1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
Greeting!
We are constantly working on new songs.
We already have a handful of new songs with lyrics waiting for final recordings and arrangements, which means more material is being created all the time.
We train and work on/record our songs at home, at the moment both working alone.
So we are working remotely in our band for at the moment.
So far, it has worked well that way.
We live 170 km from each other, so we don't see each other often.
We work on our material by exchanging messages and changing tracks via Google Drive.
We update social media almost daily, as news about our upcoming album keeps coming from all over the world.
Our songs are played on smaller and medium-sized internet radio stations around the world.
And this is the fourth interview this month, so there is action.
2.You have your first full length coming out in February, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?
Our musical style is full metal, with a very dark tone. In our opinion, our style is mostly blackened death/thrash metal, but there are nuances from other genres, also outside of metal music, for example from punk.
3.Both of the band members where previously in 'Down In Silence', what was the decision behind splitting up the group and forming a new project?
Tommi:
I was in the ranks of Down into Silence from 2007 to 2020.
I have great memories from those years.
I got gigging experience and became familiar with studio recording.
In 2020, I moved to another town, 170 km away from the other band members.
I tried for a while to continue and go to training, but that year there were a lot of unpleasant things in my personal life, so my motivation dropped a bit in regards to everything.
And the distance to that as an equation, I could no longer continue in that life situation and decided to leave the band.
The band finally stopped its activities in 2022.
Jere:
Down into silence was stopped due to lack of motivation and time of the members.
A few years later, we decided to start a new band with Tommi in a new style.
4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored so far with the music?
Some of the album's lyrics are written by external authors.
For example, the author of the song "The Awakening" was inspired for the lyrics when he had read Jordan Peterson's writings and watched his Biblical series lectures on YouTube.
The inspiration for the lyrics of the song writer A Place Called Home came from her own real personal experiences at a young age.
The lyrics, which are our band's own handwriting on the album, were inspired by e.g. The Gates Open title song is about people's selfishness, the evil of the world, the current way the world is going.
The song about death was inspired by the loss of a loved one.
But we also live in the Nordic countries, this northern dark season inspired us to make a song about that topic on the album.
But all the unpleasant things, bad events, etc. read daily inspire us.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Gates Open'?
Gates Open tells stories about the world's darkness, evil, life and death.
Part as fiction, part based on reality.
The gates are open, but where, you decide.
6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
We have created the cover art of the album using artificial intelligence.
The picture was made based on the phrase "voice after silence", I probably wrote something else to it. The picture chosen for the cover of the "Voice After Silence" album was just perfect for the cover of our debut album, there were a few other options.
The person in the picture, presumably a woman, looks into the distance and presumably hears a voice from somewhere far away.
That's how we see the picture ourselves.
And if we open up the idea of the name of the album, we came up with it as a continuation with our new band Gates Open from our old band Down into Silence.
It was a few quiet years after the Down into Silence band broke up and as old members of that band we founded a completely new band Gates Open, so the name of the debut album was perfectly suited "Voice After Silence".
7.Currently there are only 2 members in the band are you open to expanding the line up or do you prefer to remain a duo?
Yes, that has been the idea, as long as we get a good line-up together.
Live gigs could certainly be offered soon, it would be great to also perform our songs live in the future.
We both have some live performance experience from our old band days.
8.The new album is going to be released on 'Inverse Records', how did you get in contact with this label?
Inverse Records approached us with a message last spring thanks to our own active promotion.
We don't know exactly where they did spotted us, but I assume it was from the conversations/broadcasts of the Swedish Veckans Band Metal Radio.
In this case, it was ideal that we didn't approach them, but they approached us, so somehow we immediately aroused interest.
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of extreme metal?
All the feedback we have received has been nothing but positive.
It feels really great.
We hope that the general public, especially in metal community, will discover our band and find something for themselves in our songs, whatever that may be.
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
It very much depends on what Jere's note pencil turns out to be in terms of style.
Jere composes, Tommi sings.
Lyrics are created from both sides, partly together.
And if we get hold of great lyrics, we'll of course turn it into a song.
Together we fit the pieces to its final form.
Lets see what the future holds.
In any case, we would think that we will stay largely on the lines given by our first album, musically and stylistically.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Tommi:
My own singing style at the Gates Open was largely influenced by the singing styles of Children of Bodom's Alexi Laiho, Cradle of Filth's Dani Filth, Dimmu Borgir's Shagrath, and Turmion Kätilöt's Spellgoth and Mc Raaka Pee. Norther's Petri Lindroos should also be mentioned.
I listen to music everywhere, different genres, depending on my mood.
But mostly I listen to metal and nowadays I listen to a lot of all new bands and songs from various lists.
But Pantera, of course, is the world's best metal band of all time.
Currently, among Finnish bands, I recommend Warmen and Bloodred Hourglass.
But I also recommend checking out Inverse Records' wide range of music, there are really good bands there.
Recently, I've been listening to Inverse Record's Spotify list, a really hard set can be found in our own stable.
I recommend getting to know, without mentioning more than one band.
Jere:
The first bands that made me pick up the guitar were Metallica, Sepultura, Pantera, Testament and so on.
Then came Dimmu Borgir, Immortal, Dissection, Children of Bodom, Cannibal Corpse to name a few, with whom I started listening to more Brutal metal.
From Finland, I recommend the Stam1na band if you are interested in Finnish-language metal and the Swedish Orbit Culture is currently being listened to.
12.Before we wrap up thia interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thanks for the interview!
It was great answering your questions.
Keep on rocking, stay metal!
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