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"Have you ever had an out of body experience?" | ||
Have you ever seen a Five Hundred Pound Furnace? If you answered no, neither have I. But, I have heard of the band named Five Hundred Pound Furnace. And I will let you in on a secret, they kick serious asses. If you are looking for some good hard pounding in your face rock and roll with a splash of metal and punk then Five Hundred Pound Furnace is what you need.
The lineup of Five Hundred Pound Furnace includes:
Bobby C - Drums, Pots, Pans
Vincent - Bass
Kyle Ellefson - Vocals, Random Obscenities
Dr Doug - Guitar, Vests
Recently, I was able to communicate with Bobby C via email who was king enough to set up this Interview.
Here is the final outcome of this interview:
Q. What aspect of making music excites you the most right now?
A. We are bringing back the big rock show full of energy as it was in the early 80’s. Writing tunes with heavy riffs and huge vocals. It’s very cool watching a mosh pit break out to our tunes.
Q. What aspect of making music gets you the most discouraged?
A. Money. Recording costs are very high if you want quality and it’s hard at this stage in the game to come up with that cash.
Q. What are you up to right now, music-wise? (Current or upcoming recordings, tours, extravaganzas, experiments, top-secret projects, etc).
A. We just finished playing a string of shows (last one opened up for State Of Shock) as well we are in the Bodog band battle (a world wide search for the next new thing) votes are needed www.bodogbattle.ca this is getting us more exposure to industry people, will we win??? Probably not, there are 7000 bands in this thing, but like I said it is exposure.
B. We are going to shooting a video starting in the next few weeks, for our tune Black Market War; it will be aired on Satellite TV. Dirt TV Starchoice Channel 323 and Express-Vu 258. The show times will be posted on our MySpace. www.myspace.com/500poundfurnace
Q. What's the most unusual place you've ever played a show or made a recording? How did the qualities of that place affect the show/recording?
A. We played at a party for Kyle’s brother in the back yard by the pool. We lined up in a straight line and you couldn’t hear anything….it was hilarious….have no idea how it sounded….I’m sure like crap….but they all cheered anyway.
Q. In what ways does the place where you live (or places where you have lived); affect the music you create, or your taste in music?
A. Winnipeg is probably one of the best places in Canada for original music; many a band has come out of here. There are tons of venues to play at of all sizes (our favorite is The Zoo-- they treat us great) So the city doesn’t inspire our song writing (we write tunes on things that happen day to day around the world or in our own back yard) The city gives us hope that we maybe just maybe have a chance to bust out. Also, the unforgiving winters give us time to practice.
Q. When was the last time you wrote a song? What can you tell us about it?
A. Our last tune written was about a month ago. “Crawl” it’s a low end and heavy groove. The tune is about addiction and how it eats away at you. We’ve played it at the past few shows and it seems to be quickly becoming a crowd favorite. We just got a new bass player so the writing has slowed down while he gets up to speed. But Nick has a tickle trunk full of ideas. Each one seems to be better than the last. Our song writing has greatly matured in the past year.
Q. As you create more music, do you find yourself getting more or less interested in seeking out and listening to new music made by other people...and why do you think that is?
A. We all love music, many different styles. It’s awesome to see what’s coming out new these days. We are influenced by the sounds of today all the way back to the start of Rock (and/ or) Roll. If it sounds good, then it is good, and we all have our own opinion as to what good is.
Q. Lately, what musical periods or styles do you find yourself most drawn to as a listener? (Old or new music? Music like yours or different from yours?)
A. Well, that one’s all over the board. I think if you started in the late sixties and work up to yesterday you’ll pretty much find that in our music. I can’t get enough of Godsmack (bobby), Nick is obsessed with Iron Maiden, and Kyle is a die hard Jeff Beck fan. We all agree that heavy rock filled with changes is something that we all like. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin that sort of thing. It’s great when a tune is going in one direction and then here comes the bridge?????…..” What the heck is that…..cool,” then back to the original groove. That’s what makes music exciting to us. Listen to Black Market War you coast along then in the middle it goes to double time, then some jungle beat on the toms then back to the original riff…..gives it some spice if you will.
Q. Name a band or musician, past or present, who you flat-out LOVE and think more people should be listening to. What's one of your all-time favorite recordings by this band/musician?
A. Ok now the fight begins…..give us a few hours to hash this one out. Issac, there are way too many to list as our opinions are all over the map and yet some how we all agree in the end. Judas Priest (Victim of Changes) Iron Maiden (any song they ever wrote) Black Sabbath (all the changes in the tunes), Godsmack (cause of the melodic drumming), Jeff Beck (mind blowing guitar), Tool (just flat out sick how do they think like that?) Led Zeppelin (need we say more?)…..well two hours have passed and we still haven’t answered your question….hahaha
Q. What's the saddest song you've ever heard?
A. The saddest song I’ve ever heard was written by myself when I was 13 years old. It was called “Life in a Prison Camp” I was inspired to write it after reading the novel “I Am David” a true story about a kid (12-13 years old) that had to watch his parents, family and friends get slaughtered in a camp during the Holocaust. I preformed the tune with my band (way back) and wished to this day I still had the words around. It’s mind blowing, the evil some will do.
Thanks for your time Isaac. To the readers stop by www.myspace.com/500poundfurnace and have a listen to our tunes posted…play it loud and smash things while doing it!!!
Special Thanks to Bobby C for setting this up for the band.
Photos used in this story were provided by Bobby C.
