Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
Gates to the Morning is a project I started over a decade a go. I had a ton of material and was half way through the recording process when the files somehow got corrupted and I lost all the music. It was a self recording and after that I decided to call it quits at being any type of sound engineer. Years later I had all this material on guitar and just decided I would do something with it, it bothered me I still hadn’t released anything. Now It has become a bigger project than I originally envisioned. The members of the band are best friends I have been playing with since youth. Mark Glaser, Dylan Jacobus, Jon Lopez and Anthony Gobielle have been there with me for a long time and I’m lucky to have that. Meg Moyer was a recommendation from the engineer of the upcoming album Kevin Antreassian and she captured exactly what I heard in my head. I went to college with Ædan McEvoy who plays lever harp on one of the tracks, “Chapel Perlious.” It was very cool to have that sound on the record. The live outfit of the band will be as similar as possible to the studio line-up.
How would you describe your style? Which bands influenced your music?
I love to hear other people’s opinions of that, because I can never really be sure. I have a wide range of influences that might be coming through at anytime. I’d rather let the listener determine what it sounds like. I would say the music is progressive, it has moods ranging from the highest mountaintop to the deepest underbelly of earth. That’s as specific as I’d like to get, I don’t like listing genres or bands because I’ve been inspired by Emperor to sit down and write a riff and someone will say it sounds like Black Sabbath. Then I’ll write a riff inspired by Jeff Beck and they say it sounds like something totally different, and so on. I’m always interested to see what others hear.
Why should a metalhead buy your demos/albums?
It is new and fresh, I am proud of every song. It was an organic process, I didn’t force a minute of it, it is authentic. I have had amazing people working on this record with me. All the musicians on the record are really incredible and intuitively understood the music so well. The engineers who worked on it are amazing at what they do and once again they just knew how to capture the right sound at Backroom Studios in Rockaway, NJ. “Return to Earth” is a concept album and it’s written to be a journey for the listener. There was a lot of love put into this record.
What have you released so far and how were your releases received by the public/media?
I have released two singles from the album that are free to download on band camp right now. The response has been overwhelmingly positive and I’ve been encouraged strongly to put the band into a live setting.
Do you play live as well? How's your live activity so far?
That was not originally the intention, but as I stated I’ve been positively encouraged that I should do it, and I wouldn’t mind it. The music does deserve a live manifestation so I am considering starting out with 3 dates in the tristate area, most likely New Jersey, Brooklyn and Philadelphia but nothing is set in stone yet.
What should labels/zines/promoters know about your band? Why should they be interested in it?
We bring something different to the table and it’s going to grow over time as things take form. Gates to The Morning is a project I am not afraid to take anywhere creatively. It’s possible I will unintentionally keep listeners on their toes as time goes on. Musically I am so proud of the musicians I got to work with, they are friends who I’ve played with for a long time and I know the type of live performance we can put on together, and also the type of creativity we can bring to the studio . We’ve been doing this for a while now and it feels good to share what we bring to the table.
What plans do you have for the near future as a band?
As stated I am hoping to support the release of the full length with a few live shows, but those plans aren’t finalized yet. I will always be writing new material but I would like to support the music from “Return To Earth” for a while, there are 14 songs that comprise an hour of material so there is a lot to work with for now. New Material will always come up, I already have a lot of “leftovers” that couldn’t fit onto “Return To Earth” that will be used for the next release. Right now after working on these songs in the studio for so long I am eager to put them into a live setting, it’s exciting to think about.
Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can visit WWW.GATESTOTHEMORNING.COM and from there you will find links to soundcloud and bandcamp where you can download the music. Right now bandcamp has two singles that are free to download, so that’s about 10 minutes of free music. And when the full length comes out in early 2019 (date still pending so keep your eyes peeled for that) it will be up for purchase. The website is the best way to check for updates and news and has links to all social media and anything else that is relevant.
January 2019