Recent News!
2-18-07 - We usually rest during the month of February, it's a good time to reconnect with our families, work up new tunes and generally gear up for another year of rock and roll. The Open Fire family has been especially blessed with the arrival of Isaac Wetzel! Jason and Lisa's little was born this January. He's doing great, and is quite the cutie! We're all thrilled for Jason, Lisa and Hailee!
11-17-07- Thanks for coming out and packing the house at Out of Bounds on Saturday! ...What a blast that was!!!...And special thanks to all the birthday rockers who came out and shared their special nights with us! We Love ya and ya make us all warm and fuzzy inside! Hi-Voltage had to cancel this time but they WILL be starting things off Saturday Dec. 29th! You won't want to miss Harley and the kids doing your favorite AC/DC tunes!!!
11-14-07- Ok, so it's been awhile since I've updated. Trying to keep up with the myspace page (link to the left) has been pretty time-consuming! Open Fire's been fairly busy, though we continue to look for new venues and fans who love the great 80's rock and roll. The band keeps getting tighter and the hair keeps growing! (sorry Dmac) We opened for L.A. Guns and Slaughter! It's such a kick to share a stage with the heroes of our youth as well as getting to see them perform up close. Our Halloween gig was cancelled due to a death in Jason's family. Jason appreciates the warm wishes and condolences that so many of you sent to him. We've been blessed with so many friends and fans who keep our little band chugging along and we're looking forward to an even more hard rockin 2008 as we dust off some more great 80's hard rock tunes and unveil even more originals. Hope to see you in the near future!
7-3-07- This time we traveled up to Cheyenne to play an outdoor gig at the Depot Plaza in downtown Cheyenne. The weather threw us some curves early but really calmed down by the start of the show and turned into a beautiful evening of outdoor summer heavy metal. The crowd got progressively more enthusiastic until everyone was almost on stage with us...it was great to see all the young kids there enjoying themselves right along with us, head banging and singing along! We hope to return to Cheyenne in the near future but until then Make sure you check out Avenue, Stone Cell and Seven Sundays playing in the area.
6/30/07- We traveled to Haxton Colorado, just east of Sterling to play for a wedding reception. Yes, that's right, I said Wedding Reception! OK, I was skeptical too..but once the crowd realized we wouldn't be playing Bob Segar and the Carpenters they really got into it and we all had a great time celebrating with Troy and Stacey! The dance floor was full most of the night, the beer was cheap and the people couldn't have been nicer.We had a blast and made lots of new friends!
6/16/07- A great fun show at the Yukon. After a bday party for Hailee and Tatum, we rocked to a pretty full house. The Yukon's always a tough place to fill up but we did real well and thanks to all of you who came out for the party!
6/4/07 Alright rock n roll fans, we had a wonderful time at A Bit of BIlliards. Special metal hugs to Birthday Boy Bruce for letting us ring in his 40th bday!! What a fun show!!! We thoroughly enjoyed it!. Great drumming too btw Bruce! And Larry of the Mooreheads, your talents of silkscreening are only surpassed by your singing and bass playing! Thanks for sitting in with us, brother! We hope the good folks of Longmont will spread the word and request us to the bar owners down there...so we can spread the buttery metal love even further! til next time at The Yukon-
Maybe this page should be called Not So Recent News! Ugh, sorry folks, it's been awhile since I've updated! and I'm sure you're curious as to what's been up with us...at least mildly..or you wouldn't be on this page...right? so here we go...
The L.A. Guns show was great fun, we had lots of supportive fans rockin along and as unexpected surprise, the L.A. Guns singer Phil Lewis commented during the show how much he enjoyed "Metal's Back! one of our new originals. That was cool and we're inspired to keep writing and finding our own voice as well as bringing back the 80's metal in it's full glory!!!
We had some fun and well attended shows at Out of Bounds, Washington's and The Yukon. These places feel like home turf to us...The staff always treats us great and we try to reciprocate by not trashing the places or vomiting inappropriately! ha...(except for Jason, but he's a young un!)....We broke our own alcohol sales record at Washington's yet again, well, that is YOU broke the record...we hafta play after all...though Steve always manages to spill alot of beer on stage which undoubtedly helped break the record. Also, Fernando donned the gold lemay shirt during Down Boys to the glee of many. It was requested by uber fan Sheryl that he never, never ever does that again....so he undoubtedly will! The Sparkly shirt of metal cannot be denied, Oh no!
Feb. 22nd we opened for Winger at the Yukon. It was great fun and the crowd was amazzing!!! Your energy really got the place rockin for Kip and the guys-- and what an impressive band those guys still are! Was also great to play on the same stage with Peace Pipe and Drug Under, two original bands from Colorado. A job well done!
We're now laying low for awhile, working up new stuff...originals and covers and just enjoying a rest, til we start off the new year at Out of Bounds on March 24th...Hope you can make it!
Hello Metal Maniacs!!!!
Dave from OPEN FIRE here!
Hope all is well in your world's & hope the New Year is treating you well so far!!!
Sorry it has been a bit since the last update but we have been in hiding--adding new Metal surprises for ya'll which actually includes a couple OPEN FIRE originals-- yes, I said originals--and of course new 80's metal covers to bang your head to!!!
The main reason for the update & the answer to some of your e-mails about our opening for SLAUGHTER is to let you know that we will NOT be opening that night! The long and short of it is that SLAUGHTER asked to go on a bit earlier than usual and the time frame just would not allow for two opening acts. It is I-69's weekend to play at the Yukon (they'll be playing their full show on Fri. eve.--so go check them out!!!) so we succumb to the process of elimination.
Are we bummed?---sure---but will we let it ruin our evening rocking out with the best METAL fans around---HELL NO!!!!
We'll be there supporting our brothers in rock I-69 & we'll be rockin' with you crazies as well---ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!!
Our next scheduled show will be opening for WINGER on Thursday Feb. 22nd!!! Can't tell ya how much we are looking forward to this one!!!! Reb Beach, Rod Morgenstein, and of course Kip are going to tear up the Yukon so make sure you get your tix now & also check out their new c.d "IV" --which by the way--is a great cd.!!!
I guess that‚s all I have for ya now! Thank you as always for your continued support and for keeping Metal alive in Northern Colorado!!!
We'll see ya Saturday night---until then.....
...METAL-ON!!!!
Dave
OPEN FIRE
G'Day mates! Our friend Eric sent us this pic from down under Sydney, Australia. Open Fire now has an international presence in the land of AC/DC and Olivia Newton John....well, not so much the latter but still pretty cool! Eric's also a great drummer and will be working down there for awhile and living on the beach...sounds rough don't it! Thanks brother, take care of yourself and enjoy the Aussie summer while we're shoveling!
Yknow, for a little place in Greeley, Evans The New Plantation manages to rock like a much larger place. We saw two nights of heavy metal revelers that melted the snow in a two block radius. Thanks for coming out, and making both Friday and Saturday such a kickass time! We Love it when ya screeeeeam!
It's been awhile since our last update, Bret Michaels cancelled due to weather on Dec 30th, but Open Fire and i69 rocked on in his absence. It actually turned out to be a blast thanks to a big enthusiastic crowd. Hopefully Bret will reschedule again in warmer weather! Special Thanks to i69, a pleasure rocking with you guys, looking forward to Slaughter!
Our Out of Bounds year end show was a blast and we thank all of you folks who came out and made it a great way to finish off a great year! It's always fun but when we hear you singin out every lyric with us, well, it's a cool thang! Be safe and enjoy your holidays and if ya get the chance, come out to one of these Yukon shows and say hi to us...and let us know why we should or shouldn't play the Final Countdown! :-)
We missed Skid Row of course, but the Yukon threw a terrific party in spite of the fact that Skid Row had to cancel. The Yukon wants all you Skid Row fans to know that they will be rescheduled, probably in February, March or April, so keep checking back...In the meantime we saw an enthusiastic crowd who gave us and Psycho X a very energetic reception. It was a blast! Special thanks to Psycho X. It's great to have more brothers preachin the 80's metal faith! Hopefully we can double up again...Keep Rockin
What a great Halloween Bash it was! Thanks to all who came out and metaled it up with us- YOU ARE THE BEST, and we loved all your creative costumes! Check the photos link. They are a riot! We're taking a bit of a break through November, working up some fresh and some not so fresh metal :-) ...Thanks to all our friends and fans, YOU are the biggest part of this band - and we are humbled by your continued support!- Metal-On!
10-13-06
We were at Washington'son Friday the 13th and it proved to be anything but unlucky! What a FANTASTIC crowd it was! Thanks to all our hardcore fans and all the new faces who helped us belt em out and dance with style all night long! We love doing this because YOU make it so much fun!!! Thanks to Jeff for loaning us his sweet Jackson guitar for a set! We hope to see many of you at our next show at the Yukon (formerly the White Buffalo, between Loveland and Ft. Collins) October 28th.....This show should be lots of fun as we all plan on dressing for the occasion and It's our last show for a month and a half, so put on your HALLOWEEN costume, 80's theme or not and help us throw a Halloween Bash to Remember.........Saturday - Oct. 28th!
A group of band members and friends took part in The Suicide Prevention 5K Walk for Life on Sunday Sept 17th.....walking for suicide prevention, for survivors, and to celebrate life. From Left Dave Walling, Marti Bradley, Scott Clark, Missy Walling, Fernando Escobar, Julie MacKenzie and Dave MacKenzie.
It was 5K around an absolutely gorgeous park in Greeley. They released balloons at 10:30 a.m., worldwide to represent the victims. It was a BEAUTIFUL day, A lot of good people volunteered their time to make it happen and there were some tearfull moments at the memorial portion beforehand and the gathering afterwards. Some very sobering moments, but a lot of smiles and hugs as well. Thanks to all those who participated and supported this worthwhile event.
to learn more go to:
http://www.yellowribbongreeley.org