{"id":699,"date":"2011-09-05T22:31:47","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T12:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=699"},"modified":"2011-09-05T22:32:07","modified_gmt":"2011-09-05T12:32:07","slug":"ryan-richards-of-funeral-for-a-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2011\/09\/ryan-richards-of-funeral-for-a-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Richards of Funeral For A Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>“It\u2019s the tightest we\u2019ve ever been and that in itself is quite special, so anyone that\u2019s seen us before that comes out to one our shows will see us at our best and the best we\u2019ve ever been.”<\/p>\n

Almost ten years in the business, countless tours, five albums with their newest being the amazing Welcome Home Armageddon released earlier this year where Funeral For A Friend seem to have taken the best parts of all their albums and given us the killer end result.\u00a0 At one point Funeral For A Friend were headed down to Australia for a Revolution, that changed, thankfully they still are coming but this time for a Counter Revolution and they are pumped for it!<\/p>\n

We had the chance to chat to FFAF drummer and screamer Ryan Richards about the new record, their upcoming shows here in Australia for Counter Revolution, the plans for their next record, yes already, why social media is important for them and his best memory of Australia, bet you can’t guess what that is…<\/p>\n

Scream for us Ryan!!!<\/p>\n

You\u2019re thankfully heading back here for Counter Revolution, for those that haven\u2019t seen you guys before, what can people expect from a Funeral For A Friend set?<\/strong>
\nGreat songs, good energy, fun, sweat, blood, beer, all of the above\u2026<\/p>\n

Were you at any time worried that you may not be heading out here this year?<\/strong>
\nYeah we really were actually, I remember waking up one morning a couple of weeks ago and looking on my phone and seeing the announcement that Soundwave had been cancelled and being pretty distraught really because we were all really looking forward to that but as you said, luckily we were able to get it together and get the Counter Revolution together and it\u2019s great that we\u2019re actually now coming back otherwise we wouldn\u2019t have had any time for the rest of the year at all, so that would\u2019ve been awful.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been to Australia a number of times, how do your fans from here compare to those around the world?<\/strong>
\nProbably better looking, and they\u2019re tanned and have nicer hair but definitely pretty wild, definitely dedicated, we\u2019ve found a lot of the time we\u2019ve come over there\u2019s been fans that have come to all of our Australian shows and obviously we know it\u2019s a big country and there\u2019s a lot of travelling to do to get to every show that we do in the country so there\u2019s a lot of them, definitely a dedicated bunch.<\/p>\n

Do you have a favourite memory of being here in Australia?<\/strong>
\nYeah I do. Visiting the set of Neighbours, that was a particular fond memory, wearing Harold Bishop\u2019s apron from his little caf\u00e9, that was a fond memory of mine and something captured on camera and I\u2019ve got up on my wall, so yeah that was the best one.
\nThat is so Rock and Roll that it hurts man!<\/strong>
\nAnd meeting Dr Karl Kennedy as well, that was a good one, he was quite Rock and Roll, probably the most Rock and Roll doctor that I\u2019ve ever met, even though he\u2019s not a real doctor.<\/p>\n

So after a night of doing the screaming vocals on stage every night, how do you warm down?\u00a0 A nice cup of tea?<\/strong>
\nNo, I\u2019m allergic to caffeine ha ha no tea, no coffee, no Red Bull, no Monster, any of that.\u00a0 I just lay there in my underwear for about 30 minutes ha ha and that usually seems to do the job and yeah\u2026\u00a0 I do punish myself ha ha.<\/p>\n

The new album seems to have taken elements from every album you\u2019ve released and combined it into one monster of an album, was this something that was conscious during the writing \/ recording of the album?<\/strong>
\nYeah I think it was to be honest.\u00a0 Obviously when Gavin and Richard joined the band it was a time of reflection and having a look at what our strengths are and what our best attributes were I guess and maybe some of that, myself, Kris and Matt not realising what those attributes were because we\u2019d been so heavily involved in the band and sort of in that little bubble, so having Richard and Gav come into the band and give their point of view of what the strongest elements of the band were was a real eye opener for us and really allowed us to concentrate on those particular elements and bring them out and enhance them even.<\/p>\n

How did the concept for the album come together?<\/strong>
\nThe way most things always come together, by total accident, it just started from one song, we did the song \u2018Welcome Home Armageddon\u2019 we liked the title and thought that should be the album and that came through the artwork that further inspired us then to go along that path and write songs like \u2018Front Row Seats To The End Of The World\u2019 and things like that, and it just started to tie in and it felt good and it felt right and just followed that really and it just came naturally from there, we never intended to have much of a theme on the record it just turned out that way. \"\"<\/p>\n

Just on the cover art, I think it\u2019s amazing, who came up with that idea?<\/strong>
\nYeah, it\u2019s an artist from South Wales called Rianne Rowlands, a great artist and a friend of ours, it basically came from the fact that a few of us, well it\u2019s actually well know for us to get tattooed in the same studio and one of the artists there Chris Harrison, his girlfriend is Rianne and she came in one day and had some drawings while one of the guys was getting tattooed, they saw the drawings and thought they were great and we asked if she wanted to do artwork for the record and it came from there really.\u00a0 It was something really different for us, that more cartoon based imagery we felt worked really well against the more dark and apocalyptic side of things, it was definitely a double sided thing that worked really well yeah.<\/p>\n

This album is a killer start to finish, would you ever consider a show where you played it in its entirety?<\/strong>
\nYeah definitely, we\u2019ve done that with other albums before, we\u2019ve done it with our first album \u2018Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation\u2019 and not with any other album, not for any particular reason but I think, yeah this one it works, when we wrote the songs we wanted to write songs that would work really well live and we could play them all and they\u2019d come across well in that live environment.\u00a0 I definitely think it could be a record that would really work live doing it like that and it\u2019s actually something that we\u2019ve thought about and will probably end up doing at some point.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve been in the band now for the best part of 10 years, is there a defining moment that stands out for you over the last decade?\u00a0 Besides Neighbours?<\/strong>
\nYeah ha ha besides Harold Bishop.\u00a0 Yeah I think just the first time we ever got on a plane to travel somewhere and it felt like this is really happening and when we got to… well the first time we came to Australia on the Taste Of Chaos tour back in 2005 and just after we\u2019d released our second record and we\u2019d never been across before so we didn\u2019t know what to expect and to have everyone know all the words to all our songs the first time we ever came over was incredible and that was definitely a big moment for us, maybe even bigger than the Neighbours thing if I\u2019m being honest.<\/p>\n

Can we expect anything special from you guys for the 10th<\/sup> Anniversary of the band?<\/strong>
\nYeah, always something special.\u00a0 The set that we\u2019re doing at the moment, it\u2019s definitely a celebration of those ten years I think and definitely something for everyone I guess.\u00a0 The best of what we’ve done, well the best of what we think we\u2019ve done over the past ten years, it\u2019s the tightest we\u2019ve ever been and that in itself is quite special, so anyone that\u2019s seen us before that comes out to one our shows will see us at our best and the best we\u2019ve ever been.<\/p>\n

You recently played Download Festival, and it was your first time headlining one of the stages.\u00a0 How do you prepare yourself for a show like that and how was that experience?<\/strong>
\nI personally prepare myself by watching the other bands on the bill, I love doing that, that\u2019s why we always try and take out as many great bands as we can when we go on tour as support because I find there\u2019s no better way to get in the zone and psych yourself up than going out and see the support bands do their thing and it really gets you motivated and gets you in to the zone for playing. And with the Download festival, obviously so many great bands on all the stages, I got to watch a lot of those on the day and it really put me in a great place.\u00a0 Headlining was amazing, we were second headliner a few years earlier with The Guns N Roses band as I call them, and yeah it was great to be able to finally, I guess it was a nice way to celebrate our tenth year by headlining a stage at Download, so we were really stoked with that.<\/p>\n

You have played with some of the biggest bands in the world all around the world, is there one band that stands out for you that absolutely blew you away?<\/strong>
\nUm\u2026 I think Iron Maiden is definitely one, in more ways than one I think, because not just their show which was great every night, I literally watched every night of the tour, we did about thirty shows with them and I don\u2019t think I missed a moment of any of those thirty shows.\u00a0 Just the way that they conducted themselves, the professionalism, just the hunger that they still have this far into their careers was quite inspiring really and something that we looked up to and gave us a great help for having the kind of career that those guys have had.<\/p>\n

Being out on the road at the moment are you already writing new material for the next album or is that something that takes place after you\u2019re finished touring?<\/strong>
\nYeah we actually are, we\u2019ve been in and recorded a new track to preview later on in the year.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been writing that much that we just wanted to get in the studio and put one down and we\u2019ve already done that, there\u2019s a bunch more demos that we\u2019ve done, so yeah, the next record is well on its way.<\/p>\n

When do you finish up touring?<\/strong>
\nWell we come back from Australia and we\u2019ve got the UK tour then in October and that finishes at the end of October and that\u2019s it then, we\u2019re definitely going to be focused then on the new record. Sometimes things come along that you can\u2019t turn down but the time is definitely to start working on the next record as soon as we finish the UK tour.<\/p>\n

Five albums in with hopefully many more to come and with a couple of line up changes, how have you personally seen the band grow over this time?<\/strong>
\nYeah, as you said, a couple of line up changes, I think that changes the dynamic and the song writing dynamic and just the way things get done and it\u2019s a good vibe at the moment, there\u2019s a lot of creative minds now in the band, it\u2019s good that inspiration comes from a lot of different places and different people really.\u00a0 I think technology has come such a long way now from when the band started, you can just email each other riffs, ideas and actually work on them and work on ideas together without actually being in the same room together is good for personal space and to be able to have that time to sit there and work on your own parts has definitely been a big one, rather than to have to all sit in a room and jam out all day every day which sometimes can be a bit stifling.<\/p>\n

Before you start killing each other?<\/strong>
\nHa ha yeah almost, nah, you just lose a bit of the spark I find then and everybody\u2019s feeling a little bit under pressure to come up with something right away which may not necessarily be the best thing that you could do, so when you\u2019ve got your own personal time to really think about what you\u2019re doing I think it lends to a lot more creativity.<\/p>\n

Now I read that you guys are all very active with your social media and that you all look after it, is that correct?<\/strong>
\nYeah absolutely, all aspects of it.\u00a0 I just personally think that\u2019s the way it should be, that\u2019s your forum really, and that\u2019s the gateway to your fans.\u00a0 If they\u2019re taking the time to follow you on twitter or to like you on facebook or whatever then I don\u2019t really think that it\u2019s too much to ask for you to check in and just keep in touch and have that relationship with your fans, it\u2019s so easy to do these days, I don\u2019t really understand the bands that give it to someone in an office to answer on their behalf or whatever.\u00a0 You\u2019re never too busy to take a minute out of your day to just update the fans with what\u2019s going on and check out some questions and answer them.\u00a0 It\u2019s the least we can do really and we enjoy keeping in touch with our fans that way, it\u2019s certainly not a chore.<\/p>\n

Just lastly, do you have a message for your Australian fans before you head down here?<\/strong>
\nYeah, thanks being patient and waiting really, and we\u2019re looking forward to getting back down and playing some great shows with some great bands.<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Wales<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong> Matthew Davies – Vocals, Gav Burrough – Guitars, Ryan Richards – Drums \/ unclean vocals,\u00a0 Kris Coombs-Roberts – Guitars, Richard Boucher – Bass<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> www.funeralforafriend.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Latest release:<\/strong> Welcome Home Armageddon (Roadrunner Records)
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