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| Interview done by Burt Wolf with Jill McEntee, bassist for FUNERUS! Interview done in March of 2004! |
| COULD YOU PLEASE GIVE SOME OF THE BACKGROUND HISTORY ON FUNERUS? I joined FUNERUS back in 1993. At the timeit was Brad Heiple (vocals/guitar) & Jason Foust (drums). They never really had a proper bass player & they asked me to play in the band because I had some experience playing guitar. In 1994 we recorded a demo & started playing some shows. The demo was starting to circulate & things were looking good for the band, but Brad decieded to leave. Once Brad left, Jason & I tried to keep things going with other guitarists, but things never worked out. WHY WAS THE NAME FUNERUS CHOSEN AS THE BANDS NAME? I'm not quite sure where Brad got the name FUNERUS from. I think he may have told me before that to him it meant...the funeral of the world. WHO OR WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES IN CREATING YOUR MUSIC & IN LIFE IN GENERAL? Our early influences were ENTOMBED, GRAVE, CARNAGE, DISMEMBER, BOLT THROWER, ROTTERVORE just to name a few. HOW WOULD YOU BEST DESCRIBE THE SOUND OF FUNERUS? We describe FUNERUS as being low-end heavy sewage Death Metal in the vein of old GRAVE, BOLT THROWER & ROTTERVORE. It definetly not the most technical, fast as you can go Death Metal. It has some Doom feeling to it. Definate old school feel. |
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| YOU PLAY BASS IN THE BAND, ARE YOU SELF TAUGHT & DO YOU PLAY ANY OTHER INSTRUMENTS? I started playing piano as a kid, and took lessons for a bunch of years. I haven't played the piano in forever, but I think I could still play somewhat. I started playing guitar at about 14 years old, on my own. Then I took guitar lessons for a while, I really don't even remember how long, |
| maybe a few years at the most. I only began playing bass strictly for FUNERUS, in 1993. I guess if I hadn't joined the band I never would've picked up the bass. that's the extent of my instrument playing. WERE YOU IN ANY OTHER BANDS BEFORE FUNERUS? No I never really had the opportunity to play in any other bands before FUNERUS. With FUNERUS it just fell into place. THE BAND ORIGINALLY STARTED IN THE EARLY 90'S. SHORTLY AFTER YOUR DEMO RELEASE IN 1996 THE BAND KIND OF FADED AWAY & LAYED DORMANT UNTIL 2001. WHAT WAS THE REASONING FOR THIS & WHAT LEAD TO THE RESURRECTION OF FUNERUS? The demo actually was released in 1994, and shortly after Brad left the band for his own reasons. As I said before, Jason & I tried to keep things going with other guitarists, but things just didn't work out. Eventually Jason moved to another state & we lost touch. In 1998 I made an attempt to reform the band with an entire new line-up of musician friends. We did one show, but it just wasn't the same for me. I made a decision at that time to put FUNERUS to rest for good. I really had no intentions of doing the band ever again. The only reason FUNERUS became a functioning band again at all was at the encouragement of my husband John McEntee, and Kyle Severn. John & Kyle both really liked the 94 demo, and they always encouraged me to keep the band going. One day after an INCANTATION rehearsal, Kyle, John & I jammed some FUNERUS songs, and it felt really great!! We got a hold of Brad, and it just went from there. So I always have to give John & Kyle massive amounts of credit when it comes to FUNERUS, if it wasn't for them, I never would've started doing the band again. HOW DO YOU FEEL THE BAND DIFFERS NOW FROM THE LINE UP ON THE '94 DEMO? Well Brad & I have grown into better musicians for sure. We are older & wiser & know a lot more now. I think having John & Kyle in the band also helps out tremendously, just having seasoned musicians in the band. For instance, recording the CD. John & Kyle have been through that so many times & are used to the studio aspect of things. Brad & I don't know too much about that, so it was great to have John there, he knew how to get the sound we were looking for. |