You Me At Six’s Soundwave Love Affair

UK rock heartthrobs You Me At Six don’t need to be invited to Soundwave to make excuses to come to Australia, but it’s still their favourite festival to play. That’s according to drummer Dan Flint, who talked to Music Feeds ahead of last week’s Australian tour announcement.

The 5-piece rock outfit have made it a priority to do a proper tour Down Under since releasing their fourth album Cavalier Youth and blowing Aussie crowds away on tour with Paramore back in January this year.

Here Dan talks to us about You Me At Six’s love for Australia, why they were so eager to return and why Soundwave is so much fun compared to other festivals.

Music Feeds: Australia, huh? We are excited to have you guys back. What are your expectations?

Dan Flint: As soon as we came back from the last time we where there in January we straight away said, “Let’s think about another tour.” It’s taken us a little while with our schedule but we’ve managed to figure it out. Hopefully it’s going to be cool.

Every time we’ve been to Australia it’s been absolutely amazing so I don’t see why it wouldn’t be another amazing tour. We are heading out in September, so it’s not too long for people to wait after it gets announced which is cool. It’s a pretty quick turnaround for us and we are excited to come back.

MF: You’ve done Soundwave a few times now. Does the band still rely on the festival as a draw card to tour Australia?

DF: I think it’s at the point where we need to go out on our own. We need to try and establish ourselves as a band outside of the Soundwave scene. I think now is the time with our single going to radio [Room To Breathe] we can have a tour that isn’t connected to Soundwave. It’s time to step it up a little bit I think.

Soundwave is always a good platform to launch a band off though and also I would love to go back there the next year or the year after. We would love to play Soundwave again because it’s probably the best festival we’ve played.

MF: Why do you say that?

DF: It’s the organisation of the whole thing. The bands that are on it, they’re always awesome. You get treated so nicely and to have a festival where you turn up and all the bands are all staying at the same hotel and parties are all organised, that’s where we have met most of the bands from Soundwave.

Bands will usually turn up for a festival and everyone is too cool and sits in their own dressing room and you don’t end up meeting one another, the back-stages are always a bit dull, but with Soundwave it’s almost like a little touring community, everyone gets on the same planes and same hotels and hangs out, it’s so much fun.

Listen: You Me At Six – Room To Breathe

MF: Soundwave festival organiser AJ Maddah has butted heads with a few of the bands on the festival in the past. What’s your experience with him?

DF: Every single time I’ve met AJ he’s always been pretty cool. I think everyone knows he can be a bit of a maverick, but I didn’t read too much about him having run-ins with people. He’s been really cool to us.

The last time we saw him was on the Paramore tour and he just turned around straight away and said, “Right, we have to get you guys back right away for a headline tour.” He’s always been nice to us and maybe we’ve been one of the lucky ones.

MF: You mentioned there are some artists who think they’re too cool. Why do you say that?

DF: We’ve done a few more commercial festivals in the UK, Radio 1’s Big Weekend, which has sort of pop acts and to be honest people I haven’t actually heard of. There’s something about a lot of pop artists, they all have this massive entourage and they walk around like they own the place. They don’t want to meet anyone, they don’t want to chat to anyone, and they can’t seem to do anything for themselves. It’s pathetic really.

The last festival we did, Radio 1’s Big Weekend, we went down there the day early. We got our tickets and we stood in the crowds the day before and watched Coldplay and bands that we wanted to watch, and that’s what it is all about. We sat there thinking, “God, I bet not many other acts would do this kind of thing.” It’s just silly that some artists think that way really.

MF: Do you believe your latest album, Cavalier Youth, has more pop elements than any of your previous albums?



DF: It’s not like it has gone really pop-punk or really sort of pop-rock. I feel like it’s gotten more rockier in terms of bands like The Killers or how the Foo Fighters might have their rockier song. We didn’t want to make a record that was super pop-punk or emo because we don’t tend to listen to that kind of music.

It’s more commercial, and it’s probably more accessible to people of all ages. I think it’s the type of album that anyone could buy into, anyone could like, and I guess that would technically make it pop, yeah.

MF: So I accidentally put my brother through a window when listening to the Oli Sykes breakdown of Bite My Tongue off your album Sinners Never Sleep. Is that the kind of crazed fan reaction you would hope for?



DF: I would hope that most people who heard that part of the song would put their brothers through a window, that’s what we were thinking when we wrote it!

You Me At Six are touring Australia with Tonight Alive this September thanks to Soundwave Touring – tickets on sale today! Details below.

Gallery: You Me At Six, Paramore – Entertainment Centre, Brisbane 09/01/14

Photographed by Rebecca Reid

You Me At Six and Tonight Alive Australian tour dates

Friday, 5th September

Brisbane, Eatons Hill Hotel – Licensed All Ages

Tickets: Via OxTix and Ticketek

*For Brisbane ticket holders there will be limited free shuttle buses running from the city to the venue and returning after the show. More details to follow!

Saturday, 6th September

UNSW Roundhouse, Sydney – Licensed All Ages

Tickets: Via Ticketek

Tuesday, 9th September

The Hi-Fi, Melbourne – Under 18

Tickets: The Hi-Fi

Wednesday, 10th September

The Hi-Fi, Melbourne – 18+

Tickets: The Hi-Fi

Thursday, 11th September

HQ, Adelaide – Licensed All Ages

Tickets: Via OxTix and Venuetix