Quit It! performed during Sled Island on Thursday, 8:30pm at Ship & Anchor.
TRANSCRIPT:
Kaamil (CJSW)
I’m from CJSW conducting an interview with Quit it! during Sled Island 2025, down here at Sled Village. First things first, could you introduce yourselves and tell us about your role in the band?
Mikey
Yeah. Mikey Blotto, I play drums and sing, kind of yell a little bit, I guess maybe.
Tyler
Tyler Burton, I play bass and I also growl and sing and scream and jump around like a fool.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Amazing. Thank you guys for joining me. And before I say anything, I wanted to note that this Q-line was written up by Cam Seifert, so wonderful. Yeah, we love Cam. I was like oh, like, you know them better than I will, so we can get some great questions from him, and he’s got some funny ones in here. So I wanted to make sure I prefaced it. So you guys have played Sled Island before. What’s the importance of Sled Island to you as a band and fans?
Mikey
I think, like the community building that it does, is really important, right? And making sure there’s safe spaces for people and and generally just being an excellent festival in that regard. Anything to add?
Tyler
Yeah, like the community aspect of it is always amazing, especially in a city like this where, I think work is always kind of at the forefront of the city. You know, it’s always about a job or making money, and this festival kind of opens everyone up to more like minded people in the community. Yeah.
Mikey
Tight answer.
Kaamil (CJSW)
No, that’s, it’s a good point. The community is definitely something we obviously care about at the station, but something that you feel generally when you’re around Sled Island. How was the show for you guys? You guys kicked things off at the Ship, right?
Mikey
Yeah. The show was great. The crowd was good. Stayed busy all night. For all the bands, all the other bands were really good. That was, it was excellent.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Yeah, was there, you know, comparing to other shows that you’ve done, was there anything special about in terms of the feel of doing it at the Ship, which is also a free event, so people will kind of filter in who may not even be Sled related.
Tyler
We always like playing free shows. We always love playing the Ship & Anchor. It’s basically our home base, our home venue in the city. You know, like, I think I don’t know speaking for myself for sure, that I do appreciate playing the Ship & Anchor a lot.
Mikey
I think he probably actually speaks for all of us. In some ways, we do love the Ship. Have for a long time, even in previous bands we’ve been in, we’ve we’ve always felt really at home at the Ship & Anchor. There’s other amazing venues in Calgary as well that we love to play also, but there’s just something about the Ship that feels really special.
Tyler
Yeah, because my brother works there.
Mikey
Shout out to Justin.
Kaamil (CJSW)
No conflict of interest, right? Haha no that’s awesome. And you guys play a lot of festivals, but you guys also tour a lot as well. So how does playing a festival compared to maybe doing a tour or a kind of standalone show?
Mikey
I think festivals, there’s just a different vibe about it, when you’re then when you’re on tour, you’re exhausted all the time, because traveling is a lot harder than a lot of people would think. Whereas a festival, you’re kind of grounded where you are. And there’s just a different energy, because so many people are there for the festival and to see so many different musical acts, and it just brings a different vibe.
Tyler
Yeah, yeah, it’s, I think we try to put an emphasis on sticking around for the majority of the festival and just, just so we can kind of check out other bands, and it’s like a really cool showcase to meet other people and meet, you know, new bands. See new bands, get into new bands. Have a new favorite band by the end of a festival you know that you never heard of before, right?
Kaamil (CJSW)
Yeah, do you guys have one that you kind of, you’ve been able to check out this week that stands out?
Mikey
Tyler and I are probably not the best ones in the band for that, because we both work day jobs, and so we had a late night Thursday and then an early morning Friday. But honestly, the band that played right after us at the Ship, Shiv and the Carvers, they’re from Toronto. They were awesome, really, really great band, and we actually played a festival with them last month in Montreal as well, called Pouzza. So it’s cool to kind of have some some festival buddies, you know?
Kaamil (CJSW)
Yeah, that’s awesome. That’s great. Quit it! And this is a very, very big shift from what we were just chatting about. But Quit it! is a very politically focused and takes on sensitive topics with your guys’s subject matter, what’s the importance of challenging power and promoting inclusivity to the band and the music in general?
Mikey
I was gonna answer that. It’s incredibly important. You know, like music and art has been doing that forever. You know, like it’s extremely important to hold power and hold accountability to people in power, especially right now. What’s going on in the world right now? It seems pretty insane and crazy, and we all have a platform to use our voices, and a lot of people in power using that platform against us. So I think everyone has to kind of chip in and and promote their ideologies, especially if they’re, you know, based around peace and prosperity and community, right? And a lot of people are trying to rip that away from us. So I think it’s very important right now that musicians and artists speak with a loud voice about holding power and holding accountability to people in power.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Yeah, well said, and connected to that in the songwriting process, and I don’t know if you guys are directly the ones who are writing the lyrics and stuff, but is it kind of start off with that goal in mind for that song, or does it just kind of come naturally along the way that you’re getting those messages across?
Tyler
I think we all have feelings that we love to express. And on this latest record, it was just basically writing your anger down and then putting it into a song, right?
Mikey
Songs like that. Yeah, more or less I think everybody contributes lyrically in the band and but we all have very similar viewpoints, obviously. So the themes all kind of line up pretty, pretty easily between the four of us. I don’t think there’s necessarily a goal in mind. It’s just we’re just writing what we feel and and it’s just we all are feeling the same kind of way about the world right now, so it’s easy to just fall into that together.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Nice, nice. And you guys are all you mentioned. You guys all kind of involved with the writing, but you’re also all vocalists. So how do you guys decide who sings which songs, or who does the vocals at certain parts? Is it kind of, again, a natural thing, or do you guys kind of take turns with it?
Mikey
Well, mostly whoever wrote the lyrics sings the song. There’s some exceptions to that. As far as like parts go. It kind of comes naturally, right? I mean, we work at it at practice, but yeah, it just kind of flows. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kaamil (CJSW)
So every member of Quit it! comes with experience of, you know, a number of notable bands coming out of Calgary, you guys have been parts of other bands. How have those experiences helped shape the band that you guys are currently?
Mikey
Oh, man, so many ways. Like, I mean, I’ve, I’ve probably been in 20 different bands over the last 25 years, and every every band’s been a different experience, but it’s helped me understand what it takes to be in a band, how to work with your band mates in a way that’s productive and support each other. And yeah, our previous incarnation, River Jacks, we were all in that as well, and that was really where it started to build, and the understanding of how to, like, take care of each other and look out for each other and work together for a common goal.
Tyler
Yeah, no, pretty much I wouldn’t be in this band if it weren’t for my other previous bands, because that’s how I met these guys. So, yeah, it helps you with, like those internal relationships. You know, people in bands are very weird. It doesn’t matter who you are. There’s always like a weird idiosyncrasy of someone else in another band. So it’s kind of learning how to communicate with that person, or communicate with those people. And you know, like, sometimes you have to mess up, sometimes you have to, you know, really screw the pooch. But you know, at the end of the day is, if you learn from those experiences, you know the it’ll get easier as you go, right, but those internal, personal relationships are always kind of, you know, hard to navigate. So, yeah.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Yeah, no, that’s, that’s awesome. And you guys have some new music in the works. Presumably, I guess Cam knows better than I he’s got the inside route on this. What does the near future hold for Quit it!?
Mikey
Well, we do have a new record recorded. We’re working on artwork right now. We have a label that’s gonna put it out later this year, Outhouse Records out of Pender Island, our good pal, Laurie, is putting it out, and I’ve been out by the fall, is our goal. So, yeah.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Awesome. And then anything, any plans for like a tour after that gets dropped?
Mikey
We’ll do little mini tours around the prairies, but we are planning to go east up to Quebec City in October.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Nice. Have you been out to Quebec before? I guess you guys were from Montreal. You did the Montreal festival?
Mikey
Yeah, we toured out there a couple years ago, and then that was the only time we really toured. We were just in Montreal only for Pouzza Fest, but, yeah, we got a lot of friends out there from previous bands, so it’ll be nice to get back out and see them and reconnect and show them our new music.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Awesome is that the furthest east you guys have gone for your performing?
Mikey
As Quit it! yeah.
Tyler
River Jacks. River Jacks has played as far as what, Halifax, yeah, yeah, yeah. We so we’ve gone from Vancouver to Halifax in one tour, and all together, just not as Quit it! but as Quit it! yeah, it’s just been Quebec City. I think it’s as far east as we’ve gone.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Cool. That’s awesome. Literally, coast to coast. Oh, sorry, I’m just moving on here. So DIY is important to Quit it! What goes into being a touring DIY punk band?
Mikey
A lot of work. It’s a lot of work. Booking your own shows, managing your own tours is a challenge, but the important part is that we all contribute to that together to make it easier. So yeah, it’s reaching out to venues, reaching out to bands, doing all the legwork to make it happen. It’s a lot but it’s so satisfying in the end, and fun that it’s worth it.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Yeah, and what are some important or, who are some important figures in the, you know, the Canadian DIY punk community that have helped, or, you know, you connected with.
Mikey
I mean, Laurie, who’s going to be putting out our next record has been a big one. They they’ve helped us book shows on the West Coast, and they’re helping book our tour out east right now. So many people, just in their own little area, that have helped us right like there’s so many names to try to name that I would, I would definitely miss a lot.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Fair enough. It’s just about that community that we touched on, like, right at the start, you know, it’s just building that community. And I’m sure there’s so many people who make their way into it like that. Yeah, once you start touring Canada, you kind of, you know, like you’ll tour to someone’s city, and then they’ll tour through to you, through Calgary, or whatever. And the more you do that, the more that relationship builds and that community builds. So, you know, having joined River Jacks, and, you know, while they were touring, before I was I was kind of exposed to a lot of different people throughout the country that are part of this community. So I was kind of, like, just kind of indoctrinated into this community without really having to leave. And then when, you know, when I did my first tour with with these guys, it felt really nice to be able to, like, roll into Ottawa, and then Corey has given me a big hug, and I’ve only met Corey once, right? Or, like, whatever you know, like, go to Vancouver, and then you meet someone who’s 20 years older than you, but is holding it down for you in Vancouver, type thing, and letting you crash on their floor and stuff like that.
Mikey
Yeah, the the relationships you build with these people in other cities is it’s really interesting and special and different, right? Like, I sometimes think about like, you know, a childhood friend that you don’t if you don’t talk to them in a while, people feel slighted, whereas a friend in Ottawa or Montreal or Vancouver that you only see once a year, maybe when you see each other, it’s like a day hasn’t gone by. It’s a really interesting dynamic and a special relationship to build with these people all across the country, where you see each other so rarely, but it’s it’s a warm welcome every time, right?
Kaamil (CJSW)
Yeah, I definitely feel that, even at a festival like this, the collaborative spirit is just so necessary for building that community.
Mikey
Yeah, the friends you make through music are special, right? It’s a different type of connection than a work friend or something like that, right?
Kaamil (CJSW)
Connecting intrinsically on an artistic value and kind of connecting in that way. This question is so funny that I have to ask it, can you assign a Spice Girls title to each member of Quit it!
Tyler
Oh, Cam’s already asked us that question.
Kaamil (CJSW)
That’s why he wants it to be out in the world. He wants the world to know. Again, assign a Spice Girls title to each of each member of Quit it!
Tyler
So an existing Spice Girl?
Kaamil (CJSW)
It could be existing. It could be like something new, like Shitty Spice.
Tyler
I’ll be Shitty Spice.
Mikey
Okay, that’s tough.
Kaamil (CJSW)
It’s a creative question for sure.
Mikey
Yeah, you can’t name your own spice. Girl, okay, yeah,
Tyler
He’s Grumpy Spice.
Mikey
Grumpy Spice over here, holding it down. No, I’m not grumpy. Well, I can be.s=Jordan is definitely Sleepy Spice, dopey spice. What is it? He’s dopey spice,
Tyler
And I’m Sneezy Spice.
Mikey
Grumpy, sneezy, sleepy, and dopey, yeah, there you go.
Kaamil Kareemi
Amazing. I’m so glad that can’t put that level there. So is there anything else that you want people to know about Quit it! before we wrap up this interview.
Mikey
The only thing I would want people to know is that we have a new album coming up, but we’ve already talked about that.
Tyler
We have a new album. We’re super fun to watch live. Spenny and I constantly bonk our guitar heads at each other by accident. Yeah. Energetic show, energetic music. We’re fun. We’re not always so serious. We’re a very fun band, cool people to be around, interesting, humble,
Mikey
Especially Tyler.
Tyler
We love to live, laugh and love. We love to dance like no one’s watching.
Mikey
It’s true. We do like that.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Amazing. And if anybody from the DIY punk scene wants to get in touch with you or kind of connect with you guys, what would be the best way for them to do that?
Mikey
Yeah, social media, Instagram’s a big one. We don’t really go on Facebook much anymore, but I mean, you could reach out through that as well. Or Twitter. I think spending is the one that kind of runs Twitter or email us [email protected] happy to work with anybody and help out whenever we can.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Keep building that community.
Tyler
Yeah, exactly.
Kaamil (CJSW)
Thank you guys so much for doing this interview.
Mikey
Thank you
Kaamil (CJSW)
We appreciate you guys weathering the storm to literally get here.