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1985: The year this punk-outfit saw the light of day. Dirk(vocals) at the time lived right across an undertaker and saw people coming from and going to funerals, wearing the appropriate clothes, every day. So he decided to name his band Funeral Dress. Only a few weeks after that, the band played their first show( April 9, 1985) on a talent scouting gig sharing the stage with names such as Margriet Hermans, by far Belgiums biggest joke. From there on the band struggled, trying to find a consistent line up always facing the problems of not finding the right people. Late 1986, early ’87 The band recorded 5 songs for a demo and released their first single “army life”. It was a very basic 4-track recording but it layed out the groundworks for numerous future releases. After this release the band got more and more gigs and started to build up a following. In 1989 they supported some shows for the UK Subs in Holland and Belgium, and Charlie Harper agreed to co-produce some songs for their first full-length album. Except for the 3 songs they worked on together, the sound quality on the ‘Free Beer For The Punx ‘ album was poor. But it still contains some classics, such as Sex, Drugs and Rock’n Roll, the pogo never stops, I’m in love with OI and the song-a-long title track. Eventually this title-track would get them in trouble in 1991. The band threw a ‘free beer for the punx’ party in a club next to a liquor store. It soon became free beer AT the liquor store. So people called the cops(teargas and helmets included) resulting in a firm back-alley battle that even made the headlines the next day. Everybody was convinced; Funeral Dress = Riots.
By the end of ’91 due to a lack of gigs, Dirk found himself without band. He managed to to put a new line up. This is were long-time guitarist Ivo joins the band. They released both ’Punk is still alive’ and ‘noghtmares’ on 7”preceding the 1994 second full album “ Songs about sex, beer and punkrock”. Also in 1994 they did a european tour with GBH. Again they suffer some line up changes but in 1996 they prove ther’re here to stay by releasing their third album “SingalongPogoPunk”. That year, they also played the first edition of the Holidays in the Sun festival, sharing the stage with the busscocks, sham 69, X Ray Spex and many more. Late 1996 Stef joins in on bass, replacing Fré who took of to Spain. In 1998 they did their first US tour with friends Banner Of Hope. Due to no experience in the field of touring the US and other circumstances such as bad luck, only 6 shows (of an estimated17) are played. With a split 10” and a live album ‘Punk, live and loud’ in between, the band released in 2000 their next full length album‘Party Pollitical Bullshit.’ Containing songs as stalking and the John Denver evergreen ‘leaving on a jetplane. This album stuck the nerves of the punk communities around, and clearly shows what this band is all about: Fun, Punk, No Bullshit, No Politics!
The band returns to the US for a real tour this time, together with The Virus, Endless Struggle and The Casualties. Building up a US following, the band decided to go back in 2001 to ensure a solid fan base. With enough inspiration in mind, Funeral Dress released a new album in the summer of 2001 called ‘ Way Of Life.’ 2002 followed with numerous gigs all over Europe and Ben switched from drums to guitar and Joost came in on drums. By the end of 2002 Ben left the band and strum (re)joins on guitar. This line up proved to be the most productive ever. Early 2003 they recorded en released the single “Party On”. It became an instant hit on national radio and stayed in the charts for 18 weeks ensuring them tons of gigs all over Belgium. Februari 2004 they released “come on follow” going on another US tour with Total Chaos a few weeks laterThay tour they got signed by US label SOS-records. After the tour and back home, another single ‘death and flory’ reached the charts for 14 weeks. Some us tours later and lof of Belgian shows, In 2006 they released their last full length until now ’Hello from the underground, Which came out early 2007 in the USA. In 2007 they played for the first time in Greece and made an appearance in the movie ‘ex drummer ‘Played some cool festivals during summer, followed by their 10th US tour in October. After 22 years funeral dress is a still alive and kicking and ready to rock your town!
hi i am george producer of art uber alles a underground music net tv show here in greece and cyprus you can see my job nad my show in internet in this link www.tvxs.gr/c37 i like very your job and i want to have a interview for my show
let me know what you think about my ideas thanks george
Hey compadre queremos reeditar todo el material de audio y de visual (posters, tickets) que hizo esta divertida banda de Punk-Oi!-Hardcore entre 1987 y 1998. Los mismísimos TOY DOLLS de Barcelona!!!
Hey compadre queremos reeditar todo el material audio–visual que hizo esta divertida banda de Punk-Oi!-Hardcore entre 1987 y 1997. Los mismísimos TOY DOLLS de Barcelona!!!
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