Hardcore Community at Furnace Fest
International Association for the Study of Popular Music, U.S. Branch
IASPM-US, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 13, 2014.
Panel Abstract
Furnace Fest is a hardcore, punk, emo, and metal music festival in Birmingham, AL. The event initially ran in 2000–2003. After an intended one-time reunion in 2021 attracted 10,000 attendees, organizers repeated the event in 2022 and 2023. Furnace Fest 2024 will be the “end of an era,” mirroring the first iteration’s four-year run with no public plans after next year. A very vibrant Facebook group, the Furnace Fest Community, cultivates a strong sense of belongingness year-round, despite the event’s annual periodicity. This community is inclusive and hospitable, accepting of differences in class, politics, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender, and sexuality. Although the event’s roots lie in the turn-of-the-century U.S. Christian hardcore scene, Furnace Fest’s organizers have always booked secular bands and welcomed attendees from a variety of backgrounds. We research Furnace Fest collaboratively using multiple research methods: virtual interviews with event organizers, virtual participant-observation in the Facebook community, surveys of likely attendees, in-person participant-observation at the festival, informal interviews with attendees at the event, and follow-up attendee focus groups. In 2023, our six-member team was on site in Birmingham, Alabama for five days, building upon over two years of prior research in 2021 and 2022. In this panel, four fieldwork team members share their findings along distinct themes. Together, we explore the ways in which community is substantiated and maintained at Furnace Fest.
Panelists:
Hannah Dixon, Mercer University, “Exploring Kindness and Support in Punk Rock Culture through Experiences at Furnace Fest”
Arden Lloyd, Northeastern University, “Faith in the Mosh Pit: Religious and Spiritual Dynamics at Furnace Fest”
Katie Beth Dowell, Northeastern University, “Passing the Torch of Hardcore: Nostalgia and New Blood at Furnace Fest”
Jos Arbaugh, Mercer University, “Gender Expression at Furnace Fest”
Andrew Mall (co-chair)
Nathan Myrick (co-chair)