Funeral for a Friend interview

Ffaf interview with Ryan
I managed to get an interview with Ryan Richards from Funeral for a Friend. Childhood dream come true...FACT. I LOVE this band. Anyway, here it is...

Jo: You just recently finished a UK wide tour. How was it?
Ryan: Yeah it was a lot of fun, we got to pretty much every corner of the UK, and over to Ireland so we covered a lot of ground, and got to play to a lot of people in the UK.
J: And you’re going to Japan in about a week to do a joint headline tour with Finch, are you excited?
R: Yeah, very much so, they popped up on my iPod a while ago, Finch, and I thought yeah yeah, next week will be fun. We were like, their first big support slot when they were in London a while ago, so it's gone like full circle, but it'll be good to catch up with the guys again, and to be back in Japan, which is one of our favourite places to play.
J: Do you get a different sort of reception from fans abroad?
R: Erm, I guess it's different because of all their little customs they have, Japanese fans are very generous, they tend to have little gifts waiting for you when you come over; they treat you which is quite nice. They have a lot of respect for you over there. It's almost like, it's weird because during a song they're going absolutely crazy, and then as soon as the song finishes and you stop to talk in between the songs, they're like deadly silent and completely attentive, it's a hushed silence while they're listening to what you're saying, it's good to go out and play there.
J: You’ve made a greatest hits album, what made you decide to do that?
R: Erm, I wouldn't say we really decided. It was just one of those things where we talked to our label and we took up the option to do that, and they just let us get on with it. We really wanted to make something worthwhile, so recorded four new tracks for it. We gave away a lot of the stuff that people had never heard before, we wanted to deliver like an authentic kind of package from the band instead of from the label. I know before there have been a lot of greatest hits albums where bands haven't really had a lot of involvement in it, just a bit of cash, and we really wanted to make sure it wasn't like that for us, and that there was something relevant on there, that the fans couldn't get elsewhere.
J: Yeah, because it isn't until you look at everything you've done you realise how many amazing songs you actually have.
R: Yeah, it was really hard, getting the songs together and actually agreeing on a track listing, we've all got our favourite songs on there, so yeah, it wasn't that easy getting a track listing, but then yeah there was the special 2 disc edition that had on like, all the unreleased B sides, stuff like that which some fans may have never heard before. But yeah we feel like it's the right time to do it, we thought about it and we just thought it would be a really good opportunity to do something really special.
J: It says on your twitter that you’re writing at the moment; are you planning another album for next year?
R: Yeah, yeah we are. That's the plan. We wrote the four new songs for our greatest hits and we got a really good response. There songs we really like playing live, and that we wrote together with our new bass player, so yeah it's going really good and it seems to be really easy at the moment, just writing as much as we can, when we're on the road, when we're touring, and when we've been back at home. We've been together every day this week, and yeah, we've got a lot of ideas, it's going to be a really exciting record. We're hoping to continue the same sort of theme as the songs on the greatest hits record.
J: Is the new album going to be anything like your older ones, because every one you have is slightly different?
R: Yeah they are, I think that with this one in particular we've put a lot of thought into how the tracks would come across when we play them live, yeah, an album full of songs that we just want to play live really. We've never really done that before, we just wrote so it sounded good on CD I guess. I think that with this way of doing it now the songs have a lot more energy, I guess the last time we did the tour we put the vote out for people to pick what they wanted us to play, and we really enjoyed it because a lot of people picked out the heavier and more energetic songs and it was a real buzz to play them, so I think that really set us on the path to go more rockier again.
J: You’ve been around for quite a while now, I remember getting into your music when I was about 14!
R: Haha, you make me feel old!
J: Yeah, because you've been around like 7 years now! What do you think it is that keeps people interested?
R: Erm, I think it's the fact that we've always progressed, always moved with the times I guess. Just try and keep ahead of things and not get stale. I think if we did the same record over and over again, people would be a bit tired by now. I think it’s a good thing that whenever a Funeral for a Friend record comes out you're never quite sure what it's going to sound like. I think that's what it probably is. That and we always tour hard and maintain a stable relationship with our fans.
J: At the minute the music industry seems to be full of x factor contestants that don’t even last 6 months. Does it make you feel proud of what you've done?
R: It does it does, it makes us feel very proud and I guess sometimes, it's hard for us to get perspective of reality. My wife was telling me the other day, she was watching the peter Andre TV programme, and it had the whole thing about him waiting for a phone call on the Sunday to see where his album was going to chart, and he was all ecstatic that he was number three, and I was just like, oh, our album went in at number three, we were like oh, same as Peter Andre (laughs). I think it's just though, that he's like a pop culture icon at the moment, but our record still went in at the same position as someone that everyone knows, and who is a real celeb, it's just weird, but it kind of puts it in perspective of what we've really achieved as a band, who are not really that commercially known.
J: And finally, where do you see Funeral for a Friend going; what would you ultimately like to achieve?
R: Erm, as long as we keep challenging ourselves, and really trying to just do better music than we have in the past. As long as we're setting ourselves new goals, and new targets and do the best we can. That's the best thing for the band I think, as soon as we start reflecting on the past I think that's the point I think we should maybe leave it, but yeah I mean with the new writing it has definitely been a step forward, so we'll see how it goes from there.
J: Cool, thanks.
R: Thanks, bye.
J: Bye.