Matthew Davies-Kreye - Funeral For A Friend (11/02/2013)
Having just released their sixth album Conduit, we chat with Matthew Davies-Kreye of Funeral For A Friend ahead of their Australian tour.
Hey, how's it going?
I'm good, how are you?
Good, good. You must be pretty excited to be coming back to Australia fairly soon?
For sure! We love the place. We're all big fans of a lot of Australian bands and you have Lord of the Fries over there which is gonna be a major eating destination for us (laughs) so yeah we're really psyched.
It's a pretty extensive tour. What are you planning to get up to while you are over here?
As much as humanly possible in the time that we have. We never get the chance to tour Australia extensively, I think our last headline tour there was about 5 or 6 years ago now but we've played Soundwave and stuff between that but it'll be great to get back with the fans and show them what this band is all about. We're gonna meet up with some friends and no doubt I'll end up spending a bunch of money I don't have (laughs) it's gonna be a real blast.
You mentioned Australian bands before, what Australian bands are you into?
We all love 50 Lions oh and Break Even but they are no longer are a band and then there are bands I'm just discovering like Anchors and Phantoms and Miles Away are great. There is such a great scene over there. Oh and of course we all love The Amity Affliction and Parkway Drive so there are a fair few bands we're really into.
It's great to hear you're into so many Aussie bands!
Yeah we're all predominately hardcore and punk fans and I just love the scene down there so I have a lot of time for Australian bands. I'm a big fan of Resist Records. Always have a lot of time for their bands.
So going back, how did Funeral For a Friend form and where did the name come from?
We formed around the south Wales hardcore scene, mostly through friends of friends and such and we all had a love of bands like Earth Crisis and Boysetfire and things and really there's not much else to do in south Wales except play music (laughs) The name came from a song by a band called Planes Mistaken For Stars who I really love and the name was originally gonna be for another project I was gonna do with a friend of mine and that friend ended up becoming a part of Funeral For a Friend when I came in to replace a departing vocalist and the change in musical direction I brought with me required a name change so that's how it all happened.
What sort of bands have inspired you over the years?
For me there have been heaps. Mostly hardcore. The LA skate-hardcore scene was huge for me and just various other hardcore scenes from around where I was and such. There have been so many bands and I still listen to a lot of hardcore punk bands now.
Did you ever think the band would last as long as it has?
No, I didn't think we'd last a year (laughs) coz in the first year or so we had so many band changes with peoples work commitments and different goals and all this was supposed to ever be was something to do on the weekend as an escape from the work week but low and behold we've managed to do our hobby for a living for the best part of 10 years. I never take it for granted, I think myself very lucky.
You mentioned about members leaving, you recently got a new drummer Pat (Lundy), what sort of influence has he had on the band?
He's about 11 years younger than me so a lot of energy and youthfulness and his playing style has really lifted things up to a new level. His enthusiasm is great and it's really kicked us older guys in the butt a little to realise just how lucky we are to be doing what we do and to enjoy what we do which is something that was dying in the past few years so the fire is burning stronger than it has in a while.
What was the recording process like for Conduit, the new album?
It was fun and laid back which was great. We were writing songs that we loved and wanted to really throw ourselves into. I call it a very selfish record (laughs) we really don't let anybody else influence what we do. We wanted to make this record true to our influences and why we got started as a band and stick to that as close as possible. It's been a bit rocky over the years so I think now we feel stronger than what we've ever done.
Where did the name Conduit come from?
It's the name of the second track on the album but when we were making the album we went from it being a self-titled to a bunch of other stuff that didn't really fit and eventually I sat down with the guys and explained what the song Conduit was about, it's about sharing and having a sense of community, especially within hardcore and it got stuck in everybody's head and we all felt it was the most appropriate name for the record.
I got a copy of it today so I'm quite excited to give it a listen.
Awesome, man. It's probably the most punk rock record we've ever done. I'm really proud of it. I think it's one of our best efforts so I hope you enjoy it (laughs)
(laughs) Thanks. I hope so too. What inspires the lyrics and music when you're writing them?
Everything and anything really. Social situations, political stuff, stuff that affects me I guess. I try not to preach though. Our guitarist Kris (Coombs) wrote some lyrics as well and he has written since our very first EP. I've actually always been very jealous of his poetic ability so I kinda pushed him and kicked his ass a bit so he would write on this release and what he brought to the table I think made this the best album lyrically we've ever done.
I saw you guys live the last time you were here and you were great. How would you personally explain a live Funeral show?
It's basically no frills. We don't have any effects or use any pro-tools or any of that crap live we just plug in and thrash it out as real as it gets. When you saw us live last it was probably a little bit more of an intense a show but we still run and jump around a lot but we have a lot of fun. We don't want to put on this big, elaborate rock show or anything like that it's just a very honest show. That's all we've ever wanted to do and that's all we do do.
Have you had any crazy moments involving fans?
Nah not really. We've got very respectful fans actually. Sometimes you get people get over-excited and stuff which is cool but I feel like saying to them we're just normal dudes (laughs) so it can get kinda awkward for us but I guess I know how they feel, I know how I can get when I have met people that I idolise. We always try and be as nice and humble as possible and we always love having a chat with our fans, we're very open people.
We'll wrap it up there, thanks for your time and good luck with the upcoming tour.
No problem, man and thank you very much
Matt Barton
Hey, how's it going?
I'm good, how are you?
Good, good. You must be pretty excited to be coming back to Australia fairly soon?
For sure! We love the place. We're all big fans of a lot of Australian bands and you have Lord of the Fries over there which is gonna be a major eating destination for us (laughs) so yeah we're really psyched.
It's a pretty extensive tour. What are you planning to get up to while you are over here?
As much as humanly possible in the time that we have. We never get the chance to tour Australia extensively, I think our last headline tour there was about 5 or 6 years ago now but we've played Soundwave and stuff between that but it'll be great to get back with the fans and show them what this band is all about. We're gonna meet up with some friends and no doubt I'll end up spending a bunch of money I don't have (laughs) it's gonna be a real blast.
You mentioned Australian bands before, what Australian bands are you into?
We all love 50 Lions oh and Break Even but they are no longer are a band and then there are bands I'm just discovering like Anchors and Phantoms and Miles Away are great. There is such a great scene over there. Oh and of course we all love The Amity Affliction and Parkway Drive so there are a fair few bands we're really into.
It's great to hear you're into so many Aussie bands!
Yeah we're all predominately hardcore and punk fans and I just love the scene down there so I have a lot of time for Australian bands. I'm a big fan of Resist Records. Always have a lot of time for their bands.
So going back, how did Funeral For a Friend form and where did the name come from?
We formed around the south Wales hardcore scene, mostly through friends of friends and such and we all had a love of bands like Earth Crisis and Boysetfire and things and really there's not much else to do in south Wales except play music (laughs) The name came from a song by a band called Planes Mistaken For Stars who I really love and the name was originally gonna be for another project I was gonna do with a friend of mine and that friend ended up becoming a part of Funeral For a Friend when I came in to replace a departing vocalist and the change in musical direction I brought with me required a name change so that's how it all happened.
What sort of bands have inspired you over the years?
For me there have been heaps. Mostly hardcore. The LA skate-hardcore scene was huge for me and just various other hardcore scenes from around where I was and such. There have been so many bands and I still listen to a lot of hardcore punk bands now.
Did you ever think the band would last as long as it has?
No, I didn't think we'd last a year (laughs) coz in the first year or so we had so many band changes with peoples work commitments and different goals and all this was supposed to ever be was something to do on the weekend as an escape from the work week but low and behold we've managed to do our hobby for a living for the best part of 10 years. I never take it for granted, I think myself very lucky.
You mentioned about members leaving, you recently got a new drummer Pat (Lundy), what sort of influence has he had on the band?
He's about 11 years younger than me so a lot of energy and youthfulness and his playing style has really lifted things up to a new level. His enthusiasm is great and it's really kicked us older guys in the butt a little to realise just how lucky we are to be doing what we do and to enjoy what we do which is something that was dying in the past few years so the fire is burning stronger than it has in a while.
What was the recording process like for Conduit, the new album?
It was fun and laid back which was great. We were writing songs that we loved and wanted to really throw ourselves into. I call it a very selfish record (laughs) we really don't let anybody else influence what we do. We wanted to make this record true to our influences and why we got started as a band and stick to that as close as possible. It's been a bit rocky over the years so I think now we feel stronger than what we've ever done.
Where did the name Conduit come from?
It's the name of the second track on the album but when we were making the album we went from it being a self-titled to a bunch of other stuff that didn't really fit and eventually I sat down with the guys and explained what the song Conduit was about, it's about sharing and having a sense of community, especially within hardcore and it got stuck in everybody's head and we all felt it was the most appropriate name for the record.
I got a copy of it today so I'm quite excited to give it a listen.
Awesome, man. It's probably the most punk rock record we've ever done. I'm really proud of it. I think it's one of our best efforts so I hope you enjoy it (laughs)
(laughs) Thanks. I hope so too. What inspires the lyrics and music when you're writing them?
Everything and anything really. Social situations, political stuff, stuff that affects me I guess. I try not to preach though. Our guitarist Kris (Coombs) wrote some lyrics as well and he has written since our very first EP. I've actually always been very jealous of his poetic ability so I kinda pushed him and kicked his ass a bit so he would write on this release and what he brought to the table I think made this the best album lyrically we've ever done.
I saw you guys live the last time you were here and you were great. How would you personally explain a live Funeral show?
It's basically no frills. We don't have any effects or use any pro-tools or any of that crap live we just plug in and thrash it out as real as it gets. When you saw us live last it was probably a little bit more of an intense a show but we still run and jump around a lot but we have a lot of fun. We don't want to put on this big, elaborate rock show or anything like that it's just a very honest show. That's all we've ever wanted to do and that's all we do do.
Have you had any crazy moments involving fans?
Nah not really. We've got very respectful fans actually. Sometimes you get people get over-excited and stuff which is cool but I feel like saying to them we're just normal dudes (laughs) so it can get kinda awkward for us but I guess I know how they feel, I know how I can get when I have met people that I idolise. We always try and be as nice and humble as possible and we always love having a chat with our fans, we're very open people.
We'll wrap it up there, thanks for your time and good luck with the upcoming tour.
No problem, man and thank you very much
Matt Barton