Interview Funeral For A Friend
May 25, 2009 by Steve_Tauschke
Filed under Emo Bands, Interviews
Last year saw some changes in the Funeral For A Friend camp. Having found a global audience early in its career, the now seven-year old Welsh quintet spent the middle part of this decade building an empire, successfully tackling the lucrative US and European markets, working with super-producers Gil Norton and Terry Date among others as well as playing all the right festivals – not to mention sharing a stage with their metal heroes Iron Maiden in 2005.
| Interview by Steve Tauschke January 2009 And while their stratospheric trajectory shows few sings of tailing off, the Bridgend metal-core masters recently found themselves adapting to various developments both within and outside their control. This time last year Funeral For A Friend parted ways with their major label Atlantic whose contractual slice of the band’s hard-earned touring and merchandising revenue prompted the split and led to the formation their own imprint, Join Us. “We really depend on those streams of income to be able to let us tour so that deal was something that didn’t really work for us,” says drummer Ryan Richards. Join Us now oversees FFAF’s releases in the UK while Victory Records handles their output in the US and Canada and Roadrunner in all other territories. “It just got to the point where the industry had changed so much,” adds Richards. “What the major labels expect you to give them outweighs what they’re prepared to give you.” The move coincided with the amicable departure of long-time bassist Gareth Davies, who is now involved in artist management. “The touring game is not for everyone,” says Richards. “People see it as the ultimate dream to be in a touring band and while it is great and I wouldn’t wish to do anything else there are a lot of difficulties that come with it especially if you’re married and have children.” According to Richards, Davies eventually fell victim to the tyranny of distance having based himself and his wife in the America in recent years while the band remained rooted in Wales. “He just never got to be home with his family and it’s something that really started to take its toll,” he says. “I think it prevented him from enjoying the great aspects of being in a band. It was always very bitter-sweet for him so he had to make that decision which I know was very hard.” Davies’ replacement is bassist Gavin Burrough, who shared previous groups with Richards. “It’s been pretty seamless really – he’s jumped right on in there.” The addition of Burrough came just after last October’s release of the band’s fourth album Memory And Humanity, a direct channelling of their hardcore roots into consumable widescreen rock epics. And unlike much of the band’s back catalogue, written mostly on the run, Richards says the record was tracked at a leisurely pace in his Bridgend home overlooking a picturesque Welsh valley outside Cardiff. “It was great to spend a couple of weeks in my front room where you could look out the window over the valley or go outside and crack open a beer anytime you wanted to chill out,” he says. “It was good for the creativity and really helped things move along at a nice pace. We didn’t lock ourselves away and drive each other crazy all night.” Originally slated as an EP, Memory And Humanity was borne out of a surprisingly fruitful song writing session that extended the four-tracker to a full-blown album – and provided a quick follow up to 2007’s Tales Don’t Tell Themselves. “We’d just left our label at Atlantic and wanted to get some songs out there quickly so people could hear what we were up to,” explains Richards. “The plan was to start writing in January and record four songs in February but by then we had eight or nine songs that we felt really strongly about and wanted to use. “So we thought we may as well keep on writing. It was great really because the previous record took a long time to write and record. But with this we were our own masters being on our own label and it was a lot easier – and there was a lot less pressure.” | LinksFuneral For A Friend on Myspace lyrics |
Funeral for a friend
Uk finest new punk heroes took time during the Holidays break to sit down and answer to our questions while they were relaxing from their tour supporting Iron Maiden. This is what came out from the interview.
Hi! How are you doing ?
I am good, we are having sometime off, it nice to be able to catch up on sleep again!
First of all, I wanted to ask you, as you’re a quite young band, if you could sum up a story of how you five met and got together and formed Funeral For A Friend.
It not a particularly interesting story. The 5 of us met through different bands throughout the South Wales scene. We all shared the same love for the same style, so we thought why not, lets start a band.
Where does your name come from ?
Its a song title by a band called Planes Mistaken For Stars.
For being such a young band, you already have an LP out on a major label: how does it feel to be so popular and to had a contract so fast ?
Still very strange, and it always will be. We think to ourselves all the time “why us?” but its just the way it goes I guess. We got lucky.
You currently have two release out, an EP called “Seven Ways To Scream Your Name” on Ferret Music and a LP called “Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation”: why do you have two releases out at one time?
‘Casually dressed….’ is a UK release, but ‘Seven Ways….’ is a US based release. its a combination of our 2 E.P’s that were released in the UK earlier in 2003. We figured we would release it in the US as an introduction to us, rather than just throwing oursleves out there with a full length record.
Speaking of the full length, I saw you have a lot of influences, from punk to metal to pop rock: where do you get your inspiration from and how is the writing process of the band?
We draw inspiration from things that we have experienced. All sorts of music, all types of people and all sorts of situations. The writing process generally involves the 5 of us slogging it out in Darrans (guitar) garage, it can be a tough process but we usually get the work done.
What do you sing on the new tunes? What are the issues you deal with in the new lyrics ?
I dont write the lyrics so I dont know.
Someone says that your band sounds like American bands as Finch, A Static Lullaby, From Autumn To Ashes and the likes: do you agree with this? Are you in any way happy/proud of this or pissed or you just don’t care ?
I feel very honoured to be compared to such bands. These are bands that we listen to and admire. We are very happy about it!
How would you present Funeral For A Friend to a person that never heard of you and that is not into the “punk” scene ?
Um….I would say we are a rock band. Thats it, sure we have other aspects but, so do other bands! Just check it out!
You come from UK: how is it to be English in punk music today? I mean, there are a lot of good English punk bands as Snuff, 4ft Fingers, Mr. Zippy, etc, but they are not very famous outside UK or at least outside Europe. What about you? Do you feel part of any English punk scene?
I dont think we are part of any scene. It sucks to be part of a scene in the UK, people are fickle and more fashion orientated than ever before. I have learned to dislike, and I was never personally a part of one. Its all a bit elitist these days. But it is only the minority bringing the majority down.
How is the music scene in England? From the outside it looks like it’s always growing, but apart a few big bands, you can never get to know particular or original English bands today.
It is always growing and there are so many amazing underground bands here right now. It takes me back to the point of why us? I see some of these bands play and i think to myself “why do we bother?” .Its just people aren’t looking in the right places at the moment. But they will learn.
Have you got some plans of touring to support your new album? Where and with whom will you tour ?
We have but there is nothing confirmed yet. 2004 is a blank slate right now.
I know you supported Iron Maiden and they chose you: how did you feel supporting this big band, which is possibly one of your favorite band as well?
It was amazing. The best touring experience of 2003, a privilage and an honour to have been selected! The shows were huge and the vibe was intense, but we had a great time.
In your promo pics I saw you have t-shirts of such bands as Avenged Sevenfold and The Hope Conspiracy, among others: do you listen a lot to American bands? Do you think that you get some sort of inspiration by any of them?
We listen to all sort of music, but yeah I would say the majority would be American bands. I wouldnt say however we deliberately take insperation from them. Maybe a subconcious thing but, definately not deliberate.
What are some of the records that you are listening to right now, these days?
The new Lost Prophets record, Refused, um…Thrice, The Postal Service….the list is endless.
The year 2003 has just finished; have you heard some of the records that came out this year? Do you have some favorite ones that you like to remember ?
All the ones i just said were amazing. Year Of The Rabbits album is exceptional.
Any final comments?
See you in 2004, its gonna be amazing!!
