Phoenix metal band Gatecreeper celebrate 10 years with a new album

When you spend over 25% of your life in a band, it becomes more than just a job or a hobby. It becomes part of you. Listening to Chase Mason talk about Gatecreeper, the band he started with guitarist Eric Wagner and drummer Matt Arrebollo in 2013, it's like the band has become another body part.

“It’s a decade, you know. I just turned 37, and it’s a big chunk of my life. It’s the first real benchmark and a lot of bands don’t make it that far. A lot of my friend’s bands that we started out playing with aren’t around anymore,” Mason says.

It’s not just bands that have come and gone in Gatecreeper’s already storied history, but venues, too. Mason, who has been a humble yet driven mainstay in the local scene for much of the last two decades, used to help run 51 West, which housed many great underground shows. Gatecreeper played many early shows there, as well as at former Mesa venue Club Red.

The band will celebrate their 10th anniversary along with the release of their fantastic new record on Nuclear Blast, "Dark Superstition," on Saturday at the Nile Theater in Mesa. The show is going to be a spectacle, for sure, and Mason is excited about it.

“It just worked out perfectly that the show is for our 10th anniversary and our new album. We’ve got a bunch of bands (12, actually) playing. It’ll be run like a festival with food trucks and such. It’s a big milestone and we wanted it to be a cool event,” Mason says.

Joining Gatecreeper on the bill is also Maryland’s Full of Hell, who just released the epic "Coagulated Bliss" at the end of April, so fans of the heavy, evil stuff will not only get to hear tracks from Gatecreeper’s latest banger, but new stuff from Full of Hell. Rounding out the show lineup are Undeath, Jarhead Fertilizer, Final Gasp, Nuclear Remains, Yellowcake, Blood Loss, Groin, Jock Club, Dave Parley and Snupac.

"Dark Superstition" is Gatecreeper’s third full-length album — "Sonoran Deprivation" (2016) and "Deserted" (2019) were both on Relapse Records) — and first for Nuclear Blast. The band was courted by legendary metal label executive Monte Conner (formerly of Roadrunner Records) who signed artists like Soulfly, Slipknot and Machine Head.

“(Conner) is kind of a legend … a legendary person. He signed a bunch of bands that we are influenced by, and he was the guy who signed us (to Nuclear Blast). He came and saw us in New York, then COVID hit. We’ve almost been signed to Nuclear Blast for four years, but due to the pandemic, we didn’t put anything out until now. We wanted to get back to touring for a couple of years and then we took almost a year off to make 'Dark Superstition.' We wanted to take our time with it and didn’t rush anything. Nuclear Blast didn’t rush it at all, and it was a really good experience,” Mason says.

One of the huge benefits for Gatecreeper in working with Nuclear Blast is the label’s European roots and reach across the Atlantic Ocean. The band has put in considerable work touring across the United States for the past decade, but the opportunity to see what the potential for Gatecreeper overseas is too good to pass up. Having an A&R executive like Conner on your side doesn’t hurt, either.

While each of Gatecreeper’s previous records have been excellent, working with Nuclear Blast has taken the band to a new level. There is a noticeable improvement in the power and sound of the band on "Dark Superstition." For local fans who haven’t checked this record out, gird thy loins. Gatecreeper is taking no prisoners with this one. Prepare to have your face melted completely off.
It's fun to watch a local Arizona band step up to the plate and hit a home run.

“Everything is set up right now for us to have a really good career if we do good on this record. It’s going to take us to the next step, but that’s a lot of pressure. There was definitely a lot of internal pressure, added on to what anyone would want for their next record. We are very critical of our own work, but there is that element of ‘bases are loaded,’ and we need to knock it out of the park. We are glad we took the time that we did on 'Dark Superstition,'” says Mason.

One of the barn burners on "Dark Superstition" is “Mistaken for Dead.” It’s the second to last track on the record, but it hits like an opening track. Fans of multiple genres will be stoked on this one as the song hits like Discharge to start out but then morphs into blazing fast death metal with one of the sickest guitar leads to come from the desert in a long time.

Mason and crew, which also includes bassist Alex Brown and guitarist Israel Garza, have completely honed their metal chops. "Dark Superstition" sees the band ready to take over the world, to be honest, and having just returned from their first shows in Asia and Australia, the importance of representing Arizona well as Gatecreeper tours the world is not lost on Mason.

“We’re feeling very grateful for the success we’ve had. At this point in our band, 10 years, and it’s taken this long where everybody in the band is doing this full-time. We’re not quite making a living off of it, and when we’re home, everyone has to do some side work or take a temporary job, but at this point, we’re all in. At this point, we’re an international band, and I think it’s kind of unique, and when people see that we’re from Arizona, that’s kind of interesting. We’ve been very lucky and had a lot of great opportunities,” says Mason.

Gatecreeper. With supporting acts. 2:30 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at The Nile Theater, 105 W. Main St., Mesa. Tickets are $35.