CHSR-FM 97.9 | Once On Much – Ep06 The Killjoys

Episode 06 – The Killjoys

When Mike Trebilcock thinks back to the 1990s, his memories don’t start with chart positions or industry milestones—they start inside a building. Specifically, the MuchMusic and CityTV headquarters on Queen Street in Toronto. It was a place of live performances, interviews, cameos (including a blink-and-you-miss-it walk-on in the film Balls Up), and it was where Canadian bands felt seen. Long before that, though, The Killjoys were built on a lifelong friendship. Mike and drummer Gene Champagne had been playing together since they were kids, shaped by ’70s radio, bubblegum pop, punk, and power pop. That mix became the band’s signature—catchy, scrappy, and true to who they were.

Listening back now, Mike sees The Killjoys’ catalog as a series of moments in time. Starry captured their DIY beginnings, Gimmie Five reflected a leap forward recording at Memphis’s legendary Ardent Studios, and Melos Modos gave them space to experiment back home. Revisiting those songs years later feels “like putting on a comfortable pair of shoes,” he says—helped by the fact that he wrote them in a range he can still sing without thinking. Being part of Big Shiny Tunes and the MuchMusic era didn’t feel historic at the time, but looking back, Mike sees how it put Canadian bands on equal footing with bigger American acts. These days, he brings that same creative energy to scoring films, working on indie projects that he describes as “a bit punk rock” themselves—DIY, imaginative, and slightly off-colour. His music can be found across platforms like Tubi and AMC+, with new projects always on the horizon. Much like the indie music scene he came up in, the indie film world thrives on risk, personality, and heart.

Looking back, The Killjoys didn’t set out to define an era—but they became an essential part of one. And decades later, those songs still fit just right.