"When we were on a major label, they wouldn’t save money and they’d waste money."

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"The minute you start writing music for other people or a particular group or style of fans, it’s pointless to do it."

The walls of the upstairs bar in New York City’s Filmore at Irving Plaza are framed with moments of musical history. Photos of legendary musicians whom have taken the stage below tell the stories of many jam-packed nights, some filled with intimate sing-alongs and others with mosh pits. Tonight, the scenario will be the later. Funeral for a Friend is in town. Though more recent albums from the Welsh band are melodic and Pop/Rock oriented, fans first latched onto these guys when they burst onto the Post-Hardcore scene. Thus, crowd surfing induced songs are naturally still injected into the FFAF set list.

It’s been two years since Matt Davies (vocals), Darran Smith (guitar), Ryan Richards (drums) and Kris Coombs-Roberts (guitar) have toured America. This time, they’re joined by new bass player and former Hondo Maclean member, Gavin Burrough, on bass and are promoting their new album, Memory and Humanity. It’s the band’s first post-major label release and Smith, Richards and Burrough have gathered in a dimly lit booth to discuss their decision to return to their indie roots.

“We had a couple of offers on the table,” reveals Smith. But of the band’s decision to ditch the power players, says “We felt it was the right move to make in today’s music business world. We felt very comfortable doing that.” And during the making of the self-funded release, “We had a lot more control.”

The career supporting FFAF’s recordings began with the 2003 release of their second EP, Four Ways to Scream Your Name (Ferret). That year, the band won its first esteemed Kerrang! Award for “Best UK Newcomer.” Later that year, three singles from its Ferret-released debut full-length, Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation, landed on the UK top-twenty charts. Since then, FFAF has taken home the Kerrang! Award for "Best British Band,” seen every release reach Gold status, headlined the main stage of the Reading and Leeds Festivals, opened for its idols, Iron Maiden, had an album chart at #3 and taken on the Warped Tour in the USA.

However, they soon realized that not even signing to Atlantic Records for the 2005 release of Hours, would bring them much recognition from America. It would take the band reclaiming control of its career by releasing its music label-free to do that.

Richards notes, “We’ve been around five years in the US and we’ve played this place three times opening, and now we’re off Atlantic and we’re here headlining. “

Smith provides insight, saying “It was definitely the case in America,” that a major label didn’t know what to do with the band.

For Memory and Humanity, Smith and his band mates opted to create their own label, Join Us Records. They then licensed the completed tracks to Victory Records for American and Canadian distribution and Roadrunner Records for the rest of the world.

The pro vs. con decision-making process was basically a no-brainer.

“The creative freedom to make all the decisions that really matter- the song choices, what goes on the record, what to do videos for and how to present ourselves,” were the main objectives to consider, according to Richards. He continues, “On a major, they’ve obviously invested a lot of money in you, so they want to have a lot of input in that. Once we found a deal that worked for us and enabled us financially do the record that we wanted to do and be able to tour as much as we do, then it was 99 pros to the 1 con I suppose, if there even was a con. There really wasn’t, because we got to license out the record. So it worked out perfect, really.”

While many artists may be afraid to take the leap, in fear of losing out on luxury, Smith says “We haven’t really noticed any change because we haven’t made a great deal of changes in what we do. We operate as a touring band on a bus and we haven’t had to make any huge cut backs. So I don’t think we’ve noticed any sort of bad or difficulties doing it ourselves.”

He notes that the band is actually saving money by not being on a major label. “It’s good to see where we can save money. When we were on a major label, they wouldn’t save money and they’d waste money. It’s good to have control of that and say - as we used to them sometimes - ‘don’t waste money on that, it’s not going to work,’ and they’d still do it. Now we can say we’re not going to do it because it won’t help us in anyway.”

FFAF decided to team up with impactful indie, Victory Records, because “They’ve got a long history of bringing forth great bands,” says Smith.

There’s also no pressure this time around to meet sales demands.

Since the band formed in 2001, Richards explains “The music industry is a bit different now. I think it’s harder to do with illegal downloads and just MySpace in general. More than anything now, I think it’s about the live show. It’s almost like you’re giving albums away for free now because they are available for free, if you want to do that. So it’s all about putting on the best live show that we can and really enticing people to come back and watch us and pick up our records.”

Tales Don't Tell Themselves, the band’s 2007 release, was put up in its entirety on MySpace for fans to preview. However, going totally digital isn’t something FFAF considers.

“We’re all great lovers on the packaging of a product,” informs Smith. “We’ll stick with that for however long our career goes and always present interesting art work and hopefully that will make it more attractive for people to come out and buy.”

Richards elaborates, “We even made a deluxe version of [Memory and Humanity] that has a DVD on it and even insisted that we had a vinyl--which no one buys-- but we wanted. The vinyl dorks in us wanted that. But Roadrunner didn’t. It’s nice to have at home.”

The band has been featured on countless magazine covers and received praise from the media, including Rolling Stone, which praised Hours: “Whereas many of their punk-metal peers come off like caricatures, Funeral are careful not to overindulge in showy guitar solos, misplaced yelling or unnecessarily complicated rhythms. Instead, the Welsh outfit places the focus more squarely on hooks, and tracks won't take more than a couple of listens to get stuck in your craw.”

Yet, Richards believes the most valuable form of admiration comes from other, younger bands. “I think it’s the biggest complement that you can get, that you’ve been a factor in them doing this.”

Darren recalls a recent encounter with such fans. “I had a weird experience a few months ago, where we were playing a festival and we were headlining this one particular stage. There was one of the bands playing earlier- I think they were all sort of around 19-20ish. Me and Matt were side-stage watching. They gave us a shout-out on stage and said ‘We grew up listening to those guys.’ It was quite bizarre. When you think about it, we’ve been around six-and-a-half/ seven years and they were maybe like 13 or 14 when they started listening to us. So it’s weird to think of it that way.”

“We’ve all been in that position, too, where we met people we’ve idolized growing up,” assures Richards. “For us to be in that position, is pretty humbling.”

Another humbling experience came from the guys family members, who heard FFAF’s music on popular UK soap operas, East Enders and Coronation Street. “That was the biggest thing to people,” laughs Richards. “When [“INTO OBLIVION”] was played, I’d get aunts and uncles texting me, 'You were just played on East Enders!' Up to then, we didn’t matter. But we get played on East Enders and ‘You guys are real!’”

The band credits the secret of their success and longevity to be pure enjoyment.

“As soon as it doesn’t become enjoyable, it’s time to stop what you’re doing,” says Smith. He encourages other bands to “Keep pleasing yourselves. The minute you start writing music for other people or a particular group or style of fans, it’s pointless to do it.”

Richards also advises, “Don’t try to chase any scenes. We always try to stay one step ahead. Everything we do, we try to make it as different as possible and do something that’s refreshing. Keep it exciting for yourself and keep getting along with and respecting each other on the road.”

Smith concludes, "We never write the same thing twice. It’s boring and there are far too many bands that do that."

GET MORE FROM FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND: www.myspace.com/funeralforafriend

Joelle Batelli spends her days at Music Resource Group editing for The Musician’s Atlas and coordinating sponsorships for The Independent Music Awards. As music naturally consumes her life, she spends her “downtime” producing/hosting a Web-TV show, On the Verge, for Ambush.tv. You can watch her interview with Funeral for a Friend and many other bands at www.planetverge.com.

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