HARDCORE rockers Funeral For A Friend reckon they've now back to their raw roots - after sounding too much like Snow Patrol.

 

The foursome bring their new album Chapter and Verse to King Tut's this Sunday, previewing the record ahead of it's release on Monday.

And guitarist Kris Coombs-Roberts believes the new album has avoided being too polished.

"The idea was to go in and make an honest and real sounding record," he explains.

"We didn't want anything controlled by click tracks or anything too polished, we wanted something that was raw. A lot of bands are guilty now of letting Pro Tools do all the work for them and that's not us."

Like their last couple of albums, Welcome Home Armageddon and Conduit, the album features the group's heavier side, something that Kris feels they'd stepped away from too much a few years ago.

"We'd made a conscious decision when doing the third album (Tales Don't Tell Themselves) to almost have a complete departure from what we'd been doing," he says.

"It was because there were a lot of bands coming out who were very similar to us, and we'd always prided ourselves on being original, so we wanted to take a step away from that.

"As a result, we made a record where we sounded like a rubbish Snow Patrol. It wasn't the best move, but it was done with that intention of separating ourselves from the others."

Chapter & Verse also features songwriter Matthew Davies-Kreye getting political, most obviously on 1%, which addresses financial inequality, complete with a striking video to illustrate the point.

Kris is glad the band touch upon subjects like that, but feels it's important that they don't come across as political preachers.

"Matt writes lyrics that people can interpret and read them in their own way," he says.

"He doesn't preach to people and he's not saying this is how you should think, he's just observing things and giving his own opinion. With the video he wanted it to tie into the theme of the song and what he'd written abou, so they came up with a strong concept.

"It's also great because every video by a rock band now features them jumping around in an abandoned warehouse or on a stage, so it was nice to do one where we weren't there."

There will, however, be plenty of jumping bout when the group play King Tut's. And Kris has a particular reason to be glad to be back there - he loves the food served up before the show.

"I love King Tut's, it's one of my favourite venues. It's very well run and you always get some good food there. At some venues you'd rather starve than taste their food, but Tut's is great....

"The Scots and the Welsh are very alike, there's the same work hard, play hard mentality."

While the tour marks the new album, it also marks the beginning of the band's 14th year together.

"I'm 33 so I've been in this band almost half my life," reflects the guitarist.

"A lot of bands who came out at the same time have all split up, but we've carried on, and I think the reason for that is that regardless of what happens to us, we keep looking forward.

"We love writing, we love making music and we love playing shows - a lot of bands take knocks nowadays and then give up, stopping at the first hurdle. But you're incredibly lucky to get paid for making music, and if I wasn't in a band I'd be striving to be in a band."

Funeral For A Friend, King Tut's, Sunday, £16.50, 8.30pm