#codyweissinger

Now, right away, if you don’t like any rock music, you probably won’t like their music. However, the people themselves are great people to follow and interact with anyway. The Funeral Portrait (or I might refer to them as TFP) are an American rock group from Atlanta, Georgia. They consist of Lee Jennings, the lead singer. Cody Weissinger, the guitarist. Rob Weston, the bassist. And Homer, the drummer. When you search on google, it says they are rock, but a summary the lead singer wrote says emotional rock. They are influenced greatly by My Chemical Romance, a very popular rock band. If you like MCR, you most likely will enjoy TFP. In this essay i will explain why The Funeral Portrait is the best because of their stage presence, quality of music, and their niceness as people.

I was drawn to The Funeral Portrait at first because of their stage presence. My friend invited me to a concert which included about 7 bands, none of which I had heard of before. It was almost 6 months ago, and my memory isn’t the best but I’m pretty sure TFP was the first band to play. Immediately my friend and I were praising them, in awe of how they rocked the stage. Lee’s singing is powerful, and although he doesn’t interact with the crowd much, everyone pays attention. Rob spins around with his bass, hopping and moving freely. Cody provides amazing backup vocals, and also moves around freely. Homer drums greatly, and gets really into the songs. Overall the vibe is spectacular, especially with how they have the stage set up. They have flags available as merch (which will come into play later also), which drape over some things on stage. Incense burns in places, making it an immersive experience. Stage presence is a must for gigging bands, and boy do they have it.

Stage presence is one thing, and it rarely works without good music, which The Funeral Portrait also makes. TFP has a variety of rock music, from some heavier stuff to some newer alt-rock. Their most popular song is Casanova (C’est la Vie). I love this song a lot, it’s their most popular for a reason. This song is in their first EP with six songs, titled “For the Dearly Departed”, which was released in 2014. Their only full length album out to date is titled “A Moment of Silence”, and from this album comes one of my favorites, ‘Cerulean’. Between that album, released in 2016, and now, there are a few singles. All of these are ‘The Crash’, ‘Flowers in the Attic’, ‘Holy Water’, and ‘Paper Mache Man’. A new album is being teased, and will almost certainly come out within a year. I’m sure it will be amazing, as I love and appreciate every single song they have out so far.

With new, amazing music, The Funeral Portrait is almost constantly touring, and you can have the chance to meet them. This past summer my friend and I saw them twice in 2 weeks, at the same venue. Since TFP is a relatively small band, they work their merch booth after they are done playing. Lee is usually the one manning the station, and is unbelievably nice. The first show, my friend and I went over for free posters they were giving out. Lee was there, and he was ridiculously nice. While I was checking out the rest of the merch, I saw a large flag that I really liked. Stupidly, I only brought $20 dollars, thinking I’d just get water or something. The flag was $30 dollars, but since Lee is so generous, he let me have the flag for $20. This really shows how amazing he is, because that was the first show we’d been too, first time we’d even heard of them, and had never met him before. We also talked a little bit about bands we liked, which was cool. Lee took pictures with us, and we also got pictures with the whole band at the second show we went to. At the second show, we asked Lee about the polaroids they were selling that we knew about, and he reserved them for us and even came to get us when they were finished printing. He rounded up the boys from backstage and we took a picture. None of the other guys really talked, but they were nice enough to take a picture. Cody and Homer retreated backstage again, but Rob stayed out at the merch, and he spoke a little. Since then, my friend and I have spoken to them on instagram as well, and they reply like friends. Not only is The Funeral Portrait an outstanding band, but they are also friends.