The band may have called it quits after a set of 2016 farewell shows where they played Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation + Hours in full, and one could be forgiven for wanting Funeral For A Friend to reunite for any shows at all. After all, this was a band who redefined UK post-hardcore with their early material, and then impressively reinvented themselves on late career records like Welcome Home Armageddon. Of course, their breakup was truly billed as the final time to see the band live, and since 2016, that’s been the case – at least until now.
Yes, Funeral For A Friend is reuniting, and for two shows this October. While it isn’t clear if there will be anything beyond that, it’s for an admirable cause – to benefit a close friend of the band.
FFAF Family,
When we left the stage on May 21st 2016 at London’s Kentish Town Forum, we all agreed that it was the perfect way to end Funeral For A Friend. We’d toured the UK one last time, playing some of the biggest shows we’d performed in years, in front of our friends and families. It was the perfect ending. Since then, we’ve been asked many times – ‘do you think you’ll ever come back?’ and the answer has always been a resounding ‘no’, because there was never any reason to.
Until now.
Recently, a man who can quite legitimately lay claim to being the world’s biggest FFAF fan (both literally and figuratively!), our friend Stuart ‘Big Stu’ Brothers, has been stricken with a terrible illness which has ultimately led to a terminal prognosis. Last month, Stu was given a few short weeks to live by his Doctors.
As Stu’s friends, we wanted to do something to help; particularly for his family and 3 young sons, who are going through unspeakable trauma right now. We discussed the possibility of auctioning off some FFAF memorabilia (which we’ll still do), but it became apparent that the way in which we could best help Stu was to perform some fundraising shows, with the proceeds going directly to his family.
So, on October 28th and 29th, at the Cardiff Globe and London Shepherd’s Bush Empire respectively, Funeral for a Friend will be performing two more shows to benefit the Brothers family.
Being that Stu was an old-school fan right from the very start, we will mainly be performing material from the early part of our career circa 2002-2007. Joining Matt, Kris, Gav and Rich for the shows will be guitarist Darran Smith (who left the band in 2010) and drummer/vocalist Ryan Richards, who left in 2012.
For the uninitiated, it’s hard to quantify just how influential Funeral For A Friend’s music was on a generation of UK rock fans – and beyond. A good place to start might well be their 2003 debut Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation, but there’s really no wrong way to go there. Truly an unforgettable band in the way they married aggressive guitar riffs with beautiful melodies.
