Funeral For A Friend – Taste Of Chaos

Funeral For A Friend – Taste Of Chaos Interview

by Emma

6 November 2005

Taste of Chaos was one of the biggest and most sought after tours that the UK has seen this year. I went to speak to Ryan Richards and Kris Roberts in their dressing room before their slot to find out the latest on what the guys have been up to and what we can look forward to in the future.

E. So how is the tour going so far?
R. Yeah, got a bit of jetlag and stuff. Australia and Japan were amazing you know, they are probably the furthest away you could play and it is very different. It was the first time we’ve played in Australia.
E. What was the reception like for you there – was it very different?
K. That was kinda weird actually…of all the places we’ve been the reception we had in Australia was probably closest to what we have in England. Which kind of surprised me, yeah. In Australia it feels like – it’s the furthest place you could possibly go away, and you’re so far away but you feel really close to home. It’s just so strange.
R. It’s probably because you’re underneath!
E. So how do you think that Taste Of Chaos is going to compare to Give It A Name? Although it’s a similar set up isn’t it.
R. It is kind of, yeah, there’s the fact that it’s touring around and Give It A Name was just a one off whereas this isn’t. It’s definitely had time to gel, and it would be wrong to say it’s been better organised, but it’s been tried and tested and its a bit of a smoother-running machine which I’m sure Give It A Name will grow to be in time, but there was a few teething problems. We still had fun though.
E. Will you be watching any of the other bands tonight, do you get time to do that?
K. Well I have pretty much watched every other band that we’ve been on tour with so far. I particularly enjoyed watching Killswitch. Considering they are playing with only one guitarist…it’s absolutely ridiculous. All the bands on this tour are great you know they are all different in their own unique and exciting way.
E. Yeah, Rise Against have just started playing and they are sounding really good tonight.
R. Yeah Rise Against are amazing…so are Story Of The Year.
E. What do you miss most about home when you are away touring?
K. Probably my family, and next to my family a toilet and shower.
E. The Kerrang Awards this year were a bit of a triumph for Welsh Bands?
R. Yeah definitely
E. Are you proud of that?
K. Yeah, we definitely didn’t expect to win, especially being up against Feeder and the Stereophonics which are both massive bands.
E. There are quite a few welsh bands that have crept up into the spotlight over the past 12-18 months.
R. People are starting to give them a chance.
E. Definitely, yeah. Are there any smaller welsh bands that you have heard lately that you think may be about to burst onto the scene anytime soon?
R. There are lots, there are so many, I mean Hondo McLean have been doing it for a while now and they are really cool and have got their own following and we’ll see what they do with their next record, that’ll be exciting.

At this point Kris started talking but was rudely interrupted by one of the other band members bursting in singing and jumping around the place – The Used’s Bert McCracken, calling in to say Hey!

K. What was I saying…oh yeah, it seems like a couple of years ago, Welsh bands had to constantly go to London to try and get discovered and this year people are actually willing to travel to Wales.
R. It always has been a good scene but now people are giving it a chance.
E. As a group, what is the writing process that you go through – do you all get together and thrash it through?
R. We rip each other’s ideas apart basically!
K. On the last record some of the songs we would sit down and come up with an initial idea together, and with Monsters and History, we wrote in the studio didn’t we?
R. We sat down and wrote those together, and just a couple of songs we did like that.
K. So it’s kinda different depending on the situation we’re in.
E. Matt has been involved in other projects…
K. Has he?!! Well, they have got names, but I think that’s as far as he has got! I am sure he’s probably sat down and he has collected some ideas, but this isn’t the right moment, it’s the same for the rest of us, he has no time to do anything!
E. That ‘s actually where I was leading…are any of the rest of you interested in doing anything aside from Funeral For A Friend?
K. Definitely, I mean, both of us are big metal fans and that would be something that I wouldn’t mind doing, but I don’t know, this is my first and foremost band.
E. Plus I guess it’s difficult anyway when you have been on the road for two and a half months!
K. It’s the last thing that you want, you don’t think ‘what am I gonna do with my spare time, oh I know, I’ll start another band’!
R. We’ll see what happens over Christmas.
K. And hopefully we might get some presents! You’ve been a good boy this year!
R. Yeah, you got my list!
E. The video for History has been released…did that concept come from any family history or personal background?
R. Yeah, various members of the band as a matter of fact. It was something that was very close to us and very personal to us and I think most of us have had family members who have worked in the mines and who were involved in that. I live in the village where the tower colliery is based, which is the last open-cast mine in Europe. That was a big part of the village, so it’s very close to the communities we grew up in and our families. And it’s come out great, you know, just the way we wanted it.
E. If you were given the choice, would you rather play a small indoor venue, or a huge capacity arena or festival?
K. I think that they all have their pro’s and cons if you know what I mean, you know the small shows are always really cool and they are always really lively, they feel quite special. At the same time there’s a lot of fucking horrible things you have to deal with when you do small shows, like usually small stage space and terrible sound. It’s enjoyable to play to the audience, but the actual enjoyment of playing is probably a lot less. Big shows are less personal, but everything tends to sound better.
R. I think I’d quite like seeing a couple of thousand people jumping up and down, and to hear a couple of thousand people singing back at you is amazing.
K Probably one of my favourite shows actually, saying that, it when we did an acoustic session at Reading this year, and that was like, a hundred and twenty people, and that’s possibly one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done.
E. What was the best gig that you have ever been to see?
R. Certainly one of them is from the first year we played Donnington, and Metallica did a secret set that ended up being not that secret, and I basically, Metallica had been my favourite band, growing up they got me into metal and I started losing all faith in Metallica, and then St Anger came out and I was just totally done with them. And then they came out and did all of their classic songs that I always loved and it was just amazing.
K. And I didn’t get to see that because I was in hospital with my wife at the time, so they got to meet like, fucking, Metallica, and the guys in Iron Maiden (who I met after luckily), and Chris Cornell. Of course I would rather have been with my wife, but they (looking at Ryan accusingly) weren’t very nice!
R. She could have picked another day!
K. I don’t know, for me, probably the best show, the show I have most enjoyed going to watch would possibly be when I saw Pantera at the Ozzfest, it was the first time I saw them and I had been waiting for about six years to go watch them, so that was probably my favourite show ever.
E. How would you describe your music to someone who had never heard it before?
R. Oh fucking hell…that you would probably have to listen to at least five songs to get it, because there isn’t any one song that sums us up really.
K. What do we sound like? It’s kinda weird ‘cos we sound like Funeral For A Friend, so to describe to someone how you sound is quite difficult, you know?
R. I would call it five different personalities worshipping our heroes.
K. I like that one! We’ll have to use that more!
E. Of all the songs that you have written, which is your own favourite?
K. It’s like trying to pick a favourite child! Probably for me personally I would have History as the song that I am particularly proud of. It was something of an idea which I initially had probably about eight years ago, but I could never get it right. Then we sat down and pulled it apart and suddenly it worked, and probably to me that is the most satisfying, because I haven’t got to fucking think about it ever again!
R. I think I’m kinda the same way about that, History, probably because of the way it came together. it was one of the most natural things we have ever done.
E. If you could record any song at all, what song would you choose?
K. I wouldn’t pick anything, because we wouldn’t do it the same as what they done it…
R. We have already done enough covers, to be honest!
K. We did The Boys Are Back in Town – that’s a classic
R. Yeah and we did Sunday Bloody Sunday. We did a Bryan Adams cover once upon a time.
K. Yeah…Summer of 69, which no-one will ever hear! Everybody can search the fucking web all they want but they will never find that!
E. This will be my last question…what is going to happen with you guys in 2006?
K. World domination!
R. We are hoping to do another tour to wrap up the album early next year and hopefully bring some really cool bands with us as we always like to do. Then we’ll probably be doing the same in the other places we have been, like the States, Japan. We can think about the new record then over the summer!
E. And hopefully get a bit of time out between, this time!
K. I don’t know, it didn’t happen last time!
R. Yeah, we’ll see about that!

On that note we thanked the guys for their time and wished them a good show and went back out into the venue to enjoy an excellent show, impressed by Reggie & The Full Effect, Story of The Year, Rise Against, Killswitch Engage, The Used and of course Funeral For A Friend were on fantastic form, as always.

Emma

Funeral For A Friend – History – Single Review

by Emma

Funeral For A Friend release History on 14th November, making an excellent choice for the third single from the huge album Hours.

History is a beautiful and poignant track with soft backing music and leaving the main focus on the smooth vocals and harmonies. Accompanied by a personal and meaningful music video this track should prove to be highly successful. I spoke to Kris and Ryan before the Manchester Taste of Chaos show and they both said that History is one of their very favourite Funeral For A Friend songs. Well boys, it’s one of ours too!

Funeral For A Friend

by Emma

Leeds Refectory/ Manchester Academy
30 June 2005/ 8 July 2005

What a lucky girl am I…Funeral For A Friend not once but twice in a week! And what a top class performance they put on for us. There is no doubt that I have just had two of the best nights ever, nights I will never ever forget.

First supports were Gratitude (also see album review) and A Static Lullaby. I have to come clean at this point and admit that I didn’t get to see Gratitude on either night – in Leeds I was busy interviewing Funeral drummer Ryan Richards on the FFAF tour bus, and in Manchester an error on the tickets meant that the gig started an hour and a half before stated! Nevertheless I did hear from a friend that they played an impressive set. A Static Lullaby are considerably more upbeat and began to really woo the crowd with their grinding emo tunes.

Next on the bill were Bullet For My Valentine, and the fellow welsh rockers proved to be hugely popular with the crowd; in Leeds before they had even began to play a note there were several circles formed waiting excitedly holding one another back until the very first note! In Manchester Bullet received a smaller scale but equally enthusiastic welcome. Bullet ripped apart the room and furiously ploughed straight into Hand Of Blood whipping the crowd into a frenzy. In Leeds the whole room went mental and the jumping and screaming spread right to the edges of the room. The pits were rough as hell and by the time they finished their set the crowds were dripping in sweat and already exhausted. Funeral For Friend couldn’t have selected a better and more appropriate warm up act. See my Bullet For My Valentine review from their Leeds Cockpit gig for more!

A well deserved beer later and Funeral took to the stage to the delight of a wildly excited audience. Kicking in with Streetcar in Leeds and Juno in Manchester, the welsh rockers blistered through an absolutely amazing set featuring a mix of songs from latest album Hours, debut album Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation and the fantastic EP Seven Ways To Scream Your Name. The circle pits resumed and everyone went crazy jumping crowd surfing and singing/screaming along with every single word that Matt, Gareth and Ryan sang. I was most impressed with Ryan’s ability to beat the skins like there was no tomorrow and scream his lyrics from the pit of his stomach at the same time.

Funeral’s superb set included a gorgeously heavy Recovery, The Art of American Football, Rookie of the Year, All The Rage, Bend Your Arms to Look Like Wings, She Drove Me To Daytime Television and of course Red is The New Black. More chilled and definitely emotional moments were the heart wrenching performances of Roses For The Dead, the beautiful History, The End of Nothing, and Juno (the screamo version). The guys also blessed the audience with a cracking rendition of Alvarez, and then of course Escape Artists Never Die to close. Throughout the gig Matt Davies giddily spoke to the audience, yelling ‘Are you guys having a good fucking time?’ and clearly having a great time himself, joked ‘Can Everybody sing along to the next one if possible? That was fucking terrible! Can everybody sing along to the next one please? Can you all sweat a lot too?’
A truly awesome experience – I can’t tell you how much you need to experience Funeral For A Friend firsthand. There aren’t many better ways to spend your money, trust me. I walked out of these gigs feeling enriched and totally contented.

Funeral For A Friend

by Emma

Interview – Leeds Refectory 30 June 2005

Now you will notice that this month’s zine features my review of two of the recent FFAF tour dates…well Ben and I caught up with ace drummer Ryan Richards a couple of hours before he took to the stage for the Leeds show for a chat about the tour, the Hours album and each other. We were ushered onto the tour bus an hour behind schedule (things were a bit hectic, Matt and Darran had both been mobbed by fans outside earlier and previous interviews had run late), as Gareth stood outside having a smoke with a pal and enjoying the peace since the doors had opened a half hour earlier and the crowds had disappeared. We were directed upstairs to find Ryan and his playstation perched on the comfortable leather interior. We were introduced and shook hands with a very friendly and welcoming Mr. Richards, exchanged pleasantries and pressed on with the interview.

E. We all know what roles each band member plays musically within Funeral For A Friend, but what role would you say each of you has on a personal level within the group?
R. I would say that I am the joker of the band, but I guess that we would all say that! I think Kris is the intense one, Darren is the wiser one being the eldest, Gareth is the excitable zany one and Matt, well Matt is just the odd one!

E. Have the last ten days or so been a whirlwind for you? The album is selling like hotcakes and you’re well into the tour, did you imagine that it would be so well received and so quickly too?
R. Yes, it’s been great just to get the new material out there and heard, it’s so different from our last album. We wouldn’t be really upset if it didn’t do so well because it reflects where we all are at this stage but it has been brilliant so far.

E. There is virtually no screaming on the new album, was that an intentional thing or did it just happen that way?
R. It wasn’t really intended that way, we just felt that the screaming wasn’t really needed with the feel of this album. We didn’t just want to put it in there for the sake of it if it doesn’t fit. It actually puts me off some other bands when they do that…not mentioning any names though! The earlier EP had a lot more screaming because the tracks were much heavier and fast and furious.

E. How have your family and friends reacted to some of the new tracks, there are some really personal songs.
R. The album really reflects what has been going on in our lives over the past two years so they already knew what we have all been through, so I don’t think they were surprised to hear it coming out in the songs. I think that some of the lyrics are quite obvious so everyone will get them and know what they relate to but then there are a lot of cryptic lyrics in there too which some people including some of the fans will get, and some won’t.

E. How have you enjoyed touring with Bullet For My Valentine so far?
R. It’s been great, we have all known each other for about ten years, back in Wales we all played within different bands in the circuit so it’s really good to all tour together and to see them doing really well after all this time. They have been working really hard for years so they deserve it.
B. Has there been a lot of craziness, are there any funny stories from being on the road?
R. Oh there is always something crazy going on…It’s mad enough when there are five welsh men together on the road, never mind when there are nine!

E. Did you enjoy the Give It A Name show? Did you get the chance to hang out with any of the other bands?
R. Yeah it was good to see some of our old friends. We had just flown in that day so we were all a bit tired and we had to just get straight in there. Some of the other guys are good friends of ours – Coheed and Cambria, Finch, and Alexisonfire are good friends of ours.

E. What are your planned once the UK tour has ended – will you get any down time or are you taking the tour overseas?
R. Oh no, we won’t get any down time at all! We are doing the Warped Tour, then we have Leeds and Reading Festivals and the Taste of Chaos tour which we are doing all over, including Japan. Then we’ll be doing a US tour and going to places like Germany etc.
E. You’ll be absolutely knackered by the end of the year then!
R. Yeah, yeah we definitely will be!

E. What happened with you guys being the mystery guest at Download this month – were you pulled in at short notice and did you replace Motley Crue?
R. Ha ha, I think the Motley Crue thing was just a product of the rumour mill! We always knew that we wanted to play Download and so we made sure we could do that, and we got to see some other great bands there too.

(At this point Kris came sneaking into the room on tiptoes mouthing ‘sorry” and grinning as he looked for something on the table between Ryan and us).

E. I know that Matt has been doing some publicity for the Kerrang and Samaritans Rock For Life Campaign – is that something that you have all been involved with?
R. Yes, we all thought that it was something great that we could all get behind, there are a lot of celebrities supporting the campaign. We have all designed some wristbands for the campaign, I think it’s a great thing to get involved with.

E. Finally, what music do you like to listen to – do you have a favorite band at the moment or are there too many to choose from?
R. Oh there are loads that I like! I think it would be hard to choose an actual favorite as it changes all the time as I see and hear more bands. I think we all really like the old classics – Metallica, Pantera, ACDC.
B. What do you think of Trivium? I think they are brilliant.
R. Oh god yeah I think they are really great. When I first heard them I though they were technically brilliant and then Ii heard how old they were! They were only sixteen at the time and they were amazing! I know the Bullet guys really love Trivium and they have met them quite a few times.

Cue more Trivium appreciation between Ben and Ryan…we then thanked Ryan for his time and let him go as the interview was an hour behind schedule anyway. Ryan thanked us and we had a couple of cheeky photos before shaking his hand and saying our goodbyes. On our way downstairs we bumped into a surprised looking Matt Davies who was just coming onto the bus, and exchanged ‘ello’s as we passed.

(This also appeared in August 2005, issue 9)

Funeral For A Friend – Gig Review

by Emma

Funeral For A Friend – Leeds Refectory/ Manchester Academy
30 June 2005/ 8 July 2005

What a lucky girl am I…Funeral For A Friend not once but twice in a week! And what a top class performance they put on for us. There is no doubt that I have just had two of the best nights ever, nights I will never ever forget.

First supports were Gratitude (also see album review) and A Static Lullaby. I have to come clean at this point and admit that I didn’t get to see Gratitude on either night – in Leeds I was busy interviewing Funeral drummer Ryan Richards on the FFAF tour bus, and in Manchester an error on the tickets meant that the gig started an hour and a half before stated! Nevertheless I did hear from a friend that they played an impressive set. A Static Lullaby are considerably more upbeat and began to really woo the crowd with their grinding emo tunes.

Next on the bill were Bullet For My Valentine, and the fellow welsh rockers proved to be hugely popular with the crowd; in Leeds before they had even began to play a note there were several circles formed waiting excitedly holding one another back until the very first note! In Manchester Bullet received a smaller scale but equally enthusiastic welcome. Bullet ripped apart the room and furiously ploughed straight into Hand Of Blood whipping the crowd into a frenzy. In Leeds the whole room went mental and the jumping and screaming spread right to the edges of the room. The pits were rough as hell and by the time they finished their set the crowds were dripping in sweat and already exhausted. Funeral For Friend couldn’t have selected a better and more appropriate warm up act. See my Bullet For My Valentine review from their Leeds Cockpit gig for more!

A well deserved beer later and Funeral took to the stage to the delight of a wildly excited audience. Kicking in with Streetcar in Leeds and Juno in Manchester, the welsh rockers blistered through an absolutely amazing set featuring a mix of songs from latest album Hours, debut album Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation and the fantastic EP Seven Ways To Scream Your Name. The circle pits resumed and everyone went crazy jumping crowd surfing and singing/screaming along with every single word that Matt, Gareth and Ryan sang. I was most impressed with Ryan’s ability to beat the skins like there was no tomorrow and scream his lyrics from the pit of his stomach at the same time.

Funeral’s superb set included a gorgeously heavy Recovery, The Art of American Football, Rookie of the Year, All The Rage, Bend Your Arms to Look Like Wings, She Drove Me To Daytime Television and of course Red is The New Black. More chilled and definitely emotional moments were the heart wrenching performances of Roses For The Dead, the beautiful History, The End of Nothing, and Juno (the screamo version). The guys also blessed the audience with a cracking rendition of Alvarez, and then of course Escape Artists Never Die to close. Throughout the gig Matt Davies giddily spoke to the audience, yelling ‘Are you guys having a good fucking time?’ and clearly having a great time himself, joked ‘Can Everybody sing along to the next one if possible? That was fucking terrible! Can everybody sing along to the next one please? Can you all sweat a lot too?’

A truly awesome experience – I can’t tell you how much you need to experience Funeral For A Friend firsthand. There aren’t many better ways to spend your money, trust me. I walked out of these gigs feeling enriched and totally contented.

Funeral For A Friend – Streetcar – Single Review

by Emma

Released 30 May 2005, Streetcar is the sterling follow up to the forthcoming Hours, follow up to the magnificent Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation.

Streetcar is an upbeat track that hides a painful underlying message about being away from family and friends, as always beautifully written and executed by the FFAF guys. The song digs deep from the guys’ experience, as Hours was written and produced in Seattle and entailed a lengthy stint in the states.

If Streetcar is anything to go by then we are most definitely in for a treat with Hours, due for release on 13 June. The track includes most of the FFAF traits that we all know and love – deliciously heavy guitars at the intro, melancholy lyrics, strong sweet vocals over a solid and creative drum beat (my personal favorite, Ryan’s triangle is back)!! No screams on this track though – we will just have to hold out for the album!

Funeral For A Friend are about to embark upon a 16 date sold out tour of the UK commencing 22 June supported by the mighty Bullet For My Valentine, A Static Lullaby and Gratitude, dates shown below. Tune in next month for the full gig review.

*****

June 22 Dublin Ambassador
June 23 Belfast Mandela Hall
June 24 Glasgow Barrowland
June 26 Newcastle Northumbria University
June 27 Norwich UEA
June 28 London Astoria
June 30 Leeds University
July 01 Cambridge Corn Exchange
July 03 Folkestone Leas Cliff Hall
July 04 Sheffield Octagon
July 05 Southampton Guildhall
July 06 Nottingham Rock City
July 08 Manchester Academy
July 09 Birmingham Academy
July 10 Cardiff University
July 12 London Astoria