The day before Q and Not U was supposed to embark on their spring tour of the United States, drummer John Davis broke his foot while playing street hockey. While the timing of this break was certainly unfortunate-all the spring shows had to be cancelled to give Davis’ foot time to heal-Davis managed to find something positive about the situation.
Despite the medical bills (rock stars don’t exactly have the best medical insurance) and the hassle of canceling and later rebooking the tour for the fall, a task that Davis handles personally, he insisted the break was a welcome surprise. “We’ve been touring a lot so having an unplanned vacation like that, while even better for the other guys since they didn’t have a cast and medical bills … it was just kind of nice to be able to have an extended amount of time at home and not have to be getting ready for another tour,” said Davis in an August phone interview.
After two intense foreign tours, hitting Japan in March, Europe late in the fall of 2002 and a weeklong West Coast stint, Q and Not U found themselves with some well-deserved downtime on their hands. Even with the cast on, Davis found he could play a little, so the band took this opportunity to write some new songs, recording one single for Sept. 8 release. With the release of a third full-length album at least a year away, this single helps the band “bridge the gap” between albums. Barring any further mishaps, the band is set to commence its 49-city fall tour after a Sept. 5 show at the Black Cat.
What began in the summer of 1998 as a four-piece venture, bassist Matt Borlik parted ways with Q and Not U in 2001, because of what Davis described as a “definite clash of personalities” which eventually became detrimental to making music. By rotating which instruments they play, guitarist Harris Klahr and guitarist/bassist Chris Richards were able to pick up the slack left in Borlik’s wake. Sans Borlik, the band became “much more adventurous;” he said, “we felt that we were just freer to try new things and new ideas and new sounds and it wasn’t a big issue to try something new … we were free to do anything.”
Different Damage, Q and Not U’s second full-length, certainly exhibits this more innovative approach. Their sound definitely evolves from 2000’s No Kill Beep Beep, which Davis describes as “fine, but kind of standard,” into a sound more intensely irreverent.
Lyrically, instead of “regurgitating cliches,” Richards and Klahr choose to deviate from the literal, taking a seemingly “obtuse path” while retaining personal relevance and meaning. Somehow, this ambiguity avoids alienating listeners, because it encourages listeners to lend their own meaning to the songs, forging a deeper “a connection to the music.” Davis enjoys the fact it’s usually “not totally obvious what the song means” and enjoys hearing what fans and critics read into the lyrics.
Legendary Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye has been Q and Not U’s producer even before Dischord, his label, signed the band in 2000. Appreciating “everything he has done for the scene,” Davis asserts, “He’s a nice person, he doesn’t play into any of the hype that people might have about him … he’s just a wealth of stories and humor and knowledge and we just like hanging out with him.”
Growing up in suburbs of D.C., both the thriving music scene and politically charged atmosphere have had a strong influence on the band. “A lot of the ethics that are totally engrained in us, they’re engrained that way because we grew up around here,” said Davis. Fugazi and Bikini Kill shared the bill at the first show Davis ever attended. Quickly entranced by the music scene, Davis reminisced that he found there an entirely new realm in which to express himself. From the start he appreciated the intricacies of the D.C. scene which compelled him to get personally involved-producing his own fanzine, setting up shows, and eventually playing in bands himself.
While none of their songs are explicitly political, dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs is certainly an underlying theme of Q and Not U’s music. Towards the end of their Aug. 7 show at Fort Reno, Richards pulled out a shovel, jumped offstage and started shoveling, shouting something about how the Bush Administration was just digging for oil. While most of their political displays are not this animated, other tactics they are utilizing have great potential.
Voter registration tables will be present at all their fall shows, in an effort to alleviate voter apathy and increase awareness of what’s at stake. “What’s so great about the country now that makes him unbeatable?” Davis asks. About the Bush administration, Davis asserts that is “crucial that they not be around in 2004.”
Recently the band has been e-mailing with a Marine stationed in Iraq. Davis is heartened by the fact that this Marine-while receiving “a distilled media-only outlook” of what’s going on in America and with his life precariously held in the balance-yet still questions the status quo where many would blindly conform. This Marine embodies what Davis likes about America.
“People are fighting it-that’s why I like America-not because of satellite TV and flagwaving and Toby Keith and whatever, but because there are people like him all over the place that want change and who are doing positive things.”
Q and Not U will be playing at the Black Cat on September 5th. Black Cat is located at 1811 14th St., N.W.
