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