TOP 5 FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND SONGS: HARRY JENNINGS, DEFECTS

MV only saw Funeral For A Friend once – when they opened for Iron Maiden on the Dance Of Death tour.

For Brit metallers, Defects, though, the Welsh boys are seminal band.

Defects have announced their October – November UK ‘The Bloodline’ Tour. The support will come from Profiler and Knife Bride.  Tickets are available from HERE. Drummer Harry Jennings sat down and worked out his top five songs from FFAF.

Here’s what he came up with.

• This Years Most Open Heartbreak – Seven Ways to Scream Your Name EP

Arguably the song that made me realise I loved aggression vocals or ‘screaming’. It was the first time I’d heard it used, and so well even to this day it is used perfectly and slots into the singing sections. The bopping and jumping sections are just infectious and it gets you so excited listening to it. That pre-chorus live is when I saw proper crowd interaction for the first time. This whole song properly started my urge to be on stage and perform to people.

• Novella – Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation

The way they finish their debut can be a blueprint to how a lot of bands have done it since, a very epic, catch-y and rounded off song that just ties everything together perfectly. It feels like the end, and you’re not sad about it, it just makes you want to start it all over again. I’m very jealous of this song and would’ve loved to be a fly on the wall when they wrote it/ask them how they wrote it. I implore you to listen to it just for the outro of the song, it’s such a ‘ending’, there is no doubt it’s an ending. You couldn’t put that in the middle of an album.

• Sixteen – Welcome Home Armageddon

This song was dedicated to me on my 16^th birthday when I saw them in Wimbledon back in 2011, it was a special moment to me after I owed everything to these 5 guys. The story of the song can be very relatable to being younger before responsibilities of life. I love how Matt their original singer can use metaphors in such a beautiful way, it shaped the way I wanted my own bands to sound like the message I wanted us to get across in our own music.

• All The Rage – Hours

Being the first song off their second album ‘Hours’, this was when I was really getting to find my feet with drumming after the first album inspired me to start, so on my way to school this would be in the CD player on the way there and back constantly, I’d sometimes sit in the car to finish off my favourite song. I love how much energy is brought on instantly to introduction an album, it was inspiring. The chorus is also super emotional, and I think a lot of people can relate to those lyrics. It also taught me that a riff can be so important to remembering a song as much as the melody.

• She Drove Me to Daytime Television – Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation

I saw this video on kerrang and scuzz back in the day, also had it on VHS and would show it to everyone who came round to my house, even if they didn’t want to see it. The video is brilliant plus the production always impresses me even to this day because everything is clear and exactly where it needs to be in terms of level. Chorus wise it’s something I’ll never forget and know every single word to, might have been the first time I learned the full chorus, verses, and bridge lyrically to a song when I was 8 years old. I still listen to this song at least once every 2 weeks.

Defects Tour Dates

Tickets are available from HERE
 
29 Oct – Glasgow, Classic Grand
30 Oct  – Newcastle, The Cluny
31 Oct  – Manchester, Rebellion          
01 Nov – Leeds, Key Club
03 Nov – London, O2 Academy 2 Islington
04 Nov – Bristol, Exchange         
06 Nov – Oxford, Jericho Tavern
07 Nov – Birmingham, Flapper