Furnaze are a 3-piece Thrash Metal band based in London. Their motto:
METAL THERAPY á la FURNAZE! Musical expression of life's frustrations,
anger and aggression - construction vs. destruction. Krimson- guitar/vocals, Andie Cayne - bass & Matt Novak - drums.
Furnaze
Interview questions
Sahar: How did the band meet and how has the line-up changed since the beginning?
Sahar: How did the band meet and how has the line-up changed since the beginning?
Olivier: In the spring of 1998 I put an ad in the local paper,
looking for the fastest double bass drummer in town, influenced by Slayer,
Metallica, Pantera, Testament - to start a
cover band. Daniel Zeman answered the ad and we met at his practice
space a few days later. It didn’t take long for us to realise that we were full
of ideas, so we decided write our own songs and gradually replace the classic
cover songs in our live set. We had a few bass players, until we got Frank
Willems. Our first gig was in a local Irish Pub about a year later. We were
very surprised that the pub was packed. As soon as we finished our set, lots of
our friends suggested that we record an EP - so we did, with Lame brain
Society. It was very well received and it got us gigs everywhere. After a year
and half things started to fall apart. Being from Aachen, a small town in
Germany, without any major connections in the industry, plus no Myspace or Facebook,
I decided to move to London in order to increase our possibilities. I already
had all the songs written for the next EP “No stairway to heaven”, but you know
what it’s like, when moving to a big city it’s like starting all over again. So
I had to put the recordings on ice for a while. It’s during that time that I
met Andie Cayne. She played in several bands before, but was never really
satisfied with the music and the people she was dealing with. It’s funny when
you hear people talking about London being a Mecca for musicians. That may be
for non-metal, trendy ‘musos’, but as far as thrash and death is concerned… it’s
simply crap. Sure, you go out on a weekend and see all these posers coming out
of the woodwork bragging about how cool their band is and how they’re gonna get
big in no time… drinking… partying... playing once a month in their local pub in
front of their friends, throwing shapes as if they were playing stadiums, but
when it comes to the serious stuff, like rehearsals, showing up with your own
gear at gigs or even being able to play to a metronome - that’s a completely
different story all together. It’s not who you are, it’s who you know. Anyway
it’s a long way to the top, if you wanna rock n’ roll right? Andie and I
auditioned many drummers and I could write a whole book about that too, but in
the end we decided to fly Daniel for gigs. The No stairway to heaven EP got
very good reviews all over. It even got us to Dresden in Germany, the place
where we got, and still to this day have, an overwhelming response from our
fans. The downside of this was that Daniel was becoming a problem, especially
on tour, so we had to let him go in the end. It was hard for me, but we had to
do it in order bring the band to the next level. In 2009 we got an opening slot
for Tarja (ex Nightwish singer). For the first time we got to where we wanted
to be. 17 shows all over Europe. It was awesome. We were extremely lucky to
have Jason Bowld with us, who’s currently drumming with Axewound, on this tour.
Even though, being a thrash band, opening up for Tarja, the audience welcomed
us. The response was overwhelming. In 2010 we did a UK tour with Obituary. Here
again, we were extremely lucky and honoured to have Adrian Erlandsson,
legendary drummer in numerous bands like At the gates, The haunted, Cradle of
filth, Paradise Lost. Unfortunately, he wasn’t available to do the Romanian
tour. To our surprise or simply luck, a good friend of Andie put an ad up on
the Ziljian website mentioning that we had a tour coming up in the fall of
2010. That’s how got the best drummer this band has ever had: Matija Novak. For
all that time we had wasted so much time and money on numerous “drummers”, the
wait was finally over. He fit in right away. The Romanian tour was a huge success,
but the most important thing for me was that our band can now show its full
potential live. The following year we had fewer gigs in order to concentrate on
our first full length album.
S: If you were to describe the band’s music to someone who had never heard you before, what would you say?
O:Well, if you like the Bay Area stuff combined with Slayer
and Pantera, you will definitely LOVE FURNAZE.
S: What is your song writing process and how are the
different band members involved in the new album, None More Black?
O: I write all of the songs, send them to the other band
members and if there are any changes to be made, we discus it during our weekly
Skype meeting… and that’s pretty much it.
S: I love the energy in the song Fresse, from the new album.
Do you have a favourite song on the album and, if so, why?
O: Thanks, I wrote it for all those goons, who messed around in
the past, you know who you are!!! I basically like ‘em all on the new record,
but if I had to choose only one. It would have to be Ultimate Sacrifice. That
song has got everything as far as I’m concerned: good riffs, crazy time
signatures, speed, aggression and a blistering solo.
S: Do you have any major influences and do these differ from
your influences when you first started out?
O: The guy that got me into playing guitar is Prince. That 1984
seventeen minute epic live version of Purple Rain still kicks my butt to this
day. Tony Iommi, Billy the reverend G., Brian May, Angus Young, Dimebag
Darrell, Jimi Hendrix, Andy Summers... the list goes on and on…
S: Have there been any major breakthrough moments for the
band, where the sound or style of playing has changed significantly?
O: That only happened recently with Fredrik Nordstroem, giving us the sound we actually wanted, which is easier said than done. Not to mention
any names.
S: Do you have a favourite venue or town that you
particularly love playing?
O: Any venue with a decent, good, participating crowd is always
a blast. Any musician will tell you that.
S: What is your fanbase like? Any crazy or particularly
enthusiastic fans?
O: The Dresden fans are simply nuts, and not just one or two.
You simply have to go to our Youtube page to notice that they are all berserkers.
S: What are your hopes or plans for the future?
O: We are looking for a good PR company or maybe somebody crazy
enough to manage us for a half way decent deal. Any hopes? Well, keeping my
feet firm on the ground and taking it day by day, making the music that I love
and when the fun stops, maybe do something else, who knows, what the future
brings, you never know.
S: Anything else you would like to share with our readers?
O: Go to:
and if you like what you hear and see, always remember to
press ‘Like’ and come to our shows!!!
Interview by Sahar Vagan
