Funeral for a Friend (January Thirst) is a Post-Hardcore band formed in Bridgend, Wales in 2001 by vocalist Matthew Davies, guitarists Kris Coombs-Roberts and Darran Smith, bassist Gareth Davies and drummer Ryan Richards; the band changed their name, which was inspired by song “Funeral For A Friend” By Dream Theater, when they recorded their debut EP, in 2002.

In 2003, the group recorded their second EP, “Four Ways To Scream Your Name” and by the summer the band secured their first Kerrang! award, winning the award for Best U.K. Newcomer; this led to a recording contract with Warner Music who released their first full-length disc, “Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation”, in October of the same year, it included both the British top 40 hits “She Drove Me To Daytime Television” and “Escape Artists Never Die” and eventually rocketed to #12 on the U.K. Albums chart.

The Welsh rockers' sophomore album, “Hours”, arrived in June 2005 peaking again at #12 in U.K. on the back of the top 10 hit single “Streetcar”; the follow-up single “History” was another sizeable hit reaching the #19 spot. In the U.S. the band has received reams of critical praise while growing their ever-increasing fanbase via tours alongside such like-minded outfits as Linkin Park, Taking Back Sunday, Coheed And Cambria and Atreyu; “Hours” finally cracked The Billboard Top 200 chart reaching #139.

Funeral For A Friend returned in May 2007 with “Tales Don’t Tell Themselves”, an instant U.K. top 3 smash album which included the top 20 hit single “Into Oblivion (Reunion)”.

The band’s fourth album, “Memory And Humanity”, the first to be issued on their own label, Join Us, arrived in October 2008. The 13-song set quickly catapulted into the top 20 in U.K. and reached the #44 position on the U.S. Top Independent Albums chart. It included two singles “Waterfront Dance Club” and “Kicking And Screaming”.

In March 2011 Funeral For A Friend released “Welcome Home Armageddon”, the first album recorded since Darran Smith and Gareth Davies left the group. FFAF replaced them with guitarist Gavin Burrough and bass player Richard Boucher. The first single off the CD was “Front Row Seats To The End Of The World”.

One year later the seminal post-Hardcore troop faced yet another member change with the resignation of longtime drummer Ryan Richards; he was replaced by Pat Lundy in time for the recording sessions for the band’s sixth album, “Conduit”, which arrived in early 2013 along with the promotional single “Best Friends And Hospital Beds”.

In 2014, Funeral for a Friend debuted the lead single from their forthcoming album Chapter and Verse, titled “You’ve Got a Bad Case of the Religions” on the Rock Show on BBC Radio 1. The band then announced the album’s release date of 19 January 2015 as well as a UK/European Tour in support of the album. Chapter and Verse was recorded in just under two weeks, at The Ranch, Southampton; the record was produced by Lewis Johns. They also announced that Pat Lundy had left the band to focus on his new band Modestep, and that Goodtime Boys drummer Casey McHale would be their live/touring drummer, but they weren’t looking for a replacement full-time drummer. Prior to the album’s release, music videos were released for both “1%” and “Pencil Pusher”. In June, they released Hours – Live at Islington Academy, a live DVD of their show at O2 Academy Islington in April 2014 where they played Hours in full. The DVD also came with a CD or vinyl record of the show. Also around this time, they recorded a cover of “I Can Climb Mountains” by Hell Is For Heroes for Worship and Tributes, a compilation CD included with Rock Sound magazine’s 200th issue, which ended up being the band’s final recording. They were the only band who recorded a cover for the compilation who had one of their own songs covered on the same compilation, with Pop Punk band Neck Deep covering “Juneau”.