Just a week after releasing their fourth single ‘Adrenaline‘, You Me At Six have shared ‘The Making Of SUCKAPUNCH‘ video ahead of the official album release on 15 January. The mini-documentary premiered on Friday 8 January on Amazon Music UK‘s YouTube channel and reveals the making of the record in Kharma Studios in Thailand back in 2019 in a COVID-free world. The 6-minute video covers the creative process behind writing and recording the tracks, spending time together on the other side of the world, and collaborating with producer Dan Austin again.
The documentary uses the previously released songs ‘What’s It Like?‘, ‘Beautiful Way’ and ‘MAKEMEFEELALIVE‘ as soundtrack and serves as the final promotion before the official premiere of SUCKAPUNCH. The album drops next Friday and is available to pre-order on various formats and bundles here.
Kharma Studios is a little piece of paradise, located not too far away from the capital Bangkok and overlooking the Gulf of Thailand, providing first-class writing, recording and mixing facilities alongside private pool, bar and gym. The video immediately reveals You Me At Six have bassist Matt Barnes to take for arranging the breathtaking rental in the jungles of Thailand over studios in Wales and Belgium. Most of the documentary revolves around the unique setting of the studio with no distractions or stress where the band could simply focus on making the best music they possibly can do.
Rhythm guitarist Max Helyer reveals that the writing process started straight after releasing their previous record VI in October 2018. All band members talk about taking on new challenges, experimenting with new techniques and spending a lot of time working on the current body of work, all a result of being together for so long without any line-up changes and having already worked on six albums prior to SUCKAPUNCH.
Huge credit for the final result goes to producer Dan Austin who first collaborated with You Me At Six back in 2012 for the standalone single ‘The Swarm‘. Having previously worked with the likes of Biffy Clyro, Queens Of The Stone Age, Massive Attack, Doves and many others, he also produced the band’s sixth album VI (2018). The documentary portrays him as the sixth member of the Surrey quintet and someone they already know so well that working together feels like “being at home“, always pushing each other further and aiming to go as far as they can.
Last week, and exclusive video chat with singer Josh Fransceschi for NME revealed more details about the recording in Thailand and him almost leaving the band. The frontman also discussed writing in such isolated studio and the personal significance of SUCKAPUNCH: “It’s turned out that maybe I needed this record more than any of the other guys in the band. It’s been a great help to me actually listening to our record quite regularly, I’m not ashamed to say I listen to it a lot […] It takes me back to there and being part of it, and it also it helps me mull over some of the things I was feeling then, looking at it retrospectively.
Meanwhile, as the UK entered another nation-wide lockdown, You Me At Six were forced to postpone their socially distanced album launch on 14 January at Pryzm, Kingston and “will be rescheduled for when it’s safe“. However, the band’s Twitter post went on to reassure their fans that “the power behind this band has always been you guys and we will be making this the best album release that we can for you“.
So for those of you unaware, we’re obviously going back into a lockdown in the UK, which sucks for everyone. This means that unfortunately, our socially distanced shows at Pryzm with Banquet Records on Jan 14th will be not be going ahead and will be rescheduled for when it’s safe
— You Me At Six (@youmeatsix) January 6, 2021
