Push to Fire: You Me At Six Interview

Push to Fire Interview: You Me At Six
by Steve O'Gallagher

You Me At Six have managed to rocket to mainstream success in a very short space of time and they’re not showing any signs of slowing down. They’ve just completed a big headline UK tour and will soon be heading over to the US to play the entire Warped Tour. Push To Fire spoke to guitarist Max Helyer about the tours and their incredible success so far.
Commenting on the recent UK tour, Max said that he felt it was “the best YMAS tour we’ve ever done. I think we played our tightest shows in a long time. The production and the lighting set up was like a real show that made it more enjoyable for the kids watching as well as us. I think they really got buzzed off the first two bands (We The Kings, and Forever the Sickest Kids). It was a great package tour, I think from the word go and the first band the kids were jumping up and down until the end of the night. It was wicked, I wouldn’t change it for the world.” The band had supported Paramore around the UK in the past which helped bring them to the attention of the music industry, and are clearly relishing the opportunity to have such a large headline UK tour themselves.
Max then revealed how the support bands were picked for this tour saying that playing last year’s Warped Tour was key. “We played the Warped Tour with both We The Kings and Forever the Sickest Kids last year, and had done the Slam Dunk Festival with WTK so that’s how we really got to know them. We all hung out on the warped tour last year and thought since we get along so well why not tour together? As well for our fans, I think they really enjoyed watching those two bands too; they’re the kind of bands that our audience wants to see.” Despite the busy touring schedule and seemingly endless stream of press commitments, the bands did get some chance to hang out together. “We would hang out sometimes after the show, and we’d hang out a bit during the show as well, but it was a busy tour for us. We had to make sure everything went well and we did loads of press for it. Obviously we’re going away to do some international shows now so I hope the kids remember that tour until we come back.”
You Me At Six were relatively unknown for the first couple of years they were together playing local small shows, but after opening a Slam Dunk Festival they began to gain success very quickly. They didn’t focus too much on that aspect of things however as Max explained, “I was just enjoying the shows. I think all of us were. We weren’t really worried about how the stuff was coming out. If people don’t like it, they don’t like it. I mean, this our band, this is what we like to do. We didn’t really put pressure on ourselves when we started the band, we just made sure that when we went out as the first band on that we did our best and that we were remembered by the end of the night.”
With such a rapid rise in the music industry and the undoubted attention of fame that comes with it, Max told us that the band have tried to keep themselves grounded. “I think we’ve been brought up the right way to keep level-headed. When I read kids writing into stuff like Kerrang saying “we went to the My Chemical Romance show at the O2 and waited outside for like 3 hours and the band didn’t even say hello and just walked passed us,“ I don’t wanna be that guy. I don’t wanna get above myself. I’m a lucky person at the end of the day to be in this position to get to do what I love doing. Why should I change just because a little bit of fame has come? You’ve gotta treat people with respect. At the end of the day, our fans are the people who put us in this position so I wouldn’t ever say to a fan “no, you can’t have a photo” and then just walk past. I think that’s kind of rude. Our band’s always been about hanging with the fans and making sure we meet as many of them as possible and doing meet-and-greets and signing stuff. I think that’s what keeps us all level headed; the fact that we have such a tight connection with our fans.”
The band have already managed to play some of the UK’s most prestigious venues and platforms having played the Astoria, Wembley Arena, and the Reading and Leeds Festivals; something they’d dreamed of doing. “Since we’re from just outside of London, we’d always wanted to do the Astoria and Brixton… because we saw so many of our favourite bands play there. Looking at my wall right now, I’ve got concert tickets from New Found Glory, Deathcab For Cutie, Finch, My Chemical Romance, Funeral For A Friend, Trivium, Bloc Party, Alexisonfire… who all played the Astoria. Tons of bands that I’ve seen at the Astoria and thought “wow, it’d be amazing to get to do that one day.” Max even said that their singer Josh used to have a quote on his myspace profile that said “by the time I’m 20, I want to be able to play the Brixton Academy” which he actually managed to do by the age of 19. “Like, our dreams have come true”, he exclaimed. “What’s amazing for us is that none of us would have thought this’d happen to us, but now that it has we have to think about what we want to do next. We’ve done so much already in our band’s career, it’s an amazing feeling.”
Their latest record, “Hold Me Down”, was released this year and recorded in the same studio as their debut record. Max said the reason for this was because “we really got on with John and Matt at the studio. They knew what we were about and we connected really well with them and just thought ‘there’s no point in going off to like America to record a CD because it’d cost a lot of money and we wouldn’t know whether or not we’d get on with the people there.’ In the UK we could spend a bit more time in the studio tweaking and finding new ways of doing sound and stuff, and we could get a really good sound out of those guys. We figured it was a formula that worked so why break it? We enjoy recording there and we get along with everyone there, so why not?”At that point You Me At Six didn’t have a label as they’d just left their independent label so it’s possible that money was also a factor in the decision. They didn’t stay without a label for long though as Virgin Records were interested in them. “We didn’t want to sign to a major label, but the MD of Virgin reassured us that he’d done plenty of work on independents and he could really help us. So we played him the songs we were working on in the studio and he was really into them. We got a great vibe, and we weren’t in a position where we’d be stuck with a label telling us what to do so we went for it.”
You Me At Six will be heading over to the US to play the Warped Tour for a second time this summer, but this time they’re scheduled to play the entire tour. ”It’s the first time we’re doing the whole of the Warped Tour, but it’s not the first time for us in the states. We did South By Southwest last year, then we did half of the Warped Tour, and then we did a tour last autumn with The Academy Is…, Mayday Parade, and Secret Handshake. It was nice being able to go straight back out there after the Warped Tour. I’m excited to do the whole of the Warped Tour this year, especially having done half of it last year. It was fun but I don’t think you get the whole vibe of the tour unless you’ve done the whole of it. It’s gonna be nine weeks of scorching weather. They really do make you work hard on the warped tour, you have to get up at like 7am to find out what time your band’s playing and you have to get all the merch tents set up and all your gear ready, and you can be dragging gear across a dusty car park for like a mile.”
Before the Warped Tour, the band will be out in Japan and Ireland, and afterwards Max said they’re hoping to play a couple of UK festivals but that they’re not confirmed yet. “From there we’re looking to do Europe again and then Australia and then end with the UK. It’s gonna be a busy year for us, but I think we’re kinda used to it now. We’ve been touring pretty much for a solid 3 years now.”
When asked where he’d like the band to be 5 years from now he replied, “my goals have already been achieved. I’m really stoked about what our band’s done so far. If we’re still playing shows in 5 years with kids who still love what we’re doing then that’s great. I don’t care about where I’m playing or how many kids we’re playing to.”

Thanks to Giovanna for organising this for us and to Max from You Me At Six for speaking to Steve. Photo by Tom Barnes. Find more info and music clips on their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/youmeatsix.

Push to Fire Interview: You Me At Six by Steve O'Gallagher You Me At Six have managed to rocket to mainstream success in a very short space of time and they’re not showing any signs of slowing down. They’ve just completed a big headline UK tour and will soon be heading over to the US to play the entire Warped Tour. Push To Fire spoke to guitarist Max Helyer about the tours and their incredible success so far. Commenting on the recent UK tour, Max said that he felt it was “the best YMAS tour we’ve ever done. I think we played our tightest shows in a long time. The production and the lighting set up was like a real show that made it more enjoyable for the kids watching as well as us. I think they really got buzzed off the first two bands (We The Kings, and Forever the Sickest Kids). It was a great package tour, I think from the word go and the first band the kids were jumping up and down until the end of the night. It was wicked, I wouldn’t change it for the world.” The band had supported Paramore around the UK in the past which helped bring them to the attention of the music industry, and are clearly relishing the opportunity to have such a large headline UK tour themselves. Max then revealed how the support bands were picked for this tour saying that playing last year’s Warped Tour was key. “We played the Warped Tour with both We The Kings and Forever the Sickest Kids last year, and had done the Slam Dunk Festival with WTK so that’s how we really got to know them. We all hung out on the warped tour last year and thought since we get along so well why not tour together? As well for our fans, I think they really enjoyed watching those two bands too; they’re the kind of bands that our audience wants to see.” Despite the busy touring schedule and seemingly endless stream of press commitments, the bands did get some chance to hang out together. “We would hang out sometimes after the show, and we’d hang out a bit during the show as well, but it was a busy tour for us. We had to make sure everything went well and we did loads of press for it. Obviously we’re going away to do some international shows now so I hope the kids remember that tour until we come back.” You Me At Six were relatively unknown for the first couple of years they were together playing local small shows, but after opening a Slam Dunk Festival they began to gain success very quickly. They didn’t focus too much on that aspect of things however as Max explained, “I was just enjoying the shows. I think all of us were. We weren’t really worried about how the stuff was coming out. If people don’t like it, they don’t like it. I mean, this our band, this is what we like to do. We didn’t really put pressure on ourselves when we started the band, we just made sure that when we went out as the first band on that we did our best and that we were remembered by the end of the night.” With such a rapid rise in the music industry and the undoubted attention of fame that comes with it, Max told us that the band have tried to keep themselves grounded. “I think we’ve been brought up the right way to keep level-headed. When I read kids writing into stuff like Kerrang saying “we went to the My Chemical Romance show at the O2 and waited outside for like 3 hours and the band didn’t even say hello and just walked passed us,“ I don’t wanna be that guy. I don’t wanna get above myself. I’m a lucky person at the end of the day to be in this position to get to do what I love doing. Why should I change just because a little bit of fame has come? You’ve gotta treat people with respect. At the end of the day, our fans are the people who put us in this position so I wouldn’t ever say to a fan “no, you can’t have a photo” and then just walk past. I think that’s kind of rude. Our band’s always been about hanging with the fans and making sure we meet as many of them as possible and doing meet-and-greets and signing stuff. I think that’s what keeps us all level headed; the fact that we have such a tight connection with our fans.” The band have already managed to play some of the UK’s most prestigious venues and platforms having played the Astoria, Wembley Arena, and the Reading and Leeds Festivals; something they’d dreamed of doing. “Since we’re from just outside of London, we’d always wanted to do the Astoria and Brixton… because we saw so many of our favourite bands play there. Looking at my wall right now, I’ve got concert tickets from New Found Glory, Deathcab For Cutie, Finch, My Chemical Romance, Funeral For A Friend, Trivium, Bloc Party, Alexisonfire… who all played the Astoria. Tons of bands that I’ve seen at the Astoria and thought “wow, it’d be amazing to get to do that one day.” Max even said that their singer Josh used to have a quote on his myspace profile that said “by the time I’m 20, I want to be able to play the Brixton Academy” which he actually managed to do by the age of 19. “Like, our dreams have come true”, he exclaimed. “What’s amazing for us is that none of us would have thought this’d happen to us, but now that it has we have to think about what we want to do next. We’ve done so much already in our band’s career, it’s an amazing feeling.” Their latest record, “Hold Me Down”, was released this year and recorded in the same studio as their debut record. Max said the reason for this was because “we really got on with John and Matt at the studio. They knew what we were about and we connected really well with them and just thought ‘there’s no point in going off to like America to record a CD because it’d cost a lot of money and we wouldn’t know whether or not we’d get on with the people there.’ In the UK we could spend a bit more time in the studio tweaking and finding new ways of doing sound and stuff, and we could get a really good sound out of those guys. We figured it was a formula that worked so why break it? We enjoy recording there and we get along with everyone there, so why not?”At that point You Me At Six didn’t have a label as they’d just left their independent label so it’s possible that money was also a factor in the decision. They didn’t stay without a label for long though as Virgin Records were interested in them. “We didn’t want to sign to a major label, but the MD of Virgin reassured us that he’d done plenty of work on independents and he could really help us. So we played him the songs we were working on in the studio and he was really into them. We got a great vibe, and we weren’t in a position where we’d be stuck with a label telling us what to do so we went for it.” You Me At Six will be heading over to the US to play the Warped Tour for a second time this summer, but this time they’re scheduled to play the entire tour. ”It’s the first time we’re doing the whole of the Warped Tour, but it’s not the first time for us in the states. We did South By Southwest last year, then we did half of the Warped Tour, and then we did a tour last autumn with The Academy Is…, Mayday Parade, and Secret Handshake. It was nice being able to go straight back out there after the Warped Tour. I’m excited to do the whole of the Warped Tour this year, especially having done half of it last year. It was fun but I don’t think you get the whole vibe of the tour unless you’ve done the whole of it. It’s gonna be nine weeks of scorching weather. They really do make you work hard on the warped tour, you have to get up at like 7am to find out what time your band’s playing and you have to get all the merch tents set up and all your gear ready, and you can be dragging gear across a dusty car park for like a mile.” Before the Warped Tour, the band will be out in Japan and Ireland, and afterwards Max said they’re hoping to play a couple of UK festivals but that they’re not confirmed yet. “From there we’re looking to do Europe again and then Australia and then end with the UK. It’s gonna be a busy year for us, but I think we’re kinda used to it now. We’ve been touring pretty much for a solid 3 years now.” When asked where he’d like the band to be 5 years from now he replied, “my goals have already been achieved. I’m really stoked about what our band’s done so far. If we’re still playing shows in 5 years with kids who still love what we’re doing then that’s great. I don’t care about where I’m playing or how many kids we’re playing to.”
Thanks to Giovanna for organising this for us and to Max from You Me At Six for speaking to Steve. Photo by Tom Barnes. Find more info and music clips on their MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/youmeatsix.