Currently forging on their current (and longest yet) North American tour (christened The Conquest Of Poverty Tour), THE GATES OF SLUMBER singer/guitarist Karl Simon posted a message on the band?s MySpace page updating fans on the band?s current pillage (with fellow comrades DEMIRICOUS).

Says Simon from his blog: ?"Hello, Karl here, It?s been a while since I posted one of these things, Jason (McCash bass) usually does the blog these days, but I decided to take the time to put one up to send out some massive thanks to all our hardcore fans for coming out to our gigs on this tour. It has been fucking awesome meeting you; time and again finding people who have driven for hours to come to the shows is humbling and an inspiration to Jason, Bob (Fouts drums) and your truly. You fuckers coming out and singing the tunes with me and just raging out and showing your support has made a lot of the fucking cro-magnon shit like sleeping in the snow 100% worth it! A massive sign of the Hammer to you!

?It's been an awesome time and what I think is a great bill. Demiricous have been awesome to be on the road with and the mix has been interesting every night. I hope that all you lot have been turned onto them, just as I hope we've gotten to some of the maniacs that have come out for them every night. It's been awesome hanging with those guys.

?Things have been great, and that is no lie. We've met some awesome people and the shit is only half over tomorrow we invade NOLA, so I expect some of you southern fried fuckers to come out to the gigs: come and see how some Yanks do this shit.

?Anyway. I just want to thank you all for coming out, and I hope to meet more of you! Onward pounding into glory ride!?"

Remaining dates on The Conquest Of Poverty tour go as follows:

November

24 - New Orleans, LA - Dragon's Den
25 - Tallahassee, FL - The Engine Room
26 - Tampa, FL - Brass Mug
28 - Gainesville, FL - The Atlantic
29 - Spartanburg, SC - Ground Zero
30 - Baltimore, MD - Talking Head

December

1 - New York, NY - Lit Lounge - Precious Metal Mondays
2 - Rochester, NY - Bug Jar
3 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
4 - Columbus, OH - Ravari Room
5 - Chicago, IL - The Metal Shaker
6 - Indianapolis, IN - Emerson Theater