Sinners Never Sleep
Sinners Never Sleep is the third studio album by English rock band You Me at Six. It was released on 3 October 2011 through Virgin Records. While touring in support of their second studio album Hold Me Down, the band wrote slow-tempo material and heavy-sounding songs. Between March and May 2011, they recorded with producer Garth Richardson at Sunset Sound and The Sound Factory in Los Angeles, California. Partway through the process, vocalist Josh Franceschi suffered a panic attack, which resulted in him being hospitalized and the band losing time in the studio. Described as an pop rock and alternative rock album, Sinners Never Sleep was a departure from the pop punk sound of their previous releases.
The lead single from Sinners Never Sleep, "Loverboy", was released as part an extended play in September 2011. Bookending the release, You Me at Six went on a co-headlining Australian tour with We the Kings and a headlining tour of the United Kingdom. "Bite My Tongue" was released as the second single from the album in December 2011. Sinners Never Sleep was released in the United States in January 2012, coinciding with a co-headlining US tour with the Swellers. You Me at Six then toured Australia as part of the Soundwave festival, and then the UK. "No One Does It Better" was released as the third single from the album in April 2012, followed by "Reckless" as the fourth in October 2012, which preceded a one-off headlining show at Wembley Arena.
Sinners Never Sleep received generally positive reviews from music critics, some of whom complimented You Me at Six's songwriting and their change in style. The album charted at number three in the UK, number 28 in Australia, and number 39 in Ireland. "Loverboy" and "No One Does It Better" charted at number 39 and 92, respectively, on the UK Singles Chart. Sinners Never Sleep has been certified gold in the UK; by January 2017, it had sold over 160,000 copies in that country. "Bite My Tongue" was certified silver in the UK in March 2024.
Background and writing
You Me at Six's second studio album Hold Me Down, which was released in January 2010, reached number five in the UK Albums Chart – one of the highest chart positions for a rock band that year. Extensive touring led to tensions within the band, as the members became sick of one another. In April 2010, vocalist Josh Franceschi and guitarists Max Helyer and Chris Miller spent time writing new songs together, while bassist Matt Barnes and drummer Dan Flint went to Las Vegas for a break. Following this, the band made their second appearance on Warped Tour; their popularity in the US had grown since their first appearance. While on the trek, Franceschi said their next album would be influenced by acts to whom they were listening, such as the Ghost Inside, A Loss for Words and Parkway Drive. He thought the next release could be "a bit heavier" than their earlier work because they preferred listening to heavy music while on tour. In August 2010, Franceschi announced that You Me at Six would be writing for a new album as early as November, remarking that bands cannot tour for two years straight without new songs. He said some of the material they had up to that point was slow and mixed together the sounds of Brand New, Coldplay and Jimmy Eat World.By December 2010, You Me at Six had written 12 songs, four of which were complete. In the same month, the band showed their label Virgin Records demos of the new material. They were concerned the label might react negatively to the heavier-sounding songs and halt their recording plans, but the label was very positive about the tracks. They were aiming in a generalized rock direction, in the vein of Foo Fighters and Kings of Leon; Franceschi admired that Jimmy Eat World did that between their Clarity and Chase This Light albums while retaining their identity. In February 2011, You Me at Six released "Rescue Me", a collaboration with Chiddy Bang, as a stop-gap release. Rumours began circulating that they would be collaborating with other artists for their next album. In the lead up to recording, Helyer said they corralled 16 songs, but were concerned if they had enough material for their next album. He had stockpiled a handful of guitar riffs from years prior, one of which evolved into "This Is the First Thing".
Production
Pre-production and initial tracking
Franceschi wished to tour some more, while the remainder of You Me at Six wanted to continue working away. They compromised by agreeing to record their next album and then embark on touring. When the band were seeking producers, Garth Richardson met them at their show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London. They ultimately picked him as Miller was impressed with his work with Rage Against the Machine. After making their previous two albums in their home country, they opted to record in the United States. In an effort to challenge themselves, You Me at Six wanted to record their next album outside the UK. Their label initially suggested a secluded forest location, a proposal that the extroverted band rejected, with Franceschi saying that they would "probably end up killing each other" if they could not interact with other people. The band considered recording in Los Angeles, California, which they thought "wouldn't just be a different recording space and different recording experience, but also a life experience". The band subsequently rented apartments in Hollywood. They did pre-production for the first time with Richardson and performed their songs with him present. Richardson delivered both positive and negative critique of what he heard, and he and the band brainstormed methods of improvement for some of the songs. According to Franceschi, only one track was substantially changed and Richardson suggested minor corrections to others, such as adding another chorus or an additional bar in a verse.Sessions mainly took place at Sunset Sound and The Sound Factory in Los Angeles, California, from March to May 2011. You Me at Six were scheduled to support Parkway Drive in Australia in May but were forced to pull out because the album was not completed in time. Richardson produced the album, with Ben Kaplan in charge of recording. The band had previously worked with John Mitchell. Franceschi said they were "a very hands-on" band who had "almost recorded ourselves". Working with Richardson was "slightly different" because he brought in a team of people. Before recording drums, they had two or three technicians setting up the kit and figuring out the drum sounds, which were done analogue tape. Flint played on a Gretsch kit, with which he was impressed. He said he did not need to trigger the drum kit because "it sounded phenomenal by itself". The band's friends visited them during recording and they partied every evening. Though later Helyer grew wary of this, Franceschi reasoned without their friends' visits, the band would hate the recording process; "it was that shit".
Franceschi's panic attack and later recording
During the third week of recording, Franceschi took a conference call with the band's manager, who told him Richardson was unhappy with the way the sessions were progressing. Their manager said they would send all of the band members except Franceschi home and leave him to record the rest of the parts. Franceschi said he would not be able to carry the weight of the rest of his bandmates and did not need "this lead singer syndrome ego boost". Later that day, Franceschi and O'Grady argued with Richardson and Franceschi received a call saying recording was over and that the band must return to the UK. Following this, Franceschi learned that his tweet about seeing Noel Gallagher in the studio had accidentally leaked the news that a former Oasis member was recording a solo album. He then received the news You Me at Six's upcoming two-tour support slot with Blink-182 was cancelled. All of these events in the span of one day resulted in Franceschi having a panic attack that resulted in his hospitalization. It cost the band 12 days in the studio, before he decided to discharge himself from the hospital. Franceschi's vocal parts were recorded in the following two to three weeks.Miller later said You Me at Six were unable to work easily with the production team. On occasion, he would go to record his parts and would still be waiting to record six hours later. Helyer expressed similar frustration after returning to their apartment and saying; "Fuck this! We've paid a lot of money to be here and record an album and I'm not getting to do my work." Despite this, Helyer said Richardson had an influence on the material, helping to push him as a guitarist. He gave them suggestions and advice, in addition to aiding the refinement of their sound. Helyer ultimately recorded his parts over three weeks. Pro Tools editing was done by Kaplan, Nick Rowe and Richardson. Geoff Neale and Clint Welander acted as assistant engineers, and additional engineering was done by Matt O'Grady, Rowe, Richardson and Welanders. They brought over O'Grady, who they collaborated with on their first two albums, to assist Franceschi with his vocals.
Strings and brass, which were arranged and conducted by Jeremy Rubolino, were recorded at EastWest Studios in Los Angeles by Jorge Velasco with assistant engineer Jeff Ellis. Kaplan performed keyboards and did programming, while Damian Taylor did programming on "When We Were Younger". Oliver Sykes of Bring Me the Horizon, who recorded his part earlier in April 2011, appears on "Bite My Tongue" and Winston McCall of Parkway Drive appears on "Time Is Money". Franceschi said the band wanted to add "an extra layer of aggression" to both of these tracks, and brought in Sykes and McCall. Some members of You Me at Six had previously stated at Sykes' residence during their early years, while Franceschi also worked with Bring Me the Horizon the previous year on one of their songs. 19 songs were recorded in total, with 12 ultimately making the final album. The recordings were originally mixed by Andy Wallace, but the final versions were mixed by Mitchell and O'Grady at the latter's home studio in Woking, Surrey, before they were mastered by Christian Wright at Abbey Road Studios.