When you’ve spent a healthy amount of years honing your craft as a musician, making records, playing shows and touring Australia and the world, it’s normal to feel a sense of immense pride in your accomplishments. So when three long-serving members of the Melbourne rock scene found themselves not actively working as musicians, they each realised that they still had the drive, passion and desire to continue creating music. ‘The Itch’ had officially set-in and it was time to get back to work…
Estelle Artois (lead vocals/guitar) was a founding member of the female power-trio Tequila Mockingbyrd, Brendan Forward (guitar) recorded and toured with Massive and Mick Quee (bass) spent time with Dead City Ruins, Cicadastone and Perth’s Hailmary – three rock ‘n’ roll lifers who found themselves musically single and unattached at the same time. “We all came together after having left our old bands, and none of us were done,” says Artois. “We really missed all those things that make you a working musician playing in a band.”
The trio decided to meet up one afternoon at iconic Melbourne watering hole Whole Lotta Love Bar to plot their musical return over a few Young Henry’s. Joshua Potter, the drummer for Figures who is an infamous regular at the bar, was there and caught wind of the new group’s intentions and wanted in. With the line-up now complete, Echo Del Tusker was born.
Artois, Forward, Potter and Quee each contribute their own style and sound to the band, and when scraped together Echo Del Tusker’s music contains fragments of blues, rock, metal, garage and a bit of R&B – or as guitarist Forward has labelled it – “guitar-driven soul rock.”
Echo Del Tusker’s debut single Can’t Keep Your Man will be released on August 24th; and come September the band will be back on the stage doing what they all do best – indulging in the absolute joy that only playing music can bring.
