Interviews : Funeral for a Friend – “We’re really excited about Lord Of The Fries” (An Interview With Pat Lundy)

Post-Hardcore pioneers Funeral for a Friend are preparing for their biggest Australian tour to date on the back of their new album and return to roots ‘Conduit‘. MetalObsession had the pleasure of speaking to Pat Lundy ahead of their tour.

Metal Obsession: Hi Pat, thanks for taking the time out to chat to MetalObsession. It’s the early morning here in Australia, whats happening on the other side of the world at the moment. Is it relaxation time, or rehearsals?

Pat Lundy: I got home about 3 hours ago from a meeting that we had in Wales, and we just got off a little UK run that we’ve just done now, so I guess my first day off in a few weeks!

MO: During the upcoming Australian tour it will mark the 1 year anniversary of you being in the band, hows the time been for you? 

PL: I just actually passed it, it was a bit of a mental one! I suppose it will be a year since it got announced. Its been an amazing first year, no complaints thus far. [laughs]

MO: Your first album with the band, Conduit, has been getting a lot of solid reviews, and a lot of them claim of a return to form, especially after Memory and Humanity 2 albums ago. How big a part of this was with you joining the band?

PL: It was somewhat changed with me joining I suppose but they had written the material, so I guess I just put a little of my flavour onto it in the recording studio. They had made the conscious decision to scrap the earlier album sounds from Tales and Memory and get back to their roots.

MO: Did you have any expectations of where the band was going musically when you joined? 

PL: I just really didn’t want to hear anything that was going to represent the stuff that was on Memory. Thats me personally, and I know the others guys that joined both agree, so kinda like everyone is on the same wavelength. Given that the bands had a few line up changes over the 10-12 years we’ve been a band, I think that now the formula is a bit more solid. Its definitely working for the writing and stuff.

MO: I read you openly said Memory and Humanity was a shit album when you joined the band, is this why no songs are played of the relatively recent album? 

PL: Yeah man, none of them, it is a really dog shit album.

MO: How did the band react to your thoughts on the album?

PL: I didn’t really care to be honest. I’d toured with them beforehand and supported them in my old band, and I think they know what I think of their back catalogue. And they still asked me to audition, so I don’t think they took it to heart. I think they knew they were in a bit of a bad place, as a band at that time, and ya know, everyone has dark days where you kinda struggle to recall why you’re in the band in the first place, and they didn’t really know what they were doing and weren’t very happy as a band and they’d been on tour solidly for 8 years which kinda drivers anyone insane. So I can see why the setup deteriorated a bit and its been resolved since, and just looking forward to getting back out to cool places again, putting out the next record, and the one after that.

MO: Its the bands biggest Australian tour to date starting in a fortnight, is it exciting getting the band to new places?

PL: Yeah man, I don’t think anyone of us have done so much in the 5 states, so theres a whole new bunch of places we’re doing where I haven’t been to, and I don’t think the other guys either, its just generally Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney. We’re really excited about Lord Of The Fries though. Thats probably number one on our list of things to do. Matt’s been tweeting the guys months in advance, so they’ll be expecting him. [laughs]

MO: What can we expect on this tour from previous tours? You seem to bring a lot of aggression musically to the stage.

PL: For the Aussie set I don’t know, you tell me, what should we play? We were having this discussion a few days ago. Theres a few new songs off Conduit that we’re going to be throwing in, and some other ones that we have played in years and years to any crowd, we kinda wanna do something special for Oz, for this being quite an intimate aussie tour. We want to bring out a few aces.

MO: Is this just for the Australian tour, or is that how the band want to tour for the future in intimate venues?

PL: On our most recent tour I think 94% of shows were sold out, with just over 30 shows. Most bands would have done 9 or 10 shows  in big rooms, and we could have done it like that, but we really wanted to do a lengthy long tour getting out to everywhere, rather than people coming to us. I suppose if you’re a band and you take a year off to write a record, and you want to start a touring schedule, its important you make the effort first, and we all wanted to go to the smaller towns, especially in the UK. We’re from here, and we haven’t been everywhere, to go to new places in the UK is still exciting. Theres a lot places to play man.

MO: Being relatively new to the band, are there any favourites songs of yours to play live?

PL: End Of Nothing is a good one to play, Broken Foundation, thats quite a heavy track, and I suppose off the new record Conduit is a bit of a banger, and we open with that on the most recent tour.

MO: Its ten years since the bands debut Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation was released, any plans for a nostalgia trip playing the album in full?

PL: When Darren left the band they played his farewell show like that, I think they did a limited pressing on DVD. Well, I have one anyway. And they did the whole front to back Casually Dressed thing. I think the next one will be Hours in 2015. And we’ll do like a tour for that or something, and play that in its entirety.

MO: After the Australian tour its back to Europe for the summer there, and a lot of touring. Are you looking forward to getting the music in front of so many new faces? Would you like a break at all, or you’re happy with go-go-go for the time being?

PL: Its good man, we’re on a good vibe I think. We’re tour fit, and it takes a while to get there in my previous experience, and I think we’re working better with the flight times now. The start of the year, our first show was japan, and it was a real long flight, play 1 show, and the flight back. We kinda got battered early on, hopefully we won’t have too much jet lag now, and we’ll be smashing these shows. It’ll be fun.

MO: That’s dedication, so far for one show. 

PL: We did this thing with our label out there, to get a ticket to see the show you had to buy the cd. It was a cool thing. A few hundred kids in the Quotro Club, it was a vibe. I was really glad that we did it, but it was a hell of a lot of travel for an hours set.

MO: Finally, heading out to Australia, are there any australian bands that you’re a fan of? 

PL: I love Amity Affliction, those guys are all cool. I like Burried in Verona, Relentless were taken out with us, they’re awesome. Load so f Aussie bands, Parkway, Karnivool.

MO: That brings us to the end, thanks for your time Pat, and I look forward to catching you guys in Melbourne on the tour! 

Wed 8 May – The Rev, Brisbane (18+)

Tix: destroyalllines.oztix.com.au 1300 762 545 & Oztix Outlets

Thurs 9 May – Surfers Paradise Beer Garden, Gold Coast (18+)

Tix: destroyalllines.oztix.com.au 1300 762 545 & Oztix Outlets   

 Fri 10 May – The Cambridge, Newcastle (18+)

Tix: yourcambridge.com & The Cambridge Hotel

 Sat 11 May – Manning Bar, Sydney (18+)

Tix: manningbar.com & 1300 762 545   

 Sun 12 May – The Basement, Canberra (18+)

Tix: moshtix.com.au, 1300 438 849, destroyalllines.oztix.com.au & Oztix Outlets  

Tues 14 May – The Corner Hotel, Melbourne (18+)

Tix: cornerhotel.com 1300 724 867, the Corner Box Office & Fist2Face

 Wed 15 May – Pier Live, Frankston (18+)

Tix: ticketmaster.com.au 136 100 & Pier Live on (03) 9783 9800 or pierlive.com.au

 Thurs 16 May Fowlers Live Adelaide (Lic.AA)

Tix: moshtix.com.au, 1300 438 849, & Venue*Tix on (08) 8225 8888 or venuetix.com.au

 Fri 17 May – Amplifier Bar, Perth (18+)

Tix: heatseeker.com.au 1300 762 545, Heatseeker Outlets & destroyalllines.oztix.com.au

Sat 18 May – Prince Of Wales, Bunbury (18+)

Tix: heatseeker.com.au 1300 762 545, Heatseeker Outlets & destroyalllines.oztix.com.au

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