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Sonic Suffocation With LEE JENNINGS From THE FUNERAL PORTRAIT · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So what happens when you snap and finally lose it? Huh,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: tell me what happens?
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, I am Lee Jennings. I sing for the Funeral
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Portrait and uh, we have a new record coming out,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: which depending on when this happens Friday the thirteenth, which
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: is this Friday, it's called Greetings from Suffocate City.
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: Beautiful. Thanks for joining us today, man.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having us, Please having me.
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: I guess I say it's soundly just dawned on me
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: that Friday, September thirty eighth, this night that is coming out.
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  Speaker 3: Was that delivered or was it just one of those things, you.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Know, us being a what we quote spooky band, right,
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: us being a spooky band one thousand that we did
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: that on purpose.
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: So the album is called Greetings from Suffocate City and
• 1:07
  Speaker 4: it is out by day September third eighth, mate, So
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  Speaker 4: tell us a bit about it, the album from a
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  Speaker 4: musical point of view, and what are you going for
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  Speaker 4: with it?
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  Speaker 2: Of course it was. It was a lot to do
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  Speaker 2: with you know. Growing up, I was always the weird kid.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: I was always like the loaner or that kind of guy,
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: you know, and I always got in front of for
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: being either too tall, or being weird or being like
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: into into uh, you know, I was. I was heavily
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: especially growing up into like anime or like into musical
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: theater and just different from everyone else. You know, everyone else,
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  Speaker 2: especially around me, was into sports, and like, I wanted
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: to write a record that was kind of a love
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: letter to the younger me, right, so every song has
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: to do with some sort of experience that happened to
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: me in you know, prior years.
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  Speaker 4: You've gone on a record and saying that this album
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: is a statement for you guys, so house.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: So for you know, we've been working on this for
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: so long, right, Like, we've been working on it at
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: least for five years. So we started in twenty nineteen,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: you know, and some of these songs have captured that long,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: you know, or it took us that long to capture
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: what we meant to say or what we've been feeling.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: But then there's also songs that we wrote last December,
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  Speaker 2: you know, that made it onto this final record, that
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  Speaker 2: beat out songs that we wrote in twenty nineteen, you know.
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  Speaker 2: So it's cool to think that how much of a
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  Speaker 2: statement piece this really is for us, and this is
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  Speaker 2: our time this is the time for the funeral portrait
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: to bring our songs to what we hope to be
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  Speaker 2: the masses.
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  Speaker 4: And the press release alludes to a story arc that's
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: told across the album's fourteen songs made.
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  Speaker 3: So is there actually a common theme running through the album?
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  Speaker 2: A little, but a lot of it is is different
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  Speaker 2: story pieces throughout my life, right, So, Like, I think
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  Speaker 2: a lot of it has to do with, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the like, you know, the idea of love, loss and
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: the end of a relationship or the end of it
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  Speaker 2: and a friendship or actual you know, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: have a song on there's a song on the record
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  Speaker 2: called First for two and that's about, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: loss of my grandmother, who's one of the people that
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  Speaker 2: helped raise me, you know, And it's it's one of
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  Speaker 2: these things that it's kind of moving past the loss
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  Speaker 2: of some thing. So every song kind of it brings
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  Speaker 2: into that sense.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, girl, So it's been like about five years you've
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: been worked on this, mate, Like your first album, A
• 3:33
  Speaker 4: Moment of Silence, was released back in twenty sixteen. So
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  Speaker 4: how does Breading from Suffocate City dip musically to that?
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: So I think a lot of it is well almost
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: all the old members of the band aren't involved anymore.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: So basically it's just me who was on that record
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  Speaker 2: that is still here, which has a lot to do
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  Speaker 2: of course the sound. But I think the feeling of
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  Speaker 2: what the band is is still there because we've always
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  Speaker 2: been a very passionate band, you know, and believed in
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: the same stuff. But I think now it's way more
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  Speaker 2: about carrying the torch for the more unique or broken
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  Speaker 2: or hurt people than ever before.
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  Speaker 4: Ideas is a long time between records made, Say what
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  Speaker 4: have you learned about yourself and your music?
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  Speaker 3: I guess in that period.
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  Speaker 2: So so much. I mean, I think back then I
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  Speaker 2: was just floating by, right, I just did music for
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  Speaker 2: fun more or less. I was doing it as a career,
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  Speaker 2: but it was more for fun. Right now it's my life,
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  Speaker 2: and not in just because I will have it as
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  Speaker 2: a job, but more just because this is literally my life.
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  Speaker 2: I eat, saint, breathe this band, and nothing is stopping
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  Speaker 2: me from continuing that forever now, you know. And and
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  Speaker 2: I think I've also found the right members as well.
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  Speaker 2: I think it took us a little while to find
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  Speaker 2: the right guys, you know. And it's cool that we
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  Speaker 2: have the right people involved.
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  Speaker 4: Now, there's a few tracks on there that have got
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  Speaker 4: guest start as such as Spencer Charles from Icelan Kills.
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  Speaker 4: He got Danny Worsnop from ask In Alexandria, as Bert
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  Speaker 4: McCracken from The US and Eva under Fire. So tell
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  Speaker 4: us about the songs that they're on and why you
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  Speaker 4: chose those people specifically for them.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, of course. So Spencer, it was really cool because
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  Speaker 2: we played his horror convention. He's got a horror con
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  Speaker 2: called Silver scring Con every year, and last year he
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  Speaker 2: invited this out to play, got to play, and then
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  Speaker 2: this year, you know, I reached out to him early
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  Speaker 2: this year and I was like, Hey, what do you
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  Speaker 2: think about being on our songs of Case City? And
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  Speaker 2: he was like, Yo, let me jam it again. So
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  Speaker 2: I said to him, he was like, Oh, I have
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  Speaker 2: to like this. This song's gonna be perfect for me.
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  Speaker 2: And it kind of just one thing after the next.
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  Speaker 2: I knew that I was in La filming the music video,
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  Speaker 2: you know, like literally a week later. It was like
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  Speaker 2: crazy how that happened. And then for Burt of the US,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I grew up loving the US, you know,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: I'm like quote an emo kid. That's what I love
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  Speaker 2: so much, like the dark the darker side of rock music,
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  Speaker 2: and the Use was one of those bands that did
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  Speaker 2: it for me. And so you know, with that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I just thought, hey, like what if we tried to
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  Speaker 2: get Burt and our an art LEXI. She was like,
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  Speaker 2: I know his manager and I was like okay, and
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: then and then she sent his manager our music and
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  Speaker 2: he like, he sent it to Bert and Bert loved
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  Speaker 2: the song and he was like, oh, I'll do it one,
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  Speaker 2: let's go, let's do it. Let's do it. And he
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  Speaker 2: did it. And it was like it was just insane
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  Speaker 2: to see like how fast and how nice and incredible
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  Speaker 2: he was to us.
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  Speaker 1: You know.
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  Speaker 2: So it's nothing but awesome that he's featured and that
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  Speaker 2: he's involved.
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  Speaker 3: Over all, I guess my life.
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  Speaker 4: The Funeral Portraits music is a mix of rock punkin
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  Speaker 4: and theatrics with a bit of a pop understige.
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  Speaker 3: Mate, So where did that all come from? It's not
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  Speaker 3: like your li likely bedfellows.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so a lot of that comes from, you know,
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  Speaker 2: we all grew up listening to like more of the postcardcore,
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  Speaker 2: you know, more than like heavier music. I think I
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  Speaker 2: think it also comes from us loving theater. I love theater. Caleb,
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  Speaker 2: our guitar player, loves theater. It's something that we both
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: grew up doing, is musical theater. And I think even Homer,
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  Speaker 2: our drummer, did a little bit of theater growing up,
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  Speaker 2: you know. And I think for us it's like we
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  Speaker 2: wanted to bring that aspect into modern rock music, especially
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  Speaker 2: more than active rock world, because that hasn't really been
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  Speaker 2: done before. So it's cool to experience it all together.
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  Speaker 3: I like the theatric siety music.
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  Speaker 4: It's evident when you play live and you're on stage, mate,
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  Speaker 4: But how do you flesh that out in the studio?
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  Speaker 3: I would like put it with your music. It wouldn't
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  Speaker 3: be easy.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's and it's not. I think a lot of
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  Speaker 2: that comes with the performance, right is I don't get
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  Speaker 2: in the booth and just go, I go what you know,
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  Speaker 2: I want to feel it right like I want to.
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  Speaker 2: I want to have that emotion behind it, right, And
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  Speaker 2: I think that's more, you know, and it's when the
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  Speaker 2: guys play. You know, when Homer's playing drums, he's feeling it.
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  Speaker 2: He has that emotion, he has that power behind it.
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  Speaker 2: He's not just getting in the booth and just being like,
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  Speaker 2: oh whatever, you know, it's it's a life or death
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  Speaker 2: thing for us. Our music is that way because that's
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  Speaker 2: how we have to be because we can't. We can't
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  Speaker 2: just go back and live our normal lives as you
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  Speaker 2: know what, grocery clerks or something, you know what I mean,
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  Speaker 2: like like like what are we supposed to do? You know,
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  Speaker 2: like like it's either this or death. And I know
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  Speaker 2: that sounds dramatic, but that's the truth.
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  Speaker 5: Now.
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  Speaker 3: I had a bit of a look by it.
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  Speaker 4: As far as I can tell you, guys haven't actually
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  Speaker 4: been to Astrida before on touram Is that correct?
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  Speaker 2: No, we haven't, but next year, it seems to be honest,
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  Speaker 2: it might happen next year, so we'll see what happens.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Cool.
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  Speaker 4: So I just say someone's listened to this interview and
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  Speaker 4: they hadn't really heard of you guys before. Like, give
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: us three songs from the funeral portrait could be from
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  Speaker 4: any stagey Korea, but any songs that they can listen
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  Speaker 4: to you to sort of get to know the band
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  Speaker 4: a bit better.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, So Suffocate City is probably the best one because
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  Speaker 2: that's the more like upbeat rock version, right, so we
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: have Suffocate City. There's uh, You're so ugly when you cry.
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  Speaker 2: That's more the punky pop punk vibe that we have.
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  Speaker 2: And then probably off the new record when it's out.
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  Speaker 2: Stay Weird. Stay Weird is this piano ballad, like over
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  Speaker 2: the top dramatic song that I kind of wrote about.
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  Speaker 2: It's like a love letter to the younger me about
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  Speaker 2: staying just original and be yourself. So stay weird as well.
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  Speaker 4: Very good, all right, brother, Well before we let you
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  Speaker 4: go to the LA, We've I've started a new segment
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  Speaker 4: called photo bomb on here. So I'm basically gone through
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  Speaker 4: your Facebook page and I've dug up a couple of
• 9:47
  Speaker 4: photos from the past. I'm going to talk them up
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: in the background here and the issue with a bit
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  Speaker 4: of a please.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Explain, I'm so hypened. Yes, that's me pulling Caleb's hair. Ron.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: I thought you were doing the tricks on something there.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: It looks like it looks like a pretty cool little move.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Yep. So we do a lot of fun things on stage.
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  Speaker 2: So Caleb will take his guitar off, you know, I'll
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  Speaker 2: swing it around his head and stuff, and during that
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  Speaker 2: I'll try and pick on him and I think that
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: show that was one of the first arena shows. I
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: think it's not the first arena show that we ever
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: did on this tour. And that's me. I grabbed his
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: hair and I think eventually he got brought down to
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: the ground off of that.
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  Speaker 4: I like, all my there in the background, like he
• 10:27
  Speaker 4: said it that many times before.
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  Speaker 3: He's not even looking. He's just like, oh yeah, he
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: had it again.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah he knows it's happening. He's like, yeah, whatever, haha.
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  Speaker 1: Very cool.
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  Speaker 3: And then we've got this one that looks like a
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  Speaker 3: lot of fun.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yes, so that's from Silver Screen Con. That was
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: from last year. We got to meet a lot of fans,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: a lot of them dress up like him as Captain
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: Spaulding from House Thousand Corpses. You know, so for us,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: you know, it's just about about meeting everybody and having
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: a good time. That was kind of crazy because that
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: line went for like three hours. We thought maybe ten
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: people were gonna show up. It just kept happening.
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: Is that just like a stall on House of a
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: Thousand Corpses or yeah?
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: No, it was just like it was just a million
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: different people from all around, Like it was just crazy.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: Wow, we don't have nothing like that over here in
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: Australia would be insane. Very all right, bray Well, thanks
• 11:17
  Speaker 3: very much for your time today.
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: Lead Greetings from Suffocate City is out this Friday, September thirteenth,
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: and I had to listen to it before the interview.
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: Made an very awesome album, very diverse, but very awesome.
• 11:28
  Speaker 4: So thanks for your time Rade.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Man, I'll see you soon.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: What happens when you snap and finally lose it? Huh?
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Tell me what happens? Why so far away from my friends?
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: And so talking is creeping? You need need you TP.
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: Around in Mountaine.
• 12:19
  Speaker 6: Contain when a sap who's gonna talk to me? I'm
• 12:28
  Speaker 6: not believe every.
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: My bird barling, You'll be there, by Moody because you.
• 12:41
  Speaker 5: Change er sapdation others Bye, holy bye.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: What.
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: My you know gone?
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Ocis you? Oh my god?
• 13:07
  Speaker 6: No, Jess, We're gonna stop pleading. Who's getting up at me?
• 13:25
  Speaker 6: I'm not believe my Blas molling You'll be there my money,
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: excuse you, my don.
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Jane ry sappation, I'm.
• 13:42
  Speaker 5: A block mother.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: To sound.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: She had you forty.
• 14:20
  Speaker 6: Tweet saccading, what's gonna touch to me?
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Because I normally in my blood. Darling, you'll be there
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: because you're the man. Only salvation is it fix. You'll
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: make your blood bitter