Funeral For A Friend on Tour
Welsh band Funeral For A Friend have announced plans to tour the UK later this year. The tour will primarily promote the release of FFAF’s fourth album “Memory and Humanity” through their own label, Join Us Records, which is due out in October. Supporting acts on the tour will be Cancer Bats from Canada, In Case of Fire from Ireland, and Attack Attack from Wales.
The release of “Memory and Humanity” coincides with the five year anniversary of Funeral For A Friend’s debut album “Casually Dressed and Deep in Conversation”. In an attempt to categorize the band, Funeral For A Friend’s music has been referred to as Post-Hardcore, Melodic Hardcore and Screamo. Whatever category FFAF may, or may not, fit into, the band has a growing throng of loyal followers who are thrilled at the prospect of seeing a live performance by Kris Coombs-Roberts, Gareth Davies, Ryan Richards, Darran Smith and Matt Davies.
Funeral For A Friend’s tour kicks off on 14 October at the Dublin Academy, after which they move on to Belfast, Inverness, Glasgow, Leeds, Hull, Preston, Whitehaven, Manchester, Birmingham, Coventry, Nottingham, Exeter, Portsmouth, Oxford, Norwich, London, Tenby, Swansea, Cardiff, Wrexham and finishing on of 14 December in Aberystwyth.
In mid-2003, Funeral For A Friend secured their first Kerrang! Award, which is sponsored by “Kerrang!” magazine on an annual basis to honor successful bands. The band won the award for “Best UK Newcomer”, confirming that they already had a strong fan base who voted for them online. This fan base has been growing steadily and the upcoming tour is sure to be well supported.
Funeral For A Friend evolved from the band known as January Thirst, when after one of the vocalists quit in December 2001, Matthew Evans and Johnny Phillips of January Thirst invited Matt Davies to audition as a singer for the band, which turned out well. Not too long after that, the band took on the name of Funeral For A Friend. Apparently the name was originally taken from a song by Planes Mistaken for Stars, but later the band accredited their name to an Elton John song.
For a pre-release sample of FFAF’s new album, fans can grab the double A-side single “Waterfront Dance Club / Beneath The Burning Tree” on vinyl via Join Us Records on 14 July 2008. Additionally, “Waterfront Dance Club” will be available as a free download from the band’s website.
