INTERVIEW – TUSK

Making their debut with ‘Headroom’ in March, TUSK are ready to take on the music scene right now. We got to talk to the band about their release of ‘Headroom’ and what their take is on their ‘wall of sound’…

Hi! Could you please introduce yourself and your role in the band for us?

Colton: Hi, I sing and play guitar for TUSK.

Brett: Hey, I sing and play guitar as well

Ty: I play the bass.

 Your debut EP ‘Headroom’ was released back in March, how long did it take to record the album?

Colton: We started demo’s last summer, by December we had started work on the album proper.  We took a few weeks off around Christmas and then picked up again in January.  We finished the recording process of the album in February.

Ty: I would say it took about 3 months after pre production to record the EP. The process went by quick, even though we took some time off of it due to holidays.

 You describe yourself as hitting listeners with ‘A wall of sound’, what does this mean to you?

Colton: For me, just that our music seems to have a sort of 3-dimensional quality.  I want people to feel encompassed by it, I like the idea of our music having that physicality.

Brett: To me our music feels much like Colton put it.  It feels large. Like watching a heavy storm on the horizon,  you can feel the wind coming off of it as it approaches you. It’s almost ominous yet quite calming all at the same time. The point where chaos meets bliss.

Ty: Granted you don’t get the “Full live experience” through the EP, we literally build a wall of amps/cabs for our live performances. It’s something you can feel and see.

‘Headroom’ is quite a different EP and offers a lot of different styles, what was your main inspiration for the EP?

Colton: For me, I felt like it was just trying to capture what we were doing as a band at the time.  I don’t think we set out to make a concept record, and we certainly didn’t set out to make a “multi-genre” record or anything.  I think we just wanted something that didn’t feel stale or unoriginal.

Brett: We draw inspiration from so many different avenues not always just music.  I feel like this album encompasses a lot more than just our musical inspirations but our love of art in general.

Ty: It’s impossible to narrow it down to one main inspiration. We have so many, that vary between each member, which I think helped produce what we have here. These are songs that had good presence live, and we decided they’d be the best fit for our first release.

 ‘Headroom’ is quite a strong release, what was one of the biggest issues you faced while producing the EP?

Colton: With everyone in the band working full-time, getting everyone in the same room was a challenge at times.

Brett: haha our drummer at the time had to sleep in his car the night before the first day of recording since he managed to lock himself out of his apartment,  It didn’t hold back his performance but it was kind of a funny side note. In most ways the demos and the Ep process went very smoothly!

Ty: I guess my main recording day was a personal challenge. We had a radio interview that morning, then I had to drop off Eric, pick up our engineer Tim, all during some crazy traffic. I just remember it feeling like a total whirlwind of a day with a lot of running around, but I was so relieved by the end of it.

You have 5 strong tracks on this release, are you considering making any music videos for any of them?

Colton: We’ve talked about it. I think it’s one of those things that if we bother doing it, we’d like to be able to do it well.

What is the main goal for you as a band, what would you most like to achieve?

Colton: Probably the same as a lot of musicians, but I just want to engage people with our music.  The idea of people hearing these songs and having a genuine reaction excites me.

Ty: Colton hit the nail on the head. We want to be able to create art that connects with people and feels true to ourselves first and foremost.

If you could sum up your band in three words to new listeners, what would they be?

Colton: Girthy?

Brett: Dreamy

Ty: Toneburger

Make sure to read out review of ‘Headroom’ HERE and check out TUSK’s music HERE!