonna wait for them. And I’ve been waiting for like two hours. You can’t get everyone together. There’s 24 people on this tour travelling with us and so getting them all together is probably the hardest thing in the world. That stresses me out.

Dan: I don’t get that stressed I don’t think. I like to wind Matt up quite a lot

Matt: Dan stresses me out a lot actually.

Dan: I do it on purpose though because I know exactly how to do it. Like yesterday he was like ‘Are you gonna come to the room’ and I’m like ‘Yea I’m gonna go in about 10 minutes’, and he’s like ‘Well why don’t you come now?’ and I’m like ‘I’m just gonna come in 10 minutes’. And then I turn round to him and I’m like ‘Do you need me to hold your hand?’ and all this stuff. And he’s like ‘Fuck you man, fuck you’ and walks off and gets so stressed out

Matt: The only reason I wanted him to come was because I was gonna go swimming so I was gonna wait for him in the room. Then I waited for like 15 minutes just sat there and he just weren’t coming.

Dan: I think he needs anger management.

Did you get to go swimming in the end?

Matt: I did actually but the jacuzzi was broken

Dan: And then you probably got more stressed out about that because it was broken right?

Matt: Yes

Dan: There you go.

You must do a lot of press, is there a particular question that you never get asked but wish you would?

Matt: You’ve put us on the spot now. Now I feel like we’re interviewing you!

Dan: I would love to be asked the question ‘My best friend is Zooey Deschanel, would you like to go on a date with her?’ That would probably be my favorite question.

As five guys in a rock band, how do you cope with all the female attention?

Dan: We don’t get any because we’re losers

Max (from across the room): The only female we have in the band is a curry!

Matt: Max, shut up. This is our interview alright?

Max: Sorry, I’ve got curry on my mind

Dan: We don’t get much female attention.

So you don’t get any knickers thrown at you or anything?

Matt: Well we do but Dan doesn’t see them because he’s at the back and they can’t throw that far. No, there’s not that much female attention. It depends. If we were to go out to a rock bar after the show then there are people who know who we are. So we tend to go to dance clubs and dance like idiots.

Dan: The other day there was 30 of us from the tour, everyone was out going crazy and dancing like fools.

Matt: Yea, Max fell over. He got so drunk.

Dan: He not only fell over but he face planted as well.

Matt: Yea I’ve got a feeling he was two-stepping to JLS or something and he slipped and face planted to the floor. And Bob from The Blackout was stomping around past all these 30 year old chavs. It was pretty funny actually.

Dan: Yea, if there was a small group of us they probably would have just beaten us up but because there was 30 of us they were all just looking over like ‘Who are these guys? And why are they in a massive circle having a dance off?’ It was brilliant.

This year was obviously huge for you but which bands would you like to see have the same type of success in 2011?

Dan: Canterbury

Matt: Yea they are the best dudes ever.

Dan: Their songs are amazing and they deserve it. And they’re amazing live. I’d love to see them get massive.

Matt: And a band called Not Advised, I really like them as well. They’re from Southampton. They’re really good, you should check them out.

Dan: And Tibbin as well.

Matt: Oh yea, DJ Tibbin. He’s DJing inbetween the bands tonight and he’s sick. He plays drum n’ bass and dubstep. He mixes pop with dubstep.

Dan: His Twitter is @TibbinAKATibbin

Matt: Tweet him

You are already writing the third album and I’ve heard there will be some exciting collaborations. Can you divulge any now?

Dan: Oh really? I don’t know.

Matt: Well, we’re doing one song with Eminem.

Dan: And another song with Rhianna

Matt: And Britney Spears was begging us to do a song with her but we said no.

Dan: We said ‘Do one! You used to be bald’.

Matt: And Dr Dre also was like ‘I want you to come round my house’ but we were just like ‘Sorry Dre’.

Dan: No, Dre is gonna produce it now I think.

Matt: I don’t know if I want him to. I don’t know if he’s good enough.

Dan: No, but seriously though, we have no clue.

Matt: We’ve demoed 4 songs.

Dan: It’s probably just Josh chatting rubbish on Twitter.

Matt: Yea, he likes to cause a kerfuffle.

A few of you are quite entrepreneurial as you run various clothing labels. But if you were auditioning for The Apprentice, how would you try to impress Lord Sugar?

Matt: God I don’t know.

Dan: I’d just say ‘Alright mate? Like this T-Shirt?’ Wanna buy it?’

Matt: If it was Dragons Den, because they’ve got all the money in front of them already, surely if anyone is clever enough when they go for their interview they’d just take a gun and say ‘Give me your money’. And then everyone gives you their money and then you win. You don’t even have to give away a percentage.

Dan: Yes you just walk in and hold the gun at them and they’ll be like ‘Oh so what’s the business?

Matt: ‘My gun to your face’

Dan: ‘Give me your money. Now’

Matt: Yea I don’t know what I’d do on The Apprentice but I know what I’d do on Dragons Den.

If you were freshers, what would your ideal student night out involve?

Matt: We go on freshers nights out all the time! Well, not freshers nights out but we go to student nights at clubs, because we basically are students. We’re the same age as everyone else.

Dan: We just don’t go to uni. We blag ourselves in there.

If it was a fancy dress night, what would you wear?

Matt: The last fancy dress night we did was Halloween and I had a full chimp suit. It was literally Thorpe Park material.

Dan: I was a bear and I looked like a gay bear

Matt: I’ve been dressed up as a fairy before. That was funny, and a bit gay.

Dan: My mum says we’ve got a full Superman outfit in the attic so I’m gonna wear that next time I dress up.