Christina O'Connor | The Roanoke Times

The Two Funerals: Shannon Le Corre, Dominique Montgomery and Abby Cox.

In the winter of 2004, then Blacksburg High School students Dominique Montgomery, Shannon Le Corre and Abby Cox formed The Two Funerals, a rock trio that what would become one of the most politically conscious and vocally feminist bands ever to play Blacksburg and the surrounding area.

What has made The Two Funerals so remarkable in its nearly two years gigging steadily, other than the fact that the group members are young, is that they have something to say about women's rights and female empowerment and they say it loudly in the form of a tight, punk-influenced rock band.

They recently recorded their first full-length album at Tim Hope's Q Studios in Floyd County and will release it in the next few weeks. Several tracks are available to preview on CRAM Jams

But with the recent of departure of Le Corre, 18, to Virginia Commonwealth University, and Cox, 18, to William and Mary (Montgomery, 20, is a sophomore at Virginia Tech), The Two Funerals will tell you they aren't breaking up, but it will surely be a long hiatus.

The group recently looked back at their formation and discussed this new phase for their band.

Do you remember how it all began?

Montgomery: I was in high school, and I heard they needed a drummer.

Le Corre: I think most of our songs were pretty embarrassing looking back.

Cox: We had written, like, two songs.

Montgomery: And we still play one of them, Perversion. The words have changed, but we still play it.

How about the name?

Montgomery: We tossed around a couple of names that I don't remember, and then finally we picked The Two Funerals. It was pretty random at the time but gained meaning later when on two separate occasions two baby birds wandered into our practice space in my dad's basement and then both eventually died. We had bird funerals in the yard, two of them.

You performed live in front of an audience for the first time at Blacksburg High School's Annual Art Show and for the first time at a bar at Champs Sports Bar. Do you remember what the first show felt like? Were you nervous, and did you know you had something special?

Le Corre: It was horrifying. A lot of stuff went wrong, but the first time we played out at Champs it was fun because people responded well and we were less nervous.

Montgomery: I definitely remember being nervous; it was pretty intense to go from playing once in our high school to playing at Champs in front of more than just classmates. I don't remember thinking we had anything special, really. I was just excited to play with our friends [the band] The Lapdogs.

Where do you like playing the most, house parties or bars?

Montgomery: It sure helps when your audience knows who you are and your songs.

Cox: And it really makes it when you're playing in front of your friends. That has really grown recently, with more people into the local scene.

Your run in Blacksburg came to an end recently with a show held at Oasis World Market. You played the first show ever held at the venue, which has recently begun holding weekly shows for area bands after store hours. But you left the door open for future shows by naming the event "The Two Funeral's Last Show (for awhile)." Describe what Oasis became for you.

Le Corre: It became "our" venue almost; us and a bunch of bands from Blacksburg have come to play there a lot over the past year. ... It's good for underage kids, too, because we don't have to deal with age limits.

Montgomery: People come there to enjoy the music, not just to get drunk like some will do when you play at bars. [Owner] Alan [Moore] has been so helpful in bringing back the local scene and letting crazy kids play music in his business. It shows how trusting he is and how much he cares about local music. We're really happy to be a part of that. ... I hope that it continues to be an amazing venue.

And as for the new album? Did you have any goals, plans, ideas in mind when you went into Tim Hope's studio in Floyd?

Montgomery: I think we just had it in mind that we were going to be playing less often once Shannon and Abby went to college, and we really wanted the songs we have so far to be recorded well, so we could have something tangible after all the shows and practicing we've done over the years.

Have you sold or given out many discs? Have you received much feedback?

Le Corre: I've played it for my closest friends and some family, and the responses have been very positive. Hopefully this will help us get onto some sort of label and do lots of interesting musician things, like touring and stuff.