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INTERVIEW
Q and Not U On its debut album, No Kill No Beep Beep, Washington, D.C.'s Q and Not U riffs on "Primary Colors" - there is a party
with everyone dressed in yellow, blue, and red. It may not be deliberate, but these are the children of Clinton. The Dischord catalog number "123" sits beneath the logo as if all 122 previous
releases were crammed into that kick drum, and you get the feeling this is the band of little brothers who saw their elders get the glory,
leaving them behind to haul equipment and silkscreen the shirts.
If design savvy was all there was to the group, it'd hardly be worth writing about. Thankfully, Q and Not U offers the best alienation
anthems of the millennium thus far, preaching a slogan that "the impersonal is apolitical." The musicianship is tight enough to achieve
heights of fancy that integrate, dance beats, acoustic guitar, hand claps and vocal "whoos" into their fabric. Twangs and blips alternate
with slower ballads and a convincing stab at dub on "The More I Get the More I Want." No Kill No Beep Beep reprocesses
referents with keen self-awareness and makes rocking out plausible again, even with a knowing sneer. On "A Line in the Sand," there is
a call to "stop this clock from starting" as they date check "1974, ’73, ‘72" which could be about Watergate, but here, it might be their
birthdays. The party-pooper album cover exemplifies suburban rebel pout, bubbling anti-adulthood in an appropriately deflated romper
room where you are both entertainment and heckler. Acknowledging the anachronism of the rock band as social project, they note "if
this is the cream of the crop, it’s time to start burning some fields/ years past, stop gap, too little yield." It becomes more explicit on "We
Heart Our Hive" - "light up the cassettes/ all of the amateurs are cancelled out for listening for the dulcet sounds."
Even pleasures of the flesh offer cold comfort for these boys - they’d rather "sleep on ice when this bed is on fire," on the stellar single
"End the Washington Monument (Blinks) Goodnight." The unsteady allegiance between booty and cerebellum is constantly prodded with
time changes and fake outs, mirroring a reluctance on the part of emo boys to commit - "kiss goodnight with a firm handshake and it’s
lights out for catholic computers" ("Kiss Distinctly American"). Live, their emo wails belie a lingering faith that rock can be salvation, but
the distance between that sincerity and their lyrical abstraction points to obscurity as a safety reflex. I thought singer Chris Richards and
drummer John Davis would like to fess up about playing it safe. The band doesn’t delve into navel gazing though, and would prefer
burning down the house. How can you sleep while your beds are burning?
First off the formalities: names, ages, instruments, etc. perhaps astrological signs (this will be read by west coast people)
John Davis - 24 - drums - libra
Matt Borlik - 23 - bass - capricorn
Harris Klahr - 22 - guitar - taurus
Chris Richards - 21 - guitar - taurus
zum: When the band began, was there a deliberate goal in mixing up hardcore with dance music?
John Davis: I don't think it was a deliberate move to merge those things. Although I do hear that happening in there a bit, I think
that's merely a result of the diversity of our record collections. I do listen to both hardcore and disco, so it seems pretty natural that they merge when
we write music. But I hear lots of other stuff in what we do, like punk, noise, Afro-beat, dub and more.
Chris Richards: These combinations are never really intentional, but in hindsight, when you think about the communal elements
of hardcore and different kinds of dance music, whether it's traditional music or discotheque or whatever, the combination starts to make a little more
sense.
zum: Things that jump out at me on the recording are really seemingly random moments - the handclaps, acoustic guitar, "whoos",etc. Were
those elements incorporated into the live performance, or were those ideas just something that occurred to you in the studio?
JD: Some of those things were staples of the live set.
Like, the keys, the claps and the whoos. Though things like the acoustic guitar, some of the backing vocals and sounds that you hear were all ideas
that developed in the studio. I like that the record is a mix of those things, because it makes it seem like more of a unique being to me.
zum: Lyrically, you seem to favor impressionist obscurity and snapshot imagery over any type of narrative. Do you think that this might be a
reaction to what people usually associate with D.C. hardcore, that being overtly political in music is "played out"? Or are we just a generation that has
no patience for narrative? Plenty of phrases you guys use work well as shorthand, so I know what you mean by, "basement fires keep us so alive."
Maybe these are narratives and I just don't get it.
JD: I think the guys that write the lyrics in the band were just trying to make the songs more imagist than the usual stuff you hear.
I can't really speak for them and their motives, but I've always gathered that the more abstract lyrics that they've written have been a reaction to
anything, as much as they've been a natural expression of an idea in a more cryptic way.
CR: I think the lyrics are MORE political due to the fact that they're
not narrative or didactic. I try to make the lyrics very sensory, to
provoke a response out of people. Still, the "meanings" are pretty vague, and I
see that as empowering the listener to complete their side of the dialogue. So
it's not complete until others bring something to it. I think the lyrics are
very political in that sense.
zum: John, I know you have a particular fondness for Trenchmouth. What are other left-field influences that may not be apparent in the music
you make, but at some level affects how you approach this band?
JD: You can definitely hear the disco influence on the record, I think.
The Bee Gees, Chic, Earth Wind and Fire, etc. Also, there are moments when I can hear the influence of bands like Massive Attack and Queen in there
as well.
CR: I've also been listening to a lot of traditional American folk
music over the past year. It might not be influencing us sonically, or in terms of
songwriting or anything like that, but I think it affects the way we approach
things socially.
zum: I read a comment in another interview you guys did on how everyone on the album cover photo was under 25 and involved in the music
scene. Do you see a lot of the people you grew up with dropping out of
involvement with "the scene"? Seems like 25 is about the age people decide if they are in it for the long haul or to treat it as a youthful indiscretion. DC
has plenty of good models for grown-up punks, but do you envision yourself in (or aspire to) a position where the band is your career?
JD: I suppose it's possible that we could wind up doing this band for the long haul. I'm not sure, though. When we were thinking
of keeping the cover models on the younger side, it was meant to just shed a little light on the fact that there are a great number of younger people
doing things and being involved in the D.C. music scene. But most people, when they think of the scene here, think of some of the older bands or
record labels. So, we just wanted to give some props to the people our age.
Dropping out of punk or indie music isn't something that's really occurred to any of us. I suppose it's possible and I don't think there's anything wrong
with someone tiring of this lifestyle. But, I think there will always be part of all of this in us for the rest of our lives.
zum: Going along with the last question, it does seem like there was a point where scenes interacted more, even if they were never really
unified. Nowadays, I get the impression on both coasts that being involved in music means emphasizing differences, of staking out territories and
"style wars". Some would claim that Nation of Ulysses and the introduction of fashion into the scene ruined hardcore. Some of your songs seem to
touch on this fashion-core scene, is there anything you'd like to elaborate on there?
CR: I think fashion is a pretty necessary element in the punk scene. It was definitely an integral part of American hardcore at its
inception in the 80's, but the relationship between clothes and music has really changed since then.
A lot of it probably has to do with the fact that the hardcore scene somewhat prides itself on its austerity. I can definitely understand that. With so
much media deception in our world, especially in the realm of popular entertainment, it makes a lot of sense for people to want to protect the truth and
honesty they see in punk rock. I think it's easy to perceive fashion-consciousness as a blemish on that honesty. But fuck that. Presentation is a huge
part of music and I'm glad people are celebrating that again. Especially when it's being done well.
END
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