The first song I remember hearing
Eagles – ‘Hotel California’
“I think I was three or four. That’s when I lived in Cyprus, and my dad used to take me and my sister to the beach after school. This song would always be blaring in the car. It takes me straight back to that place. I didn’t pick up on [the ghost story element] though. I just thought everyone was going to a hotel to hang out…”
The first song I fell in love with
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell – ‘Aint No Mountain High Enough’
“It’s a beautiful, beautiful song. I remember dancing around in the house with my sister and my mum, like one of those things where your mum’s made you a roast and you put on music and dance around.”
The first album I bought
Will Smith – ‘Big Willie Style’
“It was at the height of The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air‘s popularity and Wild Wild West had just come out. I don’t think there was a kid my age that wasn’t obsessed with Will Smith. All of my friends had this record and we’d go around wearing a Chicago Bulls basketball top because Will was wearing one in the show. He’s always been one of those figures in my life that’s been really positive. What that did for people of colour, actors of colour, with The Fresh Prince… It was the biggest TV show in the world at one point, and was opening these doors for a whole host of other stuff to come through afterwards.”
The first gig I went to
Thrice at Islington Academy, London, 2004
“I was 14 and they had a band called The Dillinger Escape Plan opening for them and I think in the first song the guy headwalked. I’d never seen anything like it. I don’t think you ever forget when you get kneed in the face by the frontman of the support band. I think he did a shit onstage as well and chucked it into the crowd. I remember being in the mosh pit and thinking: ‘OK, this is how I die.’ I was being trampled on, it was over, lights out – and then this stranger’s hand came out of nowhere and pulled me up. The whole night reinforced my love affair with live music. It’s very addictive. Once you go to your first few shows and get that rush of jumping up and down and moshing and crowdsurfing, it’s very difficult to not want more of that.”
The song that reminds me of home
The Police – ‘Every Breath You Take’
“It was constantly on in my house. It takes me straight back to my living room at my old family home, where my parents would have mates over for dinner and would put on music all night and chat and dance around. My mum and dad would sit me down and be like: ‘I went and saw Jimi Hendrix at this gig’ or ‘We were at Live Aid when Freddie Mercury walked on stage.’ They would give me all these anecdotes of where they were, when they saw the band and what was going on in their life at that time. That’s one of the beautiful things about sharing music with people – it helps you relive the good, and sometimes bad, moments of your life.”
The song I wish I’d written
Oasis – ‘Wonderwall’
“I don’t know if there’s a more beautiful song. When I’ve looked into Noel Gallagher talking about it, it seems to have been something that just poured out of him. I wish I could pick up my guitar and do that as simply as he’s done it and it sound that good. I’ve been caught in the crossfire with him once or twice so I’m paying him a public compliment for once. Let’s see what he does about it – probably nothing.”
The song I can’t get out of my head
24kGoldn feat. Iann Dior – ‘Mood’
“It’s annoying good, but it’s the same thing over and over again. I only ever heard it once – in a car on the radio. Then every time it comes on a playlist or as I’m trying to go about my normal life where I don’t need a soundtrack to it, that’s the song that comes on in my brain.”
The song I can no longer listen to
City And Colour – ‘Coming Home’
“I was probably about 16 or 17 when my first serious girlfriend broke up with me. That was an album [‘Sometimes’] I always used to listen to with her. I was obsessed with it, but now I can’t listen to that record. At one point I wanted to be [frontman] Dallas Green, I wanted to be able to play and sing exactly as he did for a good three or four years, and it took that off the table for me.”
The song I want played at my funeral
Elton John – ‘I’m Still Standing’
“It would be a last sadistic nod to my family and friends. I’ve been to a few funerals over the last few years, and the ones that are best are when people are cracking jokes the whole day, the music is really upbeat, it’s more of a celebration. I like the idea of celebrating somebody’s life rather than mourning their death. I’ve got a bit of a playlist that’ll have to get stuck on when I go and ‘I’m Still Standing’ would probably be the encore.”
You Me At Six release the deluxe edition of their latest album ‘SUCKAPUNCH’ on July 2 via Underdog Records/AWAL. They embark on a UK tour this September, alongside dates with Bring Me The Horizon
The post Soundtrack Of My Life: You Me At Six’s Josh Franceschi appeared first on NME.
