If you love epic, heavy metal that takes you on exciting adventures, then you need to check out Vancouvers very own Gatekeeper! These guys are some of the big players in NWOTHM and with the band celebrating their new release ‘From Western Shores’ they have plenty of adventures ahead in 2023! Check out this exclusive interview with Gatekeeper!
THE NWOTHM: For those who do not know who you are, can you tell us your band name,
who is in the band and where you are from?
GATEKEEPER: Hey, this is Jeff from GATEKEEPER. We are an Epic Heavy Metal band from Vancouver, BC. My band mates are David Messier (Bass), Tommy Tro (Drums), Tyler Anderson (Lead Vocals) and
Adam Bergen (Lead Guitar).
THE NWOTHM: How did the band form and is there any interesting story surrounding its
formation?
GATEKEEPER: I originally formed this band as a solo project when I was living in Edmonton. It was basically an outlet for me to learn guitar and write my own riffs in that obscure, cult metal style like Manilla
Road, Ironsword, Atlantean Kodex and Solstice. As time went on, our old Myspace page
(remember those?) started getting some attention from fans from around the globe. Some of them
were even members of the bands I mentioned above. Eventually I formed an actual lineup and
started releasing EPs and split and demos. Cruz Del Sur Music (Italy) signed us and released our
first full-length album in 2018.
THE NWOTHM: Since the bands formation what big milestones have you achieved?
GATEKEEPER: We’ve gotten to play some very cool festivals overseas, including Keep it True, Hell Over
Hammaburg, and Swordbrothers in Germany as well as Up The Hammers in Greece. Many of
those were part of a 21-show tour across Europe with Sanhedrin (Metal Blade Records) in 2019.
We’ve also released a song on Metal Massacre from Metal Blade Records, a split with the much-
revered ETERNAL CHAMPION and lots of shows across North America. We also have our album
covers done by Duncan Storr, a legendary painter in the UK.
THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us any fun/ interesting facts about the members of the band?
GATEKEEPER: I’m a music teacher and also a producer, so I record and mix albums for other bands. I mixed albums for Knight & Gallow, Demon Chrome and Solitude Within last year plus an album for By
Fire & Sword which should be out later this year. I also have a solo project where I release one
song at a time featuring friends in other bands such as Adamantis, Seven Sisters, Lycanthro, Leo
Maia and Spell.
THE NWOTHM: What bands and artists have influenced you and helped you to carve your
sound?
GATEKEEPER: Aside from the artists I mentioned earlier, we are very influenced by classic 80’s metal bands like Savatage, Omen, Judas Priest, Dio, Accept and so on. Everyone else in the band has their own
personal influences that bleed into the music. For myself, I listen to a lot of power metal and I try to
take in a lot of classical, jazz and hip-hop as well. My favourite band overall is Blind Guardian.
THE NWOTHM: I have noticed that books have been a big inspiration to your music! Can
you tell us about any titles that have helped you write your music and lyrics?
GATEKEEPER:We write a lot of songs about European mythology and viking-age history but as far as fiction goes, we have songs based on Robert E. Howards brand of sword and sorcery fiction as well as H. P. Lovecraft, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson and more recently, Dragonlance and Gene Wolfe’s Book of
the New Sun.
THE NWOTHM: Nwothm seems to be strong in countries like the US and Sweden! Which
countries has Gatekeeper found to have an amazing reception?
GATEKEEPER: Germany is definitely our strongest fanbase–during our tour of the EU we played about half the shows in Germany and they were always packed. We love the German enthusiasm for
underground music and heavy metal. Our show in Athens was also very good and the UK was
great as well. The USA is kind of a second home of ours–if it wasn’t for the fans who helped us
play certain shows down there we may not have made it to Germany at all. We haven’t played in
Scandinavia yet but I hope we get there in the near future.
THE NWOTHM: Can you tell us about your previous release(s) and any background
information to the music? How did the songs come about?
GATEKEEPER: Up until recently I was the primary songwriter and lyricist in the band, but on the album “East of Sun” the other members started contributing riffs and lyrics to the process. The upcoming album
“From Western Shores” is a lot more collaborative. I think I only wrote one song completely by
myself and I wrote almost none of the lyrics. David helps write lots of riffs with me, Tyler writes
most of his own vocal parts and Adam has also contributed song that he writes from top to bottom.
A few songs get arranged in the jam space but it’s more common than people write the songs at
home and then we flesh out the details together in person.
THE NWOTHM: Your artwork is pretty impressive! Can you tell us about any of the artists
behind the album covers?
GATEKEEPER: Pretty much everything you’ve seen recently has been illustrated by Duncan Storr. However we did have some other great artists like Ralph L. Torres (Project & Judgement EP) and the mighty Lionel Baker II (Vigilance EP). Karmazid also painted a cover for Bell of Tarantia. We’ve been lucky to
brush shoulders with so much talent.
THE NWOTHM: What shows have you got coming up for 2023? Any major performances
you would like to highlight?
GATEKEEPER: Our album release gig will be at Hell Heroes in Houston, TX at the end of March, so we’re very excited about that. We have a few others in the works but we are keeping things quiet until we can
make a formal announcement.
THE NWOTHM: What can you us about your new album ‘From Western Shores?’ Any stand
out tracks you would like to highlight?
GATEKEEPER: I really like “Exiled King” which was the first single. I think it’s the quintessential Gatekeeper song–a feeling of marching forward, with an intense vocal delivery, broken up by softer, bardic
passages. I feel like you can learn a lot about our band from this song. I’m also excited about
“Twisted Towers” which is our catchiest song ever, plus “Shadow and Stone” which is a big, epic
track based on Tolkien. I think people will dig that one.
THE NWOTHM: Where can people check you out on social media and buy your
music/merch?
GATEKEEPER: We’re on all the usual platforms (Facebook, Instagram) and I talk a lot of shit on Twitter as well. We may jump into TikTok, although I’m not sure if we’re quite shameless enough for that one.
Most of our band stuff is operated through Bandcamp, so that’s the best place to find and support
us. We encourage everyone to follow us on Spotify as well–every little bit helps.
THE NWOTHM: is there anything else you would like to mention?
GATEKEEPER: Just a big hello to all the NWOTHM fans out there! We can’t wait to share this new record with you. -Jeff
Bandcamp: https://gatekeeper.bandcamp.com/album/from-western-shores
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GatekeeperBand
The Nwothm 
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