Furnaceface

Furnaceface are a Canadian indie rock band and have been established as one of Canada's most successful independent bands.

The band, formed in Ottawa in 1989, consists of vocalist and guitarist Pat Banister, vocalist and bassist Tom Stewart and drummer Dave Dudley. Marty Jones was a founding member as well, but left in the mid-90s after re-locating to Vancouver. Furnaceface evolved out of Fluid Waffle, which also included guitarist and vocalist Steve D'Annunzio and broke up in 1989. Furnaceface started playing shows later in 1989 and in 1990 they released their first single “Sucked into Drugland” on Skull Duggery Records. After they made their first single they toured across the U.S. and Canada. Their first cassette was Let It Down, which was released in 1989 and was mainly recorded at Sound of One Hand Studios in Ottawa by Marty Jones. Marty Jones also recorded their second cassette in 1991 titled Just Buy It. Marty Jones then joined the band playing keyboards and guitar. With the new member in the band, the members decided to change their names to Pat Badmister/ Badminister, Mr. Poopyhead (Tom Stewart), and Dave Deadly. After the cassette version sold out of Just Buy It Furnaceface went to Cargo Records to release Just Buy It on CD. Furnaceface also released their 2 next albums, This Will Make You Happy (1994) and unsafe@anyspeed (1996) with Cargo Records. Around the time of their decision to release Just Buy It with Cargo Records, Furnaceface decided to start a festival, called Furnacefest, to promote local bands as well as larger acts. Furnaceface would release another album in 1999 titled And the Days are Short Again… which had the single “Heartless” on it. In 1995 Marty Jones decided to leave the band to concentrate on being a producing and co-running Sound of One Hand Studios. Around 1999 Pat Banister moved to Vancouver to work as an art director in the film industry. With Pat Banister in Vancouver, Dave Dudley and Tom Stewart have joined with Blake Jacobs of Hot Piss to create Manpower who perform occasionally around Ottawa.Other area musicians, including Ian Tamblyn, Jim Bryson and Joshua Murray have also contributed as guest musicians.

The band are nominally still active, but have not released an album since 2000.

During a live performance in 1997 Tom walked into a wall of flames, after receiving 1st degree burns the show was halted but the musician made a full recovery with no scarring.

Tom also had a brief solo career as a country & western singer, his act was called Slo'Tom & The Horseshit Heroes and has released an album, Liquor’s My Lover.

Music

Their music includes everything from heavy riffs to classic pop as well as ska, punk, dance and 60s garage. Their lyrics can be humorous, as in “I’m Getting Fat,” and “Too Many Nuts.” They also have lyrics that comment on local and global issues such as “Nobody to Vote For,” a commentary on the federal election, and “We Love You, Tipper Gore” about Tipper Gore, the PMRC and the censorship debate in the 1980s.

Videos

In 1993, Furnaceface won the Canadian Music Video Association Award for the best independent video. Furnaceface also made videos for “(If You Love Her) Would You Buy Her A Gun” and “How Happy Do You Want to be?” (which Dave Dudley's daughter appears in) off of their album, This Will Make You Happy. They also made videos for “Heartless” off of the album and the days are short again and “Slip and Stumble” off of their album unsafe@anyspeed.

Discography

* "Let it Down" (1989)
* "Just Buy It" (1991)
* "This Will Make You Happy" (1994)
* "unsafe@anyspeed" (1996)
* "And the Days Are Short Again..." (1999)
* "Clobbering Time" (2000)

External links

* [http://eyevocal.ottawa-anime.org/furnaceface/ Furnaceface: homepage@anyspeed]
* [http://www.crudsound.com/furnace/ Crudsound: Soundtech for Furnaceface]