Gypsyhawk – Where Retro Meets Cutting Edge

By Catie Rhodes and Piper Bayard

Metal Blade Records band Gypsyhawk transports us back to the Dark Ages, aka the 70s and 80s, and nights spent partying to the music of Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, Boston, Queensryche, Tesla, and Ratt.  It was both a more innocent and a more complicated time when men had better hair than women and hard rock had a sinister reputation.

But don’t mistake Gypsyhawk for a knock-off retro band.  They do for classic rock what Daniel Craig does for the Bond franchise. This band marries the best of kick ass guitars, righteous drumming, and tight beats with cutting edge culture and fantasy themes to create relevant, head banging, soul rocking sound.

According to the band, they were listening to the audio book of George R. R. Martin’s GAME OF THRONES, when, in sympathy with King Robert’s desires to lead the life of the wandering warrior, they came up with their latest single, “Hedgeking.”  The song captures the youthful dream so many of us share of shedding responsibility and leading uncomplicated lives of excitement and glory.  The result is the mating of fantasy geek with classic cool to produce an offspring that transcends them both.

While Gypsyhawk drew its inspiration for “Hedgeking” from GAME OF THRONES, the look and feel of the video is reminiscent of another travelling warrior tale, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, which is derived from the depression era writings of traveler/adventurer Robert E. Howard. Armor, furs, horns, steel, skin, blood, sex and glory. The video, like the music, transports us to a place where life is as simple and focused as surviving the battle without the bother of cubical farms, taxes and rent. It’s four minutes when we can all be youths with long hair whose greatest want is the new Judas Priest album.

Gypsyhawk’s newest release, REVELRY AND RESILIANCE, reflects this same flirtation between fantasy, reality, and hard rock. The band revisits George R. R. Martin’s fiction as inspiration for “The Red Wedding” and pulls from the popular role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons for “The Silver Queen.” Then the band explores the other side of that fantasy coin in the earthbound reality of living as a cog in the mechanism of maturity in “Overloaded.”

Gypsyhawk will be supporting THE SWORD at the Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington, DC on Saturday, November 17. Not in DC? Check out their North American tour schedule at Gypsyhawk – Metal Blade Records. Don’t miss this chance to take a break and embrace youth on adventure or just enjoy the head banging guitar riffs in a unique collage of heavy metal, fantasy, and themes of eternal youth.

Five Heavy Metal Stars for Gypsyhawk!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jByIoUmdl-0]

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Catie Rhodes blogs at Full Tilt Backwoods Boogie. You can contact her in blog comments, email her from her site, or connect with her on Twitter at .