Funeral For A Friend announce new album: “It was an absolute joy to make this record”

Funeral For A Friend have announced details of their new album, ‘Chapter and Verse’, due through Distiller Records on 19th January. The first track from the record, ‘You’ve Got A Bad Case of The Religions’ premiered on Daniel P Carter’s BBC Radio 1 Rock Show last night - and can now be heard below.

“I guess you can say there’s loose themes and threads working their way through the record,” vocalist Matthew Davies-Kreye explains, referencing both the album’s title and that of the lead track. “I guess that’s what happens when you write material all together in the same time frame and mindset. We chose that particular track pretty much because of its energy and intensity,” he continues, “yet it still has the hallmarks of a Funeral song. Seemed like the best foot forward after playing ‘1%’ live for a couple of months.”

In addition, the track listing features the likes of ‘Pencil Pusher’, ‘Modern Excuse Of A Man’ and ‘Inequality’ - but the band aren’t feeling disenfranchised. Well, no more so than usual, anyway. “Most are fragments of personal reflection or at least an imprint on me from being subjected to so much information over the years. I don’t think I’m feeling any more disenfranchised than I’ve been for a number of years. I feel disappointment in a lot of things I see around me and that gets vented through our songs.”

Recorded in two weeks with Lewis Johns, ‘Chapter and Verse’ came together quickly. “We’re used to being spoiled and spending ridiculous amounts of time making a record where the reality is you can make a record that you feel a connection too without spending months and months on it. It was an absolute joy to make this record under those constraints. You had to go with your gut instinct pretty much all the time which led to some pretty inspiring performances and Lewis Johns was superb at channelling that energy into the recording.”

“I think the only thing we wanted [when starting the album] was to have a record that didn’t feel like it had a billion things going off all at once. We wanted it to be two guitars, drums, bass and vocals. Quite pure really, no crazy synths, orchestras or the like. Nothing that isn’t what we’re like live. There was no grand master plan. We had a set time frame and we really relished the experience. All we cared and all we still care about is making a record that made us feel connected and gave us a reason for making music and we managed that pretty well.”