Quitters push past punk, set selves free

It’s a statement that can forever damn a punk band, five little words with much larger implications.

And Tom Carr has just uttered them.

“My parents love that song.”

The song: “Hipster”

The band: The Quitters

Carr plays guitar in said band.

Now, under most circumstances, his admission would call his group into question, because, traditionally speaking, Mom and Dad don’t like punk rock any more than they do face tattoos and porn careers.

Thing is, though, The Quitters are one of the best bands of their ilk in Las Vegas.

So what gives?

“We had the discussion, ‘What’s the most punk rock thing could we do?’ ” explains drummer Miqah Malcolm over beers at Steiner’s recently.

The band’s answer: “Do something that’s not stereotypically punk rock, try to expand what we can do.”

It came up with “Contributing to Erosion,” The Quitters’ diffuse, serious, funny, square-peg-of-a-new record, which is one of the best albums of the year to come from these parts.

It’s the second record from The Quitters, who’ve been together for a decade as of this month, and something that the band has been working toward for years.

“Erosion” opens with “Defibrillator,” perhaps the fiercest, most tightly wound song the band has ever tracked. This is The Quitters at their punk rock apex. From there, though, things take left turn after left turn, beginning with the jazz-fusion informed “Pentazoid” and continuing with the psychedelic, meditative “Sons of Siuslaw,” the funk-heavy title track, the dense prog-punk of “Ex Ordo Misdiosis” and the band’s most radio-friendly song yet, the aforementioned “Hipster.”

“At first, we were scared about being misrepresented,” admits singer-bassist Marc Rowland about releasing a song like “Hipster.”

They shouldn’t have been, though, because despite the breadth of “Erosion,” which the band will commemorate with a CD release show on Friday at the Artistic Armory, nothing on the album feels forced.

You never hear this band think, which is to its benefit.

“I think it’s just a natural thing,” guitarist Randy Rivas says of the band’s evolution.

Besides, “Erosion” isn’t a complete break from the band’s past, as evidenced by fast tongue-in-cheek rippers such as “Dragonslayer,” which is about taking ‘shrooms and hanging out at a Renaissance fair, and “CBA,” which lampoons the annoyance that is the bathroom attendant.

So, yeah, The Quitters are still a punk band — along with any other type of band they want to be at any given moment.

“We pretty much set ourselves free,” Carr says. “We can do whatever we want from now on.”

Contact reporter Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow on Twitter @JasonBracelin.