Chart-topping UK rock band, You Me At Six have had a wild year so far with countless tour dates, festival performances and most recently, the release of their highly anticipated album, VI in October. The band’s triumphant sixth studio album finds them not only co-producing for the first time, but also exploring new sounds and pushing themselves further than ever before. The result is an exciting, ambitious release that the band will be taking on the road stateside in early 2019. Even following a massive 2018, the band is already anxious to get to work once more.
Following the release of VI and the band’s recent North American tour announcement, we caught up with You Me At Six guitarist Chris Miller to chat about the band’s new music and plans for the new year. Listen to VI and read the full interview now below.
Interview by Dom Vigil
The Prelude Press: You Me At Six has had an incredibly busy year with new music, festival shows and tour dates! What has been the highlight of your 2018 so far?
Chris Miller: The highlight of 2018 so far has been the release of our new album VI. We played some shows and opened a pop up restaurant for the night named ‘You Me at Shish’ to celebrate. It was great hanging with all the fans, hearing people’s reactions to new songs gets us buzzing.
On October 5th you celebrated the release of your new album, VI! Now that it has been out for a little bit, what are some of your favorite things about the album?
I love the variety we have managed to achieve on VI. It’s a collection of songs with no set theme per se. It was fun having no rules or pressure from the outside world and being able to create something that is exciting and fresh for us. It really is a new era for the band and we can’t wait to get out and play.
Did you have any major goals in mind when you first started working on the album?
We just wanted to make something that was totally spontaneous and really push ourselves to make something different and new. No one wants to hear a band write the same album six times so this was our way of expanding our musical boundaries whilst keeping all the things people seem to love about You Me At Six.
For the first time, you guys co-produced this album, too! How do you feel that affected the final product? What was that experience like?
It meant we had a much closer relationship with every aspect of the process. It opened our minds to what’s possible and learnt a whole lot along the way. Dan Austin our producer really feels like a 6th member of the band and I can see us working together on a lot more projects in the future. We work really well together. It was a refreshing experience and we had a huge feeling of freedom and ambition whilst making it.
Did you come across any challenges when working on the album? If so, how did you overcome them?
To be honest this album was just a great time from start to finish. It was two months of fun, experimenting with crazy sounds, crazy methods of recording and we just lived and breathed the music. We are close as a band and great friends so it comes naturally to us. Writing and recording this album unsigned helped us to just get on with it instead of worrying about other things. I wish every album was like that.
How do you feel you’ve grown as a band or as individual artists with the writing and recording of the album?
We’ve opened our minds a lot more. As a band we’ve always all had a vast taste in music between us and we just truly embraced it this time round. In the past we may have stopped an idea early or cut a jam short because we worried whether it sounded “You Me At Six” or not. This time we didn’t give a fuck if we were jamming a reggae riff at 2am! If it felt good and we liked it, it got tracked. We needed to write this album for ourselves.
What was the most rewarding part about working on the album?
Listening back to the finals before sending them off for mixing was highly rewarding – after two months of 12 hour days working as hard as we could whilst loving every minute of it. It’s a crazy feeling of emotions when you listen to it as a whole for the first time.
You Me At Six will be touring the U.S. in early 2019. What are you looking forward to most at these upcoming shows?
It’s gonna be great to get out to the States again, it’s been a while! We enjoy touring the USA and love seeing the differences between each state and how they develop every time we come back. It will be fun to hang with the fans again and play some new songs for them.
What are the band’s big plans for the rest of the year?
We have a lot of touring in the UK to close out 2018. We are on tour in support of playing VI and also celebrating the 10 year anniversary for our first album Take Off Your Colours by playing it in full at a handful of shows. It will be fun playing different sets and playing lots of songs we haven’t played for years.
Thank you for taking the time to chat with us! Is there anything else you’d like to add?
If you like what you’ve read or heard, please check out our new album VI or come catch us out at a show early next year!
STAY CONNECTED WITH YOU ME AT SIX: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Back Again Tour 2019 North American Dates (TICKETS HERE):
2/21 Boston, MA @Brighton Music Hall
2/22 New York, NY @Gramercy Theatre
2/23 Philadelphia, PA @Underground Arts
2/24 Washington, D.C. @9:30 Club
2/26 Toronto, Ontario @The Opera House
2/27 Detroit, MI @Saint Andrew’s
2/28 Columbus, OH @A&R Music Bar
3/2 Chicago, IL @Bottom Lounge
3/4 Denver, CO @Marquis Theater
3/6 Seattle, WA @Chop Suey
3/7 San Francisco, CA @Great American Music Hall
3/9 San Diego, CA @Music Box
3/10 Pomona, CA @The Glass House
3/11 Los Angeles, CA @Teragram Ballroom
3/13 Houston, TX @House of Blues
3/14 Dallas, TX @Granada Theater
3/16 Atlanta, GA @The Masquerade – Hell