Funeral Dress interview (English version)

ALM. Hi, first at all, ¿what happened to Funeral Dress the last few years? I think you stopped playing or didn’t play as often after the release of your DVD, right? 

Funeral Dress. We didn’t stop or anything; we just took a break. Some of us became fathers. We also had a change in line-up, and of course, we started working on new songs.

ALM. Who are the current members of Funeral Dress? Do they have any other musical projects? 

F D. We have Dirk on vocals, Strum and Qrizz on guitar, Stef on bass and Joost on drums. Qrizz is also playing guitar for M*E*S, Belgian ska/punk. 

ALM. Recently an EP came out and I think you are working on a new record. What can you tell us about it? Will there be any surprises about the sound of the band or will it be the same style as your last records? 

F D. The new EP, which is called Back on the Streets came out recently on German label Contra Records. It sounds just as you can expect from us, we have a bit of everything which makes Funeral Dress, Funeral Dress. On this EP; streetpunk, melodic punkrock, singalong punk etc...

ALM. Funeral Dress have played in several countries but I think you have never played in Spain yet. So, do you have any plans to visit us in the future? Do you know any Spanish punk bands? 

F D. We haven’t played Spain so far, what a shame! Only a few weeks ago, we got a new booker for Europe, so perhaps someday soon? Sensa Yuma comes to mind when we think of Spanish punk… a former bass player of ours is playing in that band. 

ALM. Do you remember how you got into punk? What bands did you listen to first and what were your first concerts that you went to see?

F D. This is different for everybody, except for Dirk (who started this band). One of the first punkbands we all saw live was… Funeral Dress :) How we got into punk? Hmmm, because we couldn’t afford to get into metal? (Haha). 

ALM. Who made the Funeral Dress logo? Do you know the punk couple from the Singalong Pogo Punk album cover or where did you get this photo from? 

F D. Bassie, a former Funeral Dress drummer made that logo. Actually, we don’t have any idea who that couple is… Someone sent us a postcard with that couple on it, we liked it, and used is as a front cover for the Singalong Pogo Punk album.

ALM. I was disappointed that I couldn’t see The Kids at the last Rebellion Festival due to their appearance being cancelled. What other Belgium punk bands from the 80’s are still playing? And what current Belgium punk bands can you recommended to us?

F D. The Dirty Scums are still around, not sure if WR3 are still playing… We still got some cool bands around like The Agitators, Midnight Tattoo, Public Intoxitation, Sinners, M*E*S, Sunpower, Muckrackers etc.

ALM. I personally love the old French and German punk scene. What bands do you like from other countries but NOT singing in English? What country in your opinion has the best or the strongest punk scene apart from the USA/UK (France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, Nederland, etc)?

F D. Les $hérifs from France and The Argies from Argentina are the first that come to mind. We’ve played some cool shows in Russia, Italy and Greece over the last few years, there’s a good scene there. 

ALM. Questionare:

- Three best Funeral Dress concerts: Pukkelpop festival / Allen Theatre (L.A.) and Ratrock festival.

- Worst Funeral Dress concert and why: Probably because we were too drunk to play… too much choice as to which one was the worst haha!

- The most crowded Funeral Dress concert that you have played (tell us how many people there were): Enterrock festival was big (around 9000 people?), Pukkelpop is one of Belgium’s biggest festivals, that was also a huge one. We also played last year on the PunkRock Bowling in Las Vegas, we didn’t count all the people there, but there were a lot of people also. We recently played Groezrock, Europe's biggest punk/hc festival, that was really, really big.

- Three bands STILL playing that you haven’t played with yet and you would like to share the stage with: Difficult one… Let’s go for Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Mötorhead.

- Three bands NOT playing now that you would have liked to play with: The Clash, The Ramones and Bérurier Noir.

- The strangest place (cities, places, etc) where Funeral Dress played once: This has to be a sandy cave in Reno, USA. This place was so small, that Ivo, our former guitar player, couldn’t even fit on stage with his gear. He didn’t play guitar on that show, just sang. The ceiling was so low, that we had to keep our heads down all the time. Weird place!

- The most unusual band that you have played with: We once got booked to play with SPRING… a kid’s band, famous from national TV. Very unusual to play in front of six year olds haha. We also shared the stage with Simple Minds some years ago, that was also quite strange…

- The most idiotic/arrogant musician or band that you have played with: We still have to meet one…

- Your three favourite Funeral Dress songs: Changes from day to day… today the menu is: Sex, Drugs and Rock’n’Roll, Holiday and Welcome to the Underground.

- Covers that Funeral Dress are currently playing: Down Under (Men at Work), Leaving on a jet plane (John Denver).

ALM. Farewell, say anything that you want. Thanks.

F D. Muchísimas gracias por esta entrevista! Keep the scene alive, and hopefully see you someday soon in España.

- Funeral Dress Facebook. 

- http://www.funeraldress.com/