Funeral for a Friend

Funeral For A Friend were formed in the early 2001 in South Wales out of the ashes of January Thirst. The members of the original band used to play aggressive speed metal, but later they presumed to vary their sound and invited Matt Davies as the new vocalist. The style modification presupposed changing the name of the band. The musicians chose the name Funeral For A Friend. It was a sheer surprise for them to receive a commercial offer from the Mighty Atom Studios management, yet it was the only right way to agree. The outcome of this cooperation was their debut EP Between The Order And Model (2002). Afterwards, Funeral For A Friend took up active touring the entire UK, accompanying such groups as Finch, Boysetsfire, Sparta, and The Juliana Theory. Their second EP Seven Ways To Scream Your Name was released in April 2003. By that time the young musicians had already started working on the first long player. They got isolated in a studio located in the tiny provincial town Lincolnshire, where, according to their recollections, nothing could distract them from music. It was only for performances, they interrupted the recording session. The guys from Funeral For A Friend were lucky to collaborate with producer Colin Richardson, who used to work with Fear Factory, Cannibal Corpse, and Napalm Death. Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation was eventually produced in October 2003. It was a high-profile job that gained good response in media and earned its makers significant support reinforcement.

Approximately at that time, Funeral For A Friend released their first album abroad. A collection of their two EPs, called Seven Ways To Scream Your Name, appeared in the US to the greatest excitement of the local fans who loved what the Welsh hard rock makers had manufactured. In September 2003, the musicians toured the States, which was followed by the European performances as a supporting act for the majestic Iron Maiden. For the entire 2004, Funeral For A Friend gave performances with a lot of well-known groups, including Franz Ferdinand, The Rapture, and Von Bondies. They used intermissions between the gigs to do the material for the new album. The song writing was influenced, to a great extent, by the impressions they had got from everything happening to them for the first time. They were happy to become that popular and see the army of their fans growing fast, but the exhausting road life, longing for home, and personal problems took their toll on each members of the band. Matt appeared to have the biggest trouble getting used to the new reality. The enduring depression, health and voice problems, too much alcohol put him off the rails. As a result, he went into treatment to gather up and reactivate.

To record the second long player, Funeral For A Friend went to Seattle. The producer was Terry Date, famous for cooperation with Soundgarden, Pantera, and Deftones. The session took two months. This time, the musicians did not combine the recording activities with their gigs. The result of this work was a very proficient album with unified style and music. The album revealed all the skills and experience they had learned and mastered fir the preceding years. The third album, Tales Don’t Tell Themselves, released in May 2007, featured Matt singing and playing guitar. Although the album peaked third in the UK album chart, it remained the lowest selling one in the entire discography of the group. It was planned by Funeral For A Friend to release on an EP in 2008, but they had managed to create worthy material enough for another LP. It was released in October 2008 under the title Memory And Humanity. In 2009 the band’s discography was enlarged by the record titled Your History Is Mine: 2002-2009.