Music
Review: Creeper join Funeral For A Friend at Electric Ballroom, London
As Funeral For A Friend celebrate the release of their new record, Chapter and Verses, in London, Creeper frontman Will Gould reviews the gig for tmBlog.
Support band and music blogger all in one night, no pressure. Find out what Will made of the show…
Our set was amazing; it was our 15th show ever as a band, and we played with one of my favourite bands at the Electric Ballroom. The last time I was here, I saw AFI at a secret show in 2006, so tonight was surreal. Before I turned up I was really anxious and nervous, because this is such a historic venue, it’s daunting, but then you go on stage and see there’s a bunch of people there already. Everything I can possibly see going wrong, we’ve dealt with before, so we’re ready.
Meeting the fans means everything…
In between ours and Funeral’s set, I went straight to merch to meet a bunch of kids. I’ve never really had to do that before until this band and as confident as we are when we play, we’re actually quite anxious, awkward people. It’s been quite difficult to go straight from playing, to talking to people, but we’ve adjusted.
Then we saw No Bragging Rights and they were incredible. They’re such a good life band and they’ve been absolutely lovely to us on this tour.
The reinvention of Funeral For A Friend…
Funeral For A Friend were a band that I grew up listening to. The first record I ever put on my old MP3 Player was Order and Model; so this whole tour is so weird for us to do. FFAF are an exception to the rule that you have to regurgitate the same thing to be successful. Tonight is a testament to that, they’re a band that’s ever-changing, in the right way.
I think the new record is a great piece of work and a reinvention of the band, with a message that younger kids can really benefit from. They’re a band very much on point with what’s going on right now, it’s very important and not something a lot of bands would dare to do in their position. But it’s paid off and tonight, they’re a band at the height of their power.
A frontman on top form…
Matt was absolutely on form this evening; seeing him communicate with a band of that size and have that kind of response was amazing.
Sure, they play the old songs that people love but they opened their set with brand new songs. People were moving straight away and you could see kids singing back. Matt very much means what he says, he has a really positive message and it reflects so well.
Photo: Jay Wennington
The fans are loving every moment…
The record’s only been out a couple of days, how ridiculous is that? Tonight they also did the first encore we’ve known them to do; they haven’t done an encore in years.
They’re at the height of their power and the crowd of loving every moment of what they’re playing, to the point where they couldn’t not do an encore. How exciting is it, that a band who’ve been around for that long, can write a record that’s connecting with people that what that it is? That’s very rare.
An unforgettable tour…
We’ve been learning every day on this tour. Being quite weird and awkward, punk kids, we’re not used to talking to crowds that big, and Funeral have helped us with that.
Their band stand for something; people know Funeral for their heartfelt songs, but they most certainly stand for something now and that’s incredible. You can hear the passion in Matt’s voice when he talks about the songs, they have a message. That has got the cogs going for us, asking ‘what is our band about’?
On this tour, we’ve found that. Our band is a bunch of people that are really out of place and our vibe is that it’s okay to be weirdos.
Did you catch Creeper supporting Funeral For A Friend in the UK this month?
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