Funeral for a Friend were a Welsh post-hardcore band from Bridgend, formed in 2001. The band consisted of lead vocalist Matthew Davies-Kreye and guitarist Kris Coombs-Roberts for its entire history, with Darran Smith (guitar), Gareth Davies (bass) and Ryan Richards (drums and screaming vocals) completing the line-up for the band's first four studio albums. Between 2008 and 2012 the band transitioned towards its final line-up, which saw Davies-Kreye and Coombs-Roberts alongside guitarist and occasional vocalist Gavin Burrough, bassist Richard Boucher and drummer Pat Lundy (who left the band in 2014). Funeral for a Friend's popularity rose in the United Kingdom with the release of their debut album, Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation (2003).

In May 2005 the first single from the upcoming second album "Streetcar" acted as the band's fourth consecutive top 20 single in the United Kingdom by debuting at number 15. On 14 June 2005, the band released their second album Hours through Atlantic Records. Produced by Terry Date, the album was recorded in two Seattle studios owned by the grunge band Pearl Jam and featured unusual methods of recording, for example Matt Davies' vocals were recorded whilst in a moving car and on a crowded Seattle street, for the song "Drive". Just two weeks after its release the album was certified a Silver over 60,000 sales and was awarded a Gold for over 100,000 sales on 23 December 2005. In August of the same year, the band won a Kerrang! Award for "Best British Band". Funeral for a Friend performed several low-profile shows in Wales, including Bangor University and Bridgend Recreation Centre, prior to the release of Hours. In the United States, they played alongside bands such as Atreyu, Saosin, Hawthorne Heights and Thrice on the Maurice Stage of the 2005 Vans Warped Tour. The band headlined the British leg of Taste Of Chaos across November with support from The Used, Killswitch Engage, Rise Against and Story Of the Year. Funeral for a Friend released the third and last single from Hours, "History", which music video depicts the events of the miner strikes of the mid-1980s in South Wales. Funeral For a Friend closed the promotional jaunt for Hours in the Summer of 2006, with a series of UK shows rescheduled from February. Most of the original dates had been cancelled because Matt Davies had suffered from a bout of laryngitis. Several other shows were scheduled in the UK to complement these rescheduled dates, and the tour culminated in a slot below headliners Guns N' Roses at the Download Festival at Donington Park. The rest of 2006 was spent writing and recording the band's third album.

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culminated in a slot below headliners Guns N' Roses at the Download Festival at Donington Park.