It’s tough starting a new band in Toronto. Cliquey scenes, indifferent clubgoers and oft-crazed promoters are all major impediments to making a splash. Luckily, the members of Quest For Fire (Andrew Gunn, Chad Ross, Mike Maxymuik and Josh Bauman) possess ample pedigree, hailing from acts including Cursed, No No Zero, the Deadly Snakes and Nordic Nomadic. But as they will readily concede, this doesn’t provide an instant golden ticket. Will their dogged persistence win the race anyway?

“It’s been slow going,” says Gunn, sitting among his bandmates in a Parkdale haunt. “It took us a year and a half just to play a show. We thought we’d just let it stew.”

Judging by the band’s stoner-friendly demos, this isn’t a speedy trip anyway, with downtempo psych jams reminiscent of Pink Floyd, live Crazy Horse and the Brian Jonestown Massacre back when they had the big Afro dude. Structure, schmuckture.

“In the Snakes,” Gunn explains, “there were no surprises at all — when you have a horn section it’s hard to veer off. Whereas the four of us won’t play a song the same way twice.”

Bauman agrees. “In No No Zero,” he says, “we play 16 songs in 20 minutes. Here we can play songs for half an hour.”

Despite all the far-out trippiness (and their affection for the term “smoke-machine rock”), the group don’t want to get pigeonholed into any particular scene. Of course, most musicians will say this. But with a name like Quest For Fire, how can you not expect the Neanderthal set to turn up?

“We like to smoke grass,” Bauman admits, “but we’re really not ‘stoner rock.’ That harks back to Sabbath, which I don’t think we really play.”

“What comes with being a stoner-rock band,” Gunn adds, “is you only play to dudes. From other bands.”

Ah yes, here lies one of the greatest challenges. Yet even once a sexually diverse audience has been secured, you’re still not assured a stellar premiere show. Enter eccentric promoter No. 1.

“We had a false start,” Gunn laughs. “We played our first show under another name, and we actually drew a really good crowd — our friends. But the promoter got really mad and left with this big sack of all our friends’ money. I thought, ‘Man, this thing is doomed.’”

“One of our friends chased him down the street,” Ross continues, “and [the promoter] was like, ‘Fuck you, fuck!’ He pulled the money out, ripped it up and threw it into the street. Then realizing what he’d done, screamed and fell on his knees to pick it all up.”

As a constant reminder of past follies, a torn corner of a $10 bill adorns the wall of Quest For Fire’s rehearsal space.

“We’re all making attempts to not make the same mistakes we made in our first bands,” Ross assures. “So we’ll be releasing two things [in 2008] — and the first will be a live cassette release.”
“It’s our gift to truck drivers,” says Gunn.