Rising Royal Tusk to perform in Stony Plain

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Calen Stuckel grew up in Stony Plain and is now experiencing the feeling of being taken beyond his community by music.

The drummer comprises one-fourth of Edmonton’s Royal Tusk rock band and they will be making an appearance in the Tri-Region at Moonshiners in Stony Plain Jan. 4. Through six years of hard work and steady and strenuous performances in a variety of venues, he, Daniel Carriere, Sandy MacKinnon and Quinn Cyrankiewicz have built a following that has even endured a drift from the group’s initial sound.

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“It seemed like the direction was more of an indie rock type at first,” Stuckel said. “We were getting some radio play on SONiC 102.9 at the time. But when we went to do our first full length, we stayed along those lines, but discovered after in writing that our riffs and the songs themselves were leaning towards the heavier side. We decided instead of being one thing, that this seemed the most natural for us to do.”

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The piece was titled TUSK II and was described by reviewer Chad Bowar of hard rock and heavy metal magazine Loudwire as a work that “[sheds] most traces of indie rock, [embraces] loud guitars and has edgier and more direct” lyrical content. Stuckel said he and his peers are influenced by legends like Soundgarden and Nirvana and have a collaborative process when sitting down to compose their music and lyrics.

“I do not know if anyone has a leader status,” he said. “Daniel for the most part is probably the closest one, but as time has gone on, the last record and especially the stuff we are coming up with now has been really cohesive. Everyone has their own jobs and we all stick to them.”

In the time they have been active they have attained over one million streams on Spotify, traveled to Europe and the United States and even did a number of shows with Guns N’ Roses’s Slash earlier this year. Stuckel says that was a “pinch-me” moment for him and his bandmates.

“You expect someone like that to be unapproachable,” Stuckel said. “He ended up coming into our green room and introducing himself. Very chill, very soft spoken guy. He spoke with us for about a half an hour, anything that we needed, he and his band were very accommodating.”

In the future he and his peers hope to continue touring, cross paths with more legendary figures, and, as always, will put on a show.

“We make some good and heavy rock,” Stuckel said. “Things can get rowdy and we are definetly seeing great and positive feedback.”

The show next month begins at 8:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at Eventbrite and Juliet Ruin and the Desperado Pilots are guests.

epretzer@postmedia.com

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