Interview with Funeral For A Friend

Interviewer: Laura Schriefer w/ Darren Smith (guitar) in Hamburg @ Gruenspan . Germany . 11/10/2008

Punk76: Hi Darren, nice to meet you!
Darren: Nice to meet you, too.

Punk76:: How was your day so far? Did you made already a soundcheck?
Darren: No soundcheck, no, not yet. They just still are kind of setting up the PA and stuff but I think we'll do it in maybe about an hour.

Punk76: I know it's not your first time being in Germany, is there something that you remembered in connection with Germany?
Darren:Hamburg always kind of stands out for me because we've been here a few times and it's a wild town. A lot of the bars are very cool and usually our record label takes us out because they're based in Hamburg. They would take us to some of the punkrock bars, drink way too much and have a headache in the morning. So that stands out for me.

Punk76:: What do you like to drink the most then?
Darren: Either wodka or Cidre, are you familiar with that?

Punk76:: Yeah, I know it, very tasty. When did you start playing the guitar?
Darren: I was about 14... 15, I think.

Punk76:: Did you take lessons or did you just tought it yourself?
Darren I had a few lessons actually I had lessons for a few months because the teacher I just felt he wasn't really teaching me the things that I wanted to learn. I felt he was teaching me the same things over and over again. I think he was just teaching me the basics but I wanted to play another style. But after I realized that I stopped the lessons and learned from books and magazines. I learned to read tablature and bought a lot of the american guitar magazines and learned all the tabs. So then I pretty much tought myself.

Punk76:: How got the band formed? Where did you meet each other?
Darren: We all, apart from Matt, were familiar to eachother because we knew eachother from different bands we've played in. Me and Ryan were actually in the same band. Basically most of the bands started to fall apart and members were leaving so what we ended up doing, there was one guy who is not in the band anymore named Jonny. He put the band together with the guys he knew from the local scene. So I had a phone call of him to join the band. I listened to them and thought „if the singer is great I'll join“ and „if the singer is bad I'll make up and excuse and leave“ as soon as Matt sang I thought „great voice“.

Punk76:: What is the music scene in the UK like? Is it hard to start a new band?
Darren: I don't think it's hard to start a band. I think the music scene especially in Wales where we come from is very healthy and there's a lot of strong bands that are coming through now. Over the last few years a lot of UK music got into attention. There are lots of opportunities to play gigs there, so it's not that hard to start as a band.

Punk76:: I guess everyone is asking that stupid question but why did you named yourself „Funeral for a Friend“?
Darren: It was Matt's idea. And first I thought „it kind of sounds like a black metal band“ but after I thought about it I thought it's a name that you remember and it's different to so many bands that are so similar to eachother. It's the name of a record by an american hardcore band which Matt liked at that time.

Punk76:: Let's talk about your recent record „Memory and Humanity“ what is the difference between this record and your past ones?
Darren: I think this one really is.. we sort of realized what our strong points are and this is an album on which we took all the strongest parts from our last records and put those together. We wanted this record to be a bit punchier and edgier than our last records „Tales Don't Tell Themselves“.

Punk76:: Are you satisfied with the outcome or would you like to change anything?
Darren: No, I'm really happy with it. Romesh Dodangoda, the Producer, who we've known for a while, a really good friend of ours who mixed some of the live things for us in the past and did a couple of records with friends of us, did a great job. We thought he is a great producer and he did an amazing job on the record. I think he challenged himself as well because he's quite young and hungry so he wants to make a name for himself and that was something we were interested in, that he tried extra hard to give the best that he could.

Punk76:: What is the meaning behind the cover artwork?
Darren: It has a connection with the title. It kind of has a prog-rock kind of looking cover I think. Something like „dream theater“ might have. There's a young boy and that's the humanity and the whole DNA strang that comes from the ground so it kind of ties with the „memory and humanity“ I think visually it's quite of an interesting thing and it's provoking and that's what we're looking for. And the same guy that did the first artwork cover did this new one also. On that album I think the cover was also provoking with the two people with hoods on, sitting back to back, there's a lot of space for interpretation and you can imagine whatever you want of that kind of image. People can think about it and make up their minds what it means to them.

Punk76:: Which song of this record is the most fun to play live?
Darren: I really enjoyed playing „Waterfront Dance Club“. I think it's kind of everything that we do. The song has fast, edgy heave sections but it also got a pretty uplifting chorus. So I enjoy playing that, it is cool.

Punk76:: If you would have time to go on vacation, would you rather want to go snowboarding or lay down at the beach all day?
Darren: I'm not into laying on the beach and I'm not really into that whole sundbathing thing I just find it really boring but I do like to be in warm countries because you don't have to wear lots of clothes and stuff but uhm.. I suppose I would go to a warm country where I can check out some interesting stuff and I've never been skiing or snowboarding so I don't really know what a vacation like that is like but I would give it a try. So I will think about that in the future (smiling)

Punk76:: What is the storyline of the „Kicking and Screaming“ video?
Darren: Okay.. yeah, I think it could be a little confusing maybe. Basically it's.. we're playing in an apartment and the other in-cut scenes show some actors and stuff.. it's ment to show the various decades of people growing up, getting older. First they're kids and playing videogames and stuff and then they grow up. The lyrical meaning of the song is that Matt (singer) is looking back on some of his childhood memories and things like that. What he used to do with friends when he was a certain age and so the video kind of fits with the lyrical content of the song.

Punk76:: Why did you choose this song to be the first single?
Darren: It was the first proper single. We released „waterfront dance club“ and „burning tree“ as a kind of double a-side album taste kind of thing so the people can check out 2 songs that are going to be on the album but I think we just thought it's a strong song and something a little different to anything we've done before. It is an interesting song. People might like it I guess.

Punk76:: Do you have a recent favourite song (not of yours, but in general)?
Darren: (thinking) I like journey. The song „don't stop believing“ Absolut classic song I think. But I like a lot of classic songs.. most of us in the band, we like a bit of classic rock and to listen to it on the bus, especially when we're partying and had a few beers, it's nothing besser than playing some journey.

Punk76:: Are you nervous before going on stage every night or did you get used to it?
Darren: No, I still get a little nervous. Definitely! I don't think it's my nerves but just the excitement to go on stage. So yeah, I think that adds to the experience of playing the shows.

Punk76:: Are you more of a pesimistic or optimistic guy?
Darren: I'm an upbeat person. I don't complain too much or look on the dark side. I tend to the optimistic side.

Punk76:: Did your parents support your whish to become a "Rockstar" from the beginning or did they want you to work at a normal job?
Darren: My mother was a bit against me playing guitar, because she thought it would be just one of those situations that if she bought me one I would play for a couple weeks and then put it in the corner. I showed them my interest and how much I wanted to learn to play the guitar and that was when they got more supportive to help me out, buy a guitar and stuff like that.

Punk76:: If you wouldn't be in a band, what would your profession be?
Darren: : I think I would still do something with music. I mean I worked jobs while I was in the other bands. And in the beginning of Funeral I just needed the money to be able to play the shows and afford to buy equipment so I had to have some kind of job to pay for that. So I think that goes with everyone in the band and musicians in general you have to have some job to afford things when you're not getting paid to play so you can do it, you know? So I had a few jobs but now I would say I would do something like sound engineering because I am really interested in production and music recording. So I like to think I would be doing something connecting with that.

Punk76:: When your first record came out, did you went into a record store and bought an exemplar?
Darren: : I didn't go there to buy one but I stood in some shops and just admired it on the shelves and just looked at them and just stood there, grinning. I didn't actually buy one because of course we had given a bunch to us. But I stood there with a lot of pride.

Punk76:: What are your next plans concerning your future with the band?
Darren: : Lots of touring. As far as this tour – europe – takes us up to december. Then we're home for maybe two or three days and then we do 5 Wales shows that takes into the middle of december. We have the rest of december free timeI think until the 11th or 12th of january so we can enjoy christmas and then we go to america for about a month or so then to australia, japan, singapur, thailand, hong kong maybe that takes us up to march sometime and from there there's probably gonna be another UK tour and then we want to do a lot of the european festivals. So we're hoping we can do the „Rock Am Ring“ and „Rock Im Park“ .

Punk76:: Did you played them already?
Darren: : We have in the past. We've done them about 3 times before but not last year. We might do "Hurricane-Festival" possibly and "Southside-Festival".

Punk76:: (showing Darren my Hurricane wristband)
Darren: : Is that the one you go to?

Punk76:: Yeah. It's great!
Darren: : We've been told that if we do "Rock am Ring" and "Rock im Park" we can't do "Hurricane" and "Southside" because they have.. some kind of competition so we have to decide wich one we like to do. So then the whole festival-thing and if people still want us to do more shows we will probably continue touring until end of next year and then we will write some more songs and do the new record, the cycle just keeps going.

Check out our reviews on Funeral For A Friend records

Post a comment FFAF on the board

Buy this CD at: