More Than Bangin'

Josh Franceschi didn’t experience the ‘80s. Maybe that’s why a hedonistic rock’n’roll lifestyle has never been on the radar for the 24-year-old? The Music is tempted to get all Dr Phil on the young bloke but really, Dr Phil seems like a bit of an arse; instead, we talk about some highlights of this year, namely You Me At Six’s first UK number one (2014’s Cavalier Youth) and the Kerrang! Awards, where the quintet won Best Single (Fresh Start Fever) and Best British Band.

Sharing red carpet screams with fan favourites Fall Out Boy, Franceschi questioned whether the rock band he fronts were just FOB’s “weird, ugly younger brothers” or if they were genuinely holding their own, though he acknowledges that validation from listeners and peers felt very cool. “You’re doing something right if you’re turning heads,” he sums up.

Talking to Franceschi, you quickly pick up the vibe – You Me At Six are a band of friends that hold no tickets on themselves whatsoever. It’s a surprise given their large-scale success and increasingly stylish press shots (see: mature), but it’s something the frontman takes great pride in.
“I’ve never met a more non-rock star band,” he agrees. “Some of our mates in other bands are quite similar to us, and then there are some that love [the bullshit] – they love wearing sunglasses inside. And that’s not to say they lose their passion for the music, but they get caught up in that stuff basically. They’ve gotten carried away and forgot about what they’re actually meant to do, [which is] building a fanbase and writing good songs.

“We’ve always kept each other in check [and] we have a lot of fun with our music, but we also have a very focused game plan – we’re passionate about not being a flash in the pan. If you want to go out to five or six in the morning and bang models and do all that sort of stuff then great, good for you, you’ll have a really cool time doing that, but at some point a line is going to be drawn and you’re going to look around and go, ‘Oh shit, no one cares about our band anymore.’ And you’re so wrapped up in that other shit that you didn’t recognise it.

“At the end of the day man, I’m no better than you and you’re no better than me,” Franceschi finishes. “And everybody gets the same – whether you’re Dave Grohl or the intern at a radio station I’m going to give you the same amount of time and the same level of attention when I’m having a conversation with you, and I think that’s what it’s about – you’ve got to separate the guy on stage to the guy walking the street, and I think we’ve been pretty good at doing that.”