MUSIC INTERVIEW: FUNERAL PARTY
Chad Elliott & Kimo Kauhola Talk About Their New Album, 'Golden Age of Knowhere'
Funeral Party first formed out in the Eastern edges of Los Angeles county and spent a few fun years making short work of building a local following and scoring a major label record deal. Since then, they have quickly become a much buzzed about band after a succession of fantastic shows, not last of which was a month-long residency at downtown LA's Bootleg Theater. Chad Elliott and Kimo Kauhola of Funeral Party sat down with Buzzine's Bridget Voeck on the benches behind the Bootleg to discuss the beginnings of their band, quitting their 'real' jobs to be musicians, and their upcoming debut album, The Golden Age of Knowhere.
Bridget Voeck: You’re from Whittier in East L.A... put out an indie EP (on Fearless Records) back in 2008, and now we are on the verge of your major label debut album... Can you tell us more of the story of Funeral Party so far?
Kimo Kauhola: They started the band before I was in it—the guitarist [James Torres] and the singer, Chad [Elliott]—and then they kicked out the bassist because it wasn’t working out so good, so that’s when I came in to play. Tim [Madrid] was in the band too—he was playing drums at the time, but instead of playing drums, he wanted to play percussion and keys, so we ended up finding another drummer too. The whole band was just playing music to have fun and playing at different types of backyard parties and building up a little crowd, and people seemed to enjoy it…
Chad Elliott: And somehow Sony caught the scent and we’re here now.
BV: When you were playing those backyard parties early on, we have heard stories of you having to borrow equipment in some instances…?
KK: Sometimes. The guitarist didn’t have a guitar at the time, so he would ask his friends if he could borrow some of their equipment, or some of the bands that would play at the backyard shows we would ask to borrow their equipment so it could be a lot easier to just run through it real quick.
CE: I stole some of my brother’s equipment—he was in a band. We didn’t have a keyboard and I stole his keyboard. Sorry. I don’t think he knows. It was mostly James who didn’t have anything. I think this guy had stuff [referring to Kimo], because we jammed out before we even started Funeral Party, and he was always the bass guy so he had equipment. I think you were the only one. And Tim was borrowing his brother’s drums. Shoestring budget band.
BV: Is there a memorable moment for you, when you were going between that stage where you were playing in these backyards and borrowing equipment to a place where you feel like, all right, this is it, we’re Funeral Party now—we’re a band? When did that hit you?
KK: It kind of just happened. It never really stuck out where we were like, “All right, let’s just do this for the rest of our lives.” We just kept going with it, and people tend to like it more and more. We love music so much; a musician is probably one of the best things you could ever be doing. It’s a way to create art.
CE: It’s not as glamorous as one would think. I think it’s The Sex Pistols or The Buzzcocks—one of those--they signed their record contracts on the hood of a car. That’s not very glamorous, but it’s memorable at least, and that’s kind of how ours went. Everybody thinks when you’re going to sign something, you’re going to go to some huge record executive building and there’s going to be a long table and there’s going to be handshakes and cigars and everything, but I don’t even remember where we signed ours. I think we signed it in a UPS Store and we just mailed it off. I think that was the turning point when we knew we weren’t as much of a backyard band and we started to take things more seriously. But for me, I think the point that really changed everything was when we went to Japan and we played in front of that many people, and seeing them synchronize jumping to our music, that’s when it was just like, wow, we’ve come such a long way.
BV: In the studio, when you were recording the album--you were in the studio with Lars Stalfors and Dave Sardy—is there a moment that sticks out for you in that?
KK: There’s a good memory in there—in the studio.
CE: We kind of didn’t see each other. We all had weird schedules where you would be there and then I would come in when you were leaving…
KK: [Lars] wanted to do “Today we’ll just do strictly all bass,” or “Today we’ll just do all guitar and we’ll just do vocals that day,” so we wouldn’t come in on that day, but once we needed ideas for different sounds to come in on the song, we were there together and tried to collaborate with that. The keys part, I wasn’t really…
CE: I think I saw you maybe once or twice. I think Tim was the one that I saw the most. James I didn’t see at all, except that one day. Lars has a funny way of recording because he’s so used to Mars Volta, and I guess they’re so exclusive with each other because he didn’t even bother to ask if I would want to do my vocal tracks by myself just with me in the studio or if I wouldn’t mind them there, so he just assumed, because I guess Cedric does his vocals alone, so that’s why I wouldn’t really see any of these guys, because when I would go in there, I was strictly just doing vocals and I did a little keyboard work. It was late nights for me. It was cool. The studio is a cool looking place—very mellow, cool kind of feeling.
BV: When can we get that new album?
CE: Our new album, Golden Age of Knowhere, comes out January 25th. I’m pretty sure you can pick it up anywhere CDs are still sold.
KK: Any record store, if they’re still around.
CE: If you don’t feel nostalgic, you can always go on iTunes and pick it up, download it…
BV: Moving back to the live aspect of playing these shows, tell us the pros and cons of effectively writing your songs in public, on stage, in front of an audience...
KK: We try to write whatever feels right and whatever gets us going too. We’ll notice, oh wow, this part is so good and pumped up, we know we should definitely keep it still going like that during the song, and then when we play it live, we let it all hang out. We give it our all and try to put all our energy into it.
CE: We’re more perfectionists when it comes to studio stuff, and when it comes to live, our professionalism kind of takes a back seat and we’re just trying to be raw and energetic. It’s great when you’re up there and you’re giving energy and then you get it back; it just makes a great energy all together. And when you’re recording, it’s in the back of our heads—that energy we want to capture on the CD—but I think, for the most part, we’re just trying to get it as clear sounding because you never know how it’s going to sound when you go to a show with the sound people.
KK: It’s always something different.
BV: When you’re playing for live audiences, if someone comes to your show for the first time, what do you want the audience to be left thinking after they see a set of yours? What do you want to resonate with them after your show is over?
CE: Surprise. That’s the one that always comes up.
KK: It’s always unexpected.
CE: Even when we’re opening up for somebody and people don’t care who we are or they don’t know, it’s always a good element of surprise after. We’ll find them in the smoking section before the other band goes up and they’re just like, “We didn’t know who you were, and you guys got up there and it didn’t really surprise us at first, but wow, by the end of it…” I think that’s the best thing you can leave somebody with—at least wanting to know something more about you, so a good first impression, I guess.
BV: You’re coming from a totally do-it-yourself background and you now have the support of a major label. How has that changed things for you, and how is it having that support, both in the studio and on the road?
KK: We’re definitely playing a lot bigger shows—that’s what’s changed. We’re definitely now perfecting the sound of it instead of just going all raw and doing it ourselves—we’re not cleaning it up, but we’re making it sound a lot fuller, just adding more sounds into our different songs.
CE: The element of do-it-yourself is, I think, just in us as people. I don’t think it really had to do with the movement or whatever. We just always were kind of like that, and we always enjoyed building our own parties or whatever and doing our thing when we were growing up, so the label has helped us reach audiences that maybe we couldn’t have gotten to as soon. I can’t deny that it’s been a help, but I don’t think it’s changed us as people. We’re not at that element yet where I think we would change as people. We’re not getting bags and bags of money thrown at us or whatever—private stuff, all that crap…
BV: What was the point where you were like, 'this is gonna work,' or 'this might work,' or 'there is a shot in hell that we’re going to make it'?
CE: When I was like, “I’m gonna take a chance and I’m gonna do this..." I used to be an electrician, and it was cool. It was definitely an interesting field, but I hated the hours. That’s why I got into music, because it’s late hours. [Smiles] We had to do two shows in a row and I was already missing a lot of work, and I told him, “I gotta do these shows,” and my electronic manager looked at me and he was like, “You really want to do this, huh?” and I was like, “Yeah, I think I really do,” and he was like, “Go do it then. I’m sure I’ll hear from you sooner or later.” I was like, “So...I quit?” and he was like, “I guess, if you want to put it that way,” and I was like, “All right. Well, thanks, man.” I had the biggest smile on my face, I packed my stuff, and I drove off. I was in Orange County and I was driving home, and on the freeway there was a traffic jam, and I remember looking at the traffic and then just sitting back and then sighing, and a big smile, and I just yelled out, “Fuck yeah!” And I was there in traffic, but I was so happy to be in traffic because there was this big weight of, “I’m going to try something new and I’m going to try to do this,” and I didn’t care, at that point, if it would fail or not. There was no word in my head. I was just so happy to do something like that—to have the opportunity at least.
KK: I don’t really have a great story like that or a point where I knew this was going to work.
CE: I didn’t know it was going to work; I just took the chance. Sometimes just taking a chance is more fun than whether it succeeds or not.
KK: The day you guys wanted me in your band, I took the chance. I was like, “All right, I’ll move back to L.A.” I was living in San Diego at the time, so I was like, “All right, let’s try to do this.”
CE: We ambushed you.
KK: Out of nowhere.
CE: We woke him up on a Saturday morning. We all came to his window and then he came to the door, and we were like, “Hey man, do you want to be in our band?”
KK: That was funny.
BV: You’ve just played here at the Bootleg Theater in LA every Tuesday night for the past month, so tonight finishes a residency, if you will. What’s next for Funeral Party? What happens after this?
KK: We go on tour with Two Door Cinema Club.
CE: And then, right after we’re done with that one, we go on tour with Thirty Seconds to Mars.
KK: In between all of that, a lot of writing going on.
CE: We’re going to start demoing for album number two, and then we release album number one and the floodgates open and we don’t know where we are. Hopefully everywhere.
BV: Is there anything else you want to say to your fans? What’s your final word for today?
CE: I’m sorry we don’t have T-shirts for sale anymore. I know that always comes up, and I promise we’ll have new ones…
KK: Come to our shows.
Funeral Party's 'The Golden Age of Knowhere' will be released by RCA Records on March 29, 2011
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