The Funeral Class Band History
River Falls Band Makes Noise and Artistic Music
The Funeral Class is a metal band hailing from River Falls Wisconsin, Joe Score (Guitar), Russ Mason (Bass Guitar), Jess Kuhn (Vocals), and Kris De Smith (Drums) recently sat down to talk about their motivations musically and their “metal image“ in this exclussive interview with Suite 101.
The Beginnings of The Funeral Class
The band members of The Funeral Class have collectively been making music for over ten years. Jesse, Kris, and Joe were each in another River Falls band entitled The Fathers and when that band unofficially ended the trio joined forces with bass player Russ and a new band was formed.
The name The Funeral Class was suppose to be a song title , a homage per se to class structure, an issue the band feels strongly about; but it instead became their band name.
The four men had been friends for many years before joining the Funeral Class, breaking up a total of three times. It was their dealing with hardships that Jess Kuhn feels has made them stronger and helped them learn how to work together.
“We’ve gone through a lot of good ups and downs,” Kuhn said.
The Funeral Class believes that their motivation as a band comes from each other, and that is the reason they work so well together.
While The Funeral Class work at making what they want to be called different and thought provoking music they find that many of the bands in both their genre and the mainstream are either playing without originality or they are pretending to be “metal“.
Metal Image
Kuhn says that when it comes to making music in the national industry it is original thought that may be lacking the most.
Bass player Russ Mason agreed adding “(Mainstream) bands are trying to ride on other bands coat strings,” he said most musicians nowadays are just rehashing each others sounds.
Even when it comes to metal music The Funeral Class says it seems as though most bands are putting on an act for an audience.
“There is a certain level of how tough you are suppose to act,” Guitarist Joe Score said. They admitted that most bands in the metal genre were just angry for the sake of being angry not really knowing why they were upset in the first place. Mason added that the concerns of the other bands are hardly ever valid.
The Funeral Class says that their uniqueness comes from trying to be individual.
“We don’t strive to sound like other bands, it comes naturally.” Mason said.
Score agrees “We aren’t trying to headline, I’m just thrilled that we can play our music really loud,” he said.
The Funeral Class believes there are many people who take being “metal” far too seriously and that is it easy to tell they are not having fun doing what they do. One of the biggest frustrations for The Funeral Class are those who are in bands but not quite to make music.
“I don’t think people are living and dying for it,” Kuhn said.
In the very near future there is talk of The Funeral Class recording a new album, but for now the band is happy just to be heard.
Music as Art
“Everything is so custom made to not be like everything else,” Kuhn said about the bands music.
It is the bands ultimate goal to have people listen to their music and get the feeling that they have never heard it before. As Kuhn puts it- to play music that people want to hear that they aren’t getting from anywhere else.
Kris De Smith the drummer for the band, says that The Funeral Class tries really hard to make art.
“If it’s not art it’s crap,” he said “If there is not passion involved in the music that you make or listen to you shouldn’t be making it. I find passion in these boys.”
Check out The Funeral Class by visiting www.myspace.com/thefuneralclass
Check out The Funeral Class during a band practice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2ygbk9XjA8
Guitarist Joe Score likes his music loud
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Vocalist Jess Kuhn of The Funeral Class
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