Dan Flint - You Me At Six (02/04/2015)
With Groovin The Moo and headline shows fast approaching, The 59th Sound’s Maddie
Reace caught up with You Me At Six’s drummer
Dan Flint to discuss touring,
festivals and even some potential new music.
Hi Dan, how are you?
Hi, I’m good thanks, how are you?
I’m not too bad, thank you taking some time out to talk to us tonight, well this morning for you.
No worries, thanks for taking your time to talk to me as well.
It’s early over there, what are you doing right now?
To be honest, I’ve just woken up about half an hour ago. Just sort of getting out of bed, just going to do this for a little bit and then I don’t know what I’m going to do with the rest of my day yet. I can’t move at the moment because my cat is sitting on my lap (laughs). He’s just sat on me; good start to the day though.
Congratulations on the continuing success of Cavalier Youth, your tour through Australia last year proves that you have a lot of dedicated fans here.
It’s blow us away, really. Australia is [sort of] the biggest surprise of all time for our band, we never expected people on the other side of the world to have heard our music before. It’s actually one of the places that took off the quickest and it’s gotten to the stage where it’s viable to come back two, three times on an album cycle. Away from England, it our favourite place to tour.
I know you guys just got off a huge co-headline tour with All Time Low [around the UK], what have you been doing with the time off you’ve had after that?
We’ve just been relaxing. With Cavalier Youth, it [touring] was kind of a bit non-stop really, we did festivals, we’ve toured America three, four times, we’ve done Australia a couple of times, [we’ve done] Europe as well. I mean, it was non-stop; we did a hell of a lot of touring. So everyone’s enjoying a bit of time at home, the weather is starting to get a bit nicer here as well. You know, just seeing friends and family, that kind of thing. I’m sure we’ll sort of slowly start getting back into the pace of maybe writing some new music over the summer, getting into the studio, having some fun with that. Finishing off the end of the cycle, we’ve got Australia and we might pop back to America one more time and then that will probably be the end of the Cavalier Youth album cycle.
Have you guys thought about any material for the new album? Are there any thoughts there, is there anything happening?
We haven’t really written anything per say, but I mean, being musicians, we’re always quite creative. We’re always playing new music; sometimes it’s not even appropriate for You Me At Six. We quite like writing other styles of music, you know, metal or some hip-hop. Sometimes we’ll just rap, for a laugh. I think in terms of You Me At Six, it’s always in the back of our minds; we’ll start writing again in the foreseeable future. We’re not putting too much pressure on it; we don’t want to panic into writing an album. When we’re ready, we’ll start. If it’s no good, we’ll just keep writing until we come up with something we’re proud of.
You Me At Six play quite a variety of different venues, from the 10,000 cap rooms in the UK to festivals like Warped Tour. How do you guys adjust to the different settings?
We tend to go into it with a very similar mindset. We want to go out there, we want to put on a show for people, and we want people to enjoy themselves and have a good time. That’s what it’s always been about with us. We have a hell of a lot of fun playing our music, so we’d hope that everyone enjoys themselves watching it. Whether it’s 10,000 people or 500 people, similar kinds of things go through our heads. We want to come across as a band that people enjoy watching.
Groovin The Moo is quite unlike the festivals you play normally [boasting a mostly local line up]. What was your initial reaction when you were offered a spot on the lineup?
To be honest, because we’ve never done Groovin The Moo before, we know that it’s a bit different to other festivals. We’re a little bit unsure what it’s going to be like, but we’re excited because it goes to different parts of Australia. Whenever we’ve toured, it’s always been the major five cities, whereas this time we actually get to travel around a bit more to different places we’ve never been to. We get a few days off so we get to do some exploring of Australia as well. It’s going to be a fun three weeks, doing a different style of festival, not really sure exactly how it’s going to go. There are apprehensions about that though. We also get to see new places, couldn’t really ask for anything more.
What’s one thing that you love doing when you come to Australia?
We always tend to go back and hold koalas every single time we come. I don’t know why we keep doing it over and over and over, but it’s so fucking cool, we have to go back and do it. That’s the cliché Australian thing to do. We enjoy the weather, we enjoy the way of life and the people there are friendly. We’ve always associated Australia as a place of us getting a bit crazy, playing some awesome shows and enjoying ourselves. We see it as a bit of a holiday (laughs).
I was going to say, it’s more of a holiday than a part of your job.
It definitely is in Australia. I love going to Europe, but sometimes you travel across Europe and the weather is just gray and miserable and horrible, whereas Australia, every time we go it’s always really decent.
There’s a large range of acts on the GTM lineup, are there any Australian artists you’ve heard of or wanna check out [or both]?
Do you know what, I actually don’t know too many of the artists playing. The festivals we’ve done recently, which I’ve looked at the line up for and thought, okay, not too familiar with other bands playing it. There was one or two, Charli XCX is obviously cool. We never get to play with artists like that; there are different styles of music. Wolfmother would be cool too; I’ve always thought they’re a wicked band, I think they’ll be good live. I think it will be one of those festivals we’ll walk around, maybe not knowing exactly who’s playing, but it will be an educating festival. We’ll get to see people live, get to go around and watch some new music which, I think, at the end of the day is kind of what it’s all about.
You’re also playing some headline club shows while you’re here, what can fans expect from those shows?
They’re scaled down a little bit, I think they’re quite small rooms so it should be a hot, sweaty mess and a fun evening. We’ll all just get a bit crazy together. We’re the type of band who loves crowd participation and as long as everyone else is having a good time, we’ll have a good time. I’m sure it will be fun, really fun. Very sweaty.
So do these headline shows rule out any kind of other headline tour this year for Australia?
I think we’re probably getting to the point where people are saying we’re not allowed to come back to Australia after this time (laughs). I think this might be our third time on the cycle actually, but we’re already talking about [probably] coming back as soon as we’ve got new music. I think we’ll end up coming back maybe before the end of the year, who knows. But if not, then probably a similar time next year. You won’t be able to keep us away from Australia for too long. It’s our favourite place to go, so as soon as there’s a chance to go, we’ll be there.
To wrap things up, can you tell me what can we expect from You Me At Six in 2015?
We’re playing a few festivals and then potentially might end up writing some new music and seeing how that goes. I think if you want to see us on this album cycle, this is probably the time to see us before we sort of go away for a bit and write some new songs.
Thank you again for your time, we can’t wait to see you here next month!
Thank you for taking time out to talk to me!
Maddie Reace
GROOVIN THE MOO
SATURDAY 25 APRIL – OAKBANK, SA
SUNDAY 26 APRIL – BUNBURY, WA
SATURDAY 2 MAY – BENDIGO, VIC (SOLD OUT)
SUNDAY 3 MAY – CANBERRA
SATURDAY 9 MAY – MAITLAND, NSW (SOLD OUT)
SUNDAY 10 MAY – TOWNSVILLE, QLD
TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH MOSHTIX
HEADLINE SHOWS (Presented by Soundwave Touring)
TUESDAY 28 APRIL - PERTH, CAPITOL THEATRE – 18+
THURSDAY 30 APRIL - MELBOURNE, THE HI-FI – 18+
WEDNESDAY 6 MAY - SYDNEY, METRO THEATRE - Licensed All Ages
THURSDAY 7 MAY - PENRITH, EVANS THEATRE – 18+
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH TICKETEK AND OZTIX
Hi Dan, how are you?
Hi, I’m good thanks, how are you?
I’m not too bad, thank you taking some time out to talk to us tonight, well this morning for you.
No worries, thanks for taking your time to talk to me as well.
It’s early over there, what are you doing right now?
To be honest, I’ve just woken up about half an hour ago. Just sort of getting out of bed, just going to do this for a little bit and then I don’t know what I’m going to do with the rest of my day yet. I can’t move at the moment because my cat is sitting on my lap (laughs). He’s just sat on me; good start to the day though.
Congratulations on the continuing success of Cavalier Youth, your tour through Australia last year proves that you have a lot of dedicated fans here.
It’s blow us away, really. Australia is [sort of] the biggest surprise of all time for our band, we never expected people on the other side of the world to have heard our music before. It’s actually one of the places that took off the quickest and it’s gotten to the stage where it’s viable to come back two, three times on an album cycle. Away from England, it our favourite place to tour.
I know you guys just got off a huge co-headline tour with All Time Low [around the UK], what have you been doing with the time off you’ve had after that?
We’ve just been relaxing. With Cavalier Youth, it [touring] was kind of a bit non-stop really, we did festivals, we’ve toured America three, four times, we’ve done Australia a couple of times, [we’ve done] Europe as well. I mean, it was non-stop; we did a hell of a lot of touring. So everyone’s enjoying a bit of time at home, the weather is starting to get a bit nicer here as well. You know, just seeing friends and family, that kind of thing. I’m sure we’ll sort of slowly start getting back into the pace of maybe writing some new music over the summer, getting into the studio, having some fun with that. Finishing off the end of the cycle, we’ve got Australia and we might pop back to America one more time and then that will probably be the end of the Cavalier Youth album cycle.
Have you guys thought about any material for the new album? Are there any thoughts there, is there anything happening?
We haven’t really written anything per say, but I mean, being musicians, we’re always quite creative. We’re always playing new music; sometimes it’s not even appropriate for You Me At Six. We quite like writing other styles of music, you know, metal or some hip-hop. Sometimes we’ll just rap, for a laugh. I think in terms of You Me At Six, it’s always in the back of our minds; we’ll start writing again in the foreseeable future. We’re not putting too much pressure on it; we don’t want to panic into writing an album. When we’re ready, we’ll start. If it’s no good, we’ll just keep writing until we come up with something we’re proud of.
You Me At Six play quite a variety of different venues, from the 10,000 cap rooms in the UK to festivals like Warped Tour. How do you guys adjust to the different settings?
We tend to go into it with a very similar mindset. We want to go out there, we want to put on a show for people, and we want people to enjoy themselves and have a good time. That’s what it’s always been about with us. We have a hell of a lot of fun playing our music, so we’d hope that everyone enjoys themselves watching it. Whether it’s 10,000 people or 500 people, similar kinds of things go through our heads. We want to come across as a band that people enjoy watching.
Groovin The Moo is quite unlike the festivals you play normally [boasting a mostly local line up]. What was your initial reaction when you were offered a spot on the lineup?
To be honest, because we’ve never done Groovin The Moo before, we know that it’s a bit different to other festivals. We’re a little bit unsure what it’s going to be like, but we’re excited because it goes to different parts of Australia. Whenever we’ve toured, it’s always been the major five cities, whereas this time we actually get to travel around a bit more to different places we’ve never been to. We get a few days off so we get to do some exploring of Australia as well. It’s going to be a fun three weeks, doing a different style of festival, not really sure exactly how it’s going to go. There are apprehensions about that though. We also get to see new places, couldn’t really ask for anything more.
What’s one thing that you love doing when you come to Australia?
We always tend to go back and hold koalas every single time we come. I don’t know why we keep doing it over and over and over, but it’s so fucking cool, we have to go back and do it. That’s the cliché Australian thing to do. We enjoy the weather, we enjoy the way of life and the people there are friendly. We’ve always associated Australia as a place of us getting a bit crazy, playing some awesome shows and enjoying ourselves. We see it as a bit of a holiday (laughs).
I was going to say, it’s more of a holiday than a part of your job.
It definitely is in Australia. I love going to Europe, but sometimes you travel across Europe and the weather is just gray and miserable and horrible, whereas Australia, every time we go it’s always really decent.
There’s a large range of acts on the GTM lineup, are there any Australian artists you’ve heard of or wanna check out [or both]?
Do you know what, I actually don’t know too many of the artists playing. The festivals we’ve done recently, which I’ve looked at the line up for and thought, okay, not too familiar with other bands playing it. There was one or two, Charli XCX is obviously cool. We never get to play with artists like that; there are different styles of music. Wolfmother would be cool too; I’ve always thought they’re a wicked band, I think they’ll be good live. I think it will be one of those festivals we’ll walk around, maybe not knowing exactly who’s playing, but it will be an educating festival. We’ll get to see people live, get to go around and watch some new music which, I think, at the end of the day is kind of what it’s all about.
You’re also playing some headline club shows while you’re here, what can fans expect from those shows?
They’re scaled down a little bit, I think they’re quite small rooms so it should be a hot, sweaty mess and a fun evening. We’ll all just get a bit crazy together. We’re the type of band who loves crowd participation and as long as everyone else is having a good time, we’ll have a good time. I’m sure it will be fun, really fun. Very sweaty.
So do these headline shows rule out any kind of other headline tour this year for Australia?
I think we’re probably getting to the point where people are saying we’re not allowed to come back to Australia after this time (laughs). I think this might be our third time on the cycle actually, but we’re already talking about [probably] coming back as soon as we’ve got new music. I think we’ll end up coming back maybe before the end of the year, who knows. But if not, then probably a similar time next year. You won’t be able to keep us away from Australia for too long. It’s our favourite place to go, so as soon as there’s a chance to go, we’ll be there.
To wrap things up, can you tell me what can we expect from You Me At Six in 2015?
We’re playing a few festivals and then potentially might end up writing some new music and seeing how that goes. I think if you want to see us on this album cycle, this is probably the time to see us before we sort of go away for a bit and write some new songs.
Thank you again for your time, we can’t wait to see you here next month!
Thank you for taking time out to talk to me!
Maddie Reace
GROOVIN THE MOO
SATURDAY 25 APRIL – OAKBANK, SA
SUNDAY 26 APRIL – BUNBURY, WA
SATURDAY 2 MAY – BENDIGO, VIC (SOLD OUT)
SUNDAY 3 MAY – CANBERRA
SATURDAY 9 MAY – MAITLAND, NSW (SOLD OUT)
SUNDAY 10 MAY – TOWNSVILLE, QLD
TICKETS NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH MOSHTIX
HEADLINE SHOWS (Presented by Soundwave Touring)
TUESDAY 28 APRIL - PERTH, CAPITOL THEATRE – 18+
THURSDAY 30 APRIL - MELBOURNE, THE HI-FI – 18+
WEDNESDAY 6 MAY - SYDNEY, METRO THEATRE - Licensed All Ages
THURSDAY 7 MAY - PENRITH, EVANS THEATRE – 18+
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH TICKETEK AND OZTIX