Local Band gets ready for Canadian Tour
Local Sault Ste. Marie band, Gates Of Winter is getting ready for what they hope to be a busy year.
Anyone who likes listening to unique music would do well to listen to the homegrown band. With soaring orchestral instrumentals and powerful rich vocals, their music is both unique and intriguing.
Gates of Winter has been together since 2003 and are now set to tour Canada with their latest CD Lux Aeterna.
Members include Brian Holmes, keyboard, Lee Maines, lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Steve Furgiuele on bass and Bryan Belleau on lead guitar.
I asked the band to classify the type of music that the band plays and what influences played a role in the development of their style.
Singer Lee Maines, said he liked to call their music Power Metal or Progressive Metal. It contains heavy European influences that the band has always enjoyed.
Their music is much more than just metal though.
The tracks on the album contain a lot of melodic instrumental sounds, something that keyboardist Brian Holmes says comes from his classical music background. Brian said that his father, mother and sister are all musicians, and for him music has always been a part of his life. He says that combining orchestral sounds and progressive metal was a natural evolution for him while writing his music. He calls being in Gates of Winter a "dream come true".
Steve Furgiuele the band's manager and bass player , stressed that he was not the "boss" of the band. He said all band members help when it comes to making decisions for the band and they are constantly calling one another before making final decisions.
He does take responsibility for some of the contacts the band has made both in Canada and in Europe and all over South America.
He said that their two singles "Life Force Rapture" and "Gates of Winter"(written in 2004 yet recently released) have been well received and get a lot of play on radio stations in Greece and Norway.
He also credits websites such as GarageBand as a gateway for their music to reach global listeners.
These two singles have been soaring through metal and instrumental charts as well as received awards in their respective categories.
Steve says that the internet has been a huge help in gettng their music out there and it is extremely important for making contact with people, fans and radio stations alike.
There are already orders coming in from overseas even though the album has yet to be released.
The CD Lux Aeterna, a latin phrase which means Eternal Light is available CD Plus and The Rad Zone. On the web:
www.gatesofwinter.com
Singer Lee Maines who writes most of the lyrics, says that the music on the album is emotional and the trilogy on the album, Track one off the cd, 'Burning Kingdom' is centered around spirituality, angels and demons is best described as the feeling of leaving your body, not knowing if you will make it back.
Producer Miguel Gauthier, owner of Stereo Soul Studios, says producing LuxAeturna has been both frustrating at times but very phenomenal. He has been producing music for a long time and says the most important thing when putting it all together is "finding the heart of the song".
All of the band members enjoy being on the road.
Bryan Belleau,lead and rhythm guitar, says that when they go on the road, they leave "home" behind and just have a really good time.
They say playing to people who are not familiar with their music is a great experience and they "have a ball performing their music".
"We enjoy seeing the reactions of people who are not our friends and family" (although those people are terrific)said Steve. "We're always the oddballs when we play with other bands , we let our music do the talking".
When asked about groupies, the band said "Groupies are great....they buy our stuff".
