{"id":2942,"date":"2018-11-30T12:30:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-30T11:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/?p=2942"},"modified":"2018-11-29T18:31:25","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T17:31:25","slug":"gatekeeper-to-release-grey-maiden-ep-in-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/blog\/index.php\/2018\/11\/gatekeeper-to-release-grey-maiden-ep-in-february\/","title":{"rendered":"GATEKEEPER To Release \u2018Grey Maiden\u2019 EP In February"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nLooking to strike while the iron is hot, Canadian true metal up-and-comers GATEKEEPER <\/strong>will release the \u201cGrey Maiden\u201d<\/strong> EP on February 22 via Cruz Del Sur Music<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Featuring two brand-new compositions, a cover song and a track re-recorded from their first demo, \u201cGrey Maiden\u201d<\/strong> picks right up where the band\u2019s acclaimed \u201cEast Of Sun\u201d<\/strong> first full-length left off. The groundswell of support in North America and abroad \u2014 including the selling out of the vinyl and CD pressing of \u201cEast Of Sun\u201d<\/strong> within six months \u2014 spurred GATEKEEPER<\/strong> to satiate their ever-growing fanbase with a new release.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working harder and faster than ever since all of this started happening,\u201d says guitarist and founding member Geoff Blackwell<\/strong>. \u201cIf there\u2019s one thing I\u2019ve learned from spending the past ten-plus years in bands, it\u2019s that momentum is your greatest resource and you\u2019ve gotta pour gasoline on the little fires that pop up in your career.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Blackwell<\/strong>, GATEKEEPER<\/strong> (who are rounded out by vocalist Jean-Pierre<\/strong>, lead guitarist Kenny Kroecher<\/strong>, bassist David Messier<\/strong> and drummer Tommy Tro<\/strong>) has performed more shows in 2018 than all other years of the band combined, which has started to influence their songwriting. While \u201cEast Of Sun\u201d<\/strong> is considered by many fans to get only better with each passing listen, the songs on \u201cGrey Maiden\u201d<\/strong> are some of the band\u2019s most immediate compositions to date. However, there are some twists afoot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe title track might be our best song yet,\u201d notes Blackwell<\/strong>. \u201cIt\u2019s got a massive chorus, intricate vocal lines and catchy, pummelling riffs. We re-recorded the song \u2018Tale Of Twins\u2019<\/strong>, which is an old favorite that we\u2019ve been playing lately. It\u2019s finally gotten the recording and performance quality that the song deserves! JP<\/strong> did a great job with the singing on this one.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Moss\u2019<\/strong> is a big departure from our other material,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt\u2019s a soft, finger-picked acoustic ballad featuring a lilting guitar pattern inspired by traditional folk music with fantasy-tinged lyrics. We also brought in a guest violinist to fill in the gaps. It\u2019s much different than anything else we\u2019ve done, but I think it makes perfect sense for GATEKEEPER<\/strong>. Lastly, we covered an obscure NWOBHM song by a band named TREDEGAR<\/strong> called \u2018Richard III\u2019<\/strong>. They\u2019re a very cool, but forgotten band from Wales who had ex-members of BUDGIE<\/strong> in their ranks. They were a very early example of epic metal and we decided that it would be a good match for us. Kenny<\/strong> and I took some liberties with the guitar arrangement.\u201d<\/p>\n

GATEKEEPER<\/strong>\u2019s future plans include a tour of Europe in support of \u201cGrey Maiden\u201d<\/strong>, including spots on key festivals such as Hell Of Hammaburg<\/strong>, Swordbrothers<\/strong> and Up The Hammers<\/strong>. In addition to more live dates in their home territory of Canada, GATEKEEPER<\/strong> will buckle down and get to work on their second LP, which, according to Blackwell<\/strong>, will feature material contributed by the entire band. But, before the calendar jumps over to 2019, some reflection of 2018 is warranted, a year that saw GATEKEEPER<\/strong> emerge as one of the best new traditional metal hopefuls in recent memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we all hoped the album would do well and I figured that we’d make a few sales and play some fun shows here and there,\u201d closes Blackwell<\/strong>. \u201cBut, I absolutely never expected us to sell out the first vinyl and CD pressing so quickly. That’s the kind of stuff that usually happens to other people. The outpouring of support from our new friends and fans on social media and streaming platforms like YouTube <\/strong>has been huge, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGrey Maiden\u201d<\/strong> track listing:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Grey Maiden<\/li>\n
  2. Tale Of Twins<\/li>\n
  3. Moss<\/li>\n
  4. Richard III<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Looking to strike while the iron is hot, Canadian true metal up-and-comers GATEKEEPER will release the \u201cGrey Maiden\u201d EP on February 22 via Cruz Del Sur Music. Featuring two brand-new compositions, a cover song and a track re-recorded from their first demo, \u201cGrey Maiden\u201d picks right up where the band\u2019s acclaimed \u201cEast Of Sun\u201d first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1481],"tags":[1485,1484,1535,1258,1487,1536],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2942"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2944,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2942\/revisions\/2944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruzdelsurmusic.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}