Chat with ‘You Me At Six’ ahead of Luxembourg gig

You Me At Six

Alternative rock band, You Me At Six play at den Atelier on Thursday the 30th of March as they promote their latest album, Night People. Drummer Dan Flint took some time to talk to Sam Steen about how proud the band are of the record and what makes it so special.

Production

It has been three years since You Me At Six last released an album and fans of the band were growing a little antsy. Never fear though because it seems like it was worth the wait. Night People arrived in January and peaked at number three in the UK charts. The band themselves were delighted with the album, describing it as their best ever, a lot of which, it seems, came down to working with producer Jacquire King.

“He and his team make you sound unbelievable, having one of the best studios in the world helps and we all played live in there as well”, explained Dan, “He always said that he wanted to capture what he said was the best thing about our band which was five people all playing together live at the same time because that’s just what a band is.”

“That was it, that was the magical moment, music’s not robotic, you shouldn’t really be recording everything individually. Obviously that works for certain occasions but music should flow and and it should move. He really inspired us to be better musicians and be better songwriters.”

With King’s help and influence You Me At Six were able to find a sound they had been looking for since their formation in 2004. “For the first time I think we’ve had someone really capture what, sonically, we imagine in our heads. It never quite turned out how we wanted it in the past but this is the one where sonically we are just like, Wow! Every instrument can be heard and sounds amazing. You could be live in the room with the band and that’s what we wanted to create.”

Reception

The reception has been incredible and fans have been thrilled to see them back on the road and even the band have been surprised at how well the new material has been received. “It’s incredible, we did a UK tour which was the first thing we did when we can back, live wise, and Night People had only been out for a few weeks and when we got to the Shepherds Bush theatre in London, people were already singing the words. We were blown away”, said Dan.

Influences

Part of that surprise may come from the fact that Night People doesn’t exactly sound like a typical You Me At Six album. It’s a lot brighter and less heavy than some their earlier offerings but that change is something Dan sees as being fundamental to creating music.

“Well that’s what music is all about”, he said, “even if you look at some of the biggest bands of all time like the Rolling Stones. They never wrote the same record twice, they were always being creative and trying to push the boundaries. Music should be something that should be exciting and whatever it is that you do, as long as it’s exciting you then it’s the right thing to do.”

“The thing about You Me At Six and the reason why there has been quite a few different shades in our records and why our records have changed over the years, from the first to the fourth there are all different styles on every single one, is that we like so many different styles of music. Yesterday I went in and signed all of our pre-order CD’s with Josh and one minute we were listening to metal music, the next we were listening to jazz, the next we were listening to hip-hop, it’s all kinds of music and we like everything. If it’s good and it excites you then that’s all that matters.”

Don’t miss You Me At Six as they continue on their new direction when they play at den Atelier. Doors open at 7pm, tickets at 26 euros.