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Month: September 2021

On Community, Nostalgia, and Attending Furnace Fest

Garrett Lemons

The last time that Furnace Fest happened at the Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama, I was thirteen and music festivals weren’t even on my radar, let alone any band on the 2003 line-up. As I sit here eighteen years later, it’s hard to chart the trajectory of how the 2020 (er, 2021*, you know why) reincarnation of Furnace Fest came to embody every aspect of my life in the interim years, but I’m going to try and do my best to explain what that weekend meant to me.

It is almost a week after the event and I still haven’t gained my voice back, my neck throbs, and my lower back is coiled tight. My feet hurt, my legs are sore, and I’m a little sunburnt. I am definitely not eighteen anymore. Every second was worth it. Copeland wrote about love on 2014’s masterpiece Ixora saying, “I can make you feel young again,” and there is no time machine like a set list full of songs you love from your youth.

My buddy sent me a screenshot of the Furnace Fest line-up the day it was released in March and I assumed it was fake. I mean, look at it. One-time reunions of old favorites, first time opportunities for bands I’d been listening to since discovering these genres of music at 14. Even after attending two of the three days of the festival, numerous line-up drops and even more band additions, it doesn’t feel quite real looking at it or the final line-up. We made plans to go and I used my last remaining Biden Bucks set aside to have fun to purchase a two-day pass: Friday and Saturday were can’t miss days for me. A couple of artist announcements down the line and I bumped my ticket up to the full weekend, including a Thursday night pre-show.

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4 Minutes Later – “Holding on to Nothing” (Video Premiere)

4 Minutes Later
Adam Grundy

Releasing today is a great new music video from a band called 4 Minutes Later, who are from Ontario, Canada, for a song called “Holding On To Nothing.” This song gives off major Simple Creatures vibes, with a bit of pop-punk twist that the band calls “Alien Pop.” About the new single, the band shared:

To us, this is an end of summer type song. The seasons are changing and so are you. Instrumentally we were heavily inspired by the 80’s pop sounds that have been making a comeback and overall, the song gives off this ‘Late Summer, Sunset Cruise’ vibe. So roll down the windows and sing it!

If you enjoy this song as much as I do, I hope you will consider purchasing it at your favorite streaming service.

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Sturgill Simpson Cancels Shows

Sturgill Simpson
Jason Tate

Sturgill Simpson has canceled his upcoming shows due to “hemorrhage/ruptured” vocal cords:

Turns out I did in fact unfortunately hemorrhage /rupture my vocal chords after all. I am currently getting the best treatment available and should fully recover but its gonna be a long hot minute before I can return to stage.

I just wanted to turn this thing back on for about 15 seconds to say Im sorry to everyone that had tickets to the remaining shows and to thank everyone that has supported me over the years..its been an incredibly fun, rewarding, and educational journey.

I played all the venues I dreamed about playing as a kid, met all my heroes, even became friends with most of them, and got to work and play with some of the finest musicians on the planet over the years.

But on the bright side, now I can finally really focus on other pursuits and areas of passionate interest..like becoming the best hitman I can be.

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