Funeral Chic is a band out for blood. The blackened crust/hardcore/grindcore amalgam that the North Carolina-based quintet creates is a crazed lightning storm of riffs, pummeling drums and guttural vocals; as raw as they sound on recordings, Funeral Chic are exponentially more feral during live shows. With two releases under their belts since 2014, including the well-praised Hatred Swarm, the band recently finished a two-week tour with WVRM and is preparing to record their debut on Prosthetic Records. Before their first show in New Orleans, we met up and talked about the new album, the punk ethos of country music and HP Lovecraftโs grave.
So, where did VITOA (Violence Is The Only Answer) come from?
Dustin: Fuck Nazis forever. Thatโs about it. Fuck Nazis.
Robbie: Yeah, that stupid pacifist shit. โViolence is never the answer.โ Fuck that.
D: Thatโs a nearsighted, liberal bullshit thing to say. โOh, you canโt be hitting people but weโre gonna send your kids off to fight a war for oil.โ
Alex: Yeah, if you say that you can talk through every problem that you haveโฆ Thatโs not real. Somebodyโs not gonna be right. Sometimes somebody just needs to have their ass beat. ย
R: Fuck somebody up.
D: I got scars and a missing tooth to prove that shit.
R: Teach โem, man.
D: We got a lot of soft-ass motherfuckers who try to come up to us and theyโre like, โAw yeah thatโs tight!โ You know, these bro-ass motherfuckers. To clarify: fuck those motherfuckers. If youโre not fighting to put an end to some bullshit then you donโt matter to me. Youโre being stupid. If youโre fighting just to fight then youโre a waste of space.
What is this band about?
A: Blast beats.
R: [Laughs] Blast beats.
D: I have the perfect answer for this: drug romance.
R: Drug romance?
D: Drug romance.
R: Itโs about loving this goddamn world.
D: Pain and romance.
R: Weโre trying to be the Fleetwood Mac of grind. Trying to be the ZZ Top of black metal. [Laughs]
D: I wanna be the Stevie Nicks mixed with the Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) of whatever it is weโre playing. Itโs just sexual drugs and romance.
R: Because what the fuck else am I supposed to do?
D: Die.
R: Ride it until the wheels fall off.
Just because everyone knows about Young And In The Way and this band also falls under the โblackened hardcoreโ label, what sets Funeral Chic apart?
D: We ainโt shit. [Laughs] Donโt nobody know who we are yet.
R: Different band. We come from different areas.
A: Different members and a slightly different style.
D: Honestly, we have a completely different sound. People that donโt know shit about shit will say it sounds similar, but we donโt sound like fuckinโ Young And In The Way. We donโt sound like Trap Them. We donโt sound like Full Of Hell. Those are all great bands, but we donโt fuckinโ sound like them.
A: And we donโt sound like fuckinโ Nails! Stop saying we sound like goddamn Nails! Just because that bandโs fast too…
D: For real! Todd Jones is the shit, but we donโt sound like Nails!
A: Itโs different. Itโs grind into Swedish death metal.
R: Itโs punk rock. They just intend different things. YAITW and Funeral Chic mean different shit so different shit happens.
You’ve started on a new record, right?
R: Yeah, almost done.
Between this one and the last one, are you trying to do things differently?
D: Weโve been listening to a lot of Fleetwood Mac.
R: They wrote the last record together.
D: Yeah, me and Alex pretty much did the last record entirely by ourselves and we enlisted Robbie and he took the reins and fuckinโ killed it. He knocked it out of the park. Donโt know what he did, donโt know what he was taking, but Iโm glad he shared it with us.
Logan: And Iโve contributed absolutely nothing.
R: Absolutely nothing. Can you scratch him from the record entirely? [Laughs] No one said shit at this part.
D: We can shout out Logan.
R: Iโm not shouting out Logan! Wherever you are. RIP.
D:ย Logan, rest in peace. [Laughs]
R: By the time you read this, heโs gone.
D: New record is a lot of weird shit. We got a little weird with it. Iโm fuckinโ stoked on it. Itโs either gonna take us straight to the motherfuckinโ top orโฆ
R: Straight to the bottom. No middle ground.
D: Right back to our day jobs. Robbyโs gonna go back to being a cop.
[Everyone laughs]
R: Thatโs right. I work for the FBI.
D: Donโt forget Robbyโs a cop, yโall.
R: We didnโt answer that question at all.
D: New recordโs wild.

Photo by Samantha Presta
Whatโs your best, non-incriminating tour story?
R: Oh shit.
D: We got lost in Joshua Tree.
R: Thatโs still kind of incriminating.
D: Itโs a little incriminating.
R: Went to Tim Hortonโs one timeโฆ I got nothing thatโs not incriminating.
D: Yeah, we havenโt done anything legal thatโs fun to talk about.
R: Not even a little bit. I really donโt have any that arenโt illegal as shit.
Well, tell me a slightly interesting one.
D: We scared the shit out of Joy when we were on tour with them.
R: [Laughs] Oh yeah. Thatโs our favorite thing to do. Go out with bands and just creep โem the fuck out.
D: Ok! I have a good, non-incriminating story! So, the wonderful, magical people at Headfirst! baked us a bunch of cookies. They made four bags: two being chocolate chip and two being Snickerdoodles. Two of them were for us, one of each, and two of them were for Of Feather And Bone. ย
R: This sounds like a drug storyโฆ [Laughs] The story is we literally stole some peopleโs cookies. Weโre the Cookie Monster of fuckinโ grind music.
D: We ate all the fuckinโ cookies and everybody got mad at us cause we had all the cookies. Thatโs the closest we can get to non-incriminating. [Laughs]
R: Thatโs it. We ate somebody elseโs cookies.
A: What about that creepy ass security guard at HP Lovecraftโs grave?
R: Oh my god thatโs a good one.
A: We went to HP Lovecraftโs grave in Providence.
R: We had some time to kill and some homies were like, โYo, HP Lovecraft is buried there.โ And we all fuck with that shit so we were like, โHell yeah.โ So we go out there and weโre driving around this huge cemetery in Providence and weโre lost and have no idea how to find this grave. This security guard flags us down and is like, โLet me guess. You guys are here for HP Lovecraft and youโre in a band.โ
[Everyone laughs]
R: So he took us to the grave and thereโs no photography and all this shit but weโre taking all these pictures behind his back.
A: Dude, he was talking to us as weโre pulling out our phones taking pictures.
D: Secondary shout-the-fuck-out to Rhode Island.
R: Rhode Island. Greatest place on the planet. Yeah, this dude just has his Lovecraft story down pat. Even the weird anti-Semitism shit.
Did he talk about him being obsessed with his mother?
R: Oh yeah, the dude got into that! I feel like this dude went home and put on a Lovecraft outfit and talked to the mirror like, โWould you fuck me?โ
A: The best shit was when he was telling us about how people leave stuff on the grave. Like you can leave something on the gravestone, you know?
R: People left their guitar picks. Like Lovecraft wouldโve loved their fuckinโ prog metal?
A: He told us that he found, like on the top of that gravestone, that people have shit on that thing before. People shit on it! He found people fucking. There was a dead cat on it one time.
R: Howโre you gonna love Lovecraft, like, โHeโs so great,โ and then fuck on his headstone?
A: Every kind of drug he said heโs walked out there and found. ย ย

Photo by Samantha Presta
I know you like country music…
D: Abso-fuckin’-lutely!
So, does country make its way into any of your music?
R: Yep.
D: Absolutely. We have at least one song thatโs heavily influenced by 60s and 70s country music.ย
R: Itโs that fuck you, outlaw attitude. That permeates everything. Thatโs punk rock. Rock and roll. Itโs everything. It comes about in different styles. You donโt have to play the acoustic guitar and fiddle and shit. Itโs the same message: take this job and shove it.
D: Thatโs the thing Iโve noticed about people: people donโt like strange, rural music. We all love trap music and country music like a motherfucker. I feel like thatโs a perfect combination of things to make a fuckinโ heavy record or a pissed off record.
R: It is. Itโs dissent. Itโs anti-authoritarian.
D: We wanted to be David Allan Coe, White Zombie and Public Enemy. Thatโs what we decided we wanted to do for this next record. Another note: we know weโre not as hard as Public Enemy or David Allan Coe. White Zombieโs probably kinda soft. Letโs be real here.
Who are you consistently influenced by?
R: It kind of plays into that last question. A lot of it doesnโt sound like what we put out. Like Guns N Roses, but it doesnโt sound like Guns N Roses, it sounds like a fuckinโ grind song.
A: I get influenced by a lot of independent drummers, like Tony Royster Jr., Thomas Langโฆ Ben Koller is the only drummer from a band that I can say Iโm influenced by. Iโll watch that dude. Heโs a fuckinโ drum god. Thatโs the only one Iโm personally influenced by in a band. An entire band? I donโt know.
D: Did you say Led Zeppelin yet? I feel like that shouldโve been the first one because you fuck hard with Led Zeppelin.
A: I know but I feel like thatโs such a generic answer to say I fuck with John Bonham.
R: Iโm influenced by a lot of people who are still making music, like contemporaries. Mammoth Grinder gets brought up a lot when weโre talking about the shit we like. We fuck with Mammoth Grinder quite a bit.
D: Logan has a pretty punk based tone. Touring-wise, we fuck a little differently with tones, but the record is way different. Live we have a completely different aesthetic and sound.
So whatโs the difference in sound between a live show and a record?
D: Itโs hard to explain. It depends on how we decide to dial it. It depends on the tour weโre on and who weโre playing with. Itโs a lot of things. Logan came strapped with a pretty sick arsenal. He hooked it up with a sick punk tone which is tight because Robby handles the metal tones.
R: I donโt even think thatโs the answer to the question. The question was who weโre influenced by.
D: Metal, punk, we donโt give a fuck.
L: Since Iโm halfway here, mine are Matt Freeman from Rancid and Prince.
D: I fuck hard with that answer. Let me get one answer in this. Just โCommitted to Parkviewโ by The Highwaymen. Thatโs it.
R: Begin and end with old country.

Photo by Kevin Condon
Youโve all played in different bands over the years. What do you still look forward to about playing live?
D: Drugs. [Laughs]
R: The whole thing is a fuckinโ hassle. Itโs work and itโs annoying and backbreaking and shit, but itโs really cool to play and see people singing your lyrics and knowing the songs. It doesnโt matter what band youโre in, that never gets old. Thatโs the only thing thatโs cool about this shit. The rest of it sucks.
D: Basically. We hate touring and only like seeing cool places.
A: I like touring, just the shows kind of get in the way. ย ย
[Everyone laughs]
If you could just skip the show every nightโฆ
A: Itโs not even the shows. I like watching the other bands. Itโs just our set โ that 17 minutes.
R: Itโs the hassle. The problem is it looks fun from the outside and everybodyโs like, โYou get to go on tour and play in front of people! That must be so great!โ No, most of the time it fuckinโ sucks. But for the 15 minutes we play, itโs worth it. Playing live is never not worth it. Ever. Thatโs why people still do this in their sixties. They donโt do it for money.
D: Loganโs done a pretty good job of keeping me excited about the shows because heโs excited. Itโs strange to be with somebody whoโs actually excited to play shows.
L: This is my first official tour with a band and they asked me to play and itโs cool to get daily life out of the way for 15 minutes a night and see places I havenโt seen.

Photo by Kevin Condon
What are your plans for next year apart from the new album?
D: Only releasing the new album.
R: Taking the fuckinโ world over.
D: Weโre going straight to the motherfuckinโ top or straight to the motherfuckinโ bottom. Weโre hopefully going to do some festivals. Probably do some record release shows. Typical bullshit.
R: Tour. Get out there in front of people as much as possible.
D: Really just put the record out and do a small release run. See what happens and then start planning the rest of the year after that. We start recording pretty much the second we get home. Do we have the title for sure yet? Is that the title?
R: Yeah, do you want to put it out?
D: I donโt know if we can actually do this. New record will be called Superstition. Weโre shooting for early to mid 2018 and then the world is our fuckinโ toilet. Weโll see what happens. Hopefully we donโt get beat up, but canโt nobody fuck us up like we fucks us up. ย
What was your favorite album from this year?
A: Capital Punishment by Detain. Thatโs heavy as fuck.
R: Nikki Lane. Highway Queen. Absolutely. I think itโs the best country album in like 30 years. Even all the people doing country right now, she puts all that shit to rest.
A: Snoop Make America Crip Again is not bad, Iโm not gonna lie.
L: Top heavy release? Top metal release?
Anything.
L: I have a list, but the top would probably be Misantropologi by Undergang.
A: Shoutout to Wheeler Walker Jr. Olโ Wheeler.
[Everyone laughs]
D: Oh Wheeler!
R: Scratch all our answers. Theyโre all Olโ Wheeler.
D: Wheeler! If you see this, fuck you until you hit us up dog. Mine. I donโt know. Cory Branan – Adios. The White Buffalo – Darkest Darks, Lightest Lights. Wolfbrigade. Donโt know how yโall didnโt mention that.
R: Itโs not my favorite.
D: It was tight though. Dave East – Paranoia: A True Story.
R: Fuck with one. Favorite.
D: I canโt pick a favorite. Venom Prison – Animus. Incredible records. Thatโs all I got aside from Wheeler. Hit us up motherfucker. Run The Jewels 3! Run The Fuckinโ Jewels 3!
L: Thereโs another metal release that people need to listen to: Eroded Corridors of Unbeing by Spectral Voice.
R: Scratch all that. Donโt put that down. Thatโs crazy. Thatโs a weird ass name.
D: Spirit Adrift.

Photo by Samantha Presta
Sort of similar to that one, but who are some new bands we should check out?
Everyone: Joy.
R: Joy from North Carolina. Theyโre excited about hardcore.
D: Alex, whatโs your new bandโs name?
A: Expressive Action.
D: Expressive Action. They sound like American Nightmare. Itโs good as fuck.
L: Concealed Blade.
D: Concealed motherfuckinโ Blade. Dive bomb kings.
R: Cloak. That new Cloak album is…oh my god.
L: Cloak. Undergang. Spectral Voice. Acephalix. Thatโs a cool fuckinโ metal band right there.
R: I just want to go on record and say donโt listen to WVRM. Just avoid it at all costs.
[Ian Nix yelling from WVRMโs van]
D: Ian! Come answer a question.
R: Actually, WVRM is a really good band but I want you to spell it with an O.
D: New bands to check out…donโt know, but listen to the WVRM/Funeral Chic split thatโs probably coming out next year.
R: And spell WVRM right for once!
Parting words?
D: Fear the Reaper Superstition.
R: VITOA.
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