OVER the last couple of weeks, TTV have been keeping readers up to date with what our favourite local bands have been up to in lockdown. Today, we catch up with Pelican Tusk.

After seizing our attention with the weird and wonderful ‘Freaked Out (Inside The Machine’) back in January, the quintet release their debut EP ‘Rhubarb’s House’ this coming Friday. We checked in with the band to see how they’re keeping busy, what they’re listening to and to hear more about their eagerly anticipated EP.

What’s the last thing the band said to each other in your Whatsapp group?

Sam : We were discussing the greatest band logos of all time.

Rhauri : And it’s Black Sabbath by the way…

Sam: The irony that Ozzy started this virus in 1982 is not lost on us

Rhauri : Unlike the rest of humanity Ozzy can fucking hack it.

What have you been doing to pass the time in isolation?

“We were lucky enough to get some studio time right before shutdown to record some bass+drums, so that’s been a great way to pass the time and focus on the future. We’re obviously all unable to meet up now so it’s frustrating we can’t work on it together, but I’ll hopefully have the majority of it done by the time we can meet and the guys can add their parts and then we’ll have something really positive to show for this difficult and stressful time. Apart from that been enjoying time with family, trying to get a bit of uni work done (impossible) and listening to a lot of new music. A lot of great music has come out of Glasgow recently and hopefully the EP can be part of that.”

How do you feel about the current state of the world and the effect that it will have on Scottish music industry?

Rhauri : “I think it’s a seriously worrying and challenging period for humanity. Our lives are being affected in ways many of us did not anticipate! The spread of the virus, loss of work and the total f*cking grimness of self isolation is really taking a toll and we send our love to everybody who is affected. It’s obviously devastating to us, and all our creative pals, losing pretty much all of our shows and opportunities over the next few months. I think I can speak for every band on this earth when I say that not playing gigs for however many months is truly shite craic.”

Sam : “The current situation speaks volumes about the scene and how special a place Glasgow is, everyone supports each other and there’s no doubt we’re all gonna come out the other side. At the same time, the virus has exposed a lot about society and about the music industry in general. Without gigs musicians are completely f*cked. I’m sure everyone in isolation is listening and consuming a lot of music to help them get through this crisis, yet musicians are scared of how they are going to pay bills.”

“If I was to choose between being isolated with rakes of toilet paper or rakes of music the choice is obvious, yet people are willing to pay a lot for one and zero for the other.

If you are able to buy digital albums/songs that go to the artists instead of a streaming service, it’s something that will help a long way.”

What 5 Scottish bands are on your isolation playlist? 

Rhauri : “Our brothers and sisters in Vlure, Ninth Wave, Walt Disco, Blue Nile and the Jesus and Mary Chain.”

Sam: “Amazing Snakeheads, Coctuea Twins, Fabric Bear, and Fauves.  Would say Walt Disco as well but a certain member borrowed my ID, and proceeded to cough maliciously on my gran when I picked it up…still can’t believe it. During the social distancing Pelican Tusk would like to initiate war with Walt Disco, they better watch their backs.”

Rhauri : “Weapons both biological and physical will be permitted.”

When the world gets back to normal, what’s the first thing the band is going to do? 

Sam : “Host band orgies until 2021, get a tattoo of Joseph Kony’s face but the text reads “Corony 2020”. Go out and kill every Bat that exists so this never happens again. In all seriousness, just make music, gig, go to our friends gigs, support all the venue’s in any way we can.”

Rhauri : “Buy silk shirts and make a blood sacrifice to appease the gods. Once the great and merciful gods have forgiven us I’ll be getting pished at all my pals gigs.”

Sam: “Spend the last few weeks thinking of words that rhyme with Corona.”

Rhauri : “Write corona themed slam poetry”

Can you tell us a bit about your debut EP ‘Rhubarb’s House’ which comes out this Friday?

Sam: “I’d started working on the EP way before the band even got together for our first gig, It was around summer two years ago and I had about 12 drum tracks to start working on. It’s been a slow meticulous process, and all the music was recorded in my flat so there was no time limit whatsoever.”

“After a while I realised there was a really strong narrative and cohesion with the 4 from Rhubarb’s House so it was cool to see that emerge from a bunch of demos I had. A big reason as to why its taken so long for this to come out from when it was recorded is that I had a crack at mixing it myself, and it was a very enjoyable experience, turned out to be extremely addictive aswell when there’s no deadline, so a lot of the songs I reckon where remixed about 20 times and probably sounded no different from the 1st mix.

“Since then I’ve mixed some other stuff for the band Nekkuro Hana who I play drums for, I found it really interesting that when you’re listening/mixing music that’s played by people other it’s easier to listen objectively. With Rhubarb’s House it was pretty different in that every part was played by me so the control freak definitely came out.”

 What’s next for the band? Still releasing new music / re-arranged tour dates etc etc?

Sam : We were planning to announce a launch night for our EP Rhubarb’s House in the coming months. That’s a lot more complicated now for obvious reasons. Waiting for everything to blow over is gonna feel like forever. The EP has been finished for nearly half a year and to be honest it’s the kind of music you would want to listen to by yourself anyway. We’ve got about an albums worth of new tunes to record and release by end of the year, the one benefit of this is that we’re gonna be able to record in my flat for months and not feel the normal sense of guilt for missing stuff. New plan is to release it on 10th of April!

Rhauri : Also, if the EP is gonna help pass the time and inspire folk in isolation we’d love to help out in any way we can, so we shall be providing belters on a regular basis. People can ponder their own existence even further with Pelican Tusk soundtracking the end of the world.

‘Rhubarb’s House’ is released on Friday 10th April.