Artist of the Day | GRATUITOUS PLATYPUS
ARTIST OF THE DAY
04.06.2021
GRATUITOUS PLATYPUS
LOCATION
Edmonton, AB, Canada
GENRE
Indie Rock
CURRENT MEMBERS
Stellar Nolan
Tristen Tiefenbach
George Kingdon
With the current pandemic, the state of the music and touring industry has dramatically changed. Where were you when everything was brought to a halt?
When the pandemic started the three of us were living together and attending Macewan University to study music, Everything grinded to a halt Mid-Semester, and we were housebound in downtown Edmonton
How has that affected your plans for the coming year? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
This time was definitely a blessing and a curse, we had gigs lined up for months that were all shut down, we were new to the edmonton scene (having moved up from calgary where we had been gigging pretty heavily during Highschool) and things were finally starting to pick up for us in edmonton when the shutdown started. we were really excited to get involved in the edmonton scene and to share our music with new people. but thankfully the free time worked in our benefit. Living together gave us the opportunity to rehearse and write basically nonstop - we used that time to write and record a full length album that is currently being mixed / mastered with Lorrie Matheison in Calgary. we feel as though our sound has changed and developed, and we're stronger musicians and writers than ever before. We're so excited to gig again and share our new material, I have a lot of pride for the new songs as a much more mature and refined collection of music than our older work.
What have you been doing to fill/make the most of your new-found free time at home? How are you supporting your mental health through all of this?
Some of this was answered above, we were fortunate enough to be living together so when the shutdown started so we were writing, rehearsing, and recording our new album. Outside of music I spent a lot of time skateboarding, and bought myself an xbox to catch up on about six years of missed video games. I personally (Stellar Nolan) Had some pretty intense mental health struggles through the year, and came out of it with a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. a pretty major focus point of our new album is around these struggles, and learning how to live outside of my own toxic self image. The whole record is a concept piece about Identity, confronting and acknowledging the differences between the person and the persona, and coming to terms with these deeply internal struggles. It's an uphill battle and each day is different but the thing that's kept me centred is our music and being able to express and work through my own mental health issues through song. This is some of the most vulnerable and heartfelt writing we have ever done and i feel as though a lot of people will be able to connect with the messaging in these songs. It's very rewarding to know that even though this year was hell we're coming out of it stronger than ever, and we made the best of the time we had.
How are dealing with the Covid third wave?
Just trying to keep our heads above the water, taking time to work and save while also trying to stay safe. It's hard to stay hopeful that by the time this record is ready for release that we'll be able to show it off for people in a live setting, the way we intended. While eventually this will pass and we will one day return to something close to what came before the pandemic the uncertainty and instability in our industry as working musicians is definitely frightening. This summer George and Tristen are working in Edmonton, and Stellar is staying in Calgary to work as a Production Assistant on set for the upcoming HBO series "The Last Of Us" We're also planning some music video shoots and our marketing strategy for a winter release.
Favourite Starlite Room Moment?
I am yet to visit the Starlite Room, We moved to edmonton about 8 months before the pandemic started, I (Stellar Nolan) was still 17 until about a month before the shutdown and couldn’t make it out to most of the shows our friends at Macewan had invited us to. right before everything shut down we had tickets to see Peach Pit there and also were lining up a show at the Starlite opening up for the band Seriously Fun, unfortunately but predictably both ended up falling through. We're seriously looking forward to the Re-opening and hoping to book our Album Release show at the Starlite! (Chaos permitting, of course)
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
Just keep your head up, Those who were lost will not be forgotten, and we're all fighting through this together. We're looking forward to rocking out with you all again when things open up. we're coming back guns blazing, and we hope to pull you all along for the ride to share some good vibes and loud nights together.
If you would like to be our next ARTIST OF THE DAY please email us at:
JEN@CONCERTWORKS.CA
