Today we’d like to introduce you to Nate Sirmans Garrison Heinfeldt and Kyle Phelan.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Nate and Garrison. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.

[NATE]: One particularly hot day in August of 2016 in my junior year of high school, I was cutting class to jam with my fellow delinquent friends in a crowded, un-air-conditioned attic bedroom. We had just met this tall long-haired kid who could play the keys and we had him cut class to come jam with us. I was playing drums at the time, so after an hour of dealing with the miserable Georgia heat, I had to take a break and go downstairs for water. As I’m filling up my cup, I hear someone upstairs absolutely tearing up the drums. It blew my freaking mind and I ran upstairs to see who was playing. It was that tall long-haired kid. When he stopped, I pulled it together and said to him “Garrison, I need you to play drums in a side project I have and I won’t take no for an answer.” In that side project, I played the bass and Garrison played drums, but we couldn’t find any guitar players that could see the same potential we saw in each other. We figured “screw all these guitar players, if they don’t want us we’ll just add another bass and make it work.” So, we did. Our original band split up shortly after that, and that side project became a full project under the name OPEN. Yes, just like the sign on every store window. I was never the best at coming up with names. It was more of a cheap marketing technique. But OPEN has always been more to us than just a band. To us, it’s a state of mind. It’s three disillusioned punks who are fed up with the lies sold to us by the world, who somehow managed to find a home in one another. It’s that feeling you get when you’re working a meaningless 9 to 5 and you just want to punch your idiot boss in the head and smash a window. It’s the voice in the back of your head that screams “I won’t take this anymore, the only one who controls me is me” OPEN is for all those feeling lost. We are not closed.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?

[GARRISON]: Nothing about music is supposed to be easy, and we knew that going in. I think that when we all accepted that we were going to have to struggle for a while, it changed how we handled our obstacles. Instead of taking our ball and going home when we get knocked down, we get up, dust ourselves off, and hit back twice as hard. One of the main obstacles for us has been our age. Until we started to make a name for ourselves, not many venues wanted to take the chance on a band of teenagers. Now, that we’ve started getting established, one of our biggest challenges is keeping our age a secret from the 21+ clubs we get hired to play so they don’t make us wait outside until our set. Some problems are better to have than others.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about OPEN – what should we know?

[NATE]: For the sake of simplicity, we are a punk band. We’ve always struggled to find a genre that explains what we are, so for lack of a better term we are punk. We write, perform, and produce our own music, make and sell our own clothing and merchandise, manage our own marketing, and make our own videos. In short any type of platform that supports creativity, we create with it. We are known mainly for our music. At the moment, we have released two full length, self-produced albums, and an EP. We have no plans in slowing down. One of the things we’re most proud of is the community we have built around OPEN. Let me put it this way, you don’t have to be in the band to be a part of OPEN. The people who help and work with us know the part they play in OPEN. We make sure to take every chance to tell them how truly important all of them are to us. I think we have gained this community of people by recognizing people’s excellence. What sets us apart from the rest of the bands around us is that OPEN isn’t ours. OPEN belongs to the people and the fans who have given us the opportunity to get where we are today. Our people are aware of the fact that, without them, there would be no OPEN. It can be seen at the shows with the intensity of the crowd, moving with each other. In turn, they move us.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?

There are countless people to thank for getting us to where we are. Pat Wilson of Wilson Brother’s Technology has always provided us with any gear we need, and plenty of support and advice. Joe Warren from The Masquerade was the first person at an established venue to take a chance on us. Shane Denmark of DMT Logistics provided us encouragement and advice that we needed to hear.

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Image Credit:

Cady Ray

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