Wednesday 21 September 2011

Auxiliaries, Accomplices and Men of Action

    Here we are again with yet another late update from the front. The recording process is slow these days due to personal lives, work, school and other bands but rest assured that we are making every effort to finish Prophecy & Judgement before the end of 2011. However, we have found some spare time with which to rehearse as a full band and it's excellent to see the songs take shape in a live environment. Speaking of "full band", I think it's high time to put some faces to the names mentioned in the previous post.

Tyson Travnik, Skin-basher & Button-pusher

Shorre McColman, pipes & other delights

Cody Lloyd, string-burner & lead axeman

Leillyn McColman, templar of low-frequencies



Obscure rehearsal clips and news about the release and much, much more to follow in future transmissions. Until then, may the stars light your way and guide your travels.

- Black
gatekeeper@live.ca

Sunday 3 July 2011

In Action

Just to let you folks know, yes we're still alive and kicking out here. We started re-recording the old demos of the songs with proper drums and amplification and thus far the results have been thunderous. There are lots of plans for songs and releases but firstly we are going to finish the Prophecy and Judgement EP, which will feature four heavy metal hymns at a running time just shy of 30 minutes. As of right now, I'd say the tracking aspect is about half done.

I've managed to find a group of very capable musicians who have graciously lent their time, talent and effort to Gatekeeper and will be performing the songs with me live and in the studio as well. All the songs thus far have been fully written by myself, but I'm hoping to integrate the other members into the songwriting process when we start jamming a bit more. The Gatekeeper lineup is as follows:

Shorre McColman, Lead Vocals 
Cody Lloyd, Lead/Rhythm Guitar, backing vocal 
Jeff Black, Rhythm/Lead Guitar, backing vocal 
Tyson Travnik, Drums, precussion
Leillyn McColman, Bass guitar, backing vocal

These musicians have been around Edmonton's local metal scene for quite some time, Tyson is an original member of Striker and he and Cody both play for Minax. Shorre has been singing with prog-rockers Keep 6 for ages and was also the drummer for Vinyl Spine. Leillyn is Shorres younger brother and has made a name for himself with Tessitura among the locals.

I would also like to thank my good friend Jeff Church (Samandriel) for playing session drums on three of the songs for the upcoming EP, it certainly took a load off my mind when he offered to help me out with this.

Photos from recording sessions will follow soon, but until then you can hear a bit of Shorre's vocals on this clip. He has a mid-range voice that's a bit more relaxed at times, and he has a great ear and sense of melody. Hearing his voice with full choirs will be riveting.




- Black

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Welcome to the Hall

This is going to be the primary page for updates, information and other medias regarding Gatekeeper for the time being. Myspace will serve as a music player so you folks can hear the various songs, samples and other aural abberations that I'll be putting for public review.

For the uninitiated, Gatekeeper is an epic heavy/doom metal band hailing from western Canada. The earliest riffs and songs were written back in late 2009, but the band wasn't officially created until late 2010, and the first releases/live shows will take place sometime in 2011, when the stars align and gods permit.

The Gatekeeper lineup currently consists of Lord Black, who plays all the guitars, bass and programs the drums that you hear on the samples. Various session musicians have been recruited for recordings and the live lineup is being finalized, stay tuned for real drums, guitar solos and vocalizing on further recordings.

Until then, feel free to indulge in the rough demos featured at the bottom of the page, as well as the following visual atrocity gathered from the insidious network of Youtubes. Keep your steel sharp and your wits sharper.

- Lord Black