Few bands enjoyed a bigger breakthrough in 2024 than The Funeral Portrait. The hard-hitting group scored the first No. 1 song of their career with “Suffocate City”, featuring Spencer Charnas of Ice Nine Kills.
2025 is poised to be even bigger for The Funeral Portrait, as they launch a nationwide tour in January. Lead singer Lee Jennings sat down with SNS Mix to discuss his band’s big year, plans for the future, Amy Lee, Myspace and more.
You guys are originally from Marietta, Georgia, which isn’t exactly like a hotbed for hard rock. What was that scene coming up like for you guys and how did it impact your sound?
So it’s kind of weird. I grew up going to local shows and stuff like that. I was really into more smaller bands a lot growing up. Of course I had my favorites of the bigger acts, but there was a local club, it was called Swayze’s Venue, and it was like a 300 cap, all ages, no beer, no alcohol venue. One of its only kind, I feel like, and it was just like the birthplace for my love for live music. Before that I went to some shows at the Masquerade and stuff like that, but [Swayze’s] was definitely the place that I really fell in love with live music.
I got pretty lucky and I started helping out there and kind of doing some stuff, and started then eventually working there for many of years and I booked some of my then favorite bands. I would, you know, I’m a little bit on the older side and I had Myspace, and I used Myspace, I was like that 14 year old kid that would book bands via Myspace and then the band or their tour manager would show up and be like, ‘Wait, you’re just a 14 year old kid. How are you going to write us a $2,000 check to play here?’
What was your Myspace profile song?
Oh my god, it was, it definitely, it all depends. Like, I remember one time I got a girlfriend and so, of course, I put “Girlfriend” by Say Anything, that was such a big moment for me because I was like, ‘Oh my god, I finally have a girlfriend. I could put, “Girlfriend” from Say Anything [on my Myspace page].’
I grew up loving the emo rock stuff, that was more my vibe. And it wasn’t until later, I was still into like, I was into weird stuff too. Like I was into like grindcore. Anything just weird and artsy at the moment. Like I was really into this band called The Locust, they dressed up as locusts and they played grindcore, it was wild. That was the Myspace era though, that was what I loved. That’s like a 180 from the emo stuff though, you can’t get further apart, right?
I remember I went to Warped Tour and I think it was 2004, 2005, I can’t remember which year it was, but My Chemical Romance was playing and their merch guy commented on my t-shirt. I had that band Bane — they’re a hardcore band from, I believe it’s from like Boston area — and I had their shirt on and he was like, ‘It’s weird to see a young kid with a Bane t-shirt on buying $100 worth of My Chemical Romance merch. So it was one of those things that, that’s just what I was into. I was really into My Chemical Romance side of music, but also into the more hardcore, like screamo or era of grindcore. Whatever was wild. I liked the more wild type of music.
I love the diversity, so let’s talk a little bit about Greetings From Suffocate City, because this particular record was impacted a lot by COVID. You had the studio time booked and you couldn’t actually go there and physically record, right?
Yeah. So that, it’s kind of crazy because to still think about that, we’re talking about COVID and all of that kind of stuff. Now we’re five years after the fact of it starting, is crazy because this record, we started writing this record in January, 2020. And then we had the studio time booked literally the week that the shutdown happened. And that turned into us having to push the record back. And then we started writing songs, “Suffocate City” being one, via Zoom, literally like how we’re talking right now, which is like one of the coolest moments I love to talk about because I’m like, ‘How weird is it that we like wrote a song via Zoom, that then became this huge song for us?’
Was there an actual jam session on Zoom?
Oh yeah. So, so literally, like on here we can like share our screens and stuff like that. We would just share each other’s screens, because I have a studio here, as you can see. I’m in here, my studio. And I was in here and we had two other producers and they were in their studios and we just would share each other’s screens and record stuff. I would record a vocal take or write out some lyrics or whatever it is. And then, then I would bounce it down and then send it to both of them. And then they would bring them back up on their screen and listen. And it was just like this, it was honestly like a big pain.
I mean, it sucked. But it was the only way that we could keep it going, you know? And, again, I’m happy that we did it because then we wouldn’t have “Suffocate City”. I think that’s the only one that like actually made it out from the Zoom sessions.
So it just recently went number one at radio. Do you remember where you were when you heard the news?
Yes. Oh yes. That was crazy. So it’s kind of weird. I remember we were getting ready to, we were at soundcheck in… Oh my gosh, where was that? It was in Pennsylvania. It was Scranton, Pennsylvania. So we’re at soundcheck for like this bigger show that we, well, we honestly didn’t know how big this show was going to be because it was kind of booked last minute. And it was at one of our friend’s venues. It was this guy, Josh Balz, he used to play in Motionless in White. He opened up a venue in Scranton, Pennsylvania. And it’s like an old movie theater that he turned into an actual like venue. And it’s a pretty big room. It’s like a 500, 600 cap venue. And then first thing is, I remember George, our manager calling me and being like, ‘Hey, I just got sent a Billboard article that your song’s number one.’ And I said, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no.’ Because I don’t think anybody realized or thought the song was actually going to get there.
I think we all were like, ‘Oh, we’re going to sit under Linkin Park for another six weeks. And no one’s going to be able to take out Linkin Park.’ And then here we come. And we did it. And I just remember, I literally in the middle of like, we were soundchecking drums. And I turn over to Homer, who’s our drummer, and I said, ‘Wait, wait, wait a second.’ I said, ‘George has called me. I can pick up the phone.’ And he’s like, ‘Bro, I just sent you this article. Oh my God, it’s happening.’ And I said, ‘What?’ And I hang up the phone. I check and it happened. And it was just, it was a magical moment. And then that night that show sold out too. And it was like, it was one of those like weird, like, what is our lives? This is like, are we dreaming? Is this real? So how do you celebrate a number one song at radio? Well, the biggest thing is I think we all just, we all just kind of kept living our lives. I think that’s a whole thing is like, I think none of us are taking any of it for granted. I think we all are just very, I’ll use the word blessed to say that it even happened. Or that our band even got any opportunity to even get played on the radio at all. It’s something that we never thought was going to happen for our band.
What I always say is like, we’re the emo active rock band, right? So we have a lot of like emotional lyrics and some of the songs are pretty emo and have that vibe to it, like the early 2000s emocore stuff. But we like to mix it up with the more active rock sound or, or a little bit more heavy hitting. And I just never thought that radio would like what we’re doing, because my whole life I was told, things have to be a certain way for it to work. And then, we released this record and this song starts taking off extremely well. And then I start talking and meeting with so many different people in rock radio that are just so nice to us and just so cool. And one thing that led to the next, it was just, it was honestly kind of weird. Again, I just never thought that it would happen.
And so now I got a plaque sitting behind me, which is pretty cool, with my name on it that I never thought would ever exist. So I’m just, I’m just happy to be here.
And my understanding is that’s Spencer’s first number one song as well.
It is. That’s a kind of wild thing to think about too, because I know that [Ice Nine Kills] has had success. They’ve had a lot of success outside of even the radio world. I think him doing a song like this again. I don’t think he realized that it was going to be as successful as it was. You know, anytime that I’ve talked to him about it, he was just like, ‘What? We moved up another one. What? We moved up another one. You know, it was like every time it was just like, okay. And then I remember getting that, you know, ’cause I even learned about us getting a number one was George texting me that he got it from a friend of us being on the big, like the article from Billboard.
Like, I don’t even think the full chart was out yet. And I think, we were just like, what? And I just remember texting it over to like Spencer and his team and everything and being like, ‘Look at this.’
I think everybody was just kind of blown away. It’s been kind of a crazy few months.
Watch The Funeral Portrait’s Music Video for ‘Suffocate City’
The moment that sort of sold it for me was seeing you guys live. And once I saw the live show, the energy, everything, it just sort of connected. It was like, just connecting the dots and now I get it. And then as soon as I saw it live, I dove back in deeper into the records and I’ve been just listening to the record nonstop. So your live show is incredible.
Thank you. That’s something that we kind of pride ourselves on. Of course, I love the record and I like recording music. I like writing music, but I love performing. Performing is my love. That is my one true love. And that’s why I like to stay out on the road a lot. And that’s what we are doing. [In 2025] we’re gonna be on tour for a really long time. And I’m excited for that because I want to bring our live show bigger and badder each time too.
Well, you guys have the tour with Catch Your Breath coming up. You talked about going out with Five Finger and Marilyn Manson. I feel like your sound is so diverse that you could be on any of those bills and still fit in.
Yeah. That is a huge thing for us too. Like I said, we’re the emo active rock band. Which has kind of never been done before, at least at my book. And so it’s one of those things that you’re right. We crushed on the Five Finger tour. Hey, guess what? We also crushed on the solo Manson shows. And hey, guess what? I have a feeling we might crush on the Catch Your Breath tour.
Even before we did Five Finger, we went out with this guy Dead on a Sunday. He’s a TikToker that does goth renditions of like pop songs, and guess what we crushed on it. And it was a lot of fun and people just have a great time watching our set.
And that’s what’s really, really important to us is do we put on a fun show that everybody gets to leave all their troubles behind at the door. And they get to just escape for, even if it’s 30 minutes, or an hour or whatever the long the set is, they get to just escape and be there and be present and whatever they’re dealing with doesn’t follow them into the show.
The record has all these amazing guests on there. You have a Bert from The Used, Danny from Asking Alexandria, Eva Under Fire. Is there something about this particular album and the songs that lent themselves to collaborating with outside artists?
You know, some of it was for us. I think that the one that, to be honest, was the most surprising was of course, Bert from The Used. I grew up, again, like I said, an emo kid and The Used is one of my favorite bands. And it was one of those moments that we were all, the whole team was trying to find features to try and grow the audience.
Cause that’s a lot. It’s kind of like, you’re going on tour with a band, but just online. So you get to tag them on Spotify or you get to share posts on social media together or whatever it may be. And so we were like, well, I was like, I would love Bert from The Used on one of our songs.
And so, our A&R, she was like, ‘I think he would sound great on “You’re So Ugly When You Cry”.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Just even the idea of him listening to the song was insane and getting a text from him saying, ‘Hey, like I love the song. I’m going to do it the next day.’ Like, ‘Can you send me the files right now?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, what?’
It kind of just blew me away of just being like, this is my life. This is real. That one of my favorite singers is on one of my songs, especially it’s such an important song to us.
And so it was a wild moment. And then going to the others, like it was one of those things that both, “Dark Thoughts” and “Voodoo Doll” had been released before we announced the record. So we wanted something new for both of them. We wanted to bring in a new voice, especially with Danny [Worsnop]. He’s an incredible voice. And then, Eva Under Fire, she’s got such a great, great voice too. And I just wanted great vocal performances because that’s very important to me.
And then having Spencer too on “Suffocate City”, it was one of those moments that we just were like, let’s give these kids something different on some of these songs, more dramatic and maybe the next record there’ll be even more guests or something. Cause I even treat them like they’re their own characters too. You know? And when we talk about these music videos and stuff that we’re working on, all that stuff is so important to me to have characters and to build this bigger world.
Watch The Funeral Portrait’s Music Video for ‘You’re So Ugly When You Cry’
The one thing that you talked about is that you have this incredible range on record vocally, which I think sets you guys apart from other bands. What do you attribute that vocal diversity to?
I think a lot of it is influences. I think a lot of it is, I grew up being a vocalist. I mean, that was my thing is I, not just in bands, but I did choir, I did musical theater. I was supposed to go to college for musical theater. And I turned it down. I went to a special high school that was all about the performing arts. It’s like in my blood. It’s so ingrained in me to be a singer and to be a vocalist and be a performer that that’s what I wanted the record to be about.
And I think that’s something that our band, we talk about, especially with writing new material, no matter kind of what we do, it’s still going to be The Funeral Portrait. And a lot of that comes because of how my voice sounds. I have kind of a unique voice. I think I do at least. I don’t like to toot my own horn or anything like that. But I, I think when you hear a song, you’re like, oh, that’s Lee from The Funeral Portrait.
You can tell, because again, we have songs like “Holy Water”, but we also have songs like “Dopamine”, or we have songs like “You’re So Ugly When You Cry” or “Doom and Gloom” or “The Alien” or whatever. Like all these songs sound completely different. They’re all completely different, but what makes them the same is one [thing]. It’s the same band. I mean, that’s it is it’s the same band. It’s the same guitarist. It’s the same drummer. It’s the same vocalist, same bassist. And that’s what really matters.
And I think that’s where the next record is going to go is even almost, I don’t want to say more diverse, but it’s just going to be like, we’re going to write and record and do what we want to do. And I really believe in these songs and it’s so cool to see that other people believe in them just as strongly.
Lyrically, you’ve been really open about talking about mental health, battles with depressions, anxiety, OCD. Why is it important to share that personal side of yourself in the music and with the fans?
To me, it’s just something that people don’t talk about. I kind of try and live my life as an open book. I try really hard to be personable. I try to be just me. And I think that’s something that is missing from modern music and you see it more and more, but I still think that people kind of forget that we’re human too, you know? And I also want to be a voice for the voiceless. That’s something that I talk about a lot is I know that people struggle with anxiety and OCD and depression and these things that I have dealt with because I deal with them. I know that there’s other people out there that deal with it. There has to be. So what I want to be is, I want to be that voice, hopefully, for the people that aren’t strong enough to talk about it or open enough to talk about it. And it seems to be connecting with a lot of people and I kind of appreciate it, because again, I like to help people. And that’s another reason why I like doing my band is in doing music is I feel like if I can help someone to me, that’s all that matters. At the end of the day, I just want to help people.
One of my favorite tracks on this record is “Stay Weird”. Just like embracing all your imperfections and the things that make you unique.
I mean, that is a key track to me on this record. It’s weird because I remember when we wrote it, we were all kind of like, ‘Hh, it’s cool. It’s fine.’ And then we like really over performed it and was like, this is how it should be. Like, it’s going to be this huge rock anthem.
I like really fell in love with the song. And it’s wild because, we wrote it to be this love letter to my past, to little Lee, when I was in middle school or high school, and finally discovering who I was and trying to be me. It’s kind of a letter to be like, just be you, stay you and things will work out. And it’s been cool to see everybody’s reaction to that song and how much everybody relates to it.
Listen to ‘Stay Weird’ by The Funeral Portrait
Talking about advice to yourself, I just recently came across a tour post from like 2014. I think it must have been one of your first tours where you guys were going out. What do you wish you would have known then back in that 2014 tour?
Wow. That’s crazy. I think about that a lot because this band’s been doing this for like 10 years. And I think a lot of it was, just keep going. I don’t even think I would change anything of what we did or how we got here. It’s just, things will be okay. Just keep going. And again, I don’t take any of this [for granted]. I’m not ever putting my feet up on the desk and just being like, ‘Alright, well, everybody do the work for me now.’ Like I got us a number one or anything like that because that’s not how this works. It wasn’t just me. We’re just here doing what we love, and I think the only thing I would say to younger us is just keep going and things will be fine. And that’s kind of what “Stay Weird” is about.
You were at Aftershock last year and you ran into Amy Lee from Evanescence. What was that experience like?
That was crazy. So Evanescence was like my first concert I ever went to. And it was the Nintendo Fusion Tour. Okay, I’m aging myself here. So and it was at the Tabernacle here in Atlanta. And that is where, that’s like our House of Blues. So it’s like a 2000 cap room. And I remember I went because I was such a big Nintendo fan. I wanted to go play the GameCube. It was right when the GameCube came out, but you could go and test it or something or whatever. I don’t remember. I got an ad for it from Nintendo Power Magazine and I was like, ‘Oh, I’ve heard this band on the radio once. My mom has like listened and I really like [Amy’s] voice.’ You know, I hadn’t bought her record yet.
But that weekend I went and I bought her record, which is my first CD that I ever bought was Evanescence. And I just fell in love. That was like my first show. And I just felt like she was speaking to me, and so running into her, because that’s what it was. It really was. I was in the artist area doing interviews and I’m standing there with my, I have when I’m on tour, I have an assistant that helps me with a lot of stuff and she helps with merch.
She also does my makeup. She does a little bit of everything and her name is Danny. And she taps me on the shoulder and she’s like, ‘I swear I just saw Amy Lee walk out of the artist area.’ And I was like, ‘No way.’ I was like, ‘Here, hold my drink.’ I’m obsessed with Coke Zero. So I was like, ‘Here, hold my Coke Zero.’
I started running out of the place and I see Amy Lee standing there with her security. Because she’s got a head of security and her assistant as well. And I go, ‘Hey, I am so sorry. I don’t mean to bother you.’ And she was like, ‘Oh, what’s up?’ And I was like, ‘Hi, I’m Lee. I sing for this band called The Funeral Portrait,’ and I’m having this big fanboy moment. And I tell her, ‘I don’t mean to fanboy.’ And she was like, ‘Wait, wait, wait. You said your name was Lee? You’re singing the band Funeral Portrait? I just did two interviews, both of them said that I should check out your band and that you’ve said in your interview that you look so much up to Evanescence.’
And I was like, ‘Oh my God. This is insane.’ It was one of the wildest moments before in my life. And I was like, ‘So I also, can we get a selfie? I don’t want to be weird.’ And she was like, ‘No, no, I love that. Let’s do it.’ And I took it and I posted it and I freaked out. I don’t know. It was just a wild moment.
Are you still having those pinch yourself moments like that all the time?
Oh yeah. I mean, that was the Five Finger Death Punch tour the whole time. Like, we got to play stadiums and arenas and places that I remember going to [as a fan]. Like, we got to play Lakewood Amphitheater, which is our big amphitheater here in Atlanta. And I grew up going to shows there. I saw Manson there. I remember seeing Avenged Sevenfold there. I remember My Chem, I remember Linkin Park. I remember Warped Tour there every year, you know?
So the idea of playing that stage was just like insane to me. And then getting to play Bridgestone Arena, and then Hershey Stadium, like what? I’ll never get used to that.
I don’t even care if we’re headlining. It’s something that this band is so proud of our roots and where we came from that I don’t think any of us could ever get like jaded or like, ‘Oh, whatever. I’m just going to put my feet up and let everybody do everything for me. That’s just not us.
But staying humble is, is a large part of the equation, right?
Yes. And you could see when artists don’t, and then they have one little shot of success and then all of a sudden it goes away, because they start getting comfortable or they start being, you know, if you have an ego or something like that. And that’s something that this band will never have. And I don’t care, because that’s just who we are. We’ll never be like that.
I feel like that’s why people have connected in such a large way with Jelly Roll, because the person that you see is, he’s that person. There’s no character or anything like that. He’s just that guy.
Yeah. That’s the truth. I was very lucky, I got to meet him a few weeks ago. Literally as soon as this last tour was over, I flew out and I got to talk and meet with him. And that was something that him and I kind of connected on really heavily was the fact of us, you know, he, of course such a massive level compared to what we’re doing, but still, it was one of those moments of just being like, he could tell that that’s so much of what we do.
And I know that that’s how he is. He eats, sleeps and breathes his art, but he also eats, sleeps and breathes his connections with humans and how much he loves his fans and stuff. And that’s how we are. I’m always in our Facebook group, our Discord, et cetera, just being like, ‘Hey guys, how are you guys? Hope you guys are feeling well.’ Stuff like that. Just being a little nice to people sometimes can go such a long way.
It’s interesting you brought up My Chemical Romance earlier, because in the early days of Myspace, that band was super active. I remember the first time that they came to Toronto, he was having an active relationship with fans, messaging them. It wasn’t just a one-sided thing.
That’s the way you do it. I feel like we are creating fans for life with this band because I am friends with a lot of them, like actual friends with people that I’ve met on the road. Not everyone. I can’t be friends with everybody, but it’s still one of those things. And a lot of that comes from the fact of being like, I stand at merch every single night for meeting everyone, doing what I can to help people. Like one of our shows on this Catch Your Breath tour sold out really, really fast. And I had this fan, she was like, ‘Hey, I know the show sold out. I was planning on getting tickets probably day of just because money’s so tight.’
And I was like, ‘You know what?’ I was like, ‘I know we’ll have at least five guest list spots. I can save you one.’ And she was like, ‘Oh my God, thank you so much.’ And it’s stuff like that. That means the world to these people, and I want to help people out, you know? And that’s how you do it The world needs that. The world needs that more than ever before now.
One hundred percent. Just wrapping up here, I feel like your fans have this crazy connection with you. Is there a moment that sticks out for you where they’ve done something to show their devotion to The Funeral Portrait?
Yes. There’s been a lot. Almost every day we get gifts and artwork and all this stuff. We have these one fans, they made us a rug. It was like our logo as a rug. And I’m not talking like a small rug. It’s a huge rug. Stuff like that is so cool. But I think another thing is them, of course, getting the tattoos and stuff like that.
But I think we got this one little booklet that was kind of like a fan project. And it was just a bunch of people that came together and put all their art together and wrote little messages and stuff. And that was really cute.
And, you know, we get the bracelets and all that kind of stuff. But I think for me, it’s seeing fans help out each other.
