November 18, 2024 • 16 mins
Lee talks about the Origins of The Funeral Portrait and how "Suffocate City" dethroned Linkin Park plus what to expect soon!!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:00):
It is Hitman with you and I have Lee Jennings
from the Funeral Portrait in the studios with me.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, dude, how you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:06):
How do you? Thanks for having me?
Speaker 4 (00:08):
Well?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
First off, I want to tell you congratulations for Suffocate
City becoming a number one song on the rock chart.
How is that feeling? Insane?
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Wait? Could you say that one more time?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Number one on the rock chart?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Suffocate City number one on the rock chart.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
That's you?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Actually even better? You beat Lincoln Park.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
We did. We become number one. We dethroned them, actually
throned Lincoln Park. I think they were up there for
like six weeks.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, and you guys were the ones that dethroned them.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Insane. How is that insane? I mean I could literally
say insane. Well, it's kind of crazy because we this
is our first time ever going to radio too, right,
So and we're like, okay, if we get like top twenty, right,
we're in. We're in top twenty. I'm in, right, kept climbing,
(00:58):
kept climbing, kept climbing. Ten Okay, celebrate, yay. We all
went out to Olive Garden, right, Yeah, it was great
because we're on tour and that's one of our go
to spots, Olive Garden, Oh, yes, family Meal. And then
it went up to five. We're like, oh, this is
like a thing, and I remember I remember just hitting
up our whole team and being like, oh my god,
(01:18):
like this is real, celebration, good, you know. And then
it went up to two. And it sat at two
for like four weeks. Well Lincoln Park, I know, and
I kept seeing them and they just kept gaming speed
like so there was so much more in front of us,
and I was like, okay. I was like, listen, guys,
you know, it was great. We had a great run.
(01:41):
Number two. It was sick, you know. And then I
met I met sound check in Pennsylvania, and all of
a sudden, I get texted a Billboard article and it
said literally says, Funeral Portrait earned number one, you know,
firstnumber one at rock radio or whatever. And I'm like,
(02:02):
this is this is fake. This is fake.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
This is not real.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And I literally I'm screaming in my mic telling everybody
you know, and our front of house guy he's like, wait,
what what's going on? And he stopped. We all stop,
you know, and we're like, guys, look at this I
like texted it to our group chat and everybody's like
freaking out, like calling everybody. We're like, oh, you know,
because we didn't. I don't know. It's cool to know that,
you know what, I use the word devotion or in
(02:27):
our lore, the power of devotion, what it can do,
and it can bring down Lincoln Park, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, yeah, it was. It was when I got word
from your record label that you guys went number one.
I was actually very happy for you guys.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So first off, tell us a little bit about how
did how did you get Spencer from Eisneine Kills involved
with Suffocate City.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I promised that he could can I say this word?
Can I say the word murder?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I promised that he could murder a few uh bars
because he's he likes the murder as we all know.
And he was like, I'm in no for real. So
love story short. He about two years ago, yeah, a
year and a half ago. He let us. He invited
us out to open his silver Screen con this whole
(03:17):
thing up in Boston, Massachusetts. It's a horror convention, slash
music convention. It was crazy and we went up there.
We played he watched us, he fell in love with us.
He was like, Yo, this is cool. What in the world, Like,
where have you been? Yeah, you know, and we just
stayed in touch, one thing after the next, and you know,
I sent him the song and he was like, Yo,
(03:38):
this is sick. I want to be on it. And
then he listened again, like with the lyrics in front
of him. He's like, wait a second, did you like
change the second verse to be about what I would
sing about it. I was like, no, that's just what
it was. He was like, okay, this is meant to be.
He did it, and then next thing I know, I'm
in La filming the second half of the music video
because we filmed the second half before the first half.
(03:59):
We had to work around schedule, so which was weird
to think about, Like I had a bigger picture then,
and so I was like okay. So we did that
and then came back to Atlanta filmed the rest, and
the next day I know, it's it's out. And then
we were like, oh, this is great. And then all
of a sudden we get you know, it just starts
scanning momentum and momentum and then it's just now it's.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You know, it's huge, you I guess, yeah, yeah, it's crazy,
it's weird, you know, it's it's it's Spencer's actually getting
around a lot letty because when I was interviewing Maria
brink from in this moment, he's actually did a track
with her too.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yes, so he's going to be out and about everywhere.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yes, very very e likes to do that. Yeah, yeah,
he he. But I think the thing is is I'm
all for stuff like that nowadays. I think what it
does is there's two things. I think. One it helps
pass the torch, especially for younger artists right us is
it's introduced his fan base to us. And I've seen
it literally on this tour that we just got done doing.
(04:58):
We did some like Headlin and we did some dates
with that, the Mongolian band The Who as well, and
on all the shows there was in the crowd a
bunch of kids with I sent Kill shirts on and
I'm like, ah, they must have discovered us from that,
you know. And and it has opened this whole world
up to the funeral portrait and that's from those features,
(05:21):
you know. And it's it's that's how this works, you know.
And and it's cool because what that does is at
the end of the day, he's helping the future of
rock music, of course, and that's so important because again,
I wouldn't be here talking to you if we didn't
have rock music right right, new bands to play or
whatever it is. And that's that's a big thing too,
is rock music needs new, young bands, right and I
(05:46):
guess we're one of them.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, Well, let's talk about the history of the Funeral
Portrait because I did some research.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Fun you need to.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Tell me about Cosmoscope. Oh lord, you got a right
and and how you redid its Gonna be Me by
by InSync.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, so that's so funny. So that was over ten
years ago. I was so basically long story. Sure, I
was in a bangled Cosmoscope and we did insincts It's
Gonna be Me. It was just a funny little thing.
And then we got interest from a very tiny record
label and they were like, so we like the band,
but we hate the name. So we all same members
(06:24):
just changed the name to the Funeral Portrait. Oh and
we start hit the ground running, start touring in our
van that we had for ten years, just recently upgraded
to an RV, going from go. If you go number one,
you might have to start getting a plane. Hey, hey, listen,
let's call the label. Okay, yeah, we'll talk to Jackie. Yes, Jackie,
(06:47):
we need a plane. There we go, There we go.
But yees. So I think the thing is is I
think after grinding for so long, we eventually were like,
all right, I So it's kind of why about about
three years into us being a band, I lost all
the original members of my band all at the same time,
(07:10):
weird reverse kickout moment, right, And most of it was
because they just wanted to go do real life stuff.
They were tired of touring in a van, playing to
fifteen kids and I or whatever, right, and they just
didn't see the bigger picture. And I was like, well,
I believe in this band, and I love and I
spent so much time on the branding and the ideas
and what this band could have been. I was like,
all right, well, I'll just go find the right people then,
(07:32):
And that's what I did, is I eventually found all
the right people, and then we released a song called
holy Water twenty nineteen, and that's where we found better Noise.
And that's when they were like, yo, there's something here signed,
and then the world shut down, and that is one
of the It's weird because I'm going to be honest,
(07:55):
at the time, I was like, oh my god, my
life's over. It's done. We're cooked, you know, put us
off and done. But it's probably one of the best
things that ever happened because I think that time away
one I was able to focus on my life and
focus on so many things, not just outside of music,
(08:19):
but to evolve what our music is. We took five
years to basically do this record, and we rewrote these songs,
re recorded them, rewrote these songs, re recorded them through
in new songs, and that took like five years, right,
four years kind of, I guess. And if we would
have released the first version of this record, I mean,
Suffo Ka City wouldn't be what it is. The original
(08:41):
version of suffakay City, like the demo, it's like a
pop punk song from like straight from like Warp Tour,
like two thousand and four, which is like fine, but
it's not what it is, and it wasn't as good
as it could be, right, And that's for almost all
the songs on the record, and a lot of that
came from testing it out or going and playing shows
to fifteen kids again, you know, once COVID was over,
(09:03):
you know, or once it you know, was safe to
go on tour, whatever it was. And we started doing that,
and we started testing these songs, and then we developed
our brand as well. We started wearing the suits, you know,
we started bringing out these icons, and it was just
one thing after the next, after the next. And again,
I at first was so mad that it took so long,
(09:24):
but I think it's a blessing in disguise for for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Well that's that's everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yeah. Well again, if we would have released Suffca City
four years ago, we wouldn't have taken down Lincoln Park.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, that is true.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
We were put on this earth to be the band
to take down the return of Lincoln Park.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
I think he's gonna start bragging about that more often.
But where Oh you're the band that brought down Lincoln Park.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So okay, I got two things I'll still talk to
you about. Okay, tell me about last night, the devotion
ceremony that you guys had celebrating ten years twenty fourteen
to twenty twenty four Yeah, ten years, ten years and
this is the first but Suffocate City, this is the
first single.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
It's been on the radio, hasn't it?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
It took us ten years and again, you know, some
of those years were spent, you know, wondering if this
band was even going to be a band anymore. Right,
many of those years, right, doing crappy tour after crappy
tour after crappy tour. Right, But all those were, like,
I don't know, we developed our character, you know, character
(10:29):
development years, you know, And it's one of those things
that I just think after ten years though, Like last night, right,
we sold out a six hundred and fifty cap club, right,
which I originally when our agent brought us the club,
that's like the middle size room. So there's three rooms
at this place called the Masquade in Atlanta. There's they
have it. It's Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven. Right, So each room,
(10:54):
So Purgatory is a two hundred cap room, Hell is
a six hundred and fifty cap room, in Heaven is
like fifteen hundred. And I was like he brought us
Hell because I was the only room available for the night.
And I was like, oh man, we're gonna sell two
hundred tickets. Like, I was like, I'd much rather be
in purgatory because I know I could sell that out right.
(11:14):
I was like, that would sell out. They'll be fun.
First day tickets going sell. We get the numbers and
it's two hundred and fifty tickets in twenty four hours.
I'm like, uh oh, this is a thing. Yeah, okay,
So we like doubled down then and we were like, okay,
well let's film it, let's record it. And then ticket
sales go up again, up again, up again, and then
it sells out in advance, and then people are like
(11:37):
I learned flying it. There was there was a couple
that flew in from Germany really yesterday, yes, and this
girl flew in from Quebec, like and you know, and
then again talking about ten years, looking out into the crowd,
I could probably name half of the crowd by name
because of the last ten years so important. There's people
(11:58):
from Pennsylvania that I've known for ten years. There was
people from California that I've known for five years or whatever.
You know. When we started tooring get in twenty twenty two,
you know, I we and it's a lot of that
is there. Our connection with our fans. We have a
very deep connection with them. It's one of those things
that I get to a merch table every night. I
hang out as long as I can until they kick
(12:18):
us out. Literally last night, we're there way past. We
had to pay extra to be there longer last night,
wo because they wanted to go home, Like, we're going
to charge you an extra hundred bucks. I was like,
I don't care which I want to meet these people.
So I did it. And it's one of those things
that like, that's way more important to us, and I
think that is how we have been successful, like on
radio and stuff like that. Yeah, the label I'm sure
(12:39):
pushes and all that kind of stuff. Right, there's magic
that happens behind the current. But radio especially wouldn't play
it if people didn't like it, right, So work requests exactly,
you know. So it's one of those things that we
know that there's people out there that likes this this
song or likes this band, and it's cool that that
is because of us going out shaking the hands and
(13:01):
meeting these people.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
We're talking with Lee Jennings, the lead singer of the
Funeral Portrait. Now I got one last question to talk
about now that Suffocate City is out in radio and
it's probably gonna be on the radio forever now because
everybody's gonna If it goes number one, it's usually on
the radio for a long time. So you're gonna hear
it out there. But what's next, I tell me is Okay,
I'm just gonna ask you, Casanova. That's not That's not
(13:27):
the next single, Okay, that was So that song was
the very first song we ever released years ago. Okay,
we decided for funsies and kind of as a thank
you to og fans, we decided that we wanted to
do something for them, right, and we wanted to re
record our first song that we ever did and do
(13:49):
it our way, you know, almost like Taylor's version Funeral
Portraits first, right, and we call it from Beyond the
Abyss because we have this whole lore and beyond the abyss,
this fake TV show in the world of Suffocate City.
So it's from beyond the Abyss, right right, right, it's
the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
It's a whole thing. But so, nope, Casanova's not the
next one. But there is a there is a few
songs on that on that record, that. Uh, I think
would sound great on the radio.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
So we should be hearing something from you knew soon?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yes, yes, definitely, Okay, I hope so because you want
to keep that ball rolling.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Oh we know. Yeah, so hey listen, I got I
got tracks for days.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Oh, there you go. That's what we need, that's what
we need.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I want to thank you for coming by today and
looking forward to hearing your new music soon and seeing
you out on tour. Yes, hopefully you'll be coming to
Corpus Christy to play. Yes, and hopefully we'll see you
here very very soon. You never know. So if there's
anything you want to pass on to your fans in
the in the South Texas area, is there anything you'd
like to pass on?
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Thank you? I don't know. It's crazy. One of the
very first tours we ever did came through Corpus Christie
really like ten years ago. Yep. And I'm trying to
think of the venue, smaller venue. Why do I get
the feeling you're going to say, the House of Rock.
That's exactly what it's I knew it had rock in
the name.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
House of Rock, House of Rock, that is a that
is our legendary rock venue.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yep, that everybody goes to.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Coming up in December, Tommy Vex is coming in to
play there, so yeah, it's it's and a lot of
other ill Nino's been through there, and a lot of
other bands have been there. Nita Strauss has performed there.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
It's a cool spot. I remember it ten years ago.
But I also believe we played there last year because
I remember their food being really good.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Oh they're known for their pizza. Yeah, their pieces, like
their pizzas like phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, So well, hopefully we'll get to see again, if
not at House of Rock, maybe at the Concrete Street Amphitheater, okay,
or even bigger yet We're Jelly Rolls playing tonight the
American Bank Center. Oh yeah, so that'd be kind of cool,
that would be saying so. But thanks a lot for
coming in. Hey, thank you for having me, and yeah,
appreciate it and once you do me a favor or
why don't you say, uh, hey, it's Lee Jennings. See
(16:02):
one one rocks.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Hey, this is Lee Jennings from the Funeral portrait and
see one on one Rocks.
Hey, what's going on?
Speaker 2 (00:00):
It is Hitman with you and I have Lee Jennings
from the Funeral Portrait in the studios with me.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, dude, how you doing?
Speaker 3 (00:06):
How do you? Thanks for having me?
Speaker 4 (00:08):
Well?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
First off, I want to tell you congratulations for Suffocate
City becoming a number one song on the rock chart.
How is that feeling? Insane?
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Wait? Could you say that one more time?
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Number one on the rock chart?
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Suffocate City number one on the rock chart.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
That's you?
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Actually even better? You beat Lincoln Park.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
We did. We become number one. We dethroned them, actually
throned Lincoln Park. I think they were up there for
like six weeks.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Yeah, and you guys were the ones that dethroned them.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Insane. How is that insane? I mean I could literally
say insane. Well, it's kind of crazy because we this
is our first time ever going to radio too, right,
So and we're like, okay, if we get like top twenty, right,
we're in. We're in top twenty. I'm in, right, kept climbing,
(00:58):
kept climbing, kept climbing. Ten Okay, celebrate, yay. We all
went out to Olive Garden, right, Yeah, it was great
because we're on tour and that's one of our go
to spots, Olive Garden, Oh, yes, family Meal. And then
it went up to five. We're like, oh, this is
like a thing, and I remember I remember just hitting
up our whole team and being like, oh my god,
(01:18):
like this is real, celebration, good, you know. And then
it went up to two. And it sat at two
for like four weeks. Well Lincoln Park, I know, and
I kept seeing them and they just kept gaming speed
like so there was so much more in front of us,
and I was like, okay. I was like, listen, guys,
you know, it was great. We had a great run.
(01:41):
Number two. It was sick, you know. And then I
met I met sound check in Pennsylvania, and all of
a sudden, I get texted a Billboard article and it
said literally says, Funeral Portrait earned number one, you know,
firstnumber one at rock radio or whatever. And I'm like,
(02:02):
this is this is fake. This is fake.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
This is not real.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
And I literally I'm screaming in my mic telling everybody
you know, and our front of house guy he's like, wait,
what what's going on? And he stopped. We all stop,
you know, and we're like, guys, look at this I
like texted it to our group chat and everybody's like
freaking out, like calling everybody. We're like, oh, you know,
because we didn't. I don't know. It's cool to know that,
you know what, I use the word devotion or in
(02:27):
our lore, the power of devotion, what it can do,
and it can bring down Lincoln Park, you know.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, yeah, it was. It was when I got word
from your record label that you guys went number one.
I was actually very happy for you guys.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So first off, tell us a little bit about how
did how did you get Spencer from Eisneine Kills involved
with Suffocate City.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
I promised that he could can I say this word?
Can I say the word murder?
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I promised that he could murder a few uh bars
because he's he likes the murder as we all know.
And he was like, I'm in no for real. So
love story short. He about two years ago, yeah, a
year and a half ago. He let us. He invited
us out to open his silver Screen con this whole
(03:17):
thing up in Boston, Massachusetts. It's a horror convention, slash
music convention. It was crazy and we went up there.
We played he watched us, he fell in love with us.
He was like, Yo, this is cool. What in the world, Like,
where have you been? Yeah, you know, and we just
stayed in touch, one thing after the next, and you know,
I sent him the song and he was like, Yo,
(03:38):
this is sick. I want to be on it. And
then he listened again, like with the lyrics in front
of him. He's like, wait a second, did you like
change the second verse to be about what I would
sing about it. I was like, no, that's just what
it was. He was like, okay, this is meant to be.
He did it, and then next thing I know, I'm
in La filming the second half of the music video
because we filmed the second half before the first half.
(03:59):
We had to work around schedule, so which was weird
to think about, Like I had a bigger picture then,
and so I was like okay. So we did that
and then came back to Atlanta filmed the rest, and
the next day I know, it's it's out. And then
we were like, oh, this is great. And then all
of a sudden we get you know, it just starts
scanning momentum and momentum and then it's just now it's.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
You know, it's huge, you I guess, yeah, yeah, it's crazy,
it's weird, you know, it's it's it's Spencer's actually getting
around a lot letty because when I was interviewing Maria
brink from in this moment, he's actually did a track
with her too.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Yes, so he's going to be out and about everywhere.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yes, very very e likes to do that. Yeah, yeah,
he he. But I think the thing is is I'm
all for stuff like that nowadays. I think what it
does is there's two things. I think. One it helps
pass the torch, especially for younger artists right us is
it's introduced his fan base to us. And I've seen
it literally on this tour that we just got done doing.
(04:58):
We did some like Headlin and we did some dates
with that, the Mongolian band The Who as well, and
on all the shows there was in the crowd a
bunch of kids with I sent Kill shirts on and
I'm like, ah, they must have discovered us from that,
you know. And and it has opened this whole world
up to the funeral portrait and that's from those features,
(05:21):
you know. And it's it's that's how this works, you know.
And and it's cool because what that does is at
the end of the day, he's helping the future of
rock music, of course, and that's so important because again,
I wouldn't be here talking to you if we didn't
have rock music right right, new bands to play or
whatever it is. And that's that's a big thing too,
is rock music needs new, young bands, right and I
(05:46):
guess we're one of them.
Speaker 4 (05:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Yeah, Well, let's talk about the history of the Funeral
Portrait because I did some research.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Fun you need to.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
Tell me about Cosmoscope. Oh lord, you got a right
and and how you redid its Gonna be Me by
by InSync.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
Yeah, so that's so funny. So that was over ten
years ago. I was so basically long story. Sure, I
was in a bangled Cosmoscope and we did insincts It's
Gonna be Me. It was just a funny little thing.
And then we got interest from a very tiny record
label and they were like, so we like the band,
but we hate the name. So we all same members
(06:24):
just changed the name to the Funeral Portrait. Oh and
we start hit the ground running, start touring in our
van that we had for ten years, just recently upgraded
to an RV, going from go. If you go number one,
you might have to start getting a plane. Hey, hey, listen,
let's call the label. Okay, yeah, we'll talk to Jackie. Yes, Jackie,
(06:47):
we need a plane. There we go, There we go.
But yees. So I think the thing is is I
think after grinding for so long, we eventually were like,
all right, I So it's kind of why about about
three years into us being a band, I lost all
the original members of my band all at the same time,
(07:10):
weird reverse kickout moment, right, And most of it was
because they just wanted to go do real life stuff.
They were tired of touring in a van, playing to
fifteen kids and I or whatever, right, and they just
didn't see the bigger picture. And I was like, well,
I believe in this band, and I love and I
spent so much time on the branding and the ideas
and what this band could have been. I was like,
all right, well, I'll just go find the right people then,
(07:32):
And that's what I did, is I eventually found all
the right people, and then we released a song called
holy Water twenty nineteen, and that's where we found better Noise.
And that's when they were like, yo, there's something here signed,
and then the world shut down, and that is one
of the It's weird because I'm going to be honest,
(07:55):
at the time, I was like, oh my god, my
life's over. It's done. We're cooked, you know, put us
off and done. But it's probably one of the best
things that ever happened because I think that time away
one I was able to focus on my life and
focus on so many things, not just outside of music,
(08:19):
but to evolve what our music is. We took five
years to basically do this record, and we rewrote these songs,
re recorded them, rewrote these songs, re recorded them through
in new songs, and that took like five years, right,
four years kind of, I guess. And if we would
have released the first version of this record, I mean,
Suffo Ka City wouldn't be what it is. The original
(08:41):
version of suffakay City, like the demo, it's like a
pop punk song from like straight from like Warp Tour,
like two thousand and four, which is like fine, but
it's not what it is, and it wasn't as good
as it could be, right, And that's for almost all
the songs on the record, and a lot of that
came from testing it out or going and playing shows
to fifteen kids again, you know, once COVID was over,
(09:03):
you know, or once it you know, was safe to
go on tour, whatever it was. And we started doing that,
and we started testing these songs, and then we developed
our brand as well. We started wearing the suits, you know,
we started bringing out these icons, and it was just
one thing after the next, after the next. And again,
I at first was so mad that it took so long,
(09:24):
but I think it's a blessing in disguise for for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Well that's that's everything happens for a reason.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Yeah. Well again, if we would have released Suffca City
four years ago, we wouldn't have taken down Lincoln Park.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Yeah, that is true.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
We were put on this earth to be the band
to take down the return of Lincoln Park.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
I think he's gonna start bragging about that more often.
But where Oh you're the band that brought down Lincoln Park.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So okay, I got two things I'll still talk to
you about. Okay, tell me about last night, the devotion
ceremony that you guys had celebrating ten years twenty fourteen
to twenty twenty four Yeah, ten years, ten years and
this is the first but Suffocate City, this is the
first single.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
It's been on the radio, hasn't it?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Isn't that crazy?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
It took us ten years and again, you know, some
of those years were spent, you know, wondering if this
band was even going to be a band anymore. Right,
many of those years, right, doing crappy tour after crappy
tour after crappy tour. Right, But all those were, like,
I don't know, we developed our character, you know, character
(10:29):
development years, you know, And it's one of those things
that I just think after ten years though, Like last night, right,
we sold out a six hundred and fifty cap club, right,
which I originally when our agent brought us the club,
that's like the middle size room. So there's three rooms
at this place called the Masquade in Atlanta. There's they
have it. It's Purgatory, Hell, and Heaven. Right, So each room,
(10:54):
So Purgatory is a two hundred cap room, Hell is
a six hundred and fifty cap room, in Heaven is
like fifteen hundred. And I was like he brought us
Hell because I was the only room available for the night.
And I was like, oh man, we're gonna sell two
hundred tickets. Like, I was like, I'd much rather be
in purgatory because I know I could sell that out right.
(11:14):
I was like, that would sell out. They'll be fun.
First day tickets going sell. We get the numbers and
it's two hundred and fifty tickets in twenty four hours.
I'm like, uh oh, this is a thing. Yeah, okay,
So we like doubled down then and we were like, okay,
well let's film it, let's record it. And then ticket
sales go up again, up again, up again, and then
it sells out in advance, and then people are like
(11:37):
I learned flying it. There was there was a couple
that flew in from Germany really yesterday, yes, and this
girl flew in from Quebec, like and you know, and
then again talking about ten years, looking out into the crowd,
I could probably name half of the crowd by name
because of the last ten years so important. There's people
(11:58):
from Pennsylvania that I've known for ten years. There was
people from California that I've known for five years or whatever.
You know. When we started tooring get in twenty twenty two,
you know, I we and it's a lot of that
is there. Our connection with our fans. We have a
very deep connection with them. It's one of those things
that I get to a merch table every night. I
hang out as long as I can until they kick
(12:18):
us out. Literally last night, we're there way past. We
had to pay extra to be there longer last night,
wo because they wanted to go home, Like, we're going
to charge you an extra hundred bucks. I was like,
I don't care which I want to meet these people.
So I did it. And it's one of those things
that like, that's way more important to us, and I
think that is how we have been successful, like on
radio and stuff like that. Yeah, the label I'm sure
(12:39):
pushes and all that kind of stuff. Right, there's magic
that happens behind the current. But radio especially wouldn't play
it if people didn't like it, right, So work requests exactly,
you know. So it's one of those things that we
know that there's people out there that likes this this
song or likes this band, and it's cool that that
is because of us going out shaking the hands and
(13:01):
meeting these people.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
We're talking with Lee Jennings, the lead singer of the
Funeral Portrait. Now I got one last question to talk
about now that Suffocate City is out in radio and
it's probably gonna be on the radio forever now because
everybody's gonna If it goes number one, it's usually on
the radio for a long time. So you're gonna hear
it out there. But what's next, I tell me is Okay,
I'm just gonna ask you, Casanova. That's not That's not
(13:27):
the next single, Okay, that was So that song was
the very first song we ever released years ago. Okay,
we decided for funsies and kind of as a thank
you to og fans, we decided that we wanted to
do something for them, right, and we wanted to re
record our first song that we ever did and do
(13:49):
it our way, you know, almost like Taylor's version Funeral
Portraits first, right, and we call it from Beyond the
Abyss because we have this whole lore and beyond the abyss,
this fake TV show in the world of Suffocate City.
So it's from beyond the Abyss, right right, right, it's
the whole thing.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
It's a whole thing. But so, nope, Casanova's not the
next one. But there is a there is a few
songs on that on that record, that. Uh, I think
would sound great on the radio.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
So we should be hearing something from you knew soon?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yes, yes, definitely, Okay, I hope so because you want
to keep that ball rolling.
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Oh we know. Yeah, so hey listen, I got I
got tracks for days.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Oh, there you go. That's what we need, that's what
we need.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
Well.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
I want to thank you for coming by today and
looking forward to hearing your new music soon and seeing
you out on tour. Yes, hopefully you'll be coming to
Corpus Christy to play. Yes, and hopefully we'll see you
here very very soon. You never know. So if there's
anything you want to pass on to your fans in
the in the South Texas area, is there anything you'd
like to pass on?
Speaker 3 (14:56):
Thank you? I don't know. It's crazy. One of the
very first tours we ever did came through Corpus Christie
really like ten years ago. Yep. And I'm trying to
think of the venue, smaller venue. Why do I get
the feeling you're going to say, the House of Rock.
That's exactly what it's I knew it had rock in
the name.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
House of Rock, House of Rock, that is a that
is our legendary rock venue.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Yep, that everybody goes to.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Coming up in December, Tommy Vex is coming in to
play there, so yeah, it's it's and a lot of
other ill Nino's been through there, and a lot of
other bands have been there. Nita Strauss has performed there.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
It's a cool spot. I remember it ten years ago.
But I also believe we played there last year because
I remember their food being really good.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Oh they're known for their pizza. Yeah, their pieces, like
their pizzas like phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Yeah, So well, hopefully we'll get to see again, if
not at House of Rock, maybe at the Concrete Street Amphitheater, okay,
or even bigger yet We're Jelly Rolls playing tonight the
American Bank Center. Oh yeah, so that'd be kind of cool,
that would be saying so. But thanks a lot for
coming in. Hey, thank you for having me, and yeah,
appreciate it and once you do me a favor or
why don't you say, uh, hey, it's Lee Jennings. See
(16:02):
one one rocks.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Hey, this is Lee Jennings from the Funeral portrait and
see one on one Rocks.
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