Josh Franceschi – You Me At Six ‘I Didn’t Want to Do the Band Anymore’
One of the absolute best parts of being a music journalist, is the amazing people that you get to meet and talk to. One of those people who is always a pleasure to chat with is You Me At Six frontman Josh Franceschi.
We chatted about their epic new album Truth Decay, out now via Rise Records, touring, the struggles of being in a band and the sea of guest vocalists they’ve worked with over the years.
I was listening to the record before I jumped on to chat with you today, and it’s fantastic. I’m sensing that the colour red is a bit of a theme for the record?
“It’s a strong colour isn’t it? It’s got a lot of connotations with it which is why we went for it.”
It also feels like it’s a lot happier than SUCKAPUNCH had in terms of the vibe.
“I think SUCKAPUNCH was on the back of three pretty intense personal situations for the band. I think there was three of us who had come out of long term situations, and that’s why we recorded it in Thailand to get away from that and away from London. I think the records fueled with, I dunno, there was a lot of really amazing things happening, but also a lot of confusion.
I was adamant as we were making SUCKAPUNCH that it was gonna be my last album, and I didn’t want to do the band anymore. So I think there was that feeling when we were making it which is why the record was a bit all of the place sonically, and I think that actually ultimately ended up being one of the record’s strengths and gave it that versatility.
With Truth Decay from the get-go, we sat down and talked about what we wanted to be as a band, and what kind of record we wanted to make, and the values of having a real focus, and a purpose and direction on the record. That truthfully helped with the creative process and helped with the writing of Truth Decay, which led to it feeling a bit brighter I think.”
What was it that helped you change your mind about SUCKAPUNCH being your last record with You Me At Six?
“Just that Max (Helyer, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist) said that he needed me. So you know, he was like I’m not ready for this to be over, I need you to continue doing his journey for me. He was at a point in his life where he just needed his mate, so I said alright, I got you, as always. By that I mean we’ve always had each other’s backs in this band, through difficult moments. It’s never been about not loving being in the band, it’s never been not appreciating and valuing how unique it is to be on the other side of the barrier, it’s amazing, it’s all stuff, you know, it’s the air in my lungs.
It just, it got to that point, and I’m kinda still there, where I want to know what it would be to experience another life, you know? You’ve only got one and I feel like I’ve done the same thing for 18 years, since I left school, and I want to know if there’s other things I can offer to the world. Being in a band, it’s kind of, it’s all consuming, in the best way. It really is 80-85% of your year is dictated by this thing, so it becomes difficult, it’s not impossible but it can be difficult, to pursue other things.”
I know asking to pick a favourite song is like picking a favourite child, but do you have one? I’m torn between ‘God Bless The 90’s Kids’ and ‘No Future? Yeah Right’, the track you did with Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds.
“Both good choices! I think it varies day to day, in terms of, like, if there’s, I dunno, at the moment I’m going through a phase where my favourite is a song called ‘:mydopaine:’, there’s one of two I wouldn’t have put on the album but I got outvoted! I think they’re all a good reflection of what we were trying to do.
We were trying to make a classic You Me At Six record, but in 2022. We weren’t in the pursuit of songwriting validation, or proving to anybody that we can do a certain genre or type of sound. We just said let’s do something what we know we do really well and have fun with it and contemporise it a little bit, you know?
At the end of the day, there’s only so many chords, so many notes on a scale, and all songwriting really is trying to present it in a slightly different way to your peers and those who’ve come before you. We embraced the fact there are moments on Truth Decay where it sounds like other bands, other songs, and other moments in time that have been and gone but we didn’t, we leaned it that a little bit and we were trying to make a record, you know, the spirit of it was emo rock, when we were making it there was a lot of going down memory lane and listening to a lot of our favourite songs, and bands we grew up on, as well as our favourite You Me At Six songs, you know, there flashes of, little nods if you like, of respect throughout the record of our peers and songs we grew up on. I had someone the other day say to me ‘oh this song, it sounds like a Fall Out Boy song’ and I was like ‘yep, it does’, and that was the end of my answer. I’m glad you got that.’ It’s good when people who own that shit, instead of saying oh no it doesn’t. We’re on that vibe to be fair.”
So you mentioned that one of a few songs were outvoted, was it a four-to-one kinda thing?
“To be honest there’s just certain voices in our band that are louder than others, and I kinda get to the point like I’ve told you what I think, either you take it into account or you don’t. I’d much have moments like that than it be, I think that’s been a factor into this band’s longevity that there’s an understanding that there is no power struggle in the band, everyone has a seat at the table to run a conversation or a recording session, I think that’s important, otherwise it becomes a one-man band and that leads to people no longer being a part of it. It’s not as fun. If you start something coming from that state of innocence of we’re just five guys in high school who started a band and suddenly over the years that dynamic shifted to a point of it getting ugly, I think our younger selves would be pretty pissed off with us, so we try and keep it as light-hearted as possible. There’s times where I want to take them outside to play in traffic for a little bit, but I’m sure the feeling’s mutual!”
You Me At Six have done a fair few collabs in your time, you’ve worked with Oli Sykes (of Bring Me The Horizon), Winston (McCall) of Parkway Drive, and on this record, you’ve got Rou Reynolds (of Enter Shikari), and Cody Frost. I also know you did a feature on a Yours Truly track last year as well. Is there anyone left on your ‘I really want to collab with them’ list?
“Not really to be honest with you! This record taught me that there are people who have done cuts on this record, that aren’t actually on there. It made me realise if something feels like hard work to get over the line, then it’s really not the right thing to do. There was a particular singer who went back and forth, meant to be a good friend, we’ve been on tour together, and tracked their part, but wrong, then we waited two months for them to track it again and they sent it on the deadline day, and then after we had the song mixed and after it’s gone into production to go on the record, their manager said ‘oh no it can’t be on the album, it can only be on DSP’s later on in the year’. So we were like, you know what? You shouldn’t be on a You Me At Six record.
Whereas people like Rou from Enter Shikari turn it around in 48 hours, fuckin gassed, callin’ me up in the middle of the night coz he’s so excited and just done a new part in the middle eight or Cody Frost who’s bouncing around the room, I think she might have ADHD, but she’s also the most beautiful person in the world, who is so excited by music, and so talented and such a colourful person. That’s the kind of people I want our fans to hear you know, and be part of something we’ve put everything into, I want that same thing.
What I realised actually is that all that stuff of, I don’t want to call it clout chasing, but getting features for the sake of bulking up the album and having talking points, I’m not on that and it doesn’t serve me as a creative person and an artist anymore.
You know those people that you earmarked earlier, the Winstons and the Olis of the world, when we made those songs it couldn’t have been more organic if you tried. Just absolute respect between bands, and a clash of cultures if you like, surfer metaller dudes and a band from the leafy suburbs of London, and just becoming great friends on Warped Tour and it being a thing of ‘I love your band and would love for you to sing on our track’ and them being like ‘We’re not passing through but you know, I’m gonna hire a car and make sure I get to the studio before our show’. That sort of thing, where people value what you’ve got to say and what you’re doing, they’ll go out of their way to be part of it.”
I’ve been looking at your Twitter feed lately, and I know that you’re a big football, well, you call it football, we call it soccer over here, you’re a big football fan and you’ve been watching the World Cup. If you had to pick a You Me At Six song to be a world cup anthem, what would it be? But you can’t pick ‘Underdog’!
“[laughs] okay, um, I guess like, ‘Lived A Lie’ was on FIFA, so maybe that? I feel like, there’s always some sort of existing relationship between that song and football. From the new album I guess, something upbeat, maybe Deep Cuts? Something that has an energy to it. I think, we’re not really like, anthemic songs and football are like, old school songs that hooligans have just made songs, you know? Old like 80’s dance songs are usually the ones, or like ‘Sweet Caroline’.”
Yeah, one of the Aussie rules teams has claimed ‘Never Tear Us Apart’ by INXS as their song, which cuts me up inside because I don’t like that team but I love INXS! It has been a VERY long time since we’ve seen your lovely faces in Australia, I know you have an EU/UK tour coming up, are we hopefully going to see you guys again soon?
“Yeah! I literally got an email last night about the three or four options we have for Australia and South East Asia, we just need to work out when to go, We’ve got offered, so we’re definitely coming back in 2023 for sure. It won’t be in the first quarter, I would have loved to have come for your summer, it’s always nice over there in February/March, but it’s a bit too late for that.”
You recorded SUCKAPUNCH in Thailand as you said, but Truth Decay was recorded at home in London, right?
“We went on some like, writing trips, Airbnb renting trips in Cornwall, and we went to Santorini Island to record the album. We were there for about 6 weeks I think. That’s all I can remember about it, it was a really nice old Greek house on a Greek island, and we has this really sweet lady come and make us food every day. We try, when we be creative, not to be somewhere filled with distractions. We try to have more awareness, we don’t operate well if like, the pubs just there, or I can be home in an hour! We have to have some separation to do our thing properly.”
I feel like Cornwall is the go-to place for recording and writing for English bands?
“It’s because it’s so remote. Middle of nowhere and it’s quiet and scenic, it’s a good one. I think nature does that, when we went to Santorini, mate it was so cathartic. It gives you that opportunity and that space to hone in and focus. That’s why I moved to Brighton, so I could be close to the sea!”
Well, there you have it folks! It was nearly the end of You Me At Six two years ago but luckily we get this new record, and we get to see the lads sometime this year! Truth Decay is out now via AWAL and you can pick up your copy HERE!
Interview by Kelsey Trevan @Kelsey_139
You Me At Six – Truth Decay tracklisting:
1. Deep Cuts
2. Mixed Emotions (I Didn’t Know How To Tell You What I Was Going Through)
3. God Bless The 90’s Kids
4. After Love In The After Hours
5. No Future? Yeah Right (Feat. Rou Reynolds)
6. HeartLESS
7. Who Needs Revenge When I’ve Got Ellen Rae
8. Breakdown
9. Traumatic Iconic
10. :myodopamine:
11. A Smile To Make You Weak(er) At The Knees
12. Ultraviolence
13. A Love Letter To Those Who Feel Lost (Feat. Cody Frost)