Dan England BandWagon Magazine During a rare quiet moment in what Dave Klein calls the “Dave Cave,” a basement devoted to metal music in his Evans home, three members of Open Fire remember the day Dave MacKenzie sent out the news that his son, Tyler, was killed in Iraq. Klein, the drummer, and Fernando Escobar, a guitarist, still remember that day in 2005. Just two months before, they’d had so much fun playing their first big gig before thousands at the first “Thunder in the Rockies,”
BANDWAGON MAGAZINE 12 PhotoS by nordic Flair| Photography
even after Escobar tore a knee ligament during an ego strut on the band’s final song. Escobar called it the coolest knee injury ever, flashing a crazy sense of humor that won MacKenzie over despite a rocky start, when MacKenzie thought Escobar was kind of an asshole. The music helped win them over, too. It was the music, after all, that brought Escobar and Klein together. Klein wanted to start an all-80s, hard-rock band that dabbled in heavy metal, his only requirement of the other
musicians being that they had to enjoy the music. He didn’t want a skilled country-western guy to come in and just endure it. He wanted the band to be fun, not caring if they simply jammed together a couple times a month. Klein’s wife at the time, Wendy, suggested Escobar – he and Klein spent an hour talking about metal during their first phone call. He joined them a year later and the chemistry was there almost right away. The bond still runs strong: the band celebrates their 14th anniversary Saturday,
