I caught up with the influential post hardcore / emo rock band FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND right after their recent Warsaw show to find out more about their current European club tour, a couple of reissues they’re putting out, their latest album Conduit and a lot more.
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND are one of my favorite post hardcore / rock bands, who gained prominence on the international scene in the mid-’00s with 2 excellent EPs that they seem to still care for. Check out our quick chat below.
Hey guys! It was soo nice to finally see you performing live in a tiny club of Hydrozagadka in Warsaw last Friday. Damn, the venue should be even smaller to make the whole party tighter! Did you enjoy that evening? If I remember well, you were quite frightened at the beginning, huh? ;)
Yeah, it totally took us by surprise. The response was better than we expected so it made the whole show even more fun for us.
By the way Poland, what are some of you associations with out country? :)
To be honest, I don’t have any pre-existing associations. We’ve done a bunch of shows in the country over the years and some festivals etc but these most recent shows totally blew us all away.
In terms of having fun, being close to the crowd or any other aspect, do you prefer such places to bigger shows?
I do, the more intimate the show and the more willing the audience is to actually get involved the better it is.
I’ve seen a video documenting your Reading show. Do you think they will ever find a way to remove those stupid barriers? ;)
It would be interesting, the only issue is it’s a varied audience so they’re their for a fair reason.
Fair enough :)
How are the other shows so far? Any highlights and most memorable moments you’d like to share
The tour so far has been a lot of fun, the best show for me on a personal level was either the show last night in Munich or the show we played in Budapest. Both were a lot of fun, especially Budapest as we’ve never played a club show there before. I had kids jumping on me on stage grabbing the mic and getting really passionate about the songs. Good times.
Cool.
Does Pat Lundy bring his craziness on you guys while being on the road? ;) How do you guys spend your days whilst touring?
I don’t think he’s crazy, he’s just young and excitable. Generally we drive a lot so we tend to listen to music and watch movies. When we get to the venues it’s usually a mix of setting shit up, eating, checking e-mails and hanging out with the other bands.
Yeah man. GNARWOLVES seem to be one hell of a deal, too. How did you tap them and POLAR for this tour?
They’re both great bands, we currently have our friends THE TIDAL SLEEP out with us at the moment instead of POLAR. We try to keep our ears close to the scene back home and I’ve been a fan of GNARWOLVES since their first EP. POLAR we’ve been friends with for a while and we’ve played a lot of shows with them this year.
Ok. And how did your Australian tour go?
It went really well, we had the best tour experience there this year. So much fun and we made so many great friends.
Did you pick up any good souvenirs? Non-musically, did you enjoy the country? Where was your favorite place to play while over there?
We had a blast, we drove to all the shows so we actually got to spend a bit more time there and play more shows. My favourite place to play over there was probably either Sydney or Melbourne.
Are there still some places you’d really love to visit on tour?
Yeah, there’s still a bunch of places in Europe we have yet to play enough so I’d like to play some more. South America is a great place so hopefully we can get to play Argentina, Chile etc at some point.
Going back to your Warsaw show and current tour, what made you come up with all in all a really good idea to play most of the old songs? To me it was a bull’s eye decision! Some of my friends ended their adventure with you guys soon after the premiere of Hours. Despite the fact I feel really sorry for them ;), I was stoked to see they loved your latest work and were stunned to discover how powerful they sound when performing live.
I think we all felt it was something we wanted to do, we still love playing those songs very much. We’re playing newer stuff which is what we want to do alongside so it’s the best thing for us.
Tell me more about the idea behind the reissue of “Between Order And Model” EP. Do you have more unreleased songs hidden in your secret stash? :)
Well it was something we’ve wanted to do for a while so to actually get to do it and put it our through BOYSETSFIRE‘s record label is a big deal for us. I don’t think we have any more secret songs, we’re not that good at keeping songs around.
You have also announced that you’re planning to reissue your “Casually Dressed” Live DVD. What’s up with the reissues? ;)
Well, it sold out so quickly that we never got the chance to re-press it so we decided to get some more done as it seemed a popular thing for people to want.
“Casually Dressed…” and “Seven Ways to Scream Your Name” will have their 10th anniversary on October 13th and 21st. You’ll have one night off duty on the second day. Any plans to celebrate? :)
Haha, nope…no plans at all.
I’m not sure if it’s Pat’s service, but you have really revitalized FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND’s sound. The new album sounds really huge. Songs like “Death Comes To Us All” just proves you still have it in you! How do you guys feel in this new era?
We’re all really excited by it, the new songs we’re writing are more fun to play so as long as that feeling is there then we’ll keep writing stuff.
Antwerp, Belgium marks the last stop on your current mainland trek. Touring-wise, what’s coming up next?
We’ve got a few things lined up for early 2014 but nothing I can get into yet.
Yup. What are your plans for 2014? Writing, touring, yeah I know! ;) Gimme us some details. Are you already plotting a new full length?
Yeah, we’ve been writing the last few months and we have a bunch of ideas together. The plan is to head into the studio late January to record so we’ll see how that pans out.
How would sum up your cooperation with independent record labels? Do you feel it’s the best way to produce and distribute musicians’ work these days?
I think it’s the ideal environment as long as the label understands the band that you are and what you want to do.
Thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me!
No worries.
Cheers from Warsaw :)
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