You Me at Six
It has been nine years since the pop-punk and emo band You Me at Six visited the Philippines as part of the “Bazooka Rocks 3” festival. But that trip remains a memorable one for bassist Matt Barnes for two reasons:
Playing in front of an eager Filipino crowd and feeding off their energy and meeting some of their biggest music idols.
“We absolutely loved it. When we got back to the hotel after the show, all the bands were upstairs at the bar. And everyone was there, including Taking Back Sunday, The Used and Saves the Day,” Matt told the Inquirer in a recent video interview arranged by Pulp Live World.
“It was pretty surreal. We grew up loving those bands. To hang out with them after a show was such a special experience for us,” he said, adding that it was “absolutely amazing” to finally see their Filipino fans.
“The crowd was so excited to see us, as if saying, ‘Finally, you came to see us.’ We also visited a local market where we ate fish, stingray and other local food. The Philippines was such a beautiful place to visit. It felt like we were on a holiday,” he said.
Formed in 2004, the British band is also composed of lead vocalist Josh Fransechi, guitarists Chris Miller and Max Heyler, and drummer Dan Flint. They rose to prominence in 2008 with the release of their debut album, “Take Off Your Colours,” and have since released seven more albums and clocked numerous hits, including “Take on the World,” “Underdog” and “Lived a Lie.”
While their past two albums, “VI” and “Suckapunch,” had the band experimenting with new sounds and genres like electronic and dance music, You Me at Six’s latest release, “Truth Decay,” echoes their early punk-pop exuberance, with thumping tracks like “Deep Cut” and earnest anthems like “Mixed Emotions.”
Now, the band is set to bring those new songs to life in the Manila stop of the group’s “Truth Decay” concert tour at SM North’s Skydome today. For ticketing info, visit www.smtickets.com or www.pulp.ph.
Matt Barnes
Excerpts from our interview with Matt Barnes:
What’s it like being on the road again after the pandemic?
It’s all we have known for our entire lives. We started out when we were 16, 17. We’re used to being on the road than sitting at home for long periods of time. We absolutely love touring. We’re all still very close and such good friends… growing old together. At the beginning of the tour, we drank a bit too many beers because we hadn’t seen each other for a while.
Where did you channel your creative energy?
We’re always writing at home, playing instruments, jamming and coming up with ideas. Our drummer, Dan, gave me an electric drum kit recently, so I’m starting to learn how to play it. Keeping your mind creative while you’re off the road is very important.
We all practice our sets at home. Sometimes, it’s hard to rehearse because we live far apart. But since we have already been playing for 20 years, we already know what each other’s going to do. We’re at a level now where we can turn up and can be just as good as we were months ago.
The new album, “Truth Decay,” touches on different topics like mental health. Your thoughts?
Everyone goes through that sort of stage when you’re growing up, around 18, 20 years old. We would be on tour nine months in a year, away from our friends, families, girlfriends. Sometimes, it can get stressful and the conversations can get a little heated. But through the years, you learn how to better articulate yourself and explain your thoughts and feelings.
We’re lucky that we have been close for the past 20 years. Even if we have had arguments, we knew if someone was going through something at home or having a bad time, so you do loosen up on him.
Mental health is something people are talking about more and more. And it’s important to continue talking about it. This sort of genre—pop-rock/emo—is amazing because sometimes, you can listen to a song and go, “Shit, that’s exactly how I’m feeling.” And listening to those songs helps you overcome those thoughts and feelings.
How do you settle creative differences?
We write whatever we feel like and love listening to at a given time. So no album will be the same. We like to mix it up or try new things all the time. You can’t put out eight albums of the same thing over and over again. You have to keep things fun. Sometimes, we write songs we know won’t make the album, because it’s just so much fun to write together…I can’t even call it a job because it’s a lot of fun.
You Me at Six
Having had eight albums is no joke.
Not a lot of people get to do that, do they? We enjoy being in the studio, writing together and enjoying each other’s company. When a band hasn’t released an album in a while, the fans are like, “Oops, they’re not hanging out!”
But is that something you consider? That you also have to consistently put out albums because fans expect them?
Our fans around the world have always been amazing to us. We haven’t been in the Philippines since 2014 and it’s going to be amazing. We still have a lot of fans there and they want us to come back after nine years. It’s important to keep going back to places where we have a fan base. Going there is like a holiday. We get to have some sun, or pop on the beach.
Did you ever imagine that the band would last 20 years?
It’s about trying out different things but maintaining our core. There are so many fans who have different favorite albums. If all our fans just love the same album, then it means that we hadn’t done anything better. I think that’s one of the reasons we have been here for so long.
Has your idea of success changed? At first, you’re concerned about records sold… stuff like that. Now, as long as you have money in the bank, can pay the rent, have food and be happy, then you’re good. And if you can have a smile on your face 80, 90 percent of the time, that’s success to me.