Based out of the bustling New Jersey music/college town of New Brunswick,
Gates emerged in the early 2010s with a sound that combines elements of hardcore, emo, indie rock, and post-rock. The band issued their full-length debut,
Bloom & Breathe, in 2014, with
Parallel Lives appearing two years later.
Gates returned from a long hiatus in 2022 with the EP Here & Now.
Gates formed in 2011 around the talents of guitarist Dan King, bassist Mike Maroney, Daniel Crapanzano, guitarist
Ethan Koozer, and guitarist/vocalist Kevin Dye. Employing a heady blend of math-tinged post-hardcore, indie rock, ambient pop, and emo, the group issued a pair of EPs (2011's The Sun Will Rise and Lead Me Home and 2013's
You Are All You Have Left to Fear) before inking a deal with Pure Noise Records, which reissued the EPs as well as
Gates' debut long-player,
Bloom & Breathe, in 2014. In 2016,
Gates returned with their sophomore full-length album,
Parallel Lives, featuring the propulsive single "Habit." A confluence of other projects and hardships, including Dye's diagnosis and eventual recovery from cancer, forced the band into a hiatus, but they re-emerged triumphant in 2022 with the cathartic EP Here & Now. ~ James Christopher Monger