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YOU ME AT SIX Start Final Australian Tour This Week - 20 Years Of Rock With JOSH FRANCESCHI · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Well, listeners, we've got some news today that's a little
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: bit sad and a little bit happy, I guess is
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the best way to look at it. First of all,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: You Me at Six are coming to Australia for a
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: tour that we are all looking forward to, of course,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: but unfortunately this is part of their farewell tour because
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the band have announced that they are partying ways after
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: twenty years. But we get one last Ferrara of these
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: guys coming to Australia in January. So we thought we
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: would actually get Josh from You Me at Six on
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the phone right now to chat about this tour. Josh,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: welcome to the show.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: How's it going.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I'm going really really well now, Joshair. As I said,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: there'll be people out there that are both happy and
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: sad at this news. But I was wondering if you
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: could start off by telling us a little bit about
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: how you feel about coming back to Australia for one
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: last time.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Well, look, making people happy and sad but both the
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: same time has kind of been indicative of Unit six
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: is a mission statement over the last twenty years, so
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: I guess that's that's kind of telling. But you know, look,
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: we're really excited to come back to Australia. It's for me,
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: it's always been quite a seminal part of this band's lifespan,
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: really and it's just a magical place for us. So
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: you know, I'll be as excited as I was fourteen
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: years ago when I first got on a plane over there.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: Shows always awesome and it wouldn't really be right to not,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: you know, come come back down Under. So yeah, very excited, And.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Like you touched at the top end of the conversation,
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: like I understand the kind of the conflicting feelings that
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: some people may have out with it, being like happy
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: with comming, but also that kind of pissed off that
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: we do what we're doing. But you know, I think
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: it's the best way of saying goodbye in any sort
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: of situations if you can do it in the right spirit,
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: and you can do it on your on your terms
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: and your own terms. And I feel like we've we've
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: been put in a position where we're fortunate enough to
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: do that, so we're taking it, and yeah, it'll be
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: it's gonna be a great celebration, and.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: You know, it's just going to be a whole kind of.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: Overview of the band's career and back catalog, and yeah,
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: it's going to be well worth it.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: I was going to ask that that to you. It's
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: not often in these days and times that a band
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: gets to make this decision on their own terms. How
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: much does that mean to you being able to make
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: that decision as a band and not having it forced
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: on you by by a label or by outside forces.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Well, I think you know also for the most part, yes,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: that is that.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Is a play out where it can be like label
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: driven or management driven or whatever. But for the most part,
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: fans stop because people stop caring about that band. So
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: it's like, you know, our biggest I guess hunch has always.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Been when does that happen?
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: And how do we how do we kind of slip
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: out the back door before it does, And we've been
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: waiting for a long time.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: People stop caring and people continue to care.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: So we're like, right, if we're not gonna do it
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: for us for ourselves, but no, all kind of like
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: pissing around aside, Like for us, it's about you know,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: I think it's really important as an artist you never
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: phone it in if you're if you've moved part that past,
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: that part of your life, or you can see that
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: there's other things you want to go and.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Do, or you want to.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: Be taking care better care of like your own personal
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: life and dedicate more time to that.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Like we're we're very very committed groups.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: So it's like when we saving and do something and
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: we commit to one another, it's like it has to.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Be one hundred percent.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: And I just think that, you know, maybe maybe we've
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: got to crossroads where some of us want different things.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: The prieties are slightly different, and the best way before
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: anything playing out publicly or going the rye is like
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: taking care of your own and understanding that that's all
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: good and nothing lasts forever really, So yeah, for us,
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: it's a celebration. It's like how lucky are we that
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: we get to go and play these shows. We get
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: to go and play to our fans and say goodbye
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: kind of in the spirit that we've always done things,
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: which has been about us going out and graft and
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: doing nothings.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: So we're very, very excited, and.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, of course it's kind of like there's some trepidation
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: around it, like what comes next?
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Who am I without this thing?
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: It's an incredible faunidly community that has kind of been
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: the centerpiece of R five lives for the last twenty years.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: But I think that's a good A good thing to
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: have in life is to have stuff shaken up a little.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: Bit, to be kind of confronted with you know, okay,
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: well what happens next, only you can kind of bring
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: that to the surface. So although there's you know, there's
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: definitely some sadness attached to all because I love performing,
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: I love I love our fans first and foremost. I
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: love the fact that we've had an impact and been
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: able to infiltrate, you know, be part of people's lives
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: for this amount of time and kind of soundtrack their
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: formative years as people, and maybe some of their won't
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: be their relationships or friendships.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Like to be able to.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Play any part in that, it's so fucking cool. Yeah,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: and I missed that and I missed that connection. But
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: you know, at the same time, like no one's died,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: do you know what I mean?
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Like, yeah, there's so.
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: Much to be grateful for here, and there's an opportunity
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: has to do it on our own terms. And I'm
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: sure that you know, someone like myself, like I'll be part.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Of music in some capacity.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: So uh, and I guess also, you know, closing a
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: chapter now kind of gives us an opportunity if then
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: when there's ever a point in the future where we
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: want to you know, we want to even talk about
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: being creative. Maybe not under Union six, but if you know,
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: being together, then we have that because there's.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: No fall out here. There's so many of my fair
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: bands that broken up.
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: You know, there's a big fallout into public or like shit,
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: you start go to their shows and you can see
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: that it's not the same band. It's not the band
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: that is playing with everything, and you know, or it's
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: just you know what I mean, Like sometimes you see
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: ship play out here, it's just dad to watch.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And I.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Feel like we've got an opportunity for people not to
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: remember us as one of them, and to remember us as.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Like that was one of my fair bands.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: They always picked it, and you know, they all there's
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: something to be said about like when as a fan
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: of music, when you're giving yourself to an artist and
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: then they kind of throw it in your face or
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: they turn their back on what has always been at
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: the core of what got you into them in the
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: first place, or just them as people you're like, they're
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: cool people. I want to see them win because they're
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: not you know, they're not taking a hiss and they're
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: kind of respecting my input to them as a band.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: It's like, you know, I never I never.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Want people to have any sort of feeling about Unit
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: six as not being their band. And so, as I said,
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: it's like really important to just recognize when a chapter
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: has to close or I don't asay the legacy, but
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: for the story to be full of the heart and
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: like I know, the DNA of what made you some
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: special then then it's almost like a necessity to honor
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: that and take care of it because it is sacred.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: And it's like there's.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: So many I said, say an example of the bands
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: that of maybe just sort of like going through emotions
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: or force one another to do this thing because it
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: works them as an individual. Units has always been about
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: the collective, and I think again that's that's resonated with
• 8:34
  Speaker 3: our fans, like they noticed the same five people for
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: twenty years in a world where so many bands have
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: rotating members or public fallout or whatever it's like, but
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: that it was always about us five and US five
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: against the world, if you like, and I think that's
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: the way we're carrying it out is like us five
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: doing it because we love it for our final year
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: touring amazing. It's it's a few friend and it's a
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: pretty incredible story that we've had in our lives.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: So yeah, feeling good about.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: It in exactly, Josh, I hope this is not a
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: too personal question, but when do you start thinking about
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: what you want to do with your life after the band?
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: It's something that I went through about ten years ago
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: when a television show that I was involved with finished up,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: and again, like you said, it was on our own terms,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: but you still had that moment of thinking what am
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: I going to do next? When do you start thinking
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: about that? Or is that something you've already started thinking
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: about it.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: It's a great question, bro, but I mean, you know
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: best after I'm part of and working on, which I
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: feel I've said this from the jump, is like I
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: feel it'd almost be a I'm not coming for me,
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: finally found me. I'm working the beautiful features of Brighton.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: That's a bit hustling and bustly for the people who
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: are psychologies, but yeah, I feel like it would be
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: the service to to you me for me to like
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: use like obviously this is a platform to talk about
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: what my next project is, what I'm doing, But there's.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: No doubt in my mind that I'll be being creative.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: I have been creative for the last or six months,
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: put of stuff together, and yeah, I'm not I'm not
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: worried about what's next because it's.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: Kind of like.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: For me, it's always been nothing of you know, what
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: you put in, your take away from it, and everything
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: I do.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: There's also been years of my life where I've maybe
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: missed or dropped the ball because you know, are all human, right,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: But like, for the most part, if I if I
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: care about something enough and I.
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: Respect enough, like you know, everything I've got, and at
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: least I can walk away from something going well, I'm
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: you know, it was authentic, it was real. So I
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: feel like with anything I do next musically or any
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: anything that's sort of creative, it will be done with
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: that with.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: That purpose and that sort of spirit.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: So and if I don't, if you don't see me
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: doing stuff, you know that I realized that music wasn't
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: what I wanted to do.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: So but for them, for.
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: Right now, you know, everything's and it's good. I know, everyone,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of talking about about people wanting to
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: go traveling. You know, some of us are getting married,
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: so kind of moving into a new a new I guess,
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: a new part of our lives, which is really really exciting. Yeah,
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: you know, and at the end of the day, we've
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: got to live out our teenage years and all of
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: our twenties doing the most incredible thing, like a proper
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: little gang go around the world, getting up to all
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: sorts of mischief and like being dickheads, but also.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Just you know, just doing the thing we love.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: The thing that we thought was completely impossible when we
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: first started.
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: It became.
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: Almost like an absolute you know, it felt like every
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: every year when it was when it struck to December
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: thirty first, I already knew what the whole next year
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: of my life looked like.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so of course.
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: There's some uncertain see's exepredation around, like ship, what happens next,
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: like not having that plan, But I think that's important
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: in life. I don't think you can just have that
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: stuff always turned out for you. So and coasting, So yeah,
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: it's going to be exciting. I'm sure everyone does. If
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: it's public fasting, it'll be great.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: So yeah, now I know we are running out of
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: time very very quickly. But I had two quick questions.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: First of all, how the hell do you put together
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: a set list when you know that it's going to
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: be your final tour of a country, especially when you've
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: got twenty years of music to choose from. How do
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: you put that set list together?
• 13:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good question to ask with you. But
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: I mean, I think you know, we've always taken the
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: stanswer with the five biggest units of fans in the world,
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: so like we we feel that we you know, we
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: have a good rhetoric, if you like, of what we
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: think people will want to see. And for me, I've
• 13:25
  Speaker 3: discussed at length of the lads like, for me, these
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: shows aren't about me and what I want from it,
• 13:32
  Speaker 3: like it's about the community and making sure that it's
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: like a tummunal sing along.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: Is basically what I want.
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: I want people to come out for a night and
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: you know, live out the stages of this band in
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: full voice and be able to just fucking let loose. Yeah,
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: you know, and I think you do that by not
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: turning up and playing the B sides and the album songs.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: No one wants.
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: I think you go through the back catalog in year
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: mark songs that really were from all of the albums
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: were the kind of the big moments, and then you
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: pick up you know, we know the ones that our
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: fans want to hear and says like the slow song
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: that wasn't ess a single but was like the song.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: On the album, you know, like, yeah, so we're going
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: to try and to make sure that it's a very
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: sort of.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: A very sort of well rounded representation of the band's
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: the band's back out of look is the is the
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: mountain We're about to climb, trying to figure that all out.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: But yeah, have a good one.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Awesome, well mate, I can't wait but to finish off,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: what would you like to say to all of your
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Aussie fans out there on the back of this announcement
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: of this amazing tour in January next year.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: But I'm not being asked that yet. I thank you.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: Is just it just doesn't really even begin to hit
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: the note on it. Just it's just been really really
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: wild and life.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: Affirming, being able to come to the other side of
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: the world and always feel without standing corny light home
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: and it's just always some of the best times I've
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: had in this band have happened in Australia. Some of
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: the most incredible experiences being on stage, off it, you know,
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: and that's because of the people that.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Were there, you know, the given that made it.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: And yeah, I feel very fortunate and thank you for
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: having us.
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: In your headphones, you know, for the last twenty years.
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: And I hope that those of you that comes to
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: the shows have a great time.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: A hopefully that we get.
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: To bump into you on the street or in the
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: bars or wherever we'll be out and about, and yeah,
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: it's going to be it's gonna be great.
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's probably