Royal Tusk: The Joys Of Being Altruistic

It’s hard to miss the cover of the third album by ROYAL TUSK. Titled Altruistic, the album’s plain black background makes the brightly coloured art of two people in a warm embrace pop out, demanding a passer-by’s attention.

“It was a really cool process that we worked with our art director, Keenan,” guitarist Quinn Cyrankiewicz explains about the story behind the cover. “We gave him the music and lyrics, and we had him create something that we think did the music justice.

“When I look at the album cover, I notice all the subtleties that point towards lyrics on the album, as well as the concept of altruism in general. When you first notice the cover, it looks like two people hugging, yet behind their back, they might be exchanging something. There’s this juxtaposition. The colours are a reflection of the vibe of the record as well. There’s dark content, but also hope as well. Keenan also created the artwork for the singles as well.” Quinn also explains how the album cover doesn’t pinpoint whose album cover it is. “We didn’t put our name on the cover, so it’s its own living breathing thing.”

Altruistic means to put other people’s needs before your own. Quinn says that the album is called Altruistic because of an instrumental that he wrote. He names the instrumentals based on what he’s feeling or what it sounds like. When it comes to Altruistic, he says that he was thinking about a person who was altruistic, and when he showed it to singer Daniel Carriere, the chorus was jotted down quickly. “We thought it was a really cool word and concept. The album itself isn’t really a concept album, but the idea of altruism and the idea of if someone can be truly altruistic. You know, can they ever do anything for other people without there being an ulterior motive? That was something we were thinking about, and we thought it was a really fitting title.”

The album also builds upon their first two records. Whilst their 2017 debut DealBreaker is a “70s inspired thing”, 2018’s Tusk II is “balls-to-the-wall heavy”, Altruistic is an album that experiments with some synths, but mostly sticks to the rock genre. It is also the first album that is self-produced by the band.

“It was a big undertaking in of itself. It was also a by-product of the pandemic,” Quinn explains. “It’s not that we’re not capable of doing it in the past. It’s just that we’d love to get that unbiased opinion that a producer had. But there’s also something to be said about it just being us and not have any other input. I could see us doing it again in the future, but also we could use a producer in the future.”

He elaborates, explaining that whilst he has produced albums for other bands, it was stressful when it came to ROYAL TUSK. “It was always on our minds that we could totally do this. But you have such an intricate creative relationship within the band, so it can sometimes help having a producer there who can help when members can’t decide what a song should sound like. But when you don’t have that middle-man, you’ve got to plead your case with the other members of the band if you feel passionately about your opinion. We used people here and there for a few things, but ultimately, it was on us, so it’s a lot of pressure. But the result is worth it.”

This is especially true in ROYAL TUSK‘s case. Altruistic sounds like it has been produced to near perfection, and the band sound like they are at the top of their game. The album runs smoothly, which is thanks to the tracklist, which Quinn explains the band “tolled over it a lot. We start with deciding the first and last track on the record, and work inwards from there. We knew for Altruistic, we had the first song that kicks it all off, and then we have the ballad at the end to lead off this record, so where do we go from there? It’s a fun process and I like thinking about the flow as it’s going. Some of those decisions actually influenced the way songs start off and parts of the songs on the album.”

The band chose the singles by choosing the songs that they felt were the best songs on the album. They also showed the finished album to trusted people in their inner circle, as well as their record label. By comprising all the data from people that they were talking to, the band chose the singles. “For instance, the song Here On Out was not a song that we as a band would not have chosen as single,” Quinn says. “It was pretty much unanimous that everyone we showed the record to said that it should be a single. It just goes to show that when you’re so close to something artistically, you get tunnel vision, and you need an outside opinion.”

But he admits that it is hard to take them seriously because of being so close to the project. “It is art at the end of the day. It comes down to who are you making it for: yourself or other people? I think for ROYAL TUSK, it’s a bit of both. We want to make something that we love, but we also take into consideration what other people like as well. We’re trying to make something that we’re proud of, and hopefully other people will like it as well.”

Altruistic is out now via MNRK Heavy.

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