Bred on a steady diet of guitar driven 80’s & early 90’s rock, Casey Weaver grew up idolizing those heros and wanted to be a musician himself. Focusing heavily on music theory and vocal lessons in high school, he begin his musical career at age 13, playing in local original and cover bands in bars before he was of legal age, recorded his first album at 17 and played to audiences of 500+ by the age of 18. In 2001, after spending time on the local Phoenix scene as a spectator, Casey answered an ad in the local New Times paper for The Furnace, who he knew as a popular local band. “I had heard of The Furnace before and knew they were already one of the top local bands. To try out for them was an honor.” After speaking with Dan Drago on the phone, Casey knew he had found a musical soul mate. “As soon as we both started mentioning Century Media bands like Only Living Witness and Stuck Mojo, I knew this was for me!” 

Showing up for a meeting in person provided a shock for Casey. “Rex and Dan were sitting in the jam room and I immediately looked at Rex and thought "that doesn’t look like the singer I saw on the cd." When I found out it was a different singer I almost walked out. Kevin’s voice is one of the main things that attracted Weaver to The Furnace. “I’m glad I stayed”. After landing the spot of 2nd guitarist in The Furnace in June 2001 with no audition (Dan didn’t even really hear me play), Weaver fully immersed himself into the band. “I just saw these two core members (Burch & Drago) who just had the band they loved dragged through the mud, trying desperately to continue on and I knew they had something great so I put everything I had into helping them make the band great again, better than it was before!” 

After going through a painful lineup change by letting go of Rex VanDine (Rex is a super nice guy & a great songwriter) the band added bassist Dave Garcia and vocalist David “Army” Armstrong. “We grilled Army pretty hard but we wanted the best and I think we got it. He took on a big role in the band and we wanted to make sure he could handle it. It’s tough when you have five guys who are passionate about the way they feel; you’re gonna have friction. I think almost everyone in the band was close to being fired at one time (except dan). We butted heads more than once but I still have a lot of respect for Army and think he’s great. He may not even know I feel that way until he reads this.” On Dave Garcia “Garcia’s just a great guy! Very genuine dude, just wants to play his bass and party. Great live performer. I love Garcia.” Casey entered into a home studio to record his first offering with The Furnace on the disc Beyond What’s Become. “That disc was great, more so now then I’ve ever realized. We felt new, excited and sorta invincible and it came across on the cd”. With furnace classic tunes like Killer Inside, Turning Hands and Look Down Upon Me coming to life, they knew they had something. “When I wrote the riff to ‘Look Down’ I just knew it was gonna be a crusher and Hands just sounded so mean! I loved it.” After BWB’s release, the band started gaining popularity in leaps and bounds, winning awards, selling merchandise, gaining local and national press and began receiving airplay in Phoenix, Las Vegas and other national markets. “It really started getting big, fast. People were excited to meet us and shake my hand, wearing our tshirts. It was amazing!” In Dec 2003, The Furnace entered Larry Elyea’s Minds Eye studios to record a single. The song Comfort, came from Casey out of personal experience and remains one of his favorite songs to date. “I wrote that riff on an acoustic, singing the main chorus line over and over, just remembering some very intense feelings. Army did an incredible job on the lyrics and Larry’s recording is one of the most powerful things I’ve ever heard!” 

Jan 2004 saw the departure of longtime drummer Paul Burch, replaced by wunderkind Ryan Eibling. “Ryan is just a flat out awesome drummer! It really took the band to a new level” After that “I remember Dan referring to me as one of the ‘core members’. He may have not realized but it was a very touching moment for me.” “Ryan’s first show was at a BOB at the Hard Rock and we packed in like 400 people and they were losing their minds over us. His second gig was the finals at the Hard Rock in which we won the competition with a $2000 prize. He may not admit it, but I know he was blown away.” Mid 2004, The Furnace started work on their next cd Find a Way with grammy producer Jeff Thomas. “It was really surreal. This dude with a grammy on his mantle wanted to help us, invited us to his house to eat all his food, had us in a huge studio.” Although a long and arduous process, FAW was released on June 2005 to a packed house at local hangout Joe’s Grotto. “That was our second CD release at Joe’s Grotto and the 2nd time we got close to breaking the fire codes.” FAW had the professional polish, with a real producer at the helm; the musicianship of the band at a new level, all the way to the CG produced CD cover. High points included Make Me Bleed, All of This (“amazingly beautiful”), and See The Lie (“another crusher”). “At that point, “we were a machine. Very fuckin lethal as a live act. There wasn’t a local band in town that I wouldn’t put us up against.” 

2006 sees Casey on a new adventure. “A weight lifted off of me when the band broke up. I miss it immensely but I want to learn how to have fun with music again and take some chances.” Musical offerings from Weaver have already begun to surface including an acoustic cover of Iron Maiden’s Wasted Years and an original blues tinged SRV-type tune called Slack, both featuring all instruments and vocals by Casey and all coming from Weaver’s personal home studio. Casey also plans on completing work on four unreleased Furnace tunes as well as joining other bands to “keep my chops up and have some fun” and perhaps even a 3-piece blues band featuring Casey and Burch. “Dan is the best writing partner I’ve ever had and a huge influence on my musical development so I’m almost certain we’ll continue working together. I have a lot of respect for all the guys in the furnace so I would have no reservations about working with any of them again.” What did he take away from his experience in The Furnace? “Tons of great memories, being on the road, the acoustic thing Army and I did at KOMP live on the air (holy crap was I nervous), all the enjoyment the band brought to so many people, the excitement, the feeling when the band was tight! It’s amazing that a song you write in a cramped little jam room can have that kind of impact on an audience. I’m definitely a different player than I was then when I joined. The Furnace taught me how to play for the song, and not just be a player. Now, I probably consider myself a songwriter first and a guitarist second. I’ve met some amazing musicians and some fans that were just remarkable. I was a fan of the band before I got in, while I was in, and now on the way out, The Furnace is still one of my fav bands! As far as I’m concerned we succeeded on several different levels and I consider myself extremely lucky. I can’t wait for the reunion!” 

An exclusive only available here! From Casey Weaver his version of the Maiden Classic, Wasted Years.

Email Casey Weaver directly.