News

Funeral Party Hit The UK

• 7th Jun 2010

East LA four-piece Funeral Party are set to release their debut single “NYC Moves To The Sound OF LA” on June 14th through Jive Records.

The quartet formed late one night in a park in their hometown of Whittier, California, an East Los Angeles suburb comprised of mostly working-class enclaves. A post-punk dance- craze revival was emerging and Funeral Party began gigging every weekend, initially the band didn’t even own equipment and had to borrow it from the other bands they played with at backyard parties and warehouses. Within less than three months, the band was drawing more than 800 kids every weekend at random backyards across East Los Angeles, which did not go unnoticed by the law. Inevitably, Funeral Party gigs would be shut down, usually before the band played the first note of their set.

Funeral Party’s elusive aura quickly achieved a mythical status in the LA underground and attracted the attentions of Lars Stalfors, engineer for Mars Volta, who invited the band to record in Volta’s studio. The sessions yielded “NYC…”, which immediately became East L.A.’s theme song as Chad Elliot (vocals) explains:

“The song is meant to insult New York and LA, which is why I sing ‘pick up the trends you dumb Americans.’ ‘New York moves to the sound of LA’ disparages the world around Funeral Party, the world we have no choice but to engage. It’s about hypocrisy.”

With their debut album already under their belts, and due for release in August, Funeral Party are set to take 2010 by storm. They dismiss any attempts at categorization, and have created a visceral music that encapsulates experiences of youth universally.

The band recently toured in the US with Julian Casablancas, with Surfer Blood in the UK and are now back in June for tour that includes a date at Download festival

10th June – Rock City, Nottingham
11th June – Download Festival, Donnington
13th June – Roadhouse, Manchester
14th June – King Tut’s, Glasgow
16th June – Barfly, London