You Me at Six Case Study

You Me at Six is a British alternative rock, pop punk and emo band from Weybridge, Surrey they formed in 2004. You Me at Six consits of vocalist Josh Franceschi, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Max Helyer, lead guitarist Chris Miller, bassist Matt Barnes and drummer and percussionist Dan Flint.

You Me at Six had a previous drummer Joe Phillips who had left the band in 2004, then Dan Flint joined You Me at Six.

This is taken from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Me_at_Six about the 'early years' of You Me at Six "Formed in 2004, You Me At Six remained small for around two years. During an interview with Sam Darcy, bassist Matt Barnes said that You Me At Six started out travelling the UK on the Megabus to ensure they got to all of their early gigs. In their early material they incorporated elements of screaming, as expressed in early demos such as "Promise, Promise", "New Jersey", "Noises" and "This Turbulence Is Beautiful". Another early You Me At Six song was called "The Liar and The Lighter", this song was entirely acoustic and showed the bands early versatility with different genres, when taken concomitantly with the screaming on other early songs. Their first release was a four track E.P in 2006 entitled We Know What It's Like To Be Alone. They then released a four-track EP at the start of 2007, with the songs "The Rumour", "Gossip", "Noises" and "This Turbulence Is Beautiful". They played many local and smaller venues throughout 2006, such as Backline Studios in Guildford and Facebar in Reading, building large local support, then in 2007 began playing larger venues. One of the first major breakthroughs came for the band when playing to a sold-out show at the Camden Underworld in February 2007, then later with the opening slot of Slam Dunk Festival 2007 (which they later went on to headline in 2009) Their support slot with Paramore at Colchester Arts Centre also drew the attention of major media, such as Kerrang!".

You Me at Six rose to success with their first studio album Take Off Your Colours which was released 6th October 2008, on Slam Dunk Records. Slam Dunk records is an independent record label which was founded in Leeds, England in 2007. The label evolved, initially, from popular clubnight 'Slam Dunk', a weekly clubnight held at the city's Cockpit music venue, predominantly centered around emo/punk/ska and metal music genres. Slam Dunk Records is also associated with popular music festival 'Slam Dunk Festival', which was established in 2006. Slam Dunk Festival is held on the May Bank Holiday of each year, now at University of Leeds student union building, attracting more than 40 bands across six different stages. Acts who have played Slam Dunk Festival range from Fall Out Boy, The Acadamy is, Paramore, Story of the Year, Cute is What we Aim for, The Blackout, New Found Glory and You Me at Six. All of the album was written by Josh the lead singer and the all of the music was composed by You Me at Six. Take Off Your Colours was produced by Matt O'Grady who is a producer, mixer and music engineer Matt has produced bands like Deaf Havana, The Blackout, My Passion and both of You Me at Six albums. Take Off Your Colours entered the UK Charts at 25 though a deluxe edition of Take Off Your Colours was released on July 21, 2009 in the U.S. and September 14, 2009 in the UK. The new version features five additional songs. Save it for the Bedroom, Finders Keepers and Kiss and Tell later peaked at #33 and #42 respectively in the official UK Singles Chart.

The American version of the album was released on Epitaph Records is a Hollywood, California based independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. The label has artists like Alkaline Trio, The Blackout, Bring Me The Horizon, New Found Glory, Set Your Goals, Story of the Year and You Me at Six though in the US only.

Hold Me Down was the bands second studio album which was their first major label release through Virgin Records on 11 January 2010. Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. It was later sold to Thorn EMI in 1992. Its American operations were merged with Capitol Records in 2007 to create the Capitol Music Group. Virgin Records have artists like 30 Seconds to Mars, Blur, Fountains of Wayne, The Smashing Pumpkins, Underoath and You Me at Six. Like Take Off Your Colours, the album was once again produced and mixed by Matty O'Grady.

A promotional single titled The Consequence was made available for free digital download before first official single, Underdog preceded the album's release. The album debuted at 5 in the UK album charts, however it managed to hit 4 for the mid-week charts. This album included the popular single Underdog, which reached 49 on the UK singles chart, The Consequence which was available on download through the bands myspace and Liquid Confidence which was released on 19 April 2010 as the third single from the album. The album also features guest vocals from Aled Phillips of Kids in Glass Houses on Trophy Eyes and Sean Smith of The Blackout on first single, The Consequence. Prior to release the band stated they were very happy that the album 'reflects our growth as people and musicians'.

This is taken from Wikipedia about the bands touring "You Me At Six kicked off their year playing a launch show in Kingston — originally intended to be an instore gig at Banquet Records, it was quickly upgraded to the new Hippodrome — in support of their new album Hold Me Down on 11 January. As of February they have played 3 dates, including, also, an HMV instore and an HMV event headline promoting new British music at the Relentless Garage London. They announced that they would be playing several festivals including Punkspring in Japan, the whole Vans Warped Tour; and supported Paramore on all Soundwave dates, as well as on Paramore's tour.
They have completed their third sell-out headline tour in support of their second album Hold Me Down. They were joined by Sean Smith and Elissa Franceschi on selected dates. In Belfast, Matt told GiggingNI.com how it was "exciting to see how much you've grown from a year and a half ago".
In August 2010 the band will be performing on the main stage at the Leeds and Reading festivals. The band also mentioned during their gigs in Manchester, Leeds, Southampton, Nottingham, Norwich, London, Glasgow and Belfast that they would be re-touring the UK in December 2010. During the Glasgow gig it was also mentioned that there was likely to be an Edinburgh tour date.
On 18 May 2010, You Me At Six visited BBC Radio One's Live Lounge for the second time, presented by Fearne Cotton. Aside from being interviewed they played a version of "Liquid Confidence" and a cover of Ellie Goulding's "Starry Eyed" at Maida Vale, in London live on air. On the 23 May 2010 they played the 'In New Music We Trust' stage at the Radio One Big Weekend in Bangor, North Wales. They were joined onstage by Sean Smith for The Consequence and Aled Phillips on Save it for the bedroom.
In December, You Me At Six will play another UK Headline tour during which they will visit Doncaster, Bournemouth, Manchester, Wolverhampton, London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Belfast. Support will come from Mayday Parade."

I love You Me at Six as I first saw them in 2008 when they were supporting a band Angels & Airwaves, You Me at Six have been in numerous of Kerrang! and Rock Sound interviews.

This is a Radio 1 Live Lounge version of You Me at Six performing Finders Keepers.

You Me at Six-Finders Keepers