“GOOEY” AND “GROSS:” SOME QUESTIONS FOR FUNERAL CONE

Funeral Cone plays AS220’s Estival Festival (get your tickets now!) on Saturday, July 20th! This interview with Kelly, FC’s organ player, was conducted by our summer intern Ella Rosenblatt.

Can you tell me a bit about your background? Where are you from?
I’m (Kelley–I play the organ) from New Hampshire and the rest of the band hails from various parts of Massachusetts. We all know each other from hanging out/living in Boston and Worcester. Worcester is a weird and wonderful place and greatly influences how I think about and make–specifically punk–music. These days we are all scattered between RI and Massachusetts.  Who knows why?

How did you begin to perform/make music together?
Dan Wars, the singer, came up to many of us individually at a basement show in Worcester and asked us if we all wanted to make music together. The band was largely an excuse for a bunch of friends to hangout more. It worked, and the music part is ok too.

How would you describe your work?
Punk? I guess? It’s a mish-mash of a lot of different genres that I think all fit under the gooey umbrella of punk music.

What do you draw inspiration from? Other music, other forms of art? Media?
The center piece of the Venn diagram of our band members’ interests would include things like;  70’s sci-fi films, the Bridgewater Triangle, the kind of old garbage one collects at flea markets, and shitty (but not too shitty) motels. I, for one, really like female fronted punk music from the 70’s/80’s. And ABBA.

What does your process look like? 
Sloooooooow. Usually Frank or Matt Z come to practice with some new song ideas and then we all work on them together until a show comes our way and then we force ourselves to play the new material live. And then poor Doug Demay (of 100% Breakfast! Our producer and Dungeon Master) has to record us, and boy, is he really an angel for putting up with us!

Has your work changed over time?
Yes… Frank took over guitar a while back and now writes a lot of our music. It’s different! It’s good!

How did you get involved with Estival Festival and AS220?
We love playing AS220, and somebody asked us?

What does the future look like for Funeral Cone? Do you have any plans or aspirations?
We sure would love to go on tour this July! And we’ve got a new 7inch coming out (hopefully) this September. Wow!

Where can people find more information about you—do you have a website or social media? 
We sure do. Check it out, it’s gross: http://funeralcone.com/