Last chance to watch them LIVE

Funeral For A Friend may be laying their music and legacy to rest this year.

But frontman Matthew Davies-Kreye said that referring to their impending split as a "funeral" is a morbid thought.

The Welsh post-hardcore band are embarking on their Last Chance To Dance farewell tour, which includes dates across Australia, Europe and the UK from this month to April.

They will be in town for the Singapore stopover on Friday at *Scape, The Ground Theatre.

The tour will act as a final curtain call to the quintet's illustrious 15-year career, during which they've released seven studio albums

The band's line-up comprises lead vocalist Davies-Kreye, guitarists Kris Coombs-Roberts and Gavin Burrough, bassist Richard Boucher and drummer Casey McHale.

Davies-Kreye, 36, told M over the phone: "The end of this band is going to be a celebration. It's a celebration of life and energy and passion, integrity and art, creativity and expression.

"For us, it's going to be the final chance to make the most of those notions."

According to Davies-Kreye, the decision was not a difficult one to make once they had addressed the elephant in the room.

He said: "All roads come to an end at some point and I think we all felt and realised and acknowledged the fact that Funeral For A Friend has come to its natural conclusion. Everything came pretty full circle for us.

"It's been a pretty intense 15 years for (founding members like) myself and Kris so it just felt like the right time. The last record (2015's Chapter And Verse) felt like a full stop on our music exploration."

It's been nine years since Funeral For A Friend's last concert here in 2007, held at the Glass Pavilion at Far East Square.

Davies-Kreye doesn't remember much about that visit but is keen to explore the city.

He said: "I was in a pretty bad state when I made it to Singapore the last time. I had some really bad jetlag problems from our trip to Japan, which we visited before (Singapore). I was a little bit out of it at that point.

"I'm just looking forward to having the opportunity to maybe have a look around without feeling like I'm about to lose my mind because of lack of sleep."

INTENSE

He said: "But I remember the show being pretty intense. Playing to a crowd we've never played to before and seeing them so energetic was really encouraging. The support we had was outstanding."

For their upcoming gig here, fans can look forward to favourites from two of their most popular and successful albums - Casually Dressed & Deep In Conversation (2003), often acclaimed as one of the landmark emo records of the 2000s, and Hours (2005), which saw the group embracing more melodic emo influences.

"It's basically a greatest hits set... which consists mostly of those two records with some additional songs," he said.

As for post-split plans, Davies-Kreye, who is married with no kids, says nothing any of them will do can compare to Funeral For A Friend or reach the same level it has.

"Gavin and Kris will be working together on a project which is more acoustic folk stuff and I've been carrying on my Secret Show solo project that I did about 10 years ago. I'll be picking up from where I left off but we're all looking more into getting back to real life," he said.

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FYI

What: Funeral For A Friend - Last Chance To Dance: The Final Tour

Where: *Scape, The Ground Theatre, Level 2

When: Feb 19, 8pm

Tickets: $98 and $108 from Sistic (6348-5555 or 
www.sistic.com.sg)