A NIGHT WITH: GAELERI

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THEY'RE RECENTLY BACK WITH THEIR BRAND NEW FOURTH ALBUM GATES OF ROME, NOW WE'RE TALKING WITH THE BAND TO BETTER KNOW GATES OF ROME ITSELF AND A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THE PAST OF THE BAND!

Hi guys and welcome on the pages of The Bible of Metal! Back to rock after a decay, how are you living the moment?

Thanks, we're glad to be here! It’s great to be back again and be “in the music”. You know, we’ve had quite a journey over the years with ups and downs, but right now it’s up BIG TIME. We’re just having a good time and I think it reflects in our music.

When have you started working to Gates of Rome?
We started already 2012 with writing the music and I guess it was early 2013 we actually teamed up with the others to get a real feel for the new songs. The recordings didn’t start until late 2013 and we finished it before summer 2014.

Would you like to make us a little track-by-track for Gates of Rome?
Ready or Not – This song is all built on Niklas brilliant guitar riff, which keeps the song moving forward almost like an old steam ship. The chorus is quite simple, but effective with the lead being straight forward and the backing vocals doing all the harmonies.
Queen of Time – We wanted to create a pounding heavy foundation with this Orient inspired song and I think we really succeeded. If you listen to this song repeatedly you will find new stuff every time. There are quite a number of musical layers which you won’t hear the first time. The theme for the lyrics is about life and that one only have a limited amount of time to spend here on planet earth.
Wannabe – This is actually a song we had in our wardrobe, that we kind of dusted off, hahaha. We wrote this one some years ago, but never really recorded it. It turned out really good starting off naked with only the guitar and the lead vocal and then it just keeps growing and growing adding harmonies. The whole song is about some people doing almost anything to become a celebrity, even if it’s just for 15 minutes. You know, all those nonsense reality shows on TV where people showcase stupidity just to be someone. It’s the same old story and we’ve heard it all before..
Gates of Rome – Again the guitar leading the way with a vibe that, at least for me, tastes a bit of The Cult. From the beginning it had totally different vocals and lyrics, but I wasn’t really satisfied with it so I just erased what I had done and started all over. The inspiration came from a book, or actually a series of books, I read some years ago written by Conn Iggulden. I can recommend the book by the way.
Let Your Love Bleed – This is an old-school riff rock song with a bluesy feeling to it. The “slow” verse really lets you breathe and then when the chorus hits you it’s kind of “all in”.
One Touch – A modern midtempo AOR-song that start quite simple with only the drums and bass but grows and the chorus hits you right in the face. You just have to sing a long in the chorus, hahaha.
Entertain You – This one, I think, is the hardest son on the album. The way the heavy guitar pounding away intertwines with the melodic riff is interesting. We also added some strings to emphasize the changes in harmonies in the song. The lyrics are about us coming back to the music scene.
No Boundaries – Just a very straight forward old-school rock song in the vein of bands like AC/DC and Whitesnake. A good beer swinging rocker.
One Step Closer – A midtempo classic hard rock ballad again with more layers than first meets the ear.
Time Has Come – One more straight forward “all-in” hard rock song with an in-your face chorus packed with great backing vocals. It’s a song about making changes in life and not being afraid of the change itself.

I loved a lot the old school rocking riffing in the intro of Let Your Love Bleed, is there a song that you loved particulary?
Well, funny you mention ‘Let Your Love Bleed’ because there wouldn’t even be an album if it wasn’t for that song. You know after me and Niklas decided to start writing music together again, that was the first song we wrote. Niklas came up with that riff and pretty much everything except for the vocals and lyrics. But the base was there and I came up with the vocals and lyrics almost instantaneously. We really felt that it turned out great and we said: "Hey, we still have a few good ones in us!" so we just kept on going. So, in a way that song is kind of special. My personal favorite changes from day-to-day all depending on which mood I’m in. One day it might be the opener ‘Ready Or Not’ another day perhaps ‘Queen Of Time’ or ‘Wannabe’. I don’t know really, it’s kind of like choosing whom of your children you love the most – impossible.

Are you planning to release a video for a song of Gates of Rome?
Yes, we have plans to release a video for the sing ‘Wannabe’, most likely in the beginning of next year

What are your projects for the next future?
Without saying too much, we are looking at putting together a European tour next year where we are hoping to include Italy. We’ll get back to you with more info once things start to fall into place.

In your past experience you've had a lot of problems with the release your first self-titled album, recorded in '93 and officially released on '96, because your label at that time went bankrupt. What would you suggest at those bands which are starting to play and that could find some troubles in the beginning?
Oh, I think all I can say is stick with your dream and try to overcome stuff like that. When you’re in the middle of it, it feels like shit and you might want to give up. But, stick together and you’ll come out stronger on the other side. These days it’s possible to do it all yourself if you want. I mean, without spending millions you can do your own recording and release it digitally, which I think is great. So, if you struggle with finding the right record company you could always say – Fuck it, let’s do it ourselves.

Would you like to leave a message to the readers?
First we would like to thank all our fans out there for supporting us and listening to our music and secondly we hope to see you all on the road next year. Keep your eyes and ears open!