By Cristina Carrazza-- Regional Head, Midwest

At the Chicago date of last year’s Warped Tour, You Me At Six made their US debut. With high expectations, this British quintet has stolen the hearts of their American fans. Apart from releasing their second full length album “Hold Me Down,” they have toured with bands such as The Academy Is, Mayday Parade, and Paramore this past year. Now, You Me At Six is back for a second round of Warped Tour. I got a chance to talk to lead singer Josh and guitarist Max to learn more about this up and coming band.

Cristina: First of all introduce yourselves…
Max: Hey I’m Max and I play guitar in You Me At Six
Josh: I’m Josh and I sing in You Me At Six

CC: How would you describe You Me At Six?
MH: This is always a tough one for us to narrow down. The way I would describe it is rock music, influenced by pop melodies, with hooks and riffs.
JF: I think we sound like the bands that we like.
MH: Yeah we try to be the bands we like.

CC: What are some of those influences?
JF: Brand New, Jimmy Eat World, Taking Back Sunday.
MH: Incubus, Thrice.
JF: Lots of stuff. It just depends really. I find it really hard to listen to new music, because it’s never as good as it was back then.
MH: Unless it’s a bad that really stands out.
JF: For example, on this tour there’re, maybe out half of the bands out there that I’ll actually go out to watch and enjoy. Everyone else just sounds like shit to me.
MH: Or exactly the same. There’s no difference between them.

CC: Since we’re on that topic, what, in your opinion, constitutes a good, noteworthy band?
MH: Guys who write music, because it’s what they like and love to do. They’re awesome people and don’t act like an ass…
JF: A good band for me, and what is most important, is someone who is not trying to jump on the ledge.  There’re a lot of bands on this tour, I’m not going to name names because it’s not my place, but they literally try to vibe off what kids are into right now.  So it’s all the same bullshit screaming, electronica. It’s just awful music. It’s sad because there was a time when this Warped Tour had bands like Jimmy Ear World and Something Corporate; bands who were singing about something that meant something. Now it’s all about bands who sing about asking your boyfriend what my dick tastes like, and all that stupid stuff.  That’s not what music is about, but whatever.
MH: Yeah it’s not cool.
CC: I completely agree, it’s definitely refreshing to hear musicians that still stand up for that.
JF: Absolutely. The truth is we’re also touring with some awesome bands like Set Your Goals, Four Year Strong, Parkway Drive, Bring Me The Horizon, Everytime I Die,
MH: Mayday Parade
JF: Yeah. Those are some good bands that still are about what music is to them.
MH: Yeah, not just about following their bandwagon.
JF: And those other bands will die. In six months time, there’ll be a new band. This their peak, they already peaked.
MH: There’re always going to be bands trying to jump on the bandwagon and then there’s one band that’ll get there. But by next year’s Warped Tour, something else will be popular and because they weren’t doing what they wanted to, they won’t make it.
JF: There’s already a difference between last year’s and this year’s Warped Tour on what’s cool and what’s not. It changes everyday.

CC: So last year on Warped Tour, the Chicago date was you first show in America.
JF: It’s weird. I can’t believe it’s already been a year. We’ve done a lot this year. Fingers crossed, today should be a good show.
MH: We’ve been really excited for the Chicago date. Since last year’s Warped Tour, it was the best way to come to America and play the first show at the Vans Warped Tour for a crowd of a thousand kids…
JF: Well it wasn’t that big…
MH: Well there were a lot of kids. But we’re always super excited to come back here and see.

CC: After that, you guys did the AP Fall Ball which was your first American tour.
JF: Yes that was our first club tour. It was a lot of fun.
MH: We played with The Academy Is, Mayday Parade, Set your Goals…
JF: Yeah it was cool. We never thought that on our first tour we would play venues like the House of Blues. I think it gave us a false sense of what touring in America is like. We had to start back from the beginning, but that was an amazing way to start off and a tour to be on. I think if we hadn’t been on that tour, in a way, we wouldn’t have had the following to come back for this one. The way it is in America is tour, tour, tour. The more you tour, the more people hear about your band.
MH: Yeah the more beneficial it is. We’ll see.

CC: Do you have any future US tours planned at the moment?
MH: We’re trying to see what we can do but nothing is 100%  set. We’re either going to come back in the fall or in the spring.
JF: Or both…

CC: Shifting gears a bit, you guys released your second full length “Hold Me Down” at the beginning of this year. Can you tell us a bit more about the album?
MH: Yeah, Hold Me Down we wrote around 2008 all the way to July 2009 before Warped Tour last year. It’s a bit different. “Take Off Your Colours” we wrote when we were 16 but “Hold Me Down” we wrote when we were 18, 19. We’ve obviously been touring a lot more. We learned a lot of new things we could do. We spent a lot more time in the studio recording these songs. We just wanted to write songs and be a band that doesn’t imitate anybody else. With “Take Off Your Colours,” we aspired to be the new Fall Out Boy and Paramore. But with “Hold Me Down” it’s more us. We found what we want to do and we’re trying to write our own songs. That’s how it worked out.
CC: So you guys felt more confident putting out music that you feel comfortable with
MH: Yeah and I feel that it’s more us and how we are as musicians and how we want ourselves to be portrayed.

CC: Let’s end with something random.
MH: I didn’t go to the toilet today.
JF: After this, me and Max are going to be taking turns.