The beginning.
In the spring of 1997, Dan Drago received a phone call from Rock Rollain to audition for a band that was looking for a second Guitar Player. At that audition is where Dan Drago and Kevin Flowers met. After about an hour, Dan was certain that he did not want the gig due to the other guitarist writing style and lack of enthusiasm. As Dan was leaving and loading up his gear, Kevin approached Dan about starting their own band together. On that day The Furnace was born. Dan and Kevin began to meet 3 nights a week at Kevin's house and began writing songs. From these writing sessions songs like Broken Man, Seed, Thorne & Raise The Dead were born. While Dan & Kevin continued writing they knew that they needed a Bass Player & Drummer to round out their lineup. They also knew that there obvious choice for Bass was Rock Rollain. After about a month of calling Rock, he decided to play Bass for The Furnace. There was now only one piece missing from The Furnace line up. A Drummer. Dan, Kevin & Rock went through many auditions until they found the perfect fit. Paul Burch auditioned for The Furnace in October of 1997, and was asked to become their permanent drummer to round out The Furnace line up. With a full lineup now intact The Furnace began concentrating all of their efforts on writing material. Throughout all 9 years of The Furnace this is by far the most prolific period in the bands career. The Band was on fire on how fast the were cranking out new tunes. During this period they wrote Bury My Bones, Open Your Eyes, Dead Man, Darkness Lies Within, Illusion, 4 Wall World and many others. Now that they had the material The Furnace thought it would be best to start playing out. These are the years where The Furnace really cut their teeth on making a name for themselves in Phoenix. Playing any and all shows at many famous Arizona bars like The Mason Jar, Joe's Grotto, Boston's & Hollywood Alley, The Furnace were making a name for themselves on the local scene. During this period The Furnace cut a live CD recorded on 08/23/98 @ Joe's Grotto. Containing 16 originals and 2 covers this is the only recording to feature the original line up of Dan, Kevin, Paul & Rock. We have uploaded some of these rare live tracks to listen to. Thorne I Don't Care Wound Raise The Dead Dead Man Open Your Eyes Brand On You Bury My Bones Seed Broken Man Prelude to A Child/The Child Primal Cry 4 Wall World Walk Within You Time Illusion Darkness Lies Within Unfortunately at this time there was a rift over musical differences and that led to Rock Rollain leaving the band. This would be a trend that The Furnace would face for their entire career. The Furnace & Rock left in the middle of Recording their first studio album Only Ashes Remain. Only Ashes Remain was recorded at Octane Studio's by Josh Abner. Left in a bind The Furnace brought in Jeff Wagner to finish the albums Bass Parts. However Jeff's stay was short lived as he was utilized as a session Bass Player for the album. Released in 1999 Only Ashes Remains featured 7 original songs: Thorne Raise The Dead Open Your Eyes Bury My Bones Primal Cry The Child Darkness Lies Within With the release of Only Ashes Remain The Furnace found themselves with out a Bass Player. Dan, Kevin & Paul started auditions right away to fill the position that Rock vacated. Through the audition process The Furnace choose Joe Noyes to be their new Bass Player. Joe was definitely very enthusiastic about being in the band and lit a new fire under the band. At this time local Radio DJ Larry Mac at KUPD had started to spin Bury My Bones on his Locals Only show to rave reviews. Clocking in at almost 7 minutes Larry asked The Furnace to go back into the studio to recut the Track and make it a little more radio friendly. Also working at KUPD at the time was Paul Surra who was producer on the #1 Arizona Morning Radio Show, The Dave Pratt Show. Paul had known the band for a few years and wanted to work with them to help produce the song. Working along side Paul was Marty Lucas. This would start a partnership and friendship that would last for quite a few years. With the reworked Bury My Bones, KUPD started spinning the tune on it's local show. In fact, it was also starting to get play on Dave Pratt's show as well. The song was picked as one of the top ten songs from an unsigned band for the year 2000 on Larry Mac's local show. To thicken up their sound The Furnace decided to bring in a second guitar player in 2000. Their first choice was Gary Woodside who had previously played with Paul Burch together in local favorites Firedancer. This lineup was given the coveted opening slot for Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society. A highlight for the bands career. Gary's tenure with the band didn't last long and he decided to pursue other musical interests. Back to the drawing board The Furnace then brought in Tim Crieger. Tim also had a history of playing in Firedancer with Paul. With their full lineup back intact The Furnace went back to consistently playing live and building up its fan base for the rest of 2000. The decided to go back and record 3 more songs with Marty Lucas and Paul Surra. With the Release of their 2001 Demo, The Furnace were growing as song writers. The Demo included: Tar Borrowed Time 2 Faced Savior Bury My Bones 2000 The production on the new Demo was light years ahead of what they had worked on as a band up until this point. Tensions had begun to surface and the first to leave was Joe Noyes. The Furnace brought in Dale Collins to round out it's lineup. The lineup of Dan Drago, Kevin Flowers, Paul Burch, Tim Crieger & Dale Collins would prove to be the final lineup before the biggest shake up in the Band's History. In the beginning of 2001 Kevin Flowers, Tim Crieger & Dale Collins all left The Furnace to form their own band. Tensions had been rising for awhile especially between Dan & Kevin. Mainly over musical direction. Dan and Paul found themselves standing in an alley behind the Mason jar after a show confused and all alone. |
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With the departure of Kevin Flowers, Tim Crieger and Dale Collins, Dan Drago and Paul Burch faced a major crossroads. Should they continue on as The Furnace. After many meetings the two of them decided to forge ahead and continue on, reaching for their vision of what The Furnace was supposed to be.
The first thing Dan and Paul did was place an add for a singer. Paul and Dan knew that replacing someone of Kevin Flower's caliber was going to be very difficult. After a tedious search, Dan and Paul brought in Rex Van Dine to be the new singer of The Furnace. Right away Dan, Paul & Rex hit it off personally. They really gelled in the band room and that was showing in their songwriting. This is where some of the best songs in The Furnace catalog were written, Killer Inside, Slave & My Despair. The next piece of the puzzle was finding a second guitar player to bring in to play along side Dan. After a 2 hour telephone conversation, Dan Drago knew he had found his man. Casey Weaver was hired as the second guitar player of The Furnace in 2001. Hiring Casey was the biggest turning point in the history of The Furnace. Casey would show to be an incredible songwriter, guitar player, team player and also took over a lot of the business roles that Dan and Paul had been doing from the onset of The Furnace. Needing a new Bass Player to finalize their lineup, The Furnace chose Josh Smith out of many auditions. With a full lineup intact the band continued writing more songs. Here is where they created Look Down Upon Me, Lost, Empty and brought in a rocking cover of I Ran. Feeling like they had to prove themselves, The Furnace went back out to playing a ton of live shows in the Arizona area. Rebuilding their fan base was tough to do but with the songs they were writing and the presence of Rex as a front man, things were starting to turn around for the band. At the beginning of 2002 Dan realized that something was not quite right within the Furnace camp. Even though Rex proved himself to be an incredible songwriter, Dan didn't feel that his voice fit the style of music that they were playing. Over a very rough band meeting The Furnace decided to part ways with Rex. With Rex's departure you could see that Josh was starting to grow uneasy within the band and tensions started rising with him. Even though this lineup of The Furnace never recorded, we have uploaded a lot of rare live performances for you to see. This version of The Furnace was so important especially to Dan. It showed that he can continue on as a songwriter and the songs that he wrote with Rex stand as some of his favorites. Even though it was short lived this lineup is just as important as any lineup in The history of The Furnace. |
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With the loss of Rex Vandine; Dan Drago, Paul Burch, Casey Weaver, and Josh Smith went on the pain staking journey of finding a new vocalist. The four remaining members again went to work on finding another singer. This time they were very adamant on finding the right person to fill the position.
The word was out that The Furnace was looking for a singer and people came out of the woodwork to audition for the band. This process took over two months of auditions with over 40 vocalists from the Phoenix area to choose from. After they narrowed down their decision to 3 singers they were dealt another blow. Josh Smith did not have his heart into The Furnace as he still believed that Rex should still be the singer for the band. In addition, the one singer he really liked during the auditions didn't make the cut for the final 3. With that, Josh decided to leave the band. Dan, Paul and Casey believed in themselves and they also believed that they had found the right singer throughout all of the auditions that they had just been through. After being asked to come back three times The Furnace decided to name Canadian David Armstrong as their new lead singer. During David's audition The Furnace wrote a brand new song entitled Turning Hands. Right away they new that their was a magic in the air. Hiring Army was one of the most crucial decisions in the bands history. With a huge legacy to live up to, Army really stepped up to the plate and was not afraid of any expectations put on him. He brought his amazing voice to the old songs and the new ones they were writing as well. Army just oozed melody. Everything about him was likeable. He had an amazing voice and a great personality. He would be the face of The Furnace for the rest of their career. After hiring Army, the band started to work on songs and also began its search for a new Bass Player. It had seemed that The Furnace had just come out of auditions and were once again going through the process again. After many auditions from people who didn't know how to work their gear, people bringing guns to their audition and a Bass Player that only had 2 strings on their Bass because that was all he needed to use, The Furnace knew they were in for a long drawn out audition process. When David Garcia showed up a night before his scheduled audition to pick up a copy of some songs and see The Furnace play live, they knew right then that the had found their guy. After Garcia's audition The Furnace quickly offered him the final position in the band. With a full lineup intact again, The Furnace quickly started working on their next Full Length CD. The Furnace had 11 songs prepared and worked very hard to show the two Dave's the material as they just joined the Band. Army and Garcia both did a tremendous job working on the record as they had hardly no time at all to work with the material. At the last minute Dan Drago brought a brand new composition to the guys that he had just wrote, Say Goodbye. It would be the only all acoustic track The Furnace would record. With now 12 songs ready to go they were ready to begin recording their new album. Recording began in May of 2002 in the house of Casey's brother Joel Weaver. Joel engineered the album while Casey and Dan produced the sessions. Tensions were high as this was the first time the band was looking to self produce themselves. The recording process seemed to take forever as the band was recording every weekend and any weeknight that was available at Joel's house. After many months the album was starting to take form and they could sense something magical was happening. In December of 2002 The Furnace Released Beyond What's Become. Songs included: Look Down Upon Me My Despair Turning Hands Killer Inside Lost Slave Two Faced Savior Empty Tar I Ran Take Me Down Say Goodbye The band had really found its groove with their songwriting as this was some of the best material they had written to date. Furnace staples like Look Down Upon Me, Killer Inside, Slave, and the brand new Turning Hands. In addition, it has lost gems like Empty, Say Goodbye, Lost and My Despair. The Furnace also rerecorded Two Faced Savior, Tar and a reworked Take Me Down. Finally, it also contained a manic cover of Flock Of Seagulls, I Ran. Reviews from The Phoenix New Times said, "a must-hear cover of A Flock of Seagulls' classically-dramatic 1982 synth hit "I Ran" (Remember the video with all the mirrors and the dude with the weird hair?). The Furnace darkly recreates the icy keyboard work that introduces the original -- then promptly cranks up the volume, converting the electro-noise to brontosaurus guitar work, wrapping the vocals in monotone overdubs. Pump in an assaulting guitar solo and a heightened sense of dramatics, and you have a genuinely great metal song." Respected Metal journalist Martin Popoff had this to say, "Making soundwaves with their inspiring live shows, The Furnace create a grinding, pummeling modern metal sound that has nothing to do with nu, the band's songwriting and sonourous vocals combining for memorable metal moments that recall Alice in Chains, Nickleback and the best from stoner rock." A respected Rock and Metal magazine boldly stated, "It's only a matter of time before this band is known nationwide" - Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles Magazine 04/03. In addition, The Furnace won the Dream To Reality Award for Best Metal album for 2002. It is still one of the highlights in the bands career. After playing shows to support Beyond What's Become, The Furnace had written their latest song Comfort. They knew they had something hot on their hands and went straight into Minds Eye Studios with producer Larry Elyea to record the single. Many people believe this to be The Furnace finest hour. Sadly, this would be the last recording with original Drummer Paul Burch. After 7 long years of playing in The Furnace, Paul had decided for many reasons that his ride had come to an end. Leaving with his head held high and proud of the many accomplishments he had accomplished with the Furnace, it was time for Paul to say goodbye. The band had a decision if they should carry on or call it a day. After a band meeting The Furnace decided that the had more to say. After a few auditions that were going nowhere, Dan received a call from local drummer Ryan Eibling. "Sometimes you just know when you speak to someone on the phone if you have the right guy. I knew with Casey and I also knew instantly with Ryan" says guitarist Dan Drago. Ryan Eibling was hired on the spot as the new drummer for The Furnace. Feeling rejuvenated, The Furnace quickly went back out playing live to show off their new drummer. During this time The Furnace were itching to get back into the studio and started writing new tunes to record. During these initial sessions the songs, Make Me Bleed, All Of This, Find A Way and a reworked See The Lie were being written. Ryan brought a whole new style to the band and let the band expand their sound more. After debating on what studio to go into and record the new CD at, fate would step in and solve the answer for the band. The single Comfort would find a way into the hands of Grammy Award winning Engineer and Producer Jeff Thomas. Out of the blue Army received a call from Jeff wanting to record the band. Jeff's resume speaks for itself; he brings over a decade of major-label level experience to producing. He has earned 7 Platinum and 3 Gold Records working at such renowned LA studios as the Village Recorder, Royaltone, Sunset Sound, and Conway, with notable producers like David Foster, Trevor Horn, Nile Rodgers, and Tony Visconti. He also won a Grammy working with legendary producer Quincy Jones. Among his credits he counts Don Henley, Rod Stewart, Smashing Pumpkins, Metallica, Peter Gabriel, Paula Abdul, and the Rolling Stones. Can you believe that he wanted to add The Furnace to that list! Recording began on the new Furnace CD in the middle of 2004. Jeff also works at the Conservatory School of Music and he let the band record the drums at the conservatory for the seven song album. After the drums were nailed by Ryan, all of the recording moved to Jeff's house. Jeff and his family were kind enough to open up their house to the band for 6 months as the band worked on the album. Jeff really pushed the band as he made them record take after take. It was a tedious process but it was well worth the effort and wait. Released towards the summer of 2005, the Furnace released Find A Way to wonderful reviews. Songs included: Find A Way Make Me Bleed Comfort All Of This See The Lie Slave Look Down Upon Me The production and songwriting were top notch on this recording, their final studio release. The Furnace went back out to playing shows and won a Battle Of The Bands contest at the Hard Rock Cafe. Another highlight in the band's career. At this point the band really started to expand out of Phoenix. They started to play Flagstaff, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Songs from Find A Way started to find great Radio support from Laurie Steele @ KOMP in Las Vegas. She was a tremendous supporter of the band and they were always very grateful to Laurie for all of her help. At this time The Furnace began writing material for the follow up to Find A Way. With 4 songs done and another 3 - 4 being written, the CD would sadly never be recorded. About this time Army, Garcia and Ryan had all decided that they wanted to move on and try different things. All good things must come to an end. On July 2, 2006 The Furnace played and recorded its last show. The show was played @ Joe's Grotto and it was very fitting that they ended their career exactly where it started, at Joe's Grotto. Songs included are: Comfort Few and Far Between Don't Look Back Make Me Bleed Find A Way Slave Still Where I Stand Killer Inside Look Down Upon Me If you are looking for the David Armstrong fronted version of The Furnace, click here. There were many different incarnations of The Furnace over the nine years that they were together. No matter which era was your favorite, every member or every era appreciates all the support over the years. |
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In the summer of 2007, over a year since the final show of The Furnace. Original singer Kevin Flowers was in contact with Dan Drago and original drummer Paul Burch. The idea of jamming together again came up as a cool idea in the form of a reuniton with the original line up. Of course there was one problem, Kevin was living on the East Coast. The topic was put on the shelf as, "someday it will happen".
A few months later, with a random email from Paul Burch to Kevin Flowers saying only one sentence. "When are you coming back to AZ to put The Furnace back together?" As fate would have it, Kevin already had plans in motion to relocate back to Arizona. Original Bass player Rock Rollain was very excited to get together and play the old hits once again. So the wheels were in motion. The original line up from 1997-2000, were to reunite to see what could happen. Dan Drago, co-founder of The Furnace suggested the addition of Casey Weaver as a 2nd guitar player, whom has been in the band since 2002. This lineup of The Furnace hadn’t played together since 1998 with Rock and 2001 with Kevin. It was great getting together playing all of the older material again. Unfortunately Rock’s schedule was too hectic and he wasn’t able to commit to the project. Kevin had suggested Toby Revelle who Kevin had played with after he had left The Furnace. With Toby now in the band, The Furnace is looking to the future and are in the process of writing material for their next release. |
