Since Edmonton rockers Royal Tusk’s new single ‘Aftermath’ was released in early October, it has gained over one million streams on Spotify only. Equally to the song, the music video for it is also raw and chaotic, and reflects on the mayhem and the normalization of the violence we see on television and social media every day.

There has been a significant transition from the more subtle indie sound of the 2014 ‘Mountain’ EP, when the band’s mega hit ‘Shadow of Love’ was playing at every single radio station on repeat, to their newest full length ‘Tusk II’, which has a much more heavier energy, even in comparison to the band’s previous album, 2016’s Dealbreaker. The album was recorded within 24 studio days with the producer Eric Ratz, who also produced the band’s previous full length record. Front man Daniel Carriere says as drastic as the change may seem, it has still been a very natural evolution for the band.

“We still love all the old music we made in the past. When Royal Tusk started, I don’t think we knew what type of band we were yet. You’ll notice that a song like ‘Shadow of Love’ still had some pretty heavy elements with guitar riffs we most liked to play live.” Said Carriere.”It may not seem like it when you listen to the softest track on ‘Dealbreaker’, which actually was even more guitar oriented, versus the heavier track on ‘Tusk II’, but there are similarities. When we got back into writing again after that, we just started writing really heavy songs and were having fun with it.”

The first song on Tusk II, ‘First Time’ acts as a buildup and sets the tone for the whole album, which is thoroughly consistent with clever hooks the band is known for, from the blaring guitar’s and 80’s vibes of ‘Die Knowing’ to the intensely heavy bass riffs of ‘Stowaway’. Carriere says the band is not interested in being categorized to a certain genre, and so far the response from existing fans has been very positive, and regardless of the shift in the energy on the band’s records, Royal Tusk still sounds like the same band.

“I think genre is just something that sits on top of a fundamentals of a good song, and we could do these songs in any style. It is all about having good lyrics, good chords, good intention, and the message you want to deliver. That’s what I think makes a good song. We hope regardless of what era of Royal Tusk the people like, they can get into it. We just got to play the kind of music we want to play at that moment, and currently it has been heavy rock. Maybe I’m projecting, but the impression I got so far from the fans, is they are saying “Finally, this is what we want to hear from you guys!”, he laughed. “I’m really happy to see people at shows wearing merchandise from past tours, so it’s nice to think that maybe some of our longtime fans are coming along on the journey with us.”

Even though the new album is contemplating on the heavier world issues, Carriere is not ruling out writing slower and more sentimental songs in the future.

“Tusk II is a pretty angry record. Socio politically it has been a crazy couple of years, and we really wanted to step out and voice our concerns and our anxiety about what the world is currently like.” He said. “I’m certainly not an academic, and I’m not the one to tell people how to think. I think we just want to just question everything and make people consider where we are at.”

Royal Tusk. Photo by Brandynn Pope.

The mass shootings such as at the Pulse night club in Florida, and Bataclan in Paris, were thought provoking events for everyone, including Carriere, but he says ultimately it was not a single event that created the lyrics for the album, but the general realization of how desensitized the world is getting with all the violence been shown on media. Carriere says he feels the way news are presented are very binary and divisive, instead of looking at the situation as whole rather than deciding on which team you are on.

“The first line on ‘Aftermath’ is “I should be losing sleep”, and it’s just so funny how the world still keeps on turning. No matter how much terrible shit is going on we just learn to adjust. We hear about these shootings daily. Does that stop you from ordering what you’re getting from Starbucks every day? It doesn’t.” Carriere said. “I’m not preaching because I don’t have the answers. We look at these tragedies in the world and people writing “my thoughts and prayers are with you” on Facebook. And after that, what do we do? We just go on in the face of all this. These are some of the questions I struggle with, and I think a lot of these songs show some of that frustration.”

Carriere says he likes to challenge what he believes to be true every day, because if he didn’t, it would only show how little he trusts what he believes, and quotes the lyrics from the Odds 90’s hit ‘Someone who’s Cool’, “I’m a picture that I’m holding”.

“It’s true you know. The world is a stage. We get out there and once you step out your front door, you’re not just yourself, you are yourself in a relation to how you interact and how you present yourself to other people. It’s really interesting. So obviously with this new technology it is kind of like that concept on steroids, because it really gives you the ability to edit what you are and how you come across to a degree that is unparalleled. I think it’s really bad for the psyche.” He said.

As for musical inspiration, Carriere says he looks for it from very different sources than just heavy rock.

“I think it’s because we play rock for a living now. It’s fun to break away and listen to something completely unrelated to what you do. I’m finding most of my inspiration from completely different genres, and I like bringing those ideas to the table. Sometimes it’s nerdy stuff, like chronologically listening to every Michael Jackson record ever. And I love all these new prog metal bands, they are so fun to listen to. Or maybe throw on a Justin Bieber record!” he laughed. “I think he’s a cool kid, and he bridged the gap from making terrible music to pretty good music, which you know usually doesn’t happen.”

The band is currently on a fourteen show Canada wide tour with the Michigan rockers Pop Evil, who Royal Tusk happens to share a same label with. The band is also looking forward to announcing a bunch of U.S. tour dates in the near future, as well as hoping to head over to Europe and South America after that.

“We have always loved Pop Evil, we were lucky enough to get an offer to tour with them and we were over the moon. I think we are a perfect fit, and we can’t wait to share the stage with them.” Said Carriere.

The remaining Canadian tour dates can be found at http://www.royaltusk.com/

By Laura Collins.