Ex-‘Furnace Fest’ Partner Speaks Out Against Recent Sale Of The Event, Vows To Relaunch ‘So What?! Music Fest’

Festival promoter Mike Ziemer has come out swinging following the recent sale of the ‘Furnace Fest‘ to an unspecified production company. That annual hardcore/metalcore/emo-oriented festival, which was resurrected in 2021, encountered significant financial difficulties last year. Those losses led organizers to recently sell the festival in order to make good on those debts, which included unpaid artist guarantees and more.

Johnny Grimes, a now former managing partner for the festival, stated earlier this week of the situation:

“We approached a large production company. I’m sure they’re going to make an announcement soon, but we asked them to step in and help make that happen, and they did so. They paid the remaining artist’s balances, and for that, we are super thankful.

But the sad reality in all of this is that in order for that to happen, we had to hand over Furnace Fest completely. All of it. It was the only path forward. Now, my hope was that we would still be a part of Furnace Fest in some capacity, but it’s become clear that we will not be involved moving forward.”

Ziemer, who was also involved with the festival, has since spoken out against the sale online, as well as the handling of it by his now former business partners:

“Myself and Ryan Luther were lied to, gaslit, and left off the team after 2024, the year we were told was the last year.

Ryan and I handled all booking for 2021-2024, I ran all marketing and paid ads for 2021-2024 along with media team and many other tasks, and between us we did most of the on-site coordination. Also, the ticketing company and most major sponsors were my relationships. The remaining two partners got greedy and felt they could do it without us in 2025 despite telling us over and over the fest couldn’t sustain a profit outside of year 1 and 2.

I kept my mouth shut because I was promised a buy out that never came. Another lie. Ryan and I’s buyouts are not included in the bankruptcy and we are just shit out of luck for everything we built and get to watch it all go down in flames.

So much for caring about brotherhood and community, just another shining example of Christian hypocrisy that turns so many people away from religion.

I promise that this will never be the Furnace Fest you all know and love without myself and Ryan being a part of it. It took 4 of us to make this what was so special, but only 2 people to destroy it.

I have a lot more to say… but that’s for later.”

Yesterday, February 03rd, Ziemer made note of his future plans, which include a tentative resurrection of the ‘So What?! Music Festival‘ in 2027. Ziemer offered:

“Now that I have finally been able to speak my peace on that other festival, I am ready to fully move forward and return my focus to putting together a dream team of partners for So What?! Music Festival to make a return [tentatively] in 2027.

I have full confidence that I will be able to bring the right people together to not only bring the festival back, but make sure it stays back for good.

Things are already happening behind the scenes, but if anyone else is interested in getting involved, speak now.

I know what the festival means to so many people around the world and I’m ready to relaunch it, even it we scale it down first to build it back up.”

The ‘So What?! Music Festival‘ has traditionally been held around the Fort Worth, TX area and was last held in 2024.

[via Lambgoat]