Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Q And Not U, Where Are You?

I was thinking about Q And Not U, as I sometimes do whenever I hear their songs come up on random. While I was in high school, they were probably my favorite active band of the time, and I was lucky enough to catch them in all of their incarnations. In later years, after they broke up, I underwent a bit of revisionism in my thinking. Listening to Different Damage and especially Power for me is a vastly different experience for me than listening to No Kill No Beep Beep. They aren't terrible albums, but they lack the energy and the frenetic desperation of their first album.

Interestingly, it seems as though the band has attempted some sort of historical revisionism. Their old website is nowhere to be found, and neither is heldlikesound, the 'zine maintained by their drummer John Davis. Most interesting though was their attempt to expunge or at least move on from the legacy of their original bass player, Matt Borlik. This can be seen in their refusal to play most of their No Kill material, and their reticence to discuss his contribution in later interviews or his exit. It's even difficult to find photos of them from this early period.

Anyway, long and short of this post is I wanted to know if anyone had any live recordings or footage of Q And Not U prior to Borlik's departure. I recall that WMUC Third Rail Radio had an archive performance of them from like 2000 (along with one from the Get Up Kids, LOL), but I lost that many years ago. Feel free to let me know in the comments section.

In the meantime, this article is a pretty cool live recap of the band over the course of their seven years.