When was the last time you were at a show and you were thinking “I am scared for my safety”, not because of the crowd but because of the band. Last time I saw Qui almost everyone in the front pretty much got knocked by the singer. The band themselves say bring a helmet to the show if you know what’s good for you. Qui is the combination of an ear piercing almost Jimmy Page/Steve Albini like guitar with HEAVY crashing drums and a psychotic singer. This combo results in one of the best live shows and music I have seen in a long time. Qui formed in early 2000 with Matt Cronk(guitar/vocals) and Paul Christensen (drums/vocals). Just recently the guys teamed up with ex. Jesus Lizard’s David Yow to take the front in Vocals and craziness. I sat down and had a few beers with the guys a week or two back to talk about Qui:

Randall:So what’s your story you dudes are from the Mid-West, so how come you guys aren’t saying you are actors and you got a pilot, causing all the traffic with your out of states license plates, and living in a 1 bedroom apt. in Hollywood with 4 other aspiring actors from Ohio or something?
MATT: Well, you couldn’t be more wrong. Actually Paul, David and I have all done acting. Paul and I are on this show on the Fuel network. I don’t have out of state plates because I don’t have a car. Paul and I’s first place was a 1 bedroom in North Hollywood. There weren’t any aspiring actors at the time. This 2 bedroom place now at one time there was 5 people now we are down to 3. So actually we aren’t really doing any of those things really.

Randall: Qui isn’t that “why” in French or was that unintentional.
MATT: No, that was Midwestern slang. The truth. It is an effeminate man or queen I think that’s the origins of it. Paul and I being rather Dandy FOPs we thought it would be rather fitting. I think David fits right in with that wouldn’t you agree?
YOW: I am a pretty Dandy Fop.

Randall:Anyway how did you and Paul meet?
MATT: In high school Paul you want to speak?
PAUL: Matt and I met at the Minnesota center for Arts Education. In Golden Valley, Minnesota, which is a western suburb of Minneapolis? It’s a state run school, however to get in you had to audition and prepare something about 250 kids for the 11th and 12th grade. We met in 93 we did not care for each others company. The first year Matt was kind of a right prick and I was a timid little geek. Any the beginning of our senior year we had chemistry together and sparks flew. CHEMISTRY. Chemistry class pardons me.

Randall: And your new singer how did he come into the picture?
YOW: Well being the new guy in the Qui band.?..Let’s see how that happened. One night after drinking a lot of beer and whiskey, Matt and I 69ed over at my place, in the morning we woke up and were kind of unhappy about all that and I asked if there was a way we could redeem ourselves, he said “Yeah why don’t you do a couple songs with us”. So we did some songs, then we did a couple more songs, I started contributing ideas, then we started talking about it then shit I’m in the band.
Randall:Awesome
YOW: Well you say that now.

Randall:Do you see it as a positive or negative thing that he can clear ½ a room just out of the audience being scared.
MATT: We have been clearing rooms since 2000. We really don’t need David to alienate our audience. We have been poorly received many times far worse than at that show.
Randall: 3 of clubs show, that seemed like it was kind of in a good way.
MATT: Yeah it was a blast
Randall: It’s not like people were throwing shit at you or anything.
MATT: Yup we have had that happen too.
PAUL: In a suburb of San Diego…(Yow shakes the room with a burp).. I don’t if you know who the Atari’s are they are a teenage Pop-Punk group. A friend of ours Chris fronts the group, and he liked us so he had us open up for his band and we weren’t well received they threw a golf ball at Matt.
MATT: There were about 1400 people there and we played our first song which was an eight minute long instrumental. There were a few claps, but mostly “FUCK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!” Some girl down in front said play something fast. The time in Salt Lake City in a Tiki Bar. Yes Tiki Bar. It was one of the worst nights of my life. We played to 2 people. The first person was a woman that easily scaled 300 lbs and the other one was her friend which was a dwarf.
Randall: Didn’t you like that?
Matt: NO. I don’t like midgets to begin with, but being heckled by a midget, was one of the most demoralizing experiences I ever had.

Qui at Safari Sam’s in Hollywood

Randall: What is your opinion on shock value in bands; I notice a lot of bands out here in the east end. Are all about shock value especially in a very pretentious way? Like the getting naked over, overplayed high hats and abrasive 1 chord guitar parts is almost expected now.
MATT: To tell you the truth I haven’t seen anything that shocking. I see more of people trying to do tame stuff that won’t shock people.
YOW: It’s all been done.
PAUL: What’s shocking to me is when I hear a band I’ve never heard of play good music that’s shocking to me. That is truth shock value to be original and creative.
YOW: That was very intelligent!?
MATT: No more of this intelligent shit alright. Growing up in the Midwest during the 90s you would see all sorts of crazy noisy bands. Like The Cows. You don’t really see anything like that out here.
YOW: I don’t remember the last time I was shocked at a show.
MATT: Got shocked yesterday at practice because our wiring is fucked up.

Randall: What bands have really inspired all of you recently and in the past?
YOW: NONE
PAUL: He’s also talking about the past.
YOW: (in an asshole idiot accent). Well I really like the Beatles and there is an English group called Led Zeppelin that really did a lot for me. (Asshole idiot accent off). Well god there is 100 million of them. Fear, The Cramps, The Birthday Party, The Dicks…..maybe not a million… all the good ones and none of the bad ones.
MATT: Last recent show was the Kids of Whitney High.
YOW: There is a fairly recent band called Pearls and Brass.
MATT: The Melvins.
PAUL: Mastodon
MATT: Hardcore
YOW: What is your take on Atlantis Morissette?
MATT: I take her as this generations Curtis Mayfield or like the way Huey Lewis was in the 90s.

Randall: What would you say is the most important element to your music?
MATT: Ohhh great I get to answer this one…
PAUL: I like playing in Qui it’s coming from a different place then a lot of different rock bands. I like playing with Matt, like what he said he had kind of a hardcore background, where I grew up with a sort of Jazz and Classical background. The instrumentation, the lack of a bass. My drumming I often finding myself compensating for the lack of that. That sort of makes it interesting.
MATT: But without tooting our own horns I think we all can play pretty good.
PAUL: Both being classically trained as kids we have a different approach than a lot of punk bands.
YOW: The drumming and the guitar playing like when you are playing together one of you will stop and one keeps going. The song structures or the ideas that come out of their heads. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh just a great band what can I say. And now they got the new singer…. Were fucking tremendous.

Randall: What would you say is the most important thing happening in music right now?
YOW: Qui
MATT: Qui
PAUL: Qui

Randall: What sucks about music right now? I already know Reggae (according to Yow).
MATT: All kinds of shit. I don’t listen to a lot of music that sucks so I don’t pay much attention to it.
YOW: Of course all that fucking rap and hip hop garbage.
MATT: Well that to me does not suck…It’s terrible.
PAUL: We keep on trying to get David to rap and he doesn’t want to do it.
MATT: The shittiest thing about music right now is David won’t bust some rhymes.
MATT: One thing I don’t like typically in top 40 rock is production techniques, protools, quantifying rhythms, autotunning, all that stuff. That seems to be the way now that rock music is supposes to sound. Everything sounds the same, everything is compressed the same way and all the guitars sound the same, there is never a wrong note or a flub. It makes it real real fucking boring.
YOW: I kind of feel like things are too homogenized generally speaking.
PAUL: I think the thing that has always bothered me about the music scene is the people who have always been about living the lifestyle before their music. It’s always continued to bum me out.
MATT: To add to that I think people in music in general pretty much suck.
Paul: Not all of them. But as a whole pretty much like actors and lawyers
MATT: It’s probably a similar ratio of how many assholes there are in this world as opposed to cool people.

Randall: What does the word Indie mean to you? It is now considered a genre and almost a plague in my opinion?
ALL of them: Independent
Randall: Well now people see it as a genre of music.
YOW: Ya know pigeon holing and naming genres is a drag to me. At least Indie is a better term than Alternative. That always brought me down it’s almost like it’s Plan B. To me things like Bruce Springstein, Journey, Atlantis Morissette, or Christina Aguilera are alternative because it is definitely not my first choice.
PAUL: I can’t believe you would say that about Bruce Springstein.
YOW: It’s like peanut butter and chocolate.

Randall: What bands in your opinion should we all watch out for?
YOW: Pearls and Brass
PAUL: Matt and I have a band called Paul and Oates that sings weddings
YOW: Geronimo is a LA band you should watch out for, pretty talented and pretty creative.
MATT: a band called Lozen from Tacoma, Washington they are great.

The funniest part is after we went to Cha Cha lounge in Silverlake. They played 5 Springstein songs in a row. Anyway next time Qui plays, I would suggest going to see it. Also they have a full length coming out in 2007, be prepared for that. For now check them out on myspace.

MP3
Qui-Apartment

Myspace

A 6 person rock band, that’s so Elton John circa 1970. However, The Magic Bullets, a San Francisco based post-pop/post-punk sextet have managed to capture the sound of nostalgia on their first full length release: A CHILD but in life yet a DOCTOR in love. Warning: You’ll be singing these infectious hooks to yourself the same way Feliz Navidad implants itself in your brain around Christmas time.

This is music for any occasion. Whether you’re road tripping or using the outro of ‘New Kicks’ to break the runner’s wall, these beautifully crafted songs are befitting to the soundtrack of your life. They write gracefully effective songs because they transpire as a painfully honest band. No ironic moustaches, no tight women’s jeans and no pretentious notion of themselves exist. Each member has a specified role with an ultimate goal: create meaningful music. None try to out-do the other, thus creating a symbiotic harmony that true fans of music will appreciate.

Live, The Magic Bullets are both engaging and withdrawn. Their on stage demeanor says it all, accidental rock stars who are lost and lonely in between songs. As soon as drum sticks count 4 they immediately find shelter in a familiar place, the sanctuary of their song. It’s endearing to witness their candor first hand. During exaggerated breakdowns their lead singer Phil loses himself with a dance reminiscent to a horse counting. As the song ends he finally musters up the courage to address the full house at the Great American Music Hall, ‘man, this is really cool.’

Tour Dates:
Jan 26 – Bottom Of The Hill – San Francisco, CA
Mar 1 – Slim’s (Noisepop) – San Francisco, CA

Website
Myspace

From Vince at LaVsSf.com check it out a good way to waste time at work. Thanks

David the singer from Qui told me this Zappa Quote when I was interviewing them. I found it rather interesting. Keep this in mind all you assholes who have blogs. “Rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read.” I pretty much agree. Come on tell me about a good writer that has an opinion ,besides buddyhead which is now pretty much dead. Everyone pretty much praises whatever is trendy and whatever the Tuesday Cinespace people have a hard on over. Most of my interviews I do we get smashed in the process so that covers the talk part. The last one I believe people can read, but most do not comprehend. The blogs now are pretty much an off shoot of the mainstream people and follow whatever is trendy at the moment. Come on what blog isn’t raving about the fucking Cold War kids. Just because a band ain’t bad doesn’t mean they are a good band. Just because one blog has a hard on about them doesn’t mean yours needs to too. People need an opinion and need to absorb other peoples opinions. Remember the days when you would rave about Libertines, I bet all you feel stupid about that.