Furnace Fest

Furnace Fest is an American music festival held over three days at the Sloss Furnaces National Historical Landmark in Birmingham, Alabama.^[3] It ran annually each August from 2000 to 2003, and has since resumed each September since 2021.^[4][1] As of 2022, Furnace Fest has been held six times, with its most recent edition taking place from September 23–25, 2022.^[4][1]

Furnace Fest
Furnace Fest's logo since 2019.
Genre	Christian hardcore[1] emotional hardcore[2] hardcore punk[2] metalcore[2] post-hardcore[2] punk rock[1]
Dates	August, September, October
Location(s)	Sloss Furnaces, Birmingham, Alabama
Coordinates	33°31′10″N 86°47′35″W / 33.51936024°N 86.79293104°W / 33.51936024; -86.79293104
Years active	2000–2003, 2021–present
Founded by	Chad Johnson
Organised by	Takehold Records (2000–2002) Anxiety Records (2003–2004) Furnace Fest LLC (2019–present)
Website	furnacefest.us furnacefestcommunity.com

The festival was founded in 2000 by Chad Johnson, then-owner of Birmingham-based Christian hardcore record label Takehold Records.^[5][6] Though a great many performers at Furnace Fest were Christian hardcore, metalcore and emo bands (including most bands signed to the aforementioned label),^[7][8] the event itself did not focus on religious beliefs.^[9][1] After Takehold Records was bought-out by Tooth & Nail Records in March 2002,^[10] which required Johnson moving to Seattle, Washington, the future of the festival was uncertain.^[11] Johnson successfully hosted a third edition in August 2002, and then briefly considered relocating the festival to Seattle.^[11][7] In August 2003, a DVD containing footage of Furnace Fest 2002 was released by 3B Studios.^[12]

In 2003, the organization of Furnace Fest was passed on to Shannon Schlappi, then-owner of Independence, Missouri-based hardcore record label Anxiety Records, who successfully organized a fourth edition of the festival at the same location.^[13][14][15] Schlappi intended to continue the festival in 2004,^[16] but due to heavy financial losses incurred from the 2003 event, and the owners of the Sloss Furnaces demanding an increase in rental price for the site, Furnace Fest was put on hold.^[15] Schlappi hoped to resume the festival in 2005, but it did not happen.^[15]

In mid-2019,^[17] Johnson revived Furnace Fest and scheduled the fifth edition to take place from September 18–20, 2020.^[18][19][20] The official press release of the revived festival, along with news of the first confirmed band to be booked, Beloved, was announced on November 29, 2019.^[20] A Nashville, Tennessee-based limited liability company, Furnace Fest LLC, was formed on April 10, 2020, to control the legal interests of the festival.^[21][22] The new corporate structure is a four-way partnership divided between Johnny Grimes (based in Birmingham), Mike Ziemer (based in Dallas, Texas), Ryan Luther and Chad Johnson (both based in Nashville, Tennessee).^[23][4] On June 1, 2020, it was announced that the festival's fifth event had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and most bands were automatically re-booked to perform at the rescheduled event, set to take place between May 14–16, 2021.^[24][25][26] By March 2021, the event had again been rescheduled, this time for September 24–26, 2021.^[27][28] The festival's sixth event took place from September 23–25, 2022.^[29][30][2]