Tusk are Thomas Robertshaw, Jonathon Evans, Andrew Cutts and Sam Hodgson. They are a Newcastle based band who originally hail from Hartlepool, Stockton and Preston. Tom and Jon grew up together and taught each other to play guitar in their early teens. Tom moved to Newcastle in 2006 to study at Northumbria University where he met Andy (who occupied the room opposite Tom’s in halls) and Jon joined them the following year. They soon became Runwells with drummer John Simms until a change in direction and sound resulted in a name change to Tusk in late 2010. John departed amicably mid 2011 to move out of the area for work and Sam was recruited through a gumtree advert in September 2011. Their good friend Jason Clarkson is considered to be the ’5th member of Tusk’ and he handles filming and editing, amongst other things.

Debut single Before The End/ As You Begin, which was said to have “Lovely interplay of guitars, vocals and drums” by Tom Robinson (BBC 6 Fresh On The Net), was released in August 2011 and followed by the Lives Collide EP in April 2012, on which Bob Fischer (BBC Tees Introducing) commented “Tusk have made their Revolver”.

A double A-side single entitled Boy Bruce, The Mighty Atom/ Subtle Fun was released at the end of August 2012 as a download only via Tusk’s Into The Blue Recordings. Boy Bruce, The Mighty Atom and Subtle Fun received their debut plays via Bob Fischer on BBC Radio Tees and Nick Roberts on BBC Radio Newcastle, respectively. The release was well received and featured in Drowned In Sound, The Crack and The Abacus Post amongst others, with Music Junkie describing it as “the product of a band mastering their sound and pushing it into their own unique space.”

Gateshead-based label, Tiny Lights, are releasing Tusk’s 7-track ‘Interrobang’ EP on April 22nd 2013 and the first single to be taken from it will be the Snuff Box-referencing ‘Don’t Wake Quickfinch’.