1. What is your name and what do you do?
M: I’m Max and I play guitar in you me at six.
J: I’m Josh and I sing in you me at six.
2. This is the biggest headline tour you have ever done, have you had to pace yourselves and slow down a bit?
M: Yeah So far this is the biggest headline tour we have ever done and tonight will be the biggest headline show we have ever done. Its 3,400 people tonight at Manchester Apollo. The biggest show before this was the Roundouse in London last March. In the last year our touring habits have changed. We have toured a lot of new places and learned how to take care of ourselves as people.
J: Like last night was the first night I drank and I regret it today to be honest. I probably shouldn’t have because I’m on anti biotics.
M: I take things quite easy. I don’t booze as hard as I used to. I’m more chilled back. Just play computer games, say hello to people and hang out with fans.
3. This tour has been dubbed the “hold me down” tour which just so happens to be the name of your latest album. Can you briefly talk us through the recording process of the CD?
M: We started writing it in October 2008. Finished writing May 2009. In the studio starting April and we were in there for 6-8 weeks wit John Mitchell and Matt O’Grady from Outhouse Studios.
J: We lived in Reading. It was the first time we ever left home to record something. We went out a lot and it was really good for us because we hung out wit our friends so much more, we ad parties and stuff and the mood was always good rather than it being just us five.
M: It wasn’t just like “oh we are recording today, recording today, recording today” it was more like “Oh, we are in a good mood! Everything’s going sweet. We are happy!” I think the good vibes from that transferred into the CD.
4. (Josh) you once said in an interview “we push each other to write the simplest but most effective songs possible” is that still your aim?
J: When I was growing up people used to play us some quite weird music but the songs that always stuck out were bands likeThe Police, The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac. Songs with really good choruses and simple melodies. That’s how I’ve always felt about music.
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All my favorite bands have written strong, simple songs and at the end of the day one of the things that has worked for our band is that people can get to our songs and music quite easily because its not all that complex.Theres a lot of thought put behind it but its no, erm…what’s that band called who have like 8 minute songs?
M: Between The Buried and me! I love that band, don’t get me wrong! I just think that we push ourselves to write the best songs we can and if we can enjoy playing these songs as well as listening to them we are happy and then if other people like the songs as well that’s even better.
5. Your new single “Liquid Confidence” is out April 19th. The video for “Liquid Confidence” landed yesterday via you me at six: Backstage. For those people that don’t know what that is can you explain?
M: It’s something for our hardcore fan base who love us so much and who have supported our band for so long. We thought up this “backstage area” with exclusive access to all our new stuff. Liquid confidence video and underdog video before that were premiered there first. Then we have special things like meet and greet. It’s pretty cool.
J: When we joined our major label we were told that we had money set aside to do cool things for our fans. We were like “well, we have never had a website” so we wanted a website and for it to be a good one. We thought we would spend money on creating a situation whereby we can just give as much back to our fans as we could.
M: Our fans are so good to us. They are the reason we are here today so it feels good to give them something back in return.
6. Talking of the internet; If we looked through your computers browser history what would be the most reoccurring websites?
M: Facebook, Twitter, Flatspot, Alternative2punk and karmaloop..oh and another one but I’ve forgotten…
J: What, “Youjizz” (laugs)
I’ve seen alternative2punk, that’s a site were you can download music for free , as in, without paying…
M: The thing is I down load music yeah, but then I go out and buy the CD. You should see my CD collection. I’m a massive CD collector. I love it.
So when you saw your new album on that very site to download for free how did that make you feel?
M: I see a lot of my favorite bands on that website and it was nice to see that our band was on there as well. The comments were good and the rating was a 4 star rating so.
7. Seens as we are getting to know each other, tell us what is the most embarrassing lie you have ever told about yourself?
J:
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M: everything is my life is embarrassing so I’m just one big laugh.
8. Getting back to music, what are the top played song(s) on your iPods?
J: My Jimmy Eat world back catalogue, my Alexisonfire back catalog, Jesus Christ by Brand New, Police, Set Your Goals.
M: Mines like Thrice, Alexisonfire, Brother Ali, Atmosphere, Felt, Jay z, Slipknot. I’m a big Mixer…a bit of drum and bass in there as well.
9. Last album you bought? And was it a CD or a download?
M: I bought 2 CDs. Mastodon crack the sky and Slipknot volume 3.
17. If you had to discontinue either CDs or iTunes which would it be?
J: I think if the music industry stopped producing CDs it’s a shame for music. If you buy an album you should look and read through the content. Look at the artwork and appreciate it. At the end of the day music is art. With the hold me down artwork we took hours and hours putting it all together perfectly and to know that people just download it and don’t even read into the story of bother to appreciate it is a bit frustrating.
M: Look what happened to vinyl. It went out the window and it was a massive thing in people’s lives. There’s some really rare vinyl out there like a white print or blue print vinyl and its something like Michael Jackson – Thriller. That’s rare! Well, CDs will be like that as well some day so why would you eliminate CDs? Get rid of the MP3s.
10. Finally, musically, who should we be on the lookout for in 2010?
M: Set your goals, Futures, Canterbury, The Forgotten, The Audition. Their new record is ridiculously good. Four years strong new record coming out too.
J: Bring me the horizon
M: 2010 will be a big year for music. The smaller bands will come into the market and give bigger guys a run for their money.
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