You Me At Six "weren't a fan" of their own band on their album 'Night People'.
You Me At Six
The 'Back Again' group's frontman Josh Franceschi has confessed he and his bandmates - Max Helyer, Chris Miller, Matt Barnes and Dan Flint - got themselves into a mindset that every track on their fifth studio album had to be "pretty similar", and the 28-year-old vocalist says in hindsight it was "f***ing boring".
He told former The Blackout star Sean Smith's Snappenin' podcast: "I definitely found that on 'Night People', we were so consumed in this idea of a cohesive record and our theory of what a cohesive record was, was that all the songs should sound pretty similar.
"But actually what that is, is just f***ing boring.
"We went back to being like, 'No, the identity of our band and strength of our band, [is that] we are the five biggest You Me At Six fans there are.
"Because if you are not a fan of your own band, then that is when you are in trouble; that is usually the red flag.
"We weren't fans of our own band on that, although maybe it was because of other external things."
Josh previously admitted they were "underwhelmed" by the 2017 record, despite it getting to number three in the official UK chart, and he said the their sixth LP, which was aptly titled 'VI', is their "career-defining" album.
Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, he spilled: "We felt underwhelmed by our own record so we wanted to make another one quickly, and a good one.
"Being a number three album doesn't mean it's any good.
"[Sir] Cliff Richard had how many numbers ones at Christmas, they were all crap so that doesn't mean it's any good."
The British star said the band's transition from 'Night People' to 'VI' was much like the Arctic Monkeys' journey from 2009 LP 'Humbug' to 2013's 'AM', arguably their best record to date.
He explained: "I still stand behind 'Night People' because it's something we've done.
"You know how Arctic Monkeys had 'Humbug' as a stepping stone before 'AM', that's how I feel it was like for us.
"It's a record we had to make and the only record we could have made at that moment in time.
Ultimately, it's what shaped us to make this one, it served a purpose."
After working with Biffy Clyro producer Dan Austin - who practically became a sixth member of the band - You Me At Six hope 'VI' is "the one" that leaves a lasting impression.
Josh said last summer before the record was released in October: "We'd never had that record. We've always made stepping stones, we've had milestones and we've grown.
"We haven't had that record where we are like that is the You Me At Six record.
"I definitely feel like we believe internally this is the one.
"It's kind of ironic that it is the sixth record and it's called 'VI'.
"Sometimes as cringe as it sounds, sometimes things are meant to happen a certain way.
"I feel like us being called You Me At Six, hopefully our career-defining moment is on our sixth record."
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