We are pleased to announce that our debut LP will be released at the end of April through Italy's finest heavy metal family, Cruz Del Sur Music. Please see below for the press release:
Cruz Del Sur Music is proud to announce the signing of Canadian epic metal forceGATEKEEPER. The band’s first full-length, “East Of Sun”, will be released this April worldwide on compact disc (including 2 bonus songs), vinyl and digital.
Originally formed in 2009 as a solo project by guitarist Geoff Blackwell, GATEKEEPERhas assembled an impressive array of EPs and splits, including an appearance on Metal Blade’s “Metal Massacre XIV” where they contributed the song “Bell Of Tarantia”. Their signing to Cruz Del Sur will mark a new, exciting era for the band.
Comments Blackwell: “Cruz Del Sur has been a bastion for great heavy metal for a long time and it’s a pleasure to be included alongside a host of bands that have been influences on our music and bands that we consider our contemporaries. Above all, Enrico [Leccese] has been extremely fair and willing to work with us so that we can present the album the way we’ve envisioned.”
Recorded over the span of six months at Harbourside Studios in Vancouver, Canada, “East Of Sun” was produced by Mike Rogerson, whose previous credits include ANNIHILATOR, AGGRESSION, 88 MILE TRIP and LOVERBOY, with additional production assistance provided by Angelo Boose, who, according to Black “stayed up through many all-night recording sessions with us.”
The “East Of Sun” title is a shortened version of a book of Scandinavian folk tales that parallels the content on the record where each song stands on its own. The album’s cover art was created by Duncan Storr, who has previously worked with SKYCLAD, RAGE and Cruz Del Sur’s own DARK FOREST.
“East Of Sun” boasts a mixture of older, unreleased material written by Blackwellwhich are complemented by live staples that have recently been updated. “It’s pure heavy metal with a sword and sorcery flourish,” says Blackwell. “We wear our influences on our sleeves, but we don’t want to be a pale imitation of them. We try to capture the spirit of what we love without copying anyone’s’ notes. This album has our fastest song and it’s got our biggest, most epic slow-burner and many songs in between. It has melodic electric guitar playing coupled with fierce riffs, thunderous rhythms, mystical acoustic passages and, of course, a unique and varied performance from our singer, Jean-Pierre. And these things are just the start.”
GATEKEEPER’s immediate plans include assembling live dates near their Vancouver home base and on the west coast of Canada. Currently, they are scheduled to play the Northwest Metal Fest in Seattle this March alongside Q5, HEIR APPARENT, GLACIER, WILD DOGS, SKELATOR, SUBSTRATUM and RIOT CITY. Aside from that, Blackwell says GATEKEEPER has its sights set on even bigger territories, namely Europe:
“With Cruz Del Sur on our side, I think it’s just a matter of time before we cross into European soil, so beware!”
Line up:
Jean-Pierre Abboud – Lead Vocals, Chorus Geoff Blackwell – Rhythm/Lead Guitar, chorus Kenny Kroecher – Lead/Rhythm Guitar David Messier, Bass guitar, chorus Tommy Tro – Battery
Greetings again! It hasn't been long since our last post but we wanted to get this out while it's hot and fresh.
Our good friends in the pacific northwest have resurrected the classic "Northwest Metalfest" name and we are the first band to be announced. This will be almost exactly two years since our last Seattle appearance and we are beyond excited to return south of the wall. We are not in a position to spill any beans regarding the rest of the lineup but we are assure you that fans of the olde-schoole will be tickled by the bands that the fest has lined up for you.
In their own words:
"Originally founded by concert promoter, Lipstick bassist and local scenester Brett Miller, he launched the first Metalfest on September 19, 1981 at Lake Hills Roller Rink/Crossroads. This landmark concert featured TKO, The Mob (featuring members of Queensryche), Babylon (featuring Geoff Tate on vocals and singing for both bands that historic night), Perennial, Open Fire, Myth, Rampage and Little Wing. The second Metalfest was held on August 29, 1982 and again TKO were the headliners - along with the first NW appearance of Portland's Wild Dogs, Culprit, Overlord, Realms, Myth (with Geoff Tate on vocals) and Kidskin. Now all of these years later NW Metalfest returns! James R. Beach and Brian Naron of the retro record label NW Metalworx Music (also soon to include a history book on the NW metal scenes) have joined forces with local musicians and concert promoters/bookers Amy Lee Carlson and Max Nazaryan (also of the band Substratum) and local scenester Michael Podrybau (also of the 80s bands Glacier and Harlot) to bring you an Annual 2-day extravganza. We're calling it NW Metalfest in the spirit of those classic concerts back in the day with Brett Miller's blessing. We hope to bring back the vibe of those exciting shows and give some attention to both the great older and newer bands in the local areas."
Apologies for the extended silence. We've been hard at work this summer recording our debut LP and we only have a handful of sessions left until it is ready. We will have a host of exciting announcements very soon in this topic.
Seeing as how we've been holed up in our Dungeons Of Tone™ for the past four months, we've decided to stretch our legs a bit this autumn. We'll play a pair of shows in with our good comrades in Substratum and Bewitcher, who are venturing forth from south of the wall for their west coast tour. This will take us to our first-ever appearance in Victoria, BC on Sept 30th and back home to Vancouver on Oct 1st. We will play our final show of the year opening for the mighty THOR on Oct 27th in Vancouver at Pub 340 with our pals in Road Rash. We will play a set of pure, unbridled muscle rock at this show and we are extremely excited.
Please note that we will NOT be playing anymore shows after this until the new album is out. Don't miss out on the fun!
The rental van has been returned. The
shower has ran. Dinner has been cooked. The laundry has been cleaned
and the groceries have been paid for and jammed into the fridge. I've
contracted some sort of touring van virus and can't go five minutes
without gargling hot salty water or blasting snot from my nose. I'm
back at work and trying desperately to run profit margins on
polyethelene sheets without blacking out.
I believe this means that we've had a
good tour.
She was a quickie, just five gigs in
five days spread across 4,000 beautiful kilometres of western
Canadia. I played a lot of power chords and ate a lot of Egg
McMuffins and shook a lot of hands and laughed my ass off for what
feels like 120 straight hours.
Massive thanks to everyone involved in
making the tour and the shows the best they could possibly be. The
promoters (Sloan, Tyson, Kyle and Randy), the venues + staff (Pats
Pub, Distortion, Mercury Room, The Legion, Munnin's Post), the bands
(Assimilation,Omnisight, Martial Law, Hazzerd, Eye of Horus, WMD,
Unleash The Archers, Displaced and Arkenfire) and all the friends,
new and old who came, saw, and had their faces rocked off. Special
thanks to all those who let us crash on their floors, fed us and gave
us booze. Much love and respect.
The future is looking great. Our next
move is to put the finishing touches on our debut LP, then burn
Armstrong Metalfest to the ground.
"“So they crucified their Messiah? Well can I believe it. That He was a Son of the Living Spirit would be naught to them, if indeed He was so.... They would care little for any God if he came not with pomp and power.”
When we were asked to play Shredmonton and Armstrong Metalfest, we asked ourselves "why stop there?" and booked ourselves a brisk little jaunt across the Rockies and back. Individual show details to follow soon, please watch the blog and the Facebook pages for details.
We are happy to disclose that our good friends from Vancouver's Assimilation will be joining us for Vancouver, Calgary and Kelowna on this tour. It'll be a week of might, muscle and Manowar.
Happy to announce that we have been booked at the Shredmonton Festival/Conference. This will be our first Edmonton performance since August 2014, when Jeff moved to Vancouver and restarted the band. Looking forward to sharing the stage with our good friends in Eye Of Horus, Unleash The Archers and WMD.
Gatekeeper plays on Saturday @ 10:00pm! We'll see you at the conference and at the show.
We are pleased to announce that Gatekeeper will be appearing at AMF festival this year. We'll be sharing the stage with Aggression, ODINFIST, XUL, Eye of Horus and loads of other groups from Western Canada & beyond. From the Organizers:
"It's your lucky day!!! We got our first eight bands for the 2017 line up! Check it out! Playing AMF 2017! + Don't forget to get your early bird pre-sales tickets before the price increase after Feb 1st. https://armstrongmetalfest.ca/tickets/
"Pounding Metal - A Tribute To Exciter" - limited edition CD album out on Skol Records, limited edition vinyl LP out on Empire Records on April 28, 2017. Produced by Bart Gabriel. Featuring:
It was a little over a year ago when Guardians of the Northwest contacted me about bringing Gatekeeper to Portland for a headlining appearance at their festival. It's amazing how quickly it all came together--finding our touring lineup, tracking down a rehearsal space, new shirt designs, The Vigilance Sessions compilation, booking the rest of the Cascadian tour and everything else that went along with it.
Afterwards, we travelled to Chicago and performed at Ragnarokkr festival to hundreds of long-haired hooligans, then proceeded to stamp our names across the Vancouver local scene with a pile of excellent other bands. We were invited to take part in Pounding Metal: A Tribute to Exciter and entered the studio under many difficult circumstances and tracked our best sounding performance to date. One of my short stories was featured in Swords of Steel II and another one in Scrolls of Legendry. Finally, one of our tracks is featured on Metal Massacre 14 from Metal Blade Records, which is the kind of thing that most other bands only dream about. It goes without saying that 2016 was the most productive and successful year in the history of this band.
There are a great many people who deserve our thanks. Promoters, venue staff, sound engineers, the other bands we played and partied with, the kind friends who drove us to music stores in Chicago to collect our equipment rentals, anyone who let us stay under their roof, the pressing plant, the team at Harbourside Studios, Al from Spell and, of course, all the bangers who showed up to our gigs and tore the house down with us.
Last but not least, I have to thank Tommy, David, JP, Kenny and Luke for joining me on this nutty crusade. You guys are the best.
2017 is shaping up to be another busy year. We are in the midst of booking a number of tour stretches as well as finalising the material for the full-length record, plus a few other surprises. Watch this page and follow our antics on social media to stay abreast of our plans.
For now, enjoy this clip from our most recent gig. Please like, comment and share if you want to spread some true, heavy metal gospel.
It is time to formally introduce the current lineup of Gatekeeper.
Jean-Pierre Abboud on lead vocals. A familiar face for anyone in Michigan scene, recently relocated to Portland, OR. Many will recognize him as the voice behind fantastic groups such as Borrowed Time and the most recent incarnation of Funeral Circle. An absolute workhorse and monster of a frontman. It's a different, but very distinctive and skillful new voice for Gatekeeper and I'm proud to him him on board.
All photos taken by Shane Lange at Factotum Photography.
Some of you have already met my good friend David Messier, who stands out in the Vancouver heavy metal scene as a warrior who will brave any conditions to sling beers and bass guitar on the stage. After a long stint performing with local hellions Manic Strike, David brings an honest dedication to true heavy metal which is matched by very few.
All photos taken by Shane Lange at Factotum Photography.
He's easy to miss behind his massive percussion apparatus, but please welcome Tommy Tro to the fold. Folks might know him as the bassist for prog/power stalwarts Elysium Echoes but when I heard his blazing double-kicks during a Blind Guardian cover song, I knew he had the strength and discipline I was looking for. A better musician than most and a true friend.
All photos taken by Shane Lange at Factotum Photography.
Yours truly. 100% dedicated to bringing the best heavy metal I'm capable of delivering to the world.
All photos taken by Shane Lange at Factotum Photography.
Gatekeeper MMXVI.
All photos taken by Shane Lange at Factotum Photography.
I would also like to extend a massive "thank you" to Luke Olsen for playing lead guitar with us for many of our shows, including our west coast tour and our performance in Chicago.
Currently, we are blessed with the talents and fretboard wizardry of Kenny Kroecher, who Vancouverites know from our good friends in Iron Kingdom. Kenny has been helping us out both onstage and in our recent studio efforts and we hope to continue on with him moving forward.
I was worried that I would never find a group of musicians who would be as capable as the Edmonton crew (Shorre, Tyson, Leillyn, Rob and Justin -- thank you all for the work and effort for those years) but I'm pleased to say that the new Gatekeeper is everything I hoped it would be and much more.
I look forward to presenting our new material, both onstage and on record.
We are pleased to announce that Gatekeeper will be taking part in the upcoming Skol Records release "Pounding Metal: A Tribute To Exciter" with a cover song. Skol Records have just released the cover art for the compilation this weekend:
We at Gatekeeper only select the finest of weaponry for use live and in the studio. When I saw this beauty listed on VSK's webpage I had to pull the trigger. Just the view clip above for a demonstration featuring brand new riffs you will soon hear from Gatekeeper.
See myself, my VSK OS6 and the rest of Gatekeeper onstage at The Astoria on November 12th!
Summer of 2016 has fled and monsoon season has taken hold of the Pacific Northwest.
We would like to thank everyone who attended our two summer gigs a Funkys + Red Room during the summer months. We had a blast playing with such luminaries as Hibria, Iron Kingdom and Odinfist and hope to see them again soon, onstage or off.
We are pleased to announce that we will be playing one final show in 2016, returning to The Astoria in Vancouver to support or close friends in Riot City and Gatekrashor on their western Canadian tour. Also performing are Codex: Factoria. We will be premiering new material at this gig, which will be featured on our forthcoming full-length album. See below for details.
Gatekeeper's lineup for this show (and for the upcoming record) will be thus:
Jean-Pierre Abboud - Lead Vocals
Geoffrey Blackwell - Guitars
David Messier - Bass
Tommy Tro - Drums
Kenneth Slaughterfield - Lead Guitars
Saturday, November 12th, 2016.
The Astoria Pub (769 East Hastings Street)
**Doors at 8pm**– 19+ No Minors
**$10 COVER**
We've been extremely busy with planning, pre-production, rehearsing and drinking ourselves silly and this has had a negative impact on our communication. We shall attempt to turn over a new leaf by updating this page on a weekly basis with photos, video clips and other shenanigans as we prep for our upcoming record.
New gig, supporting Brazilian metal maniacs HIBRIA on their world tour. We've been fans of theirs since the first album so you can imagine our excitement. Also on the bill are WMD from Calgary, formerly known as SHRAPNEL. These youngsters played with the old incarnation of Gatekeeper two years ago at our final Edmonton show so it'll be great to share a stage with them again.
Be forewarned: It's a Wednesday night. Don't wimp out.
Our Shadow Over Cascadia mini-tour was an absolute roaring success. We at Gatekeeper would like to take a moment thank everyone who came out to The Astoria on a Wednesday night and the bar staff for hosting us. Special thanks to The Ash Street Saloon in Portland for their warm welcome and of course the Highline in Seattle for being one of the best venues in the PNW.
Massive thanks to Max and Amy and the rest of the Substratum crew for letting us crash, use their gear and for helping us land the Satan opening slot, you guys are incredible. Massive thanks to Cam from Spell for helping us out in a real bind when we got back to Canada, and a huge standing ovation to Wes Craven from Heavy Metal Eyes for sending us the initial invitation that started all the madness back in December. Another huge shoutout to the other great bands we shared the stage with such as Elysium Echoes, Road Rash, Time Rift, Skelator, Nox Velum and SATAN!
Available exclusively at our upcoming gigs: Compilation CD featuring our tracks from the Vigilance recording sessions. Pro-pressed discs packaged in hand-folded cardstock envelopes, sealed with wax.
Support the DIY underground this spring as we cast our shadow across Cascadia.
March 23 - The Astoria, Vancouver BC
March 26 - Ash Street Saloon, Portland, OR
March 28 - The Highline, Seattle, WA
May 06 - Reggies Music Joint, Chicago, IL (Ragnarokkr Festival)
Time to unveil a little
something we've been putting together over the holidays:
We at Gatekeeper are
thrilled to announce A SHADOW OVER CASCADIA, a string of shows across
the Pacific Northwest during the Easter long weekend. We will begin
in our home base of Vancouver and conclude in Seattle, where we will
open for NWOBHM legends, SATAN. We are also pleased to be sharing the
stage with our friends and allies in true metal luminaries SKELATOR
and SUBSTRATUM for both the Seattle and Portland shows, plus a
variety of other incredible acts.
Nitty-gritty details
for each show will be released in the coming weeks, but for now, here
is the current tour itinerary. Please check back regularly for
updates.
(Please note that we
are currently in the process of booking March 24th in
Abbotsford, BC or another Fraser Valley venue, and the 25th
in Olympia, WA. If any bands or promoters in those areas are
interested in getting involved with our roadshow, please contact us
at gatekeeper@live.ca)
The gentleman standing to my left is David Messier, the new bassist for Gatekeeper. People in the greater Vancouver area will recognize David from his work with the speed metal hellions Manic Strike (RIP) and for being a face at nearly every local metal show, usually with a beer or two in hand. Messier has been a fan of Gatekeeper since our first EP and the two of us have been co-writing (a first for this band) the songs that will appear on our upcoming release, to be titled "From Western Shores." It's been an exciting few months working together and the new material is sounding nothing short of battle-ready. We hope to unveil more details and snippets soon.
This marks the beginning of Gatekeeper's new west-coast based lineup. We are currently seeking to fill positions on lead guitar, lead vocals and drums. Backing vocals are an asset. Songwriting contributions are welcome. We are hoping to find musicians based in the greater Vancouver area, but we will consider folks from across the Pacific Northwest. Must love Epic Heavy Metal and be performance-minded.
Get in touch via Facebook or at gatekeeper@live.ca
The 7" split with FUNERAL CIRCLE is officially available for download/purchase. Please direct yourself to our bandcamp page to give it a listen and even a purchase should you feel so inclined. Please note that the $1 download only entitles you to the Gatekeeper side of the split. It features lyrics on the back sleeve and artwork by Karmazid on the front. Mixed and mastered by Arthur Rizk, who has worked with Inquisition, Power Trip and Crypt Sermon recently.
This is a special one for us, as Funeral Circle has been friends of Gatekeeper since the early, early stages of the band. Without the initial support from Matt Barzegar and J.P. Abboud, Gatekeeper may not have gotten to where we are now. In addition, this is the first-ever domestic release for both bands. War On Music Records teamed up with Hard And Heavy to produce these records so we're very excited to give our North American brethren an easier grab.
There are a few other cool plans in the pipeline so keep checking the blog and the Facebook page for updates.
