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You Me At Six

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You Me At Six’s announcement of their return to Australia in January next year is great, but the reason being their breakup is not so great. Steph at Amnplify caught up their lead singer Josh, to talk about the band’s formation, the mega setlist of their farewell shows, and what the future holds.
Josh: I met Max in a mosh pit, at a local gig that was happening at some towny, town hall. He was wearing a shirt of a record label that I really liked called Drive Through Records. And I said to him, “that’s pretty niche, do you like bands on that label and do you want to start a band that sounds just like that?” And he went, yeah. So, me and him started a band that night.
Then we went up to a guy we knew called Matt. He was wearing an Incubus shirt and he had long hair. He said “sure, I’ve got a next-door neighbour who plays guitar. Should I ask him as well?”. That was Chris. Those three went to Brooklyn College and met Dan.
Then we had drama, it wasn’t really working. Then, I left college because my brain can’t operate at that frequency of having assignments and doing this. So, let’s commit completely. And we never looked back.
At 16, 17 years of age we started touring. We used to get mega buses, which is dirt cheap because it is just nasty, but it’s wicked because it gets you from A to B. We used to jump on mega buses, trains and get friends with cars to drive us to shows, because we couldn’t drive. We went all around the country in the UK. Did that for a year.
Used to book all our shows on MySpace, which was a golden era. It was class. Sounds a bit archaic, but it wasn’t about anything other than avoiding the mundane reality of having to go to college or working the shitty jobs we were working.
We just want to drink cheap warm beer, play floor shows and sleep on people’s living room floors because we can’t afford anything other than that.

Since announcing their breakup and farewell tour, the band have experienced a myriad of emotions. Josh reflected on the band’s camaraderie, and how everyone they tour with are surprised at how much of a gang they are together even off duty. 
Josh: We’ve always put our friendship before anything, and we’ve just made it work. We’re more bummed out that we may see a lot less of each other than anything else. We get to celebrate the life of this band arguably at its biggest. But it tag teams with this feeling of, things unsaid, unspoken love and gratitude.
I’ve spoken to a lot of people that have been in bands then left, and they all say the same thing. Grieving happens at different times that you least expect it. For us there is an overwhelming sense of, wow, look at what we did. Look at this community that we built around us five. How lucky are we that we’ve got a fan base of genuine rock stars and super cool people.
The times I’ve met somebody and they say “I came to one of your shows 10 years ago on my own and didn’t know anybody, didn’t have any friends. My best friends are those I met your show”, you’re like, that’s awesome. It is so cool to have played a tiny part in bringing those people together.
To have been part of something that has soundtracked formative years of people’s lives and maybe soundtracked great moments or been there to comfort bad moments.

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With 8 albums to choose from, forming a setlist to encapsulate the band’s history is a tough task. Josh spoke about how they are curating their final goodbye.
Josh: These albums have soundtracked our lives. You hear us, and I don’t mean as artists or musicians, but you hear us as people, our stories and there’s so many songs that we don’t play live because, oh it’s too painful, or we were 15 when we wrote that song and it’s a bit naff.
This tour is an opportunity to give our back catalogue a bit of a review. We’ve got to represent all these albums; they all need to have their moment.
How can we do that in a tasteful way and in a way which is entertaining? I want these shows to be a communal sing -along. It’s just an opportunity to have a blast.
I get quite sentimental about this sort of shit, but I feel like there’s so much stuff that you could get tied up, wrapped up in that’s negative in life. And I just think that going to see live music is just such an incredibly real place of fun connection.
If you walk through the door, you already have something in common. We’re here because we all like the same thing. What an opportunity to hopefully do something meaningful. I know that sounds basic, but I just want to transmit that happiness.
What we’ve done is mad to us, maybe not to the rest of the world, but to us five it’s mad. I want to transmit that gratitude and pleasure onto other people when they come and watch us. So yeah, that’s the aim. That’s the goal.

You Me At Six have toured Australia numerous times, yet they never get tired of coming. Josh likens the distance to travelling to another planet. He’s looking forward to just exploring the streets and laughing at the cultural similarities Australia shares with the UK.
Josh: Some of my fondest memories, my most profound sense of achievement has been being in Australia. I’ve never tried to say, “we made it”. Sometimes you can’t help but go, “fuck me, that just happened.”
I remember the first time we headlined the roundhouse in Sydney. The first time I heard of this venue was watching a Parkway Drive documentary. And I’ve always seen Parkway Drive as the Australian band, along with like Tame Impala. I was like, “we made it, we sold out the Roundhouse in Sydney. We’re a proper band in Australia.”
When we came in July, I think of last year, I’d never done one (a shoey) up until then. Then I ended up doing one every gig. The lads are like “you’re fucking rank.” I said, “no, man, I care its rank. I just like the fact that it’s a tradition.”
The audience and the artist not taking themselves too seriously and having a laugh of it. It goes back to something I was saying, the times in his band’s career where I felt my most sad, is when I’ve taken myself too seriously. And it’s because you apply this pressure on yourself of being this perfect thing, these standards that you’re trying to meet which are never realistic.

Finishing off with some rapid-fire questions, Josh shared some of his top faves.
Favorite album: Finch, What It Is To Burn”
Favourite artist? Fleetwood Mac
Favorite movie? Goodfellas
Favorite place to visit? Australia
Favorite venue to play? Brixton Academy, London
Favorite food? Italian
Favorite drink? Tequila soda
Favourite person in history? Dave Chappelle
Favourite tattoo? I’ve only got one and it’s in Roman numeral six for the band

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YOU ME AT SIX
and HOLDING ABSENCE
January 2025
Australian Tour Dates:

Friday 24th January BRISBANE, The Tivoli
Sunday 26th January SYDNEY, Enmore Theatre
Monday 27th January MELBOURNE, The Forum
Wednesday 29th January ADELAIDE, The Gov
Friday 31st January PERTH Astor Theatre

Tickets:

Pre-Sale: Wednesday 15th May at 9:00am local

General Public on Sale: Friday 17th May at 9:00am local

From: HERE

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Follow YOU ME AT SIX

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Press Release 13th May 2024 (below) HERE

YOU ME AT SIX
announce last ever
Australian shows

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AMNPLIFY – DB