Has there been a lack of shredding in your life lately? Can you even remember the last time you got your face melted by a pantomiming rock star in training?
If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, then we’ve got the event for you. Tonight (Saturday, July 12th), The Independent will host the Northwest Semifinals for the US Air Guitar Championships. Winners of these imaginary axe slaying conventions will continue on to the Nationals in Kansas City on August 9th. From there, the winner will advance to the World Championships in, wait for it … Oulu, Finland.
The reigning World Champion, Eric “Mean” Melin, is from the US of A. Will another Yankee take it this year? We’ll have to wait and see on August 29th. Start booking your flights, people.
From their press release:
“All eyes are on the United States in 2014, with twenty other participating countries anxious to see who will represent the stars and stripes on the world stage in Oulu, Finland. This year, the stakes are higher than ever, with a golden opportunity for the United States to cement its status as the ultimate air guitar superpower. Since USAG’s first year of competition in 2003, Americans stand to win the World Championships an unprecedented 5 times. And last year, the US took a record-breaking four of the top five spots on the world stage.”
(Photo: US Air Guitar)
If you can’t make it to Kansas City, MO, much less Finland, why not experience the glory and pain of this epic competition right in your own back yard? From the sound of things, it can get pretty intense.
According to US Air Guitar General Manager Nat Hays, despite its aggressive rock and roll overtones, the air guitar championships are really a statement of pacifism. “They’re really about world peace,” Hays told us. “The original thinking was that if everyone in the world held an air guitar, then they couldn’t simultaneously hold a gun.”
With 24 countries participating worldwide, it seems like the organization is well on its way to reaching its goal. And domestic participation is on the rise as well: 20 cities participated in qualifying rounds this year, with roughly 400 people competing total, and the overall annual audience in the US is estimated to be between seven and ten thousand people.
But according to Hays, it's not all about the fame. “What you win is the glory of being the World Air Guitar Champion and the ability to sidetrack every dinner table conversation for the rest of your life.”
Speaking of glory, we were lucky enough to catch up with defending four-time San Francisco champ Matthew “Cold Steel Renegade” Feldstein to chat about his upcoming battle.
(Photo: Christine Zona)
A counselor for mentally ill and drug addicted adults, Feldstein has lived in SF for the past 10 years and says that playing air guitar has long been a part of his life. “I’d been playing air guitar for many years before learning about the competition. I also play real guitar, so it was kind of in my spine. In addition, I just enjoy awkward dance moves so the two kind of go hand in hand,” Feldstein told us.
Matthew, or "Cold Steel" as his friends and coworkers now call him, attributes his air-shredding prowess to early parental permissiveness. “My weird behavior was encouraged as a child,” he said.
As far as bearing the cross of being number one in SF, he confessed that it has its up and downs. “It’s interesting. It’s great, but it can be a double-edged sword, because sometimes people just expect the best from the best. People show up expecting to see you win. You feel obligated to deliver the goods.”
According to his track record, the goods have been delivered. Matthew has been flown to DC, Chicago, New York City and LA for the National Championships over the past four years. As far as groupies go, he claims there are a few “Rene-Groupies” around, and told us he’s even gotten a random date off of Facebook after one of has particularly mind-bending performances.
However, all that glitters is not gold, and he admitted to us that, “most of the groupies are like the guitars, mostly made of air.” Furthermore, he warned us of the competition’s seedy underbelly. “There’s a lot of air-oine use. It’s a problem amongst our ranks.”
If you feel like watching Cold Steel Renegade and his contemporaries flip some lids tonight at The Independent, tickets are still available here for $20. See you in there.
