“Coming to the end of the Warped tour in Wisconsin” bassist Gareth Davies from Funeral For a Friend declares over a crackling phone line, in Welsh twang. “I’m just hanging out until we go on. It’s been a good tour.” The Warped tour is amongst the various venues and festivals coming up for FFAF who definitely have a lot on their plate in the next few months. “We go back to Europe on the weekend and do more shows and more festivals over there; after that, it’s the world tour which is going to be insane.”

This crazy touring has been brought on by the release of third album Tales Don’t Tell Themselves which by Gareth’s own admission was a memorable time for all involved. “It came along at the right time for us. It was the most enjoyable experience from the last three years as we had everything set up right this time, and that led to more time to record and get our heads straight.”

He explains: “We wanted to step over the boundaries a bit you know? We have always said we are a rock band, not anything else, and I guess that’s what gives us the freedom to write any sort of song, and we won’t get slagged for not writing exclusively metal, punk or emo songs.”

The album starts out with strings and some soft female vocals intertwined amongst the controlled chaos. This wasn’t initially how they had planned it to go. “Basically we started off doing a large conceptual piece, we wrote twenty minutes of music and vocals and it was like a prog-tastic event. It was going to be on another EP down the line, but we decided to use the opening as the opening to this album instead.”

However, the recording didn’t all go to plan as Gareth had originally indicated. “We wrote nine songs initially, and we weren’t all that happy with them. Then Ryan’s baby was born, so we took two weeks off so he could do the parent stuff, which let us get our heads clear and when we came back to the studio, we blitzed another ten or so and we were happy with them all. I think that two weeks ended up being really important to the overall outcome, but the baby itself didn’t disrupt recording or change the result or direction of the album.”

Was it a case of a heightened inspiration that created those songs at the end? “I don’t think that that was the case at all, I think we just let it come naturally after the break. Letting that melody come out of your head rather than forcing it. Perhaps there’s a bit of luck involved with it too!”

The album has had its doubters, many who feel that it isn’t as good as the last two efforts by the band. “Its different; I think it’s the next natural progression for us as a band, so its hard for me to think whether it is the best, worst or whatever. Although I gotta say the new stuff is great to play live and the crowds have loved it. I especially love playing ‘The Sweetest Wave,’ it’s my favourite off the album.”

The world tour is going to consist of the usual suspects, and also a few countries that FFAF haven’t managed to visit yet. “We are getting to play to Singapore and New Zealand fans for the first time which is great. I love getting out to the fans that haven’t had a chance yet; and of course the Australian crowds are always great; its one of the things that keeps us making music. Getting to play to crowds around the world and the ambition inside us to better ourselves every time we get onstage or record something.”

One of the major drawbacks of seeing a band touring an album is when they play too many new songs just to flog the album to fans that haven’t heard it yet. “We are definitely going to play some new stuff, but there’ll be stuff in the show that is from our EPs and previous albums too. I love to mix it up and choose some stuff we rarely play.”

Funeral for a Friend tour Australia this September.