Funeral for a Friend

Bridgend quintet Funeral For A Friend forged a fearsome reputation based on a melodic triple threat of emo, hardcore and metal. Vocalist Matt Davies-Kreye, bassist Gareth Davies, guitarists Kris Roberts and Darran Smith and drummer Randy Richards emerged in 2002, their early EPs Between Order And Model, Juneau and Four Ways To Scream Your Name earning the band a Kerrang! cover before they’d even released their debut album.

The hype quickly took care of that, a deal with Warner leading to their 2003 debut album Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation, featuring re-recorded versions of EP tracks alongside new songs. Positive reviews abounded from the likes of NME and Drowned In Sound and the band soon found themselves on the road around Europe opening for Iron Maiden.

After a long tour supporting their debut, the band returned to the studio and released their second album Hours in June 2005. The album was equally well-received, leading to a gong for Best British Band at that year’s Kerrang! awards.

Frontman Matt Davies-Kreye diverted his attention briefly to his more rustic-sounding side project The Secret Show before the band regrouped for their third album, 2007’s Tales Don’t Tell Themselves. Billed by Davies as a nautically-themed concept album along the lines of “Castaway meets A Perfect Storm”, it represented a step forward in terms of both ambition and production for the band, pairing them with renowned producer Gil Norton (Foo Fighters, Pixies, Jimmy Eat World, Terrorvision). It reached number three in the UK album charts.

Even amidst extensive touring, Funeral For A Friend still took just over a year to return with a fourth album, Memory And Humanity. A longer gap followed before their fifth Welcome Home Armageddon, which was both preceded and succeeded by accompanying Eps, The Young And The Defenceless and See You All In Hell. The album was met with enthusiastic reviews.

Conduit came next in 2013, before the band’s final album, Chapter And Verse, in 2015. That September, they announced that they would be disbanding at the end of their 2016 tour.

In October 2019, the band reformed briefly to play three benefit shows for a terminally ill friend. In 2020, they announced a more formal reunion in the shape of a 2021 UK tour playing songs from their first three albums. In February 2021, the band confirmed that they had rescheduled their reunion shows. The tour was instead set for January 2022.