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.^[13] When the band were seeking producers, Garth Richardson met them at their show at the Hammersmith Apollo in London.^[15] They ultimately picked him as Miller was impressed with his work with Rage Against the Machine.^[16] After making their previous two albums in their home country, they opted to record in the United States.^[15] 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.^[17] 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".^[17] The band subsequently rented apartments in Hollywood.^[18] 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.^[17]

Sessions mainly took place at Sunset Sound and The Sound Factory in Los Angeles, California,^[19] from March to May 2011.^[5][18] 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.^[20][18] Richardson produced the album, with Ben Kaplan in charge of recording.^[19] The band had previously worked with John Mitchell. Franceschi said they were "a very hands-on" band who had "almost recorded [albums] ourselves".^[17] 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,^[17] which were done analogue tape.^[15] 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".^[21] The band's friends visited them during recording and they partied every evening.^[22][23] Though later Heyler grew wary of this, Franceschi reasoned without their friends' visits, the band would hate the recording process; "it was that shit".^[23][22]

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.^[18][24] 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".^[24] 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.^[24] 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.^[25] 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.^[26] It cost the band 12 days in the studio, before he decided to discharge himself from the hospital.^[18][26] Franceschi's vocal parts were recorded in the following two to three weeks.^[18]

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."^[27] 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. Heyler ultimately recorded his parts over three weeks.^[14] 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.^[19] They brought over O'Grady, who they collaborated with on their first two albums, to assist Franceschi with his vocals.^[14]

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".^[19] Oliver Sykes of Bring Me the Horizon, who recorded his part earlier in April 2011,^[12] appears on "Bite My Tongue" and Winston McCall of Parkway Drive appears on "Time Is Money".^[28] Franceschi said the band wanted to add "an extra layer of aggression" to both of these tracks, and brought in Sykes and McCall.^[2] 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.^[29] 19 songs were recorded in total, with 12 ultimately making the final album.^[30] 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.^[18][19]

Overview

Sinners Never Sleep saw You Me at Six move away from the pop punk sound of their earlier material,^{[31][32][33][34]} exchanging it with heavier alternative rock^[35] and pop rock,^[36][37] and integrating elements of heavy metal.^[38] Franceschi felt they seemed out of step with the pop punk scene in the UK.^[39] Author Neil Daniels, in his book You Me at Six – Never Hold an Underdog Down (2015), wrote that they "wanted to be taken out of the teen-friendly pop-punk scene, quite literally. ... They wanted to go into Foo Fighters territory; it's rock music that's accessible to a broad spectrum of music fans".^[40] One member of the band would come up with an idea, such as a guitar riff or a vocal melody, and the rest of the band would develop the idea at practice sessions. During the writing phase, one member might suggest changing the drum or guitar parts.^[41] Franceschi said with Hold Me Down, they wanted to make a better-produced version of their debut studio album Take Off Your Colours (2008). With Sinners Never Sleep, the band focussed on showcasing a wide variety of sounds, incorporating new instrumentation such as strings, horns, pianos and samples into their work.^[18] According to Franceschi, some of the songs "sound like they could be on a Coldplay or Snow Patrol album".^[5] The band members wrote songs that would appeal to both their existing fanbase and a potential new audience.^[18]

You Me at Six were originally going to name the album Little Death, based on the track of the same name, until their label and management said it meant "orgasm" in French.^[42] One individual said that the name made them think about their own daughter getting abducted. After toying with other names, the band settled on Sinners Never Sleep.^[43] They wanted to avoid continuing the American-esque topics that were prevalent on their preceding two albums, alongside the usual themes of parting and going after girls.^[13] The first tracks they worked on were "Loverboy", "Bite My Tongue", and "When We Were Younger".^[44][42] Franceschi did not write any lyrics for the songs until they went to America; he focussed and wrote words to the demo recordings while the rest of the members recorded their instruments. This way of working was new for Franceschi, who previously wrote lyrics and melodies while the band were writing the songs.^[17]

Songs

The idea for "Loverboy" came from Barnes; the glam rock track is anchored around his bass parts.^[31][42][45] The "da da da da" part came from Franceschi, who was inspired by sing-alongs at football games.^[46] He said the track served as a bridge between Hold Me Down and where they wanted to explore next musically.^[47] "Jaws on the Floor" continues the tempo of the previous track, and showcases the band's heavy sound.^[33][48] Franceschi said "Bite My Tongue" came from "a place of frustration".^[49] It is about his relationship with his bandmates and other people when they were making the album, and details a time when the band almost broke-up.^[33][49] Sykes recorded his part of the song in 20 minutes across three takes.^[47] The new wave-influenced "This Is the First Thing" was one of the first tracks the band demoed for the album; Flint said it reminded him of casinos.^[31][42] It is reminiscent of some of the songs on Hold Me Down due the track's lyrics on teenage romance.^[33] Franceschi said he tried to "make it less teenage angsty and more sophisticated" as he was expanding his creative range during the time.^[47] He called "No Ones Does It Better" and "Crash" "pretty chilled-out" and in similar style to the work of Snow Patrol and Coldplay.^[50]

Franceschi clarified that "No Ones Does It Better" is about believing in one's self, as fans had mistaken it as being a love song.^[47] "Little Death" was inspired by the death of Flint's father, which occurred before the release of Hold Me Down. As the members were comforting Flint, Franceschi suggested writing a song about it.^[44] The band had forgotten about the song but rediscovered it late in the recording process for Sinners Never Sleep.^[42] The song follows the quiet verse/loud chorus structure; Franceschi's vocals recall those of Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger.^[31][36] The soft rock track "Crash" features strings and is reminiscent of the music of the Goo Goo Dolls and Stars.^[28][31] Franceschi wanted it to be the "Fireworks" of Sinners Never Sleep, referring to the closing track of Hold Me Down. "Reckless" went through a series of name changes throughout its development. It was originally titled "Don't Hold Your Breath" but was altered when the band realized Nicole Scherzinger has a track with the same title. It was then changed to "The Best You've Never Had" until they realized the Swellers and Beyoncé had songs with similar names. At this point, the song was finally named "Reckless"; Barnes said it has the most resemblance to the material on Hold Me Down.^[42]

The riff of "Time Is Money", which had been compared to the work of Pendulum with an From Autumn to Ashes-like breakdown, was written while the band were recording Hold Me Down but was left off at Franceschi's suggestion.^[31][42][51] While recording the song for Sinners Never Sleep, the song lacked a chorus, which was quickly written while drums were being recorded.^[42] After the melody for it had been written, they sent the track to McCall, who was a friend of the band.^[52] For his part, Franceschi sent him a note that read "If Boneyards or Carrion was a You Me At Six song".^[47] It was almost left off Sinners Never Sleep due to its heavy sound.^[52] The Jimmy Eat World-esque ballad "Little Bit of Truth" is about the band's relationship with their fans.^[31][44] Franceschi explained: "I wanted to feel like what I'm doing as a frontman is right".^[47] "The Dilemma" takes its name from the film The Dilemma (2011), and was compared to the work of Panic! at the Disco.^[31][42] It harkened back to the emo direction of their debut album.^[39] When Franceschi came up with the first verse and showed it to the rest of the band, he suggested they do something theatrical with it.^[47] "When We Were Young" is a slowly building track, and is about Franceschi's relationship with his parents; Barnes said it was their most experimental song.^[33][44][42]

Commercial performance and accolades

Sinners Never Sleep reached number one on the UK midweek album chart; it ended up at number three after selling 27,000 copies in the first week of release.^[106][107] It reached number 28 in Australia^[108] and number 39 in Ireland.^[109] The album was certified silver in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry in December 2011, and gold in August 2012.^[110] By January 2017, it had sold over 160,000 copies in the UK.^[111] "Loverboy" and "No One Does It Better" charted at number 39 and 92, respectively, on the UK Singles Chart.^[112]

"Bite My Tongue" and "No One Does It Better" were nominated for Best Single (losing to "Rebel Love Song" by Black Veil Brides), and Sinners Never Sleep for Best Album (losing to Set the World on Fire by Black Veil Brides), at the Kerrang! Awards.^[113] In 2021, Franceschi ranked Sinners Never Sleep as his favourite You Me at Six album, stating that "primarily as the spirit of that record has lived on in every record we’ve made since".^[114] That same year, Kerrang! ranked the album at number 19 on a retrospective list of the 50 best releases from 2011.^[115]