“One of the toughest lessons I’ve learned is how to show backbone but not show your fist”: You Me At Six’s Josh Franceschi on the wisdom he’d pass on to the next wave of rock bands
In just a few weeks, You Me At Six will begin the tour that will culminate with their dissolution in 2025. The pop-rock quintet from Weybridge, Surrey will kick off their Final Nights Of Six run of dates in early October in Dallas, Texas, eventually bringing the band to a close with two shows at London’s Wembley Arena at the beginning of April next year.
It has been a triumphant career for the five-piece, who were still in their teens at the point their debut album Take Off Your Colours was released in 2008 and still only in their early twenties when they first started headlining arenas. Since then, there have been Number One albums and forays into electronic and dance-tinged sounds at the same time as retaining their fervent, diehard fanbase without ever needing to downsize venues. You would imagine, then, that frontman Josh Franceschi has a wealth of wisdom that he could pass on to the next generation of wannabe rock stars. And he does, because he told me about it around the release of their eighth and final album, 2023’s Truth Decay.
“We’ve gone through about three or four different managers and three or four different labels and three or four different live agents and wouldn’t change any of that for anything, because we’ve met some incredible people,” the singer began. “We’ve also worked alongside and met some people that have treated us very poorly, but at the same time has given us really valuable lessons in how not to be and also how to be resilient without being unkind. One of the toughest lessons I’ve learned in the industry was how to show backbone but not show your fist. I think that’s been the hardest lesson is, is when somebody does wrong by you, or hurts you is to not want to become that evil. When they go low, you go high. You’re far better served if the sooner you can remove the ego, the much happier you’re going to be.”
Franceschi said he was concerned that new artists were being burdened with the demand for content instead of being encouraged to get out there and hone their craft. “I worry about some of the younger, newer more fresh-faced artists that that are being asked to worry about so much so early on, versus, ‘Hey, what’s your story? Can you play your instrument? You can’t? Okay, can you surround yourself with other like-minded people that can play instruments? Great. Go and play in front of people’,” he said.
“I’ve been to showcases and I’ve spoken to the artist before and the pressure they’re feeling because of an online presence they have, does it transcend that? Does it go into our real space of being in front of human beings connecting with them and playing their music? Demanding the attention of a roomful of people is a skill but you have to practice it, you have to do it properly, relentlessly, you have to suffer.”
You Me At Six will say farewell to the US, Europe and Australia before embarking on their final UK and Irish trek beginning in mid-Feb, 2025.