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Mike: "I moved to London from Manchester six years ago as I heard the streets were paved in gold. They're not. They're paved in drunks, slabs and bird poo. A guy called Dick Whittington said it. With a first name like that I should have known better. The dream was to become a songwriter, producer or a rockstar with my band Kintish Town so naturally spending a large chunk of that time writing a play was the obvious route to achieving that dream. Fast-forward 3 years and I was holding a read-through for a play. I needed a young guy to play the part of the brash, cocky and annoying son. Nick Ingram's name was suggested. "He won’t need to act," I was told, "He fits the part perfectly," They were right. He didn’t need to act. Which was a pretty good job, because between you and me... he couldn't."
Nick: "I always wanted to be a singer. I never wanted to do anything else. That's why I trained as an actor. I was at home one day in North London being unemployed, when a friend called me about a play-reading of some sort. "It’s only a first draft so the play will probably be crap," she said, "But the writer, Mike, will pay you £20." She was right about the play. 'Crap' is one of many four letter words I can think of to describe it. As for the £20, this Mike chap told us he'd transfer the money into our bank accounts. He had a suspicious face. I wasn't wholly convinced."
Mike: 
‘Nick and I went to the pub after. We talked football and music and spent hours talking about bands we loved in common... Queen, The Beach Boys, the Police, Tears For Fears, Madness. The list went on. We must have drunk a lot because before I knew it, my wallet was empty and my face was even more suspicious than usual’
Nick: ‘We went to the pub and chatted for hours. I still didn’t know whether to trust him or not so when he went to the loo, I took £20 out of his wallet, just in case. Oh and another fiver for my tube home. Expenses and all that, you know.’
Mike: ‘Nick came round to my home studio a few days later and we started writing a song, which turned out to be ‘If I Could’. His voice was incredible and after the near misses I’d had as a songwriter and producer over the previous few years, I thought this could be the project. I was prepared to exploit his talent, even if it meant working him to the death. He was expendable. I apologised that I was having a few problems with my internet banking and would write him out a cheque for £20. What a nice guy. He told me not to bother, because he’d enjoyed the play so much.’
Nick: 
‘We were writing this song and he made up some rubbish excuse about his internet banking being down. I told him not to worry about the £20. He seemed really grateful. And so when he went to the loo, I took another forty out of his wallet to teach him not to try and screw me over. The song we wrote was right up my street. We added lots of vocal harmonies. And more harmonies. And when we’d finished the harmonies. I added a few more harmonies just in case’.
Mike: ‘ I left Nick to finish off the harmonies and went to the pub. I came back 2 days later. He was still doing them.’
Nick: ‘We spent the next few months holed up in Mike’s bedroom studio – (not sure he ever washed his duvet cover mind you) - writing and recording and we suddenly had a collection of songs we thought had legs. We spoke on the phone a lot. ‘You alright, mate,” I’d say. “Yeah, You?” he’d say. “We need a band name,” I’d say, “I’ve got no ideas,” he’d say. This went on daily. “You alright, mate?” “Yeah, You?” “Any ideas” “No, You?” The rest as they say is history.’
Mike: ‘So The Yeah You’s did a few gigs, talked to a few record companies and suddenly for about an hour, we were the most talked about new band in the industry. We signed a record deal with the folk at Island Records in May 2008 before going off to LA to record our album with producer du jour Greg Wells. a bit like Soup Du Jour but without the basil. Two months in LA was a great experience. Living with Nick for two months was amazing fun.’
Nick: 
‘Two months in LA was amazing fun. Living with Mike for two months was an experience alright. Unfortunately, we only finished 5 tracks in that time….’
Mike: '...Cos we spent 4 weeks doing the flippin’ harmonies.’
Nick: ‘But we did come back with great tans.’
Mike: ‘And so after the sun of LA, the million pound Californian studios and the genius of Greg Wells, we were back in my freezing cold West Hampstead bedroom, finishing off the rest of the album ourselves. What’s that Nick? You want to add another harmony? Oh boy…’
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