Feature / Interviews
Gateway District

Words: Loren • November 3, 2010

Gateway District
Gateway District

gd_intro.jpg

The Gateway District - a punk rock band from Minneapolis. We sat down and spoke to drummer Brad before the band played the Fest this year.

Scene Point Blank: I've read a few mentions of a second record coming out. Is it ready yet?

Brad: Well, it has been recorded for awhile now but we are "taking our time" mixing it. Once we ran out of money, it seemed like the best thing to do. The plan is to take whatever we get paid at Fest this year and put that money into scratch-off lottery tickets. So, it's almost ready.

Scene Point Blank: Is it going to be on It's Alive again? How did you hook up with them?

Brad: We don't know for sure who's going to release it but it will actually be done and out sometime this winter. It probably will not be released by Psychopathic Records, which saddens me greatly.

I originally met Adam and Jenna (who run It's Alive) through The Copyrights. They did a Chinese Telephones/Dear Landlord split 7" and they are fucking awesome! When we had the Gateway District LP recorded I asked if they wanted to deny their child even more nice things in life—luckily they did.

Scene Point Blank: Now that you've written and played together for a couple years, how has the process of writing a record changed? Is it more collaborative than Some Days You Get the Thunder?

Brad: I think we have gotten better at taking our individual songs and making them sound less separated as far as songwriting style goes. Pretty much every song on the new record has both Maren and Carrie singing and I think that makes everything fit together better. We changed a lot more musically in all of our songs once we started playing them as a band. We also worked on the songs more in general; recording some shitty demos of the stuff we planned to record at our practice space beforehand was a good idea. On the first record, we were trying to figure out how we wanted to play some of the songs in the studio so things ended up sort of rushed and there was more we wanted to change after the fact. So yes, "more collaborative" would have been a much better way to put all that.

Scene Point Blank: Are you expanding or going away from the countrified sound?

Brad: I would say we have gone away from that sound almost entirely. Carrie's songs sometimes lean a bit more towards the country side of punk but they sort of landed on the punk/pop side of things this time. That's one of the things that changed as a result of having more time to play shit as a band before recording. I think this one works a lot better as a record without the totally different sounding songs mixed in. We have talked about maybe doing an acoustic 7" or something someday that's more its own small project.

Scene Point Blank: Are there any other non-pop punk directions that you'd like to explore? There has to be a fifth wave of ska coming up soon…

Brad: I really hope you are wrong about that. Horns are funny way to wake someone up and that's about it. We are not really talented enough as musicians to "explore" much of anything outside of the tiny realm of punk music. I would, however, be interested in making a terrible record that attempts to sound like Bruce Springsteen but falls incredibly short of that goal.

Scene Point Blank: Do you see any of your other bands (or other Gateway District members former bands) slipping into your songs? How do you determine what is a Gateway District song versus a Dear Landlord song?

Brad: Yeah, for sure. I don't think any of our songs sound too much like the other bands we have been in, or are in now, but it's no giant leap either.

I tend to focus on whatever the more active thing at the moment happens to be and that's where songs end up most of the time. In Gateway District I write more complete songs: the music and lyrics. For the Dear Landlord stuff, Zack writes the music and vocal melodies and I pretty much just write lyrics—so that has a lot to do with where things end up.

Scene Point Blank: Are you living in Minneapolis now? How has living in different cities affected the band's growth?

Brad: Yeah, I live in Minneapolis. Maren and Nate also live here and Carrie lives on a farm in Wisconsin. Honestly, if we were all way younger and this was one of our first bands, I don't think it would work. We can't be a full-time band at all and we rarely practice. I guess we kind of step it up or scale it down depending on what we are all doing. But if any one of us wanted the band to be something more than that it would probably just collapse. Somehow that is not the case and we all really like doing this when it happens. I'm pretty sure that if were unable to tour at all we would still keep writing and recording records and playing shows around Minneapolis. I don't know how the distance has affected the band outside of that. We probably drink more when we do get together but it would be stretch to call that "growth."

Scene Point Blank: Since you're spread out a bit geographically, how much rehearsal time do you allow before tours? Is there more anxiety about hitting the road?

Brad: Usually we only practice once or twice before a tour. We play really shitty for the first couple of shows and after that things start to get tight again. It's a pretty bad system, I suppose, but it's our system. So, as long as you look at it that way, there's not much anxiety at all.

Loren • November 3, 2010

Gateway District
Gateway District

Related features

Unseemlier

One Question Interviews • June 27, 2025

Mike Assatly (Unseemlier - guitar/vocals) SPB: Do you have a preferred model of van for touring? Assatly: Chevy G-20 Gladiator! It was my first van, I got it from my uncle with 115,000 on it. He got rid of it for a new van because it was "old" and would … Read more

Dollar Store

One Question Interviews • June 26, 2025

Dave Slaverave (Dollar Store - bass) SPB: This band hits a lot of styles, all kind of overlapping at the same time. How hard was it to find “your sound” when bringing these influences together? Slaverave: Not very hard at all actually. We're all old-ass adults who've soaked in a … Read more

Golden Shitters

One Question Interviews • June 25, 2025

Matt (Golden Shitters) How nervous were you the first time you played a show? My first show was around 2002. I was 15 years old and it was a basement house party in my hometown of Welland, Ontario. I’d just proved myself to my high school buddies by singing The … Read more

Arms Aloft

Interviews • June 23, 2025

Remember Election Day 2024? Maybe you shouldn't. Maybe you've blocked it out. That's fair, but there was one pleasant surprise that day: a new EP from Wisconsin's Arms Aloft. It took a while to claw out of the darkness in November, then Year End 2024 coverage took over the Scene … Read more

Small Steps

One Question Interviews • June 12, 2025

Jeremiah (Small Steps - guitar/vocals) SPB: What song has the best use of whistling? Jeremiah: I feel like the easy answer would be the Bobby McFerrin song "Don't Worry Be Happy". Which is catchy as all get out, but we prefer the road less traveled here in Small Steps. For … Read more

Related news

Gateway District premiere "Skyline Drive"

Posted in Bands on October 18, 2013

Upcoming EP, new video from Gateway District

Posted in Bands on August 5, 2013

Go-Gos tribute forthcoming

Posted in Records on February 4, 2013

Related reviews

Gateway District

Old Wild Hearts
It's Alive (2013)

“We’re going to break you down this Saturday night,” sings The Gateway District in “Break You Down,” off their new LP, Old Wild Hearts. It’s as fitting a place to start as any. The band has a working for the weekend vibe to them, celebrating the good times and letting your Saturday nights roll. On their third LP, the transition … Read more

Gateway District

Perfect's Gonna Fail
It's Alive (2011)

The Gateway District’s debut, Some Days You Get the Thunder hooked me immediately yet, to this day, I can’t single out a standout track or identify just what about it grabs me. I just like the record. The whole thing, not an iTunes cut here and there, as is wont these days. It’s with similar feelings I find myself listening … Read more

Gateway District

Some Days You Get The Thunder
It's Alive (2009)

What would a new band that features members of Banner Pilot, The Soviettes, Off With Their Heads, and Dear Landlord sound like if locked in a broom closet and forced to come up with songs? I'm guessing something like this release. They may be ex-members of some of these bands (I'm too lazy to check) but the influence is still … Read more

More from this section

Arms Aloft

Interviews • June 23, 2025

Remember Election Day 2024? Maybe you shouldn't. Maybe you've blocked it out. That's fair, but there was one pleasant surprise that day: a new EP from Wisconsin's Arms Aloft. It took a while to claw out of the darkness in November, then Year End 2024 coverage took over the Scene … Read more

Ilya Arbatman (Rotary Club)

Book store co-owner

Interviews / Don't Quit Your Day Job • May 13, 2025

There are a lot of misconceptions about the life of a musician. Most musicians have day jobs – and not just to pay the bills. Jobs provide new challenges, personal fulfillment and, yes, some rent or gas money. How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative … Read more

Chuck Ragan

Fly fishing tour guide

Interviews / Don't Quit Your Day Job • April 14, 2025

How an artist spends their time by day will influence the creative process at night. In Don’t Quit Your Day Job, Scene Point Blank looks at how musicians split their time, and how their careers influence their music (or how their music provides escape). In this edition, we caught up … Read more