An Interview with indie post-rock band QUOTAS: Outsider, Countercultural, and Loud  

Étienne Lavallée documents London’s current art scene with The Honey Dip Archives, a series of interviews with bands that performed at Honey Dip’s one year anniversary celebration. Here, he meets Amanda Mead, Mike Lurz, and Mark Ganassin of QUOTAS, a 1990’s inspired, indie post-rock band from South Ontario. Their music can be found on Bandcamp.

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QUOTAS audio interview:

Étienne Lavallée: How long has your band been together, where are you from?

Amanda: We’ve been together a year and a half, and two of us are from Brantford, one of us is from Stratford. 

Étienne Lavallée: How would you describe your sound to the uninitiated?

Amanda: Somebody just came up to us and said, “nothing was in 4/4 [time].”

Étienne Lavallée: You’re frequently described as referential to the sound of the 1990s. What about the 1990s appeals to you as artists from a creative standpoint?

Mike: That was when I grew up, so my coming-of-age was in the 1990s, so I think I have a lot of musical influences there, probably Mark as well. 

Mark: Yeah, definitely. There was a lot of outsider, counter-cultural, loud music I really latched on to. I’ve carried that through all the way to now. 

Étienne Lavallée: Your last, self-titled album came out last year, do you have anything coming up?

Amanda: Yeah, we have a couple of shows coming up right now, but we’re going to be focusing on recording in August, a full-length album, and we’re hoping that will be released this year. 

Étienne Lavallée: Where is the band going to appear next?

Amanda: We’re going to be appearing in Hamilton, August 8th, for Full Moon Fest, at noon, outside, which is also fun. 

Étienne Lavallée: Are there any artists in our region you want to put on the radar for readers and listeners?

So many, a lot of them are here tonight, like Willow Switch, Public Health from Hamilton, Status/Non-Status. Oil Giant from Toronto, loving them. Glum from Toronto.