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I've had it with this crowd, and I'm done with this town.
Tonight our interview is scheduled for 6 o'clock, so we, of course, share a few giggles over the irony of it all. However, You Me At Six are one step ahead of us, and take that little bit too long with dinner, leaving us 'til about 6:20 - not that we mind, it just spoiled our fun a little.
If you weren't already aware, this bunch of seventeen and eighteen year olds have been touring the country relentlessly in 2007, to the point where they had one day off between two major tours, and, boy, have they been doing it in style. Hailing from Surrey, but making friends with the likes of Paramore, The Sleeping and, most recently, the mighty New Found Glory, it seems as though these boys can do no wrong. And with The Times Online calling them "our chance to breathe an underground life back into emo" you have to ask yourselves, what's up with this band?
We managed to catch up with them for talks about their new found success, life on the road and what it feels like to be on TV, on the last date of their first headlining tour in Leeds. Yet, the interview still ended in Family Guy quoting, but that's another story entirely
OS: How does it feel to be a band that is always on the road, and does non-stop touring.?
Josh: It's awesome.
Matt: It's the life now. It's not a different life: it's our life. It's become more different when we go home, opposed to as when we're on the road, personally. Being at home, we don't do anything.
Josh: It's probably the worst bit about tour, because you're not on tour.
Max: Yeah, you're not on tour, you're not on the road. You're used to getting on the road and just being in that environment, but when you get back home again and it doesn't sink in, almost.
Matt: We just miss our shitty red van
Max: Big Red! It's all good.
OS: How much do you think the amount of touring you guys have done has effected you?
Matt: It's been really, really good.
Max: Yeah, dramatically.
Dan: We've become a lot tighter as band, but also, become better friends
Matt: We've learnt each other's qualities and not-so... qualities.
Dan: Yeah, sometimes when we go home, it's just nice to be by yourself for a bit, to chill out.
Max: But, it's alright for a couple of days. Then you wake up in your bed like, "right, I'm not in this place. I'm not going to this gig. I'm not playing this show." It puts you down, almost, that we're not playing.
OS: What's it been like having such high-profile supporting slots, such as with Paramore and Fightstar?
Chris: It's been wicked and we're so grateful for everything. It's just helped us get out there even more.
OS: Have you picked up much advice from older bands on those tours?
Matt: Loads. Loads. We learned a lot from a band called The Sleeping, from New York. They're wicked. But they taught us so much, just about generally being in a band and how to treat each other; how to write music.
Max: How to enjoy each other's company, too. Like, even in the worst positions you could be in on tour, if something really bad were to happen, all your band would be there for you and you could just... I can't put it into words!
Matt: Jesus Christ Max! That backfired on you.
Max: Yeah, I'm pretty bad with words.
Then, they quite literally, break out into song. "You've lost your waaaay with worrrrds."
You're at the last date of your first ever headlining tour. What's it like to have reached the point of being able to headline shows?
Matt: It's awesome.
Dan: It's weird.
Max: It's a good way to end the year
OS: Most of the shows have been sold out too, so how does that feel?
Josh: No. I mean, realistically, this is our first headlining show in Leeds and I don't know many bands that come here and sell out a show the first time around. So, that's a thumbs up, definitely.
Max: I'm stoked.
OS: And what have the shows themselves been like?
Josh: It's been really cool. All of the shows have been really busy: Glasgow and London were sold out and everywhere else has been really busy, so it's been cool.
Max: We've had hectic times as well. We had, like, stage invasions...
Josh: Human pyramids?
Max: Human pyramids!
Dan: Two-stepping...
Matt: A lot of stuff's been knocked over.
Josh: Broke a few hearts.
OS: It sounds very Gallows...
Max: Wouldn't have it any other way! Wouldn't have it any other way.
Josh: There's actually no Flood Of Red tonight. They pulled out, and I'm a bit gutted, personally.
Max: I was really looking forward to having the last night with them.
Dan: Slam Dunk party time with You Me At Six!
OS: So, how did you guys come up with your name?
Max: How did we come up with the name 'You Me At Six'?
Matt: You two did it!
Josh:... On the back of a cereal packet. No, it wasn't Max, it was Steve [previous member]! I think we were just making Friday night arrangements, and it was just our slang for when we were gonna meet. I never intended that to be our name.
Matt: It just sounded like a joke, like, "What shall we call ourselves?"
Max: We were lost for a name for the band, like, "If we're gonna be a band, we need a name."
Josh: So, we are called You Me At Six and we have no idea why.
OS: What's it like to be such young guys in a band that has fans of a similar age? Do you think the fans being able to relate to you guys helps a lot?
Josh: Do you think that's why, for a UK pop punk band, we're doing quite well? Because people can relate to it? I dunno. I think, personally, one of my favourite bands - everyone's gonna grunt when I say this again, because I always bring it up - is Paramore. Purely because I've always been able to relate to them; they're just young kids doing what I've always wanted to do.
OS: Do you not think that gives you more of an advantage?
Josh: I suppose there is, with the idea that people can relate, but at the same time, some people look down at you and say "well, you're just a bunch of kids."
OS: But, for fans, it must make you seem more approachable?
Josh: That's true. But, I kinda regret not going back to college, because I would've really liked to have finished it and gotten it done, but if I'd wasted this opportunity, I'd be more disappointed with myself. I dunno about you guys?
Max: I'm still in college, so I'm doing band life and I do some college as well.
Matt: You don't go to college!
Josh: You always use that line, but you haven't been to college in fucking months!
Matt: Max doesn't go. Even when he's home he doesn't go.
Josh: Last time I talked to you about it, you said "I haven't been in for a month."
Max: I know! That's because I was on tour, but I went in for a little bit...
Chris: You went in for two days, Max. I went in for three weeks.
Matt: If that was college for everyone...
Dan: It's weird for me because all of my friends have just started uni, so it's a really new thing for them and I feel like I'm missing out a bit. They're all meeting new people and they've got all these new friends now.
Josh: But, I know a lot of my friends look at me and are like "You're living the dream and I'm at college." I mean, I'd rather be doing this, but it feels like I'm missing that one experience.
This year you were nominated for Best British Newcomer at the Kerrang! Awards. What was is like to find out about that?
Matt: Max doesn't remember. I... kind of remember.
Josh: I think she means how did you feel when you found out you were nominated?
Max: When I found out, I was astounded. But, when we were actually there, I can't remember anything
Matt: I was just like, "Oh, look, there's Tom Delonge!"
Josh: Yeah, then as soon as we saw Tom Delonge we were just like "Right! Now we're gonna drink."
Matt: That's it, that was the highlight. I'd seen the main man.
Max: We didn't even need to see Tom Delonge. As soon as we walked in, it was just this massive room, like a seventies, or fifties theme and there were all these actresses wandering around with big silver plates, with Jack Daniel's and Coke, and beer, and Jagermeister shots, wine, champagne, so I just put two of them up to my mouth and swiped them back.
Matt: I think the worst thing about it was the fact it was free, so you can't turn it down. It's rude to turn it down!
Max: Free drinks all night.
Josh: The worst part about the Kerrang! Awards was leaving the Kerrang! Awards. I realised that we're never gonna get invited again.
Max: Yeah, but the fact is, you all went home after the Kerrang! Awards, but I went straight to Reading Festival.
Josh and Dan [in unision]: We were meant to go to Reading...
Max: They were too pissed. So, I went, "Right, I'm gonna go to Reading." I don't know how I got to my campsite, but apparently I fell right on top of my mate's tent.
Josh: Jack carried you! Jack from Not Advised carried you, from the entrance, to your campsite.
Max: Ohhhh, yeah!
Josh: And, then, you woke everyone up.
Max: Yeah, Chris was in Africa at the time too.
Dan: Me and Josh just woke up in the morning like, "...this isn't Reading."
Max: Yeah, but you probably didn't have as bad a hangover as me. You woke up in your bed. I woke up on a horrible, uncomfortable sheet.
Matt: Let's not tell anyone about what happened at Reading..
Dan: What happened at Reading?!
Max: I don't know what happened at Reading.
All [in a full-on chorus]: What happens at Reading, stays at Reading!
Is it surreal being able to watch yourselves in your music video [for digital release 'Save It For The Bedrrom'] on TV?
Josh: I haven't seen it.
Dan: I've seen it!
Max: I've seen it.
Dan: I've seen it like, four times.
Max: I think I've seen it once on Kerrang...I was walking through my front door, and my mum asked had I seen the video on Kerrang yet, but I was like, "Nahh". They had Kerrang! On, then I walked in and sat down and it just came on. So, I had to watch it with my parents and it was quite embarrassing.
Josh: And your mum was like, "Ohhh son! Look at youu!"
Dan: My mum got more excited about it than I did, like, "That's my boy on TV!"
All [repeatedly]: That's my boy! That's my boi!
Josh: It is weird though. It's like when we see ourselves in magazines. I think it's weirder for the people close around us; our friends and our families. I dunno, like, my Gran... [cue noise level increase] No, no! Just my Gran was like, "I don't understand. Why are you in a magazine?!" "I don't know. I don't know why!"
Max: "I dunno what I've done that's so special!" It is weird though when you pick up a magazine like Kerrang! Because I've been reading Kerrang since I was in year five or six, and to pick up that magazine and see ourselves in there is just surreal.
OS: Do you think it'll ever sink in?
Josh: I hope I stay oblivious to everything, just so I can enjoy it. I think as soon as you start accepting the fact that you're successful, or something, you change. I hate when you see bands and their egos are the size of this; it's just like, "You know what? You should be grateful!"
Max: That you've been given a chance to do something like this.
Josh: But, I hope that every time I pick up a magazine and see our band in it, that I just sit there and grin like I did all the other times.
Max: I'll be fucking happy to be in that magazine.
Matt: I remember the first time we played Devon, and they had the gig listings on the back. Do you remember, in tiny little letters 'You Me At Six, supporting Flood Of Red', and it was spelt wrong, but we were still like, "Wow." We were like, "Yeah, I'm gonna frame this!"
Max: Rocksound was funny. After our Barfly show they reviewed us as You Me At Six, then the main picture was Josh singing, but the caption was 'Me You At Six'. I mean, how can you get something like that wrong?! You just said 'You Me At Six'!
Josh: Maybe it was a joke?
Matt: I don't think it was a joke.
Dan: When I was at my Grandad's funeral they got my name wrong. How bad is that? The guy was standing there, like "Our heart goes to out to blah de blah" and then they called me David.
Matt: I dunno if that's funny, or just tragic.
OS: What does it feel like to be a huge part of this upcoming UK pop punk scene, along with bands such as Kids In Glass Houses, Tonight Is Goodbye etc?
Josh: The majority of those bands are our boys. I mean, we don't see ourselves as fronting it, just more apart of it.
Max: It's just doing something that we like to do. It's just about having fun.
Matt: I think, if anyone's fronting it, it's Kids In Glass Houses. They're getting huge now.
OS: Yeah, just over a year ago we saw them support Lostprophets.
Josh: Exactly. Realistically, I don't think - I don't want to offend anyone by saying this - that Kerrang! Magazine would've written about us if we hadn't played with Paramore. It was weird for a small UK band to do that, so that's why they picked up on it? We're no different and no better than Tonight Is Goodbye, Furthest Drive Home. There's all these sick bands who aren't able to do what we're doing, and I think it's just because we got lucky on a few things.
OS: What do you guys hope for for the future?
Max: When that questions comes up, there's always one thing that Josh would say, in every interview.
Josh: ...World domination? I mean, Hitler went for it, why can't we?
Max: You just used Hitler! That was one of the worst examples ever.
Josh: Okay! Stalin, Mussolini, Tony Blair, George Bush, Osama Bin Laden...
Dan: Since when is Tony Blair taking over the world?!
Josh: I'm not gonna go into it! But I did politics, so I know a bit about it.
Matt: Yeah, you do politics and then you say Tony Blair wants world domination?!
Dan: Failed.
Josh: No, but he wanted to dominate.
Dan: You just can't put Tony Blair in the same category!
Josh: Okay! The Spice Girls, N Sync...
Max: ...Backstreet Boys!
Josh: Ali G.
Max: Borat!
Matt: Borat actually has had world domination.
Josh: There you go; we want to be as big as Borat.
Max: What about Arnold Schwarzenegger? He's pretty much got world domination; he's got California on his hands.
Josh: Otherwise, I dunno. I know we're doing some festivals here in the UK, and some other cools tours, but I think we just want to get our album ready.
Max: That's the main interest. For a summer release.
Josh: Two thousand and eightttt.
Max: Bang!
Matt: Motherfuckerrr.
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