Skull Gate, a new crossover band from Ottawa, Ontario, just dropped Kingdom of Misery—a ripping 5-song EP that the group hopes will help jumpstart their local scene.
“[Ottawa hardcore] is primarily a 30+ club right now, but the city’s music scene at large is seeing some fresh blood recently” says bassist Ben Thum. “We need more of that in hardcore—new faces, new bands and new venues.” Skull Gate hopes that by playing shows and releasing good music, they can inspire others to do the same.
The band released Kingdom of Misery on Lifers Records, a burgeoning label from nearby Montreal. That connection might also help to put a battery in the back of the Ottawa scene. Montreal has one of Canada’s most vibrant hardcore communities at the moment, and is only two hours from Skull Gate’s hometown.
Speaking on the Lifers co-sign, Thum says “we really wanted to bridge the gap between MTL and Ottawa, and try to help rebuild the scene more like it was in past years.” The members of Skull Gate have been playing in heavy bands for over a decade, and hope their experience will help them make the right choices when it comes to their new project.
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Skull Gate’s members come from a diverse set of musical backgrounds, but all share a love for classic thrash like Slayer and Metallica. Guitarist Holden says the band approached writing by “taking those fast riffs from earlier bands and mixing them with some more modern stuff we love. Bands like Doomsday, Lowest Creatures and Prowl were a big inspiration."
Skull Gate is already playing out of town shows, and hope to hit the road more in the coming months. Their next gigs will go down in early September with Offside and Shut Away:
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Hit the Skull Gate Linktree to find all of their social media pages.
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