Q and Not U - "No Kill No Beep Beep" with Sahan Jayasuriya

In this episode, we take a deep dive into No Kill No Beep Beep , the 2000 debut from Washington, DC band Q and Not U and one of the most distinctive records to come out of the 2000s DC scene. The band formed in the summer of 1998, with Chris Richards and Harris Klahr on guitars and vocals, Matt Borlik on bass, and John Davis on drums. All four had come up as fans of the Dischord catalog rather than peers of it, and they arrived at a moment when the DC scene was in transition, with Fugazi between records and many of the label’s defining bands already gone. Setting danceable, rhythm-forward drumming against two dissonant guitars with no clear lead or rhythm role, Q and Not U carved out a sound that sat comfortably in the Dischord lineage while pushing it somewhere new, roughly two years ahead of the dance-punk wave that would break nationally. Recorded in 2000 at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia, and produced and engineered by Ian MacKaye and Don Zientara, No Kill No Beep Beep arrived on October 24, 2000 as Dischord 123. It is the only album to feature the band’s original four-piece lineup, with Borlik departing in 2001. In this episode, we’re joined by Sahan Jayasuriya, author of Don’t Say Please: The Oral History of die Kreuzen and a Milwaukee-based music writer and musician who came up in the late-’90s punk and hardcore underground. Drawing on his own interview with Chris Richards, Sahan helps unpack the influences, the community, and the intention behind the record. Great conversation, this episode is not to be missed. Go Further: Q and Not U on Dischord Don’t Say Please: The Oral History of die Kreuzen Follow Us: Social media: @dcrockpod Email: dcrockpod@gmail.com Hosts: Philip Basnight - Broke Royals Alex Vidales - Pilot Waves Podcast Artwork by Rebecca Basnight