‘Furnace’ laying metal preconceptions to waste

Jerry Hoffman

The Furnace has been on the air nearly 2 decades, and is the longest running show on WMHW, which shows the longevity and versatility of the metal genre. But heavy metal has been a constant subject for debate since it’s conception. It has always had to defend its validity to the music industry.
The current keepers of the faith, and hosts of The Furnace are, Jason Hundey (The Professor), Ryan Gregory (Dr. Blank), Don Rottenbucher (Memnoch) and Mike Debeliso (Doogie), with weekly guests Bryan Allen, Jackbouyee, and Adam Barrett (Dr. Thibes). It’s aired every Friday and Saturday night, from midnight to 3 a.m. Friday features the more underground, extreme bands, while Saturday has the more mainstream groups.
People may be turned-off by The Furnace, because of the stereotypes and misconceptions of heavy metal.
“The biggest stereotype that we want to abolish is that metal guys are all long-haired, devil worshiping psychos. Metal has always been tagged with that. When in actuality, most of us are normal people who just enjoy heavy, aggressive, intelligent music,” said Furnace guest Allen.
The Friday night show, deals with the more underground, lesser known extreme acts. These bands, for the great majority are from Europe and abroad, so most of the them have very little exposure in the U.S. Dr. Blank and The Professor have the task of presenting this unknown music to a skeptical audience.
Saturday’s show focuses a little more on the mainstream metal, with hosts Doogie and Memnoch. Doogie, who is relatively new (but rapidly learning) to the metal scene has been involved with the show since this summer. While Memnoch is a long-time metal fan, who has been with The Furnace since the fall semester of 1999.
“The hardest part of an underground show, with typically unknown bands, is that we have to predict what people don’t know they want to hear. I have complete faith though, in Dr. Blank and my ability to successfully navigate this task. He and I have been deeply involved in this scene. I am the editor of an underground metal fanzine, Eclipse, which Dr. Blank writes for also.” says Hundey.
“I hope people believe me when I say that in terms of pure talent and diverse creativity, the underground has never been stronger. Sure, mainstream metal is swamped with enough Korn, Pantera clones to repopulate New Jersey, but most of that isn’t REAL metal,” he said.
The metal on the Furnace isn’t the typical mainstream ’90s pop metal. It’s a much more diverse, extreme and not necessarily viewer friendly. Metal has lasted longer than any other genre in rock, since the mid-’60s, it’s the most diverse arena in music, outside of jazz. There is something for everyone.
“You may not like every song, due to abrasive vocals, or pummeling guitar, but then that one gorgeously composed tune with female vocals or acoustic passages will overtake you. Metal rubs people the wrong way, because it doesn’t pull any punches. When it comes to lyric subjects, metal has always focused on taboo subjects like war, death, violence, suicide, religion or war. Sometimes this can be too much for some people, but we encourage people to listen to the music and energy.”
This type of underground metal gets very little air play in the states. It’s either in large cities, where the population is diverse enough for a radio stations to justify a metal show, or at college stations where the stipulations of advertisers don’t count.
“The best thing about being on a non-commercial college station, is freedom. We are allowed to take chances and be bold, since we don’t have to meet any ratings standards or bend over to major labels. That’s what art and music especially, is all about – free expression, with no boundaries. When you start catering to what people expect to hear, then you are doing a great disservice to the listener, at least in terms of non-commercial radio. Every single one of us on The Furnace is up for surpassing and challenging the listener.”