By the time The Funeral Portrait’s “Suffocate City” hit No. 1 on the rock radio charts, frontman Lee Jennings was still half in disbelief.
“None of us thought the song was actually going to get there,” he explains to SNSMix. “We figured we’d be stuck under Linkin Park for another six weeks.” Instead, on a random afternoon in Scranton, Pennsylvania—just before soundcheck—their manager George called with the news. “I literally stopped soundchecking drums, turned to our drummer Homer, and said, ‘Wait, wait, George is calling me.’ He said, ‘Bro, it’s happening.’ I checked the article, and it was real. That night’s show sold out, too.”
The origin story of “Suffocate City” is as unlikely as its chart-topping success. Jennings and his bandmates had booked studio time in March 2020, only for the COVID shutdown to hit days before they were set to record. Stuck at home, they pivoted to the unlikeliest of writing rooms: Zoom. “It’s one of the coolest moments to talk about,” Jennings says. “How weird is it that we wrote a song via Zoom that became such a huge song for us?”
The process was equal parts tech experiment and logistical nightmare. Jennings tracked vocals in his home studio, while two producers worked remotely, sharing screens and bouncing files back and forth in real time. “It was honestly a big pain,” he admits. “But it was the only way we could keep going. Without it, we wouldn’t have ‘Suffocate City.’”
Enter Spencer Charnas, frontman of horror-metal titans Ice Nine Kills, whose theatrical style and sinister croon fit perfectly into the track’s shadowy drama. The connection came through The Funeral Portrait’s manager, who pitched the band to Charnas for his annual Silver Scream Con festival. Jennings says their first appearance “blew everyone’s expectations out of the water,” sparking an ongoing creative relationship.
When it came time to record “Suffocate City,” Charnas’ addition felt natural. “I don’t think he realized it was going to be as successful as it was,” Jennings says. “Every time we moved up the chart, he was like, ‘What? We moved up again?’” The collaboration bridged fanbases and amplified the song’s reach—what Jennings calls “like going on tour with a band, but online.”
The track’s success feels even sweeter given the odds. “We’re the emo-active rock band—emotional lyrics with a heavy edge—and I never thought radio would like what we’re doing,” Jennings says. Now, with a No. 1 plaque on his wall and momentum on their side, The Funeral Portrait is focused on bringing their high-energy show to bigger stages—and maybe cooking up more collaborations.
If “Suffocate City” proved anything, it’s that even a song born out of a pandemic Zoom session can break through the noise. “I’m just happy to be here,” Jennings says. “We believed in this song—and now so do a lot of other people.”
Watch the full interview with Lee Jennings from The Funeral Portrait below!