Steven: 3 Local CD’s I’m Blastin’!!!

Hey AIRheads!! This post is going to be specifically about the bands I am listening to right now, MORE SPECIFICALLY local Calgary bands! If you like their tunes check them out on facebook and buy their album either at a show if you can (and they all play teriffic shows) or on Itunes!!!!

Septembryo - The Dreambuilder EP: NOW THESE GUYS put on a great show. Tight, tight, tight musically… its unreal. Confession: I love Michael cause he sings like a bird, except a real manly sexy bird, who’s always on key… nevermind I hate him ;)

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/smansfield33#!/septembryo

Frankie McQueen - Frankie McQueen EP: Really well made album and my computers  speakers can’t go loud enough for “Revolution.” Such a pity… WE NEED MORE POWER SPEAKERS!! Just wait till I get it in the car!!! YOU’LL HEAR ME COMING!!!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/smansfield33#!/fmqmusic

Throne Of Vengence - Flesh Engine: *droool* SWEET MOTHER METAL!!!! Love this album!!! Save your allowance and buy it!!…. “Devil’s Captain”… need I say more! HELLLL YEAHHHHH… as a side note these guys are some of the most supportive guys on scene!! Calgary Rock N’ Roll Club!!!

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/smansfield33#!/throneofvengeance

THATS A WRAP!!! Like I said go see a show these bands rock hard!!!! See you at the next gig AIRheads!!!!

-Steven Mansfield :) OA

OMS Final Scores and Wrap-Up Party

Hello AIRheads!!! We are happy to say we have placed second in the 2012 Original Music Showcase (OMS) at the Blind Beggar!!! A proud bunch we are!!! Congrats to the 1st and 3rd place bands on their triumph!!! 

1st: Kingdom Of Few, a high energy, hard rock band who also so happen to be great supporters of the Calgary music scene and wicked dudes!!! Check them out here http://www.kingdomoffew.com :P

3rd: Septembryo, again great supporters of the Calgary scene and WOWZA!! These boys are somthing else on stage with hooky songs and very original music!!! Loved it!!! Find them here http://www.septembryo.com/ !!!

If you want to see the final scores of the OMS the link is http://blindbeggarpub.com/indie-music/original-music-showcase/ !!! Take a look and see how your favoirte bands did!!!! On behalf of Open AIR i’d ike to thank all of the bands and fans for coming out and being there for your bands and other musicians!!  We appreciate the support so, so much. It was great metting everyone!!! Same time next year?!?!? Sounds good!!!!

Steven Mansfield

OMS 2012 - Week 1

Well, I can’t believe it’s already been a full year since the Original Music Showcase at the Blind Beggar, but here we are, doing it again.

Last year, the OMS did amazing things for us, introduced us to so many people that have helped us to jump-start our career as musicians, whether they be judges Shannon Ambrose or Darren Gilbert, Adam Gawryluk, who basically puts the whole thing on, or even other bands that want us to play shows with them, or vice-versa (I’m most definitely forgetting people, and I apologize, but you know who you are).

Last night marked Night 1 of this year’s OMS, and I have to say, it’s shaping up to be a lot better than last year.  Dunright, our good friends MANcub, and The Blind Curb Kids did one HELL of a job kicking off this competition.  Everyone sounded great, and everyone in the place had a great time.  The turnout was amazing, so many more people than I remember being there last year, I hope it keeps up.

Great job to the bands that played.  I can’t wait for Week 2.

-Ty

YYC Rocks for Cancer

Last night, we were fortunate enough to play the YYC Rocks For Cancer show at Studio 82, sharing the stage with 15 other awesome bands.  This was a fantastic event, all proceeds benefit The Alberta Cancer Foundation, for use in providing Albertan’s with the best cancer research, prevention, treatment and care.

I for one was extremely proud and happy to be a part of this.  Several months ago, my mother lost a good friend to cancer, and though I didn’t know him very well, the few times I spoke with him had left quite an impact on me.  Pete Unsworth would have been extremely proud of the event last night, he was a music man through and through.  I remember talking about when he was my age, living in a small apartment, he had an entire room dedicated to his records, stored in old milk crates that filled the room wall to wall, with little aisles to make your way to the thousands of albums.  Needless to say, Pete and I would have been best friends had we grown up together.  I thought of him a lot last night.

I know that many more of the musicians playing the event were also deeply touched by what it represented and what it meant to play the show, some of them having lost family members to cancer.

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to support and donate, and to everyone who put it on:  The world needs more things like this.

- Love, Ty

Rock Apocalypse

Last weekend, Open Air was fortunate enough to be a part of the first ever Rock Apocalypse. Having been the first (but certainly not last) of its kind, we are all extremely proud and greatful to have been a part of it. Thank you to everyone who poured their hard work into the event, which went off extremely well in my humble opinion, and thank you to all of our friends and families for coming out and rocking with us, it wouldn’t have been the same or even possible without all of you.

We’d like to give special thanks to Shannon Ambrose from Portal Magazine (check it out, or be square), as she was the one that recommended us for the slot. Shannon, I think it’s safe to say that we wouldn’t be where we are without your support and friendship, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

We met a lot of great musicians and even better friends this past weekend, friendships that I’m sure will last and will see our bands playing together in the months and years to come. All the bands did great, and it was amazing to see that sense of camaraderie and openness from so many strangers.

Once again, thank you to everyone who came out, to everyone who managed to put the whole thing together, and thanks to all the bands for rocking our faces off.

Until next time,

-Ty

The New Black

Last night we played a show at the New Black with some new friends, the Saucy Wenches and Apollo’s Wasteland. The show was amazing, all the bands killed it, and personally I had one of the funnest nights.

Some of you may know that Steven’s brother Gary is lead vocalist of Apollo’s Wasteland. I’ve never actually seen him perform before (or any other members of the band, for that matter. Last night was the first time I met most of these guys) but he blew me away. Zach, Collin and Trevor also killed it, delivering insane bass lines, outstanding guitar solos, and pounding drums that make you wonder if the world isn’t coming apart at the seams. It was their first show ever, and in my opinion, they nailed it. Great guys and a great band, really enjoyed sharing the night with these blokes.

There’s not too much goings-on other than that. We are preparing to get some stuff out to people real soon, including our EP All My Queens. This has been long overdue, but we’re beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Stay tuned, we’ll let you know what’s happening! And I’ll try to get better at updating this thing!

-Ty

Photographs, Alcohol, and OMS Results

Friday, the sixth of May, 2011 was spent head-banging and drinking with our good friends of Alkatine and Shotgun Dolls. The show was a blast, the band’s were phenomenal, and the night overall was damn fun. Thanks to everyone who came out and thanks to Alkatine and Shotgun Dolls, from the bottom of our hearts. We had a lot of fun, and we hope you all did, too.

Headbanging along with us was our other good friend, Travis Corcoran, who was nice enough to photograph the show. He did an incredible job, and the photos came out amazing. I don’t know how he did it, but he managed to make us all look better than we actually do in real life, so thank you Travis.

You can check out the photographs of the show either on our facebook, or in the media section of our website.

I should also point out that all the results for the Blind Beggar’s Original Music Showcase are in, we ended in Fourth place out of thirty bands, which we are all really happy about considering this was our first opportunity to stack ourselves up against the competition. Thank you for supporting us and coming out to see all the local bands. March in April claimed the gold, with Kingdom of Few closely behind them in second, and our good friends in Throne of Vengeance took third place, congrats to all of them!

Also, we’ve got some exciting plans coming up for the future of Open Air, including some new shows, and possibly even (spoiler alert) … merch?

Stay tuned!

-Ty

Website off the ground and in the Open Air

Okay, here we are… The new site is up and launched, which should be evident at this point… but still, we are very happy and excited to have it up and running, and to have another outlet to reach you, our greatest friends and fans. Take a look around, visit the other sections such as Band, where you can find a brief biography of Open Air and all of its members; Tour, a list of all our upcoming shows; Media, including photos of the band (videos will be coming soon!); and Contact, where anyone can reach us, whether you’re a booking agent, promoter, work with a label, or just a friend looking to hang out with some pints. You may find the site a litte bare at the moment, but we will all be working hard to keep it updated and soon it will be swarming with news and multimedia specials, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.

The News section of this site, of course, will be serving us as a form of blog, where we can post our thoughts and wonderings and let you all know what is happening with us and the band. We will be constantly updating our Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter pages as well, but the site allows us to really focus all of our attention and give us a ground of operations. And who knows, in the future, there may just be some special goodies you can get here and nowhere else.

Now, in the spirit of this whole posting the News thing, here it is: The past five weeks have been especially exciting in Calgary, as the Blind Beggar Pub has been hosting their Original Music Showcase. The OMS is a huge Original music competition spanning 10 weeks, with a total of 30 bands competing. We performed on March 6th, alongside two great bands, Dwayne and Heroincredible. If you haven’t checked out the OMS yet, you definitely should, it will expose you to some fantastic local talent. We have some great friends who have played already and more that will be playing in the coming future, including Alkatine, Throne of Vengeance, Acid Jac and Black Phoenix Orchestra, I’ve posted all of their myspaces below. It’s already half over (I can’t believe it’s going so fast), so get off your lazy ass and check out some rockin music.

The Original Music Showcase is judged by three greats from the industry, including Shannon Ambrose from Portal Magazine, Darren Gilbert of T-Can Studios, and Chris Howes of Sensei Studios. They’re all amazing people, and they all have a great grasp of the industry. We’ve probably learned more from speaking with these three for ten minutes than we’ve learned in the year we’ve been together as a band, so cheers to them!

-Ty