Interviews -Q And Not U-

by E-mail, 2004.11
text by Yoshiyuki Suzuki
interpretation and translation by Katsushige Ichihashi
photo by Valerie Soles

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"Lately I've been listening to Robert Gorl, Dead Prez, Jadakiss, lots of Gamelan music, the System, Nillson, Klymaxx, R. Kelly, Ghostface Killah, Roxy Music, John Frusciante and my favorite new singer M.I.A. "

I was really surprised by your sound's drastic change, but could not deny the danceable feeling and am enjoying it a lot. I believe this album "Power" will be a turning point in Q And Not U's history. Were you ever aware of such result before you have recorded it?

Chris：Actually, I'm glad to hear that you were taken off guard. I hope that our music is always surprising and we hope that every recording we make is a turning point for us. Our curiosity for exploring different sounds and styles is integral to our band's existence and we only thrive when we're free to explore new things.

Why have you made this album with the El Guapo members and not with Ian MacKaye and Don Zientara this time?

Chris：We've always loved working with Ian and Don, but we thought we might try and shake things up a little this time around and try something new. We were really impressed with the recording of El Guapo's last album "Fake French," and working with Pete and Rafael felt like a natural move. We've been friends with these guys for so many years, it felt very comfortable working together.

How was the recording session? What have Pete and Rafael brought into this album, or simply the recording session?

Chris：The session was refreshing for us. The process was very collaborative and energetic. Everyone involved was a bit nervous, and I think that created a lot of positive energy during the session. Everyone was on on their toes and working hard. Pete and Rafael definitely contributed a lot, aesthetically. They have a wealth of knowledge about synthesizers and drum programming, which was something we were interested in exploring on this record.

Not only picking up the rhythmic guitar cuttings a la Talking Heads, leading into the Michael Jackson-esque falsetto on "Wonderful People", it seems like the funky groove and feelings of black music/dance music got an inevitable essence of your new songs. When or how did such "grooves" or influences began to appear so distinctly in your sound?

Chris：We've always been influenced by dance music, but I feel that we've become more articulate in expressing it over the years. The vocabulary of punk and hardcore was very familliar to us when we started this band six years ago, but we're always trying to learn new musical languages. I've always adored the guitar playing of folks like Nile Rogers and Curtis Mayfield, and I wanted to take a crack at it. I think Harris and John felt the same way about their playing. Especially Harris - he plays keyboards on a majority of the record and I'm amazed by how much he's learned througout the entire process.

Did your song writing process changed like your sound? Has your songwriting method changed from the gutar-oriented way to the more keyboards or groove-oriented ways?

Chris：We wrote most of our previous work in practice through improvisational jamming. These days we've found ourselves working on ideas at home before presenting them to the band. The process is still totally democratic, but we each try to develop our ideas a bit more before pitching them to each other. That might have something to do with the aesthetic change. But there's never really been a formula for us, and I hope there never will be.

How did it come to use Recorders? The sound was pretty impressive, but it's an unusual instrument for a "band".

Chris：I bought Harris a recorder for the holidays a couple years back and we've always hoped to use it. I know Harris is a big fan of medieval flute music and recorder composition, in general. We've always been big fans of American drum and fife music as well as traditional Japanese flute music. I'm glad we finally got the chance to weave that texture into a song.

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