Echo Del Tusker branded themselves with a name that sounded cool and didn’t mean anything (like most band names) and began scraping sounds together from avenues of blues, metal, and gospel to the backdrop of each member’s defining variety of rock and roll.

Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Estelle Artois - vocals/rhythm guitar
Brendan Forward - lead guitar
Mick Quee - bass
Josh Potter - drums

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Echo Del Tusker? How long has the band been around?

Estelle Artois - Tequila Mockingbyrd - 2012
Brendan Forward - Massive - 2010
Mick Quee - Dead City Ruins/Hailmary/Cicadastone
Josh Potter - Figures (currently a member)

What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?

The band name was the easiest conversation we’ve ever had in the band. We liked the sound of the word ‘tusk’ and ‘husk’ but there are bands with both these names so Echo Del Tusker was just us building on this word.  No one else has it as it’s pretty random and not a real English word so everyone signed off on it pretty quickly. It doesn’t look like we’ll be changing it any time soon.

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

We all participate in the writing process. Typically, one member will have a song idea that we jam out and refine. Themes are pretty typical - things we have been through, things we are thinking and feeling at the time or things we’ve observed. There seems to be a lot more emphasis on making the music a bit more upbeat and creating happy/feel-good vibes as well as exploring more major tonalities (debut single excluded - haha, but you will hear that in future releases).

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

I’ve recently gotten in to Dead Sara who have been around for a long time. They are a nice blend of blues and heavier rock - pretty much my favorite genres. Brendan showed me a band called the Alabama Shakes and they’ve been playing in our car non-stop: ballsy, deep female vocals meets solid jumpy guitar riffs. Such a winner! We’re all actually huge fans of Pantera which is hilarious as our music sounds nothing like them.

We have spoken about our songs sounding influenced by Queens of the Stone Age at times and the Dead Weather/Jack White. There’s an appreciation from all of us how much the Dead Weather explore creative parametres with not only their musical style but their live shows and their videos. 

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

Where EDT is concerned, you could probably insert our previous bands here - haha. Where Brendan, Mick and I were concerned we needed a time out from the full-time band thing, all the while inevitably writing songs again and deciding it was time to get back out there. 
Personally, I always wanted to be on stage performing and after watching School Of Rock, I was pretty sure I wanted to be one of those kids playing guitar.

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …

Nothing exciting really: as a vocalist, my preparation starts the night before with as much sleep as I can get. On the day of the show I make a point to drink heaps of water leading up to performance time and I swear by it. It helps better than a shot of whiskey does - and it’s cheaper. It sounds funny but it’s always good to stretch before physical activity haha. I’ve woken up feeling like I’ve been hit by a truck after many a show. Most likely because I did not stretch.

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

We’re honestly just getting started, but our debut single was just played on Triple M’s Homegrown over the weekend. That was very exciting for all of us and the highlight so far.

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

I’d love to tour with the Distillers. I’ve been following Brody Dalle for a long time and love everything she does.  The Dead Weather are at the top of my list too. If you asked Brendan it would probably be the Rolling Stones, Mick would probably say Motorhead and Josh would probably say the Deftones or A Perfect Circle.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

We seriously can’t wait to get back out there. Life has been quite boring up until recently.