SXSW Interviews: Gus Englehorn

We are sort of winding down our week here with lots of new music coming your way and a slew of interviews on my end. It’s cold again out there folks so what better time to stay indoors and plan for SXSW in a couple of weeks? As always, we are here to help you make sense of the madness with our previews, interviews, and band spotlights. Today I am pleased to share with you my latest SXSW interview with Montreal based artist Gus Englehorn. Hit the jump for his interview and some tunes.

ATH: What’s the name of the band/group? Where are you from

GE: Hello, my name is Gus Englehorn and I’m originally from Anchorage, Alaska but I currently live in Montreal, Canada.

ATH: Describe your groups sound.

GE: I cover a pretty broad range of sounds since I can never make up my mind about anything and I’m a very excitable person so whatever I happen to be listening to at the moment has a big effect on what I write. But I would say my biggest influences as a songwriter would be Frank Black and Daniel Johnston. We perform as a duo. My wife Este plays the drums.

ATH: What was your most recent release? Any planned releases for 2022?

GE: I released my first album titled Death & Transfiguration right at the beginning of the pandemic January 2020. And we will be releasing our second album titled Dungeon Master on April 29, 2022.

ATH: Everyones been focused on the negative aspects of the last few years? What are a few good things that came about for you as an individual or the band as a whole during the last two pandemic-stricken years?

GE: One of the positive things was all of the distractions I had in my life seemed to evaporate with the pandemic and it allowed me to enter into the most productive phase of my songwriting thus far. My wife and I were living up in a cabin outside of Quebec city during the whole pandemic so there was really nothing to do but right songs the entire time and somehow I managed to finish a whole album in about seven months of writing.

ATH: Why play SXSW? What’s the draw for the band? What about this festival will bring you to Austin?

GE: I’ve never been to Austin before but it has always held some sort of mythical status for me. My favourite songwriter being Daniel Johnston being a big reason for that and also one of my favourite movies is Slacker by Richard Linklater. I also love western culture and I’m planning on buying myself some cowboy boots and a cowboy hat.

ATH: Let’s say your band has booked an official showcase at a pop up venue somewhere in the middle of 6th street. The lineup features thrash metal, hip-hop, spoken word, and you. The sound is horrible, the lineup is not your style, and the crowd is growing ancy. How would your band deal with such a situation?

GE: I think the only way to deal with a situation like that is just to give it everything you have no matter what the crowd is doing. You can never feel let down after a show if you gave it your all.

ATH: What has everyone in the band been listening to, or, what plays in the tour van/car/bus?

GE: Lately we’ve been listening to a lot of Willie Nelson, Henry Purcell, Bach and the Top Gun soundtrack.

ATH: The band gets to create their own food truck to take on the road. What’s it called, and what are you serving?

GE: Being from Montreal, we would probably have to make a poutine truck

Thanks again to Gus for making the time to speak with us! Here is his latest single entitled “Tarantula”. You should also consider a pre-order of his new album Dungeon Master coming out in April Via Secret City Records.