Welsh post-hardcore heroes Funeral for a Friend have announced today that they are to split following a farewell tour. Having formed in Bridgend back in 2001, being one of a number of underground bands to find success in the early 2000s, the band will have remained figureheads of the British alternative music scene for 15 years come the end of their ‘Last Chance to Dance’ tour, early next year. On the band’s post on Facebook, they stated;
“Today we announce the end of Funeral for a Friend. Yes, the end. We’ve had an amazing ride, met an insane amount of people, toured countries we’d never even dreamed we’d get to see and made music together that in some crazy way has been responsible for taking us on that ride for well over a decade.
When we started this band the only hope and aspirations we had was to write music that we loved, play some shows and maybe make a record…we’ve surpassed that in so many ways, achieving three gold records along the way. It’s grown to be a huge part of our lives but like the saying goes all good things must end and we’ve come to the end of the line. We’ve had many curveballs thrown at us over the last fifteen years, some we’ve managed to avoid and others that quite nearly derailed us but we’ve always said to each other that when it’s time for this to end then we end it on our own terms, no one else’s. So there we go, one chapter closes and another opens and life goes on.”
This will of course be sad news to band’s fans, whether they have been there since the band’s beginnings on breakthrough debut Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation, or whether they came to them in later years on the band’s more aggressive and hardcore oriented releases, like this year’s Chapter and Verse. However, lead-singer and frontman, Matthew Davies-Kreye elaborated that, though this might be the end, it’s a time for celebration, and the band will be doing it in style on their farewell tour;
“It’s the natural end. We’ve done everything we set out to do and way more than I could ever have hoped so I’m not upset that it’s run its course. We all felt that ‘Chapter And Verse’ was a pretty decent full stop on an incredible fourteen and half years of making music together.
So, how do you celebrate a huge part of your life? You play some shows! For me it seemed obvious to go out with both ‘Hours’ and ‘Casually Dressed..’ I feel that both those records distill what Funeral is to a whole load of people more definitively than just piecing together a set from all the records we’ve made. It seems to me that those are the records that matter most and ‘Hours’ to me is my proudest achievement in music with Funeral. I don’t know why but it fills me with an overwhelming sense of pride.”
Speaking as someone who picked up Casually Dressed when it came out, at 13 it was definitely an album that made quite an impact on me, and would continue to be in regular rotation for some time; it’s still an album I enjoy going back and listening to, alongside their seminal sophomore, Hours. Aside from being a perfect bedfellow for an angsty little teen all hung up on his feels and writing pseduo-goth poetry, who enjoyed pretending to be an impassioned frontman in his bedroom with a remote control for a microphone, Funeral for a Friend were a great encouragement for young Welsh bands or musicians around that time, showing that it was possible to come from small valleys towns and make it.
For one last chance to dance, the farewell tour dates in full, tickets go on sale Friday 18th September at 10am;
AUSTRALIA
Thurs 11th Feb – Brisbane, The Brightside
Fri 12th Feb – Brisbane, The Brightside
Sat 13th Feb – Sydney, Oxford Art Factory
Sun 14th Feb – Sydney, Oxford Art Factory
Tues 16th Feb – Melbourne, Richmond Central Club
Weds 17th Feb – Melbourne, Richmond Central Club
EUROPE
Weds 23rd March – Hamburg, Knust
Thurs 24th March – Hamburg, Knust
Fri 25th March – Berlin, Magnet
Sat 25th March – Berlin, Magnet
Mon 28th March – Munich, Kranhalle
Tues 29th March – Munich, Kranhalle
Weds 30t March – Wiesbaden, Schlachtof
Thurs 31st March– Wiesbaden, Schlachtof
Sat 2nd April – Cologne, Luxor
Sun 3rd April – Cologne, Luxor
UK
Tues 5th April – Cardiff, Y Plas
Weds 6th April – Cardiff, Y Plas
Fri 8th April – Manchester, The Ritz
Sat 9th April – Manchester, The Ritz
Sun 10th April – Glasgow, Garage
Mon 11th April – Glasgow, Garage
Weds 13th April– Birmingham, Institute
Thurs 14th April– Birmingham, Institute
Fri 15th April – London, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
Sat 16th April– London, O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
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