Forever Deaf Fest
Forever Deaf Fest is an upstart metal festival and the biggest and baddest metal in the land by far. FDF is headed into its second year of blowing minds and stopping hearts mid-beat, and we could not be more excited to partake in the mayhem! Things kick off early with a Thursday pre-party at the Cobra Lounge headlined by the awe-inspiring deprivation of local blackened death wraiths Matianak, and keep things rolling into Friday and Saturday at the Beat Kitchen where doom-smotters The Skull and brutal tech-death slaughter-dogs Broken Hope will headline respectively. CCS contributor Mick Reed was lucky enough to snag an interview with the lead organizer Nick “Fury” Lawrie, where he shared the inspiration for the festival and his approach to assembling a chaotic cohort for your listening pleasure.
Note: This interview was conducted via email and has been lightly edited for clarity.
NF: Nick Fury
How long have you been a part of Chicago's metal scene, and what was your entry point?
NF: I've been going to shows in Chicago since 2002. I've been DJing for 9-10 years, and I've been booking shows for a year and some change. Home base was Metal Shop at Delilahs every first Tuesday for over seven years.
I don't know many bars in the city that do metal DJ set. Are there other bars besides Delilahs?
NF: Several bars throughout the city have metal nights. Every Sunday at Exit with Rodney and the Chicago Metal Factory, we mentioned Metal Shop at Delilahs every first Tuesday of the month, there is Metal Monday at Live Wire, and there's metal vinyl night at Kuma’s Corner every 3rd Tuesday of the month. There's also Mayhem on Milwaukee at Innjoy in Logan Square. If you look for metal, you will find it in Chicago almost any night of the week.
What's the best part of DJing a metal set? And conversely, what's the hardest?
NF: The best part is playing music I truly love and seeing other people truly love it as well. The hardest part is making sure you can read the crowd and keep the flow of the set going smoothly, such as not jumping from Def Leppard to Cannibal Corpse.
When can our readers see you spinning next? Do you have a regular schedule?
NF: I don't DJ nearly as much as I used to, but you can catch me at Live Wire on Monday December 2nd doing a pop-up party with Death by Pizza while also giving away 3-day passes to Forever Deaf Fest.
How did you get the last name "Fury"?
NF: The man who passed along Metal Shop to me, Ron Platzer, gave me the nickname Fury because of how loud I would listen to music and my lifestyle, and it stuck.
No one just gets the name "Fury" for their "lifestyle" without there being a story or two. Do you care to share a tale or two with our readers?
NF: You'll have to catch me out and about for some stories; they are always better in person.
What was the inspiration for Forever Deaf Fest?
NF: Well it started when Chicago Open Air was cancelled in 2018. My business partner and I met up to check out a Municipal Waste show at Bottom Lounge and decided there that we wanted to do a festival in place of it but make it more local and have it represent everything awesome we have in our Chicago metal scene
Who else works with you on FDF? How did you assemble your team?
NF: Forever Deaf Fest was created by myself and Peter Cartapelli, also the lead man in Bloodletter. Outside of that we get a lot of help from friends and family and bands in the scene.
What is your marketing strategy for FDF?
NF: Marketing Metal is pretty straightforward. Put it in people’s faces, in people’s hands, and make sure they know about it on social media and on the streets. Forever Deaf Fest is all about that Chicago attitude of doing it right and doing it yourself.
Your flyers have been popping up everywhere lately. Do you pay your stream time in adderall or something?
NF: A lot of hard work at all hours of the day and night. Scheduled posts help, too.
Who are you excited to have play FDF this year?
NF: EVERYONE. Every band is hand-picked by myself and my team, and we are huge fans of all 14 bands playing.
What was the selection process like? Did you go into it wanting to book certain bands this year, or did you cast a wider net?
NF: Last year the ideas that we had came alive very quickly as almost all of the band we asked first agreed to be a part of our very first Forever Deaf Fest. This year we took a different approach without getting away from last year’s ideas too much but growing off of them instead of changing them. We created the slogan for this year, "Bigger, better, heavier," and we truly believe we have accomplished that.
What are your long-term goals for FDF?
NF: We would like to get bigger and better every year and just keep it growing so everyone can look forward to a killer metal festival every first weekend in December from here on out.
Do you hope to get as big as Open Air, or would you like to keep FDF a club-oriented festival?
NF: We hope to get as big as possible one year at a time without losing touch with our roots here in Chicago and the bands that drive this scene.
Who are some bands you'd like to book in the future or who you were not able to fit into the lineup this year?
NF: There's a few bands I wanted each year and it didn't work out, but we have high hopes for next year with some of these bands so I don’t want to say who's who just yet. The ultimate Chicago headliner that I could think of right now for Forever Deaf Fest would be Ministry. Hosting Uncle Al in his home town as part of our festival would be fucking incredible.
FDF's line up tends to lean toward sludge, death, and post-metal. Is this reflective of your own interests in various sub-genres, or is there another reason we don't see a lot of black metal or hardcore in the line up?
NF: There’s a lot that goes into each lineup for each day. We do have Chicago’s best underground black metal band, Matiantak, headlining the pre-party, but I’m also not a fan of hardcore and I don’t like to mix it with metal. Chicago's scene thrives on Sludge and post-metal and death metal; our festival reflects that very well.
Chicago does have some phenomenal death metal and post-metal bands for sure, but the city doesn't really seem known for its metal scene yet. Why do you think that is?
NF: The ultimate goal of Forever Deaf Fest is to do just that, show the world that Chicago has one of the best metal scenes out there and here’s proof of it; here are all these amazing bands from our wild and windy city. Why Chicago gets overshadowed sometimes? Who knows, all I know is that we are out to change that.
Besides having a mostly local line up, is there anything else that distinguished FDF from other metal fests in the city such as Doomed and Stoned or Scorched Tundra?
NF: I feel we offer a unique experience that has a very friendly atmosphere or vibes, if you will, and offers some of the best talent you may or may have not heard yet. It’s got a local show feel but a national festival level of talent.
Any recommendations for staying warm this winter? What's THe secret for surviving December in Chicago?
NF: Whisky & Weed. Lots of it.
Tickets to the Cobra Lounge Pre-Party are $10
Single day tickets for the main event either Saturday or Sunday are $25 at the door and $20 if purchased in advance. Two-day passes are also available for $50 at the door and $40 if purchased in advance. Doors at 7pm, show at 7:30pm.