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Bringing The Music To Life With LEE JENNINGS From THE FUNERAL PORTRAIT · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I'm le Jionnings from the funeral portrait.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Good morning, let you here you go, brother.
• 0:06
  Speaker 3: I'm happy to be here. I'm super hyped. Thank you,
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: thank you, thanks for having me.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: My pleasure mad always a pleasure chatting with you.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: So.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: I love your background.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: It's you.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, you're in Soufkse City. It's so cool.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: I thank you.
• 0:21
  Speaker 4: The reason we're here today, you made, of course, is
• 0:23
  Speaker 4: to chat about your first ever live album, Live from
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: Suffocate City, which is out January the sixteenth.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: So how are you feeling?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Crazy? It's been It's been really cool. You know, it's
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: been a long time coming.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: You know, it's been almost like a over a year
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: in the making and it's finally here.
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: Yeah, as you said, man, it's it's your first ever
• 0:43
  Speaker 4: live release. So why is now the right time to
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: drop something live?
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: I think I just wanted something.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: I wanted something that when we were ready, right because
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: like a lot of bands don't even do live records
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: anymore or Blu Ray. I guess it's Blue Ray this
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: time anymore, you know. And for me growing up, that
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: was such a big thing. I wanted that. I wanted that,
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: to see a band live and especially our band were very,
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: very theatrical and over the top, so I wanted to
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: bring that on stage and show it to everyone. And
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: now we were able to capture it and when the
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: time was right, you know.
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And is it all songs from Grady from Suffocate
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: City or is it like a normal live set?
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: There was a few There was a few older songs
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: in this one in that set because it was you know,
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: our first big hometown headliner. There's so many songs on
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: the record that at the time we weren't playing live.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: So it was like like herst for two, even though
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: it was like a single, you know later on, we
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: didn't even play it live until early this year.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: And so, what are some of the challenges of putting
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: out a live record and how did you tackle them?
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: So the first thing, of course is make sure the
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: audio is good, right, So like the day of the show,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: we worked extremely hard to make sure everything sounded good.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: And then you know, we sit it off to get mixed.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: And this this this guy, the producer is his name's
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: Machine and he's really really rad and he crushed it.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: He even like you could not just hear the crowd,
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: but like when the confetti goes off. You could hear
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: the like confetti cannons, like the air and so like
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: he like really was able to capture everything that you
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: can see if you watch the Blu ray or while
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: you're listening maybe in the car or whatever, you can
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: visualize it. So that was a big thing for me.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: I wanted to make sure that you could visualize what
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: was happening on stage.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: Right and as you say, mate, like you've left some
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: talking in crowdy direction here to his background noises, stuff
• 2:47
  Speaker 4: like what was it?
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Was it a conversation?
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: Like to leave that in there or to take it
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: out and just say, you guys live, what did you
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: always want that in there?
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: I really wanted in there.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: So for me, one of my favorite live DVDs was
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: The Black Parade Dead by my Chemical Romance. I think
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: that one, you know, of course shot in an arena
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: in Mexico, was like crazy, but you could hear like
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: the the bangs of the fireworks, and you could hear
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: like everything right, not just the crowd, but like you
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: could hear literally every single movement and so like when
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: you're dry, because I listen to it a lot while
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: I'm driving because it just kind of keeps me entertained,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: and I'll be like, oh my god, because I can
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: like picture it, you know, the fireworks going off or
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: the bangs or the fire You can hear the pyro,
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: you know, and it's so cool to like hear that stuff.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: And so for me, I was like, I want to
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: give them that, you know, and I want to give
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: them my speeches and my my ramblings, you know.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: And it wouldn't be often that you get to listen
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: to your songs back live that you played, Like when
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: you listen back to the album, were there any songs
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: that work better than you thought they would have already
• 3:48
  Speaker 4: that you thought, shit, maybe we want take that out
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: of the next setlist.
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: It's weird, I think, so Ishrae.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: There's some older songs that I don't think we ever
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: want to play again, you know. And it's just like
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: it's some of those things we've just moved past all that,
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Like we are a completely different band than when we started,
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: right member wise, emotion wise, I mean just everything.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm a lot older than I was, you know.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: So for me, like, why should I play these.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: Songs that I don't love and not support the ones
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: that I do love? And the ones that mean so
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: much to me now rather than when they they might
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: have meant something to me ten years ago.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: But like it's still it's just not the same.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: So, you know, there's certain songs that I just really
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: I'll be okay if we never play them again.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: I want to ask which songs I are because the
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: fans will be in it up for all.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Bit yeah, they would hate me. So I can't. I
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: can't do it.
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: And again I don't want us be like that, but
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: like in a way, I just I just have to
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: be because I just I'm so emotional. I'm so emotionally driven.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: It's just it's like a character flaw and a great
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: thing about me. Like I think it's both right. It's
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: a damn if I do, damned if I don't. And
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: so for me, it's like I'm just there, you know.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: Oh, now, the pressure release makes reference to the Suffocite
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: City town hole, making like what's that actually?
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: So we were trying to think of a name to
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: call the show, right, the original show, and.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: So we did like you know, suf.
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: K City town Hall meeting because like stuff Ka City
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: is like a real fake place right for us in
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: our Lord it's a real place but doesn't actually exist
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: in the live But so we were like, okay, we'll
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: do like a suff Key City town Hall meeting because
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: like it's you know, how you get a bunch of
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: people together. And then it was like Sufka City Town
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Hall Meeting, like ten years of devotion.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: I think that was like the name of that show.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: And then you know, when we announced this second one,
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: which is this coming weekend, you know here in Atlanta,
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: it was like, well, okay, so suf K City Town
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: Hall Meeting two, you know what I mean.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: So it's like it's it's it's just one of those things.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Like you know this, I think we call it the
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: second annual you know, suff Ky City town Hall Meeting,
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: you know, And it's one of those things that I
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: think I'm gonna try and keep doing. You know, I
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: don't know, maybe maybe when the next record comes out
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: will change the name.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: You know, who knows exactly what happens.
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: But I.
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: Like this year, we're playing the record in full, right,
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: so we're going top to bottom and then you know,
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: we'll have some more uh songs off of the Deluxe
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: Edition that we're going to be playing as like an encore,
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: so very cool.
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: Now you mentioned the blue ride of your relations as well,
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: might tell us about that low that comes through some
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: man and extras as well.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it does. It's really cool.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: So, like I again, I really wanted to do a DVD, right,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: So we had our friend James film the whole thing
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: with like his crew, and.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: Like I mean, we went all out. You know.
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: There was there was like twelve cameras, you know what
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: I mean, and and like camera people too, you know
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: what I mean, like camera operators. So it was like
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: really cool to see that like come to life, you know.
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: And you know there's even a moment where like one
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: of the camera operators the same he crowdsurfed, you.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: Know, and you could see him.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: We called it like Isaac cam or something, you know,
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: or or like mosh cam or something.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: You could see him like try to hold on.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: And then there's another shot over here where it's like
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: him you could see him crowds.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: It was really cool.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: Like I wanted stuff like that. I wanted cool shots,
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: unique shots, you know. And we shot it in in
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: a place called the Massquarade here in Atlanta, and they
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: have a they have rooms. All their rooms are named differently,
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: so they have like the small medium in large room,
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: and I guess they have two small rooms, a medium
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: in a large room, and they're named Heaven, Hell, Purgatory,
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: and Altar. So that way, it's kind of cool's kind
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: So we did it in the Hell room last year
• 7:41
  Speaker 3: or well, I guess almost two years ago now a
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: year and a half ago, and then this year we're
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: doing it up in Heaven, which is like the biggest room, so.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: From Heaven to Hell.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Yep, exactly, crazy, right.
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: Fucky Gratings from stomach Eite City was originally released back
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: in September twenty twenty four. Mat Like, it's pretty obvious
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: to see from everything that's come around and how successful
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: it was, but you was it received as well.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: As what you hyped?
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, more than ever. I don't know.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Again, I'd never thought any of this would happen again,
• 8:14
  Speaker 3: Like this band has been doing this for so long,
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: and I've been doing music for so long, all of
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: us have been that it's just like okay, cool, Like
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: I don't know, like it's it's at this point it's
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: like almost like okay, Like I.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Don't even know how to explain what it really feels like.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: Anymore, because it's like, you know, when the record came out,
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: we were like, when the record came out, we I
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: think it was kind of numbing because we had worked
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: it so so long on this record that it was
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: like it was finally out and we were like, oh yay,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: you know, like it's finally out. You know, we had
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: released so many singles too, and for us, it was
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: just like, Okay, this is the end of it.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: And then it's like, oh no, it's not. Here's the
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: de Lucks.
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: And then it's like, you know, we're working on something
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: even more special this year that revolves around the Suffca
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: City cycle until we can get the next record done,
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: which is like the main focus of this year besides
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: our tour with Three Days Grace. I think we're gonna
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: finally hit Australia this year, which is like really cool,
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: go back to Europe, maybe Japan. So for us, it's
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: like anything we can do to like to grow the
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: brand this year without maybe spilling the full beans of
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: what's next for the next record.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: I'm not gonna push you on that, Mike because it
• 9:34
  Speaker 4: sounds like if you're talking to tell us too much.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: But I did notice you said in Australia. Is that
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: a definite or possibility.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: It's a work in progress. It's a work in progress.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: I hoped it be.
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: It sounds like the summertime if it happens again. There's
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: just there's a lot of expenses. You know, it's very
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: expensive to travel. But for us, we got to do it.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: We to do it.
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: You know, here in the States we do well, right,
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: and now in Europe we've already kind of broken through
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: a little bit. So it's like, okay, then let's go
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: to Australia and grind on that too. Like for me,
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: I want to be that band that just like tours constantly,
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: right and is always hitting all these markets all the time,
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: like at least once a year or every other year, right,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: or like every year and a half or something, right,
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: like go to Australia every year and a half or
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: or every year, you know, or twice a year, who knows,
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: you know, And like Australia is like up there on
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: our Spotify like for places around the world that like
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: really really enjoy us.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: So and I get it.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: All the time that come to Australia from Australia. So
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: I think we're trying to find the right tour, of course,
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: and it might be small. It might be a small
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: tour to start. I don't really care. I just want
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: to go over there. I think for us, it's more
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: of the adventure, and it's more of the story, and
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: I think it's to finally give the fans that we've
• 10:51
  Speaker 3: been building online for like ten years.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I got to ask you, what are the kitchen
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: you chances was doing on the whole line.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh my god, this is so my I lived
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: so long.
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: So sure, I live with my grandfather and my mom,
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: and I used to live with my grandmother, but she
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: passed away in twenty nineteen, and so she designed the kitchen.
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: So it's like some older pottery, like my grandmother used
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: to collect pottery. So and I, like I said, all
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: my guys on my band is here in in Atlanta,
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: and they're all downstairs like in my studio and everything
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: because we're working on the set. So I'm up here
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: in the kitchen. So yes, these do not get used.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: We have never used these. They're they're you know, nice
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: looking things like look at this, this is like a
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: corn thing.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: It's going wow, yeah exactly.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: But I'll let you get back to him I'd always
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: a pleasure speaking with you live from Suffolklate City is
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: out January sixth eighth.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: I've had the pleasure of listening to it. Fantastic. Gave
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: it Brother and me Kat White to see you Iveria.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Thank you, my friend. I'm super high and hit me up.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Please if you see us in nown States, let me know,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: let me know, and I got you so all right. Brother,
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: thanks very much, man we liater my friend