Today we’d like to introduce you to Open. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Open is a band that was founded in the small town of Loganville Georgia in 2016 by Loganville High School friends Nate Sirmans and Garrison Heinfeldt. Open went through a series of lineup changes until early 2021 when they reconnected with a former high school acquaintance and drummer, Zac Sparks. The now solidified trio consists of Nate Sirmans on “Lead Bass” and Vocals, Garrison Heinfeldt on “Bass Bass”, keys, and backing vocals, and Zac Sparks on drums. Inspired by The Cure song “Primary” and the band Enjoy, Open deliberately doesn’t use a guitar. Instead, they opt to use a second bass which serves the role of the guitar. This decision mainly came out of necessity from not being able to find a suitable guitar player. However, the band quickly discovered that the two bass sound stands out and needs to be explored further. With the instrumentation limitation in place, Open began pulling inspiration sonically from New-Wave, Punk, and Shoegaze, which mixed subconsciously with elements of pop music they’d heard while growing up in the 2000s. The result is a sound the band doesn’t quite know what to call. For lack of a better term, they call it Gonzo, as a nod to the writing style of Hunter S. Thompson which influences the lyrics. Currently, Open can be seen making selective appearances around the Atlanta and Athens music scenes.
When Nate and Garrison formed Open in 2016, they were both in high school and barely knew each other. However, an invitation by a mutual friend to an after-school jam session brought the two together, and they recognized a shared desire to seriously pursue music. With an agreement and a handshake on the back roads of Loganville in an old Jeep Wrangler, Open was formed. At the time, the duo consisted of Nate on bass and Garrison on drums, however, they soon made the addition of their friend Kyle Phelan on the second bass. This decision was partly due to not being able to find a guitar player with shared musical and personal interests, however, the group also got the idea from early Enjoy mixtapes. Open began playing shows with this lineup around the Athens and Atlanta music scenes in 2017 and continued until the summer of 2019 with the departure of Kyle Phelan. In Kyle’s absence, Garrison moved from playing drums to bass and keyboards, and in December 2019 the group added Devontae Cantrell on drums and occasional vocals. Until this point, most of the band’s released music had been home recordings done entirely by Nate, with occasional help from Garrison and Kyle. With the change in the lineup came a change in the band’s recording process, and eventually all the members became equally involved. This was primarily due to the band not being able to play shows during the pandemic, which started shortly after Devontae joined the trio. During Devontae’s involvement with Open, the band released two singles called “Tear Gas” and “Coffee”. Shortly after Halloween 2020 Devontae and Open mutually agreed to separate on good terms due to differing personal goals.
Garrison and Nate once again found themselves in a position of needing a drummer. Fortunately, they had an option this time. Zac Sparks. After graduating high school Nate started attending Young Harris to pursue a degree in outdoor leadership, and Garrison started attending Georgia State University and working as a gigging musician and sound engineer. Zac Sparks also began attending GSU to study film, and around the same time began drumming for Atlanta artist, Trent in the Trees. While Zac had gone to high school with Nate and Garrison, they only ran into him a handful of times through gigs with Zac’s former high school band “Floral Cemetery”. A chance encounter would lead Zac and Garrison to run into each other at GSU, where Zac invited Garrison to play keys with Trent in the Trees. For around a year while Nate finished school, Garrison played with both Open and Trent in the Trees, until internal conflicts lead Zac and Garrison both to leave Trent in the Trees at around the same time Devontae left Open. Zac and Garrison both dropped out of school to pursue music and around the same time Nate graduated. With Open needing to replace Devontae on drums, Zac needing to find a new band, and school no longer standing in the way, a perfect arrangement was formed.
The first practice with Zac drumming solidified the lineup. Zac’s was the missing ingredient the band needed to complete the sound. The trio quickly became inseparable as friends and as a unit and began devoting as much energy as possible into refining their new sound. Within a few months of Zac joining the band, the three moved into a house together in Snellville GA and began an everyday pursuit to make Open succeed. The relentless practicing and close living have contributed greatly to helping Open find their voice. Since then, Open has strategically and steadily been playing shows around the Athens and Atlanta music scenes at venues such as the 40 Watt, Smith’s Olde Bar, The Cine, and a multitude DIY events. In April 2022 Open released their first studio single “Highlife” which was recorded at Nuçi’s Space in Athens. For the release of the single, Open set up a show at the Atlanta DIY venue Heck House and used the event to raise over $300 for the Chattahoochee River Conservancy. At the start of July 2022 Open will be relocating to Tennessee in order to expand their reach and grow as musicians.
Though many things have changed about Open through the years, one thing has remained constant. The name. Nate and Garrison originally chose the name based on them joking that “naming a band Open would be a good gimmick because every business would basically be giving you free advertisement”. However, as Open has persisted and the band has grown, Open has started expanding on the meaning of the name and using it to represent how they choose to carry themselves and cultivate their community. By being open. In turn, Open aims to create an environment for others to do the same and express themselves authentically. When you see an open sign, you know you’re welcome in.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Open has struggled since the beginning. Our desire to carve our own path and do things our way has presented it’s own set of challenges. We’ve essentially had to create our own techniques for playing two basses together and not have the sounds clash. While we were figuring all of that out, we’ve had to adapt our sound several times to fit the changes in the band lineup. The addition of Zac on drums helped resolve a lot of Open’s problems, but it also presented a new set of obstacles. We had to start taking things extremely seriously and start putting all of our efforts into making Open work. To us, that meant renting a house and making Open our top priority. It took us about 2 months and several applications to finally find a house that would take us as first-time renters. While living in the Open House, we’ve struggled to make ends meet plenty of times, and have all changed jobs more than once in order to stay afloat. We’ve had to learn to be okay with being hungry for most of the day and getting by on one meal. We’ve had to learn to be more than our bank accounts and keep the things we own from owning us. But most importantly we learned that when things got really rough we could always lean on each other to make it through. Our dedication to each other and our art has been the things that have kept us persisting the most.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Open has always been focused on putting on an engaging, entertaining, and meaningful live performance. The unique lineup, musical style, and eclectic stage chemistry of the band result in a show that’s difficult to describe but impossible to forget. Throughout their, career Open has leaned into jokes about their name and honed in the craft of opening up shows. Sometimes too well. Whether you get it or not, you won’t find an Open show boring. In addition to the music, Open is very intentional about the visual aspect of the band and will go the extra length to set up their own lights, stage decorations, and open sign at every single show. Open also frequently plays shows to raise money for different causes, such as their recent single release which donated all proceeds to the Chattahoochee River Conservancy. In addition, Open has chosen to do all their recent studio recordings at Nuçi’s Space in Athens, which uses proceeds from its music services to offer mental health support with a focus on suicide prevention among musicians.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
We love scattering jokes and easter eggs throughout our content for people who pay attention to that stuff. Some jokes are more obvious than others. Most people miss them, but once you see them you can’t unsee them.
Pricing:
- Black OPEN Tshirts – $20
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thebandopen.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebandopen/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theband0pen
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPgAvEwZ_l1weU9rTtLAWLg
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7ibzx6vq1hivNGqeh8DgIq?si=7lqqxQ3JQL2r1Gz94PJGsQ
Image Credits
@lightwemadephoto, @casioflux
