East San Francisco Bay Area/New York metal outfit BLACKGATES, featuring former ANTHRAX singer Dan Nelson, drummer Paul Bostaph (ex-TESTAMENT, EXODUS, SLAYER, FORBIDDEN) and guitarist Jeremy Von Epp, have announced their debut live date, on May 5th at Rooster's Roadhouse in Alameda, CA.

Also performing are MUDFACE, FALLING TO PIECES and ANOTHER VOID. Check out an event flyer below:

As previously reported, Blackgates have enlisted Luis Barillas as their new bass player.

Bostaph says of Barillas: "Luis is a veteran of the Bay Area metal scene and a welcome addition to the band."

Von Epp added: "He's got that Steve Harris/Geezer Butler vibe on the bass which fits perfect with what were doing, not to mention that he's a solid dude."

Nelson remarked: "Luis is an amazing bassist and a perfect fit for the BLACKGATES sound. He's a true bro who you know from day one will have your back in the trenches."

Bostaph previously stated about Blackgates: "As you can see by our studio blog #1. We're currently hard at work writing the rest of the material to record and release a record this year. we are shopping for a label at this point. The new material is friggin' heavy. We can't wait to unleash it on you! The music is definitely maturing and we are honing in on our sound. The first 3 songs we released were literally the first 3 we wrote. They were written musically without a vocalist. Now that we have Dan, the new songs are really heavy as hell and have great hooks! That being said. We're looking to play our first show in May and will be playing all our new music. Stay posted and we will update you all as we lock the first show in. Hope to see you all on the road."

Blackgates earlier in the year finished mastering its first demo, which the band recorded in the San Francisco Bay Area with producer Tim Narducci (SYSTEMATIC, SPIRALARMS).