Not so very long ago, in those lighthearted summer days of 2016, when our biggest worries were wondering which celebrities would be next to die young and weirdos dressing up like clowns for midnight strolls, Dangerous Minds told you all about Qui, the fascinating but underrated experimental post-hardcore duo of guitarist Matt Cronk and drummer Paul Christensen. The pair have parlayed some favorable friendships into jaw-dropping musical collaborations, even ensorcelling the Jesus Lizard’s David Yow to serve as their frontman for a spell in the ‘oughts, releasing in that trio configuration the wonderful Love’s Miracle. In an email exchange for that article last year, Cronk told us about recording their How to Get Ideas E.P. with Melvins drummer Dale Crover, and in the process he let the news slip about a future project with Mr. Bungle/Melvins Lite/Trio-Convulsant bassist Trevor Dunn.

That project—a full length album inventively titled Qui w/ Trevor Dunn—is now on the horizon, and it includes a ripping little cover of “Ashtray Heart,” a standout from the last truly great Captain Beefheart album (IMO YMMV), Doc at the Radar Station. It’s a really great cover; I won’t be so ridiculous as to say it surpasses the original, but it contemporizes the source material without shedding or shitting on everything that made the original a stunner, and it features contributions not just from Dunn, but from main Melvin King Buzzo and Cows bassist Kevin Rutmanis.
 

 
In a recent phone conversation, Cronk talked about hooking up to work with Dunn:

In 2012 we were recording our last LP, Life, Water, Living, with Toshi Kasai and Dale Crover, and Trevor was in Los Angeles during that. Dale and Toshi played him the record and he really liked it. After that, it was really Toshi pushing us to do something with Trevor, saying how we should hit him up, and he just gave me Trevor’s number. So I just hit him up, said “hello,” and asked if he would be interested in doing something. He got back right away, and I believe he actually said “fuck yeah!” So we did like a year of writing the whole record with him in mind to play on it, making practice demos and sending files back and forth—he lives in New York. And then last year we got it all together. We booked a few days in the studio, he came, and we banged it out. It was really fun, Trevor is an incredibly nice guy. It was really cool, apart from emailing I didn’t really know him from Adam, but he was charming, friendly, and easygoing. We were a little nervous, to be honest, he’s a bit of a giant to us—I’ve been listening to his stuff since I was in high school, but we all hit it off right away and had a lot of fun in the studio. It was a real honor to get to play with yet another of our musical heroes.

Cronk also talked about how Qui chose to cover “Ashtray Heart”:

That’s my favorite song. My father was a big Beefheart fan who used to rock me to sleep to that stuff when I was a baby! And Doc at the Radar Station is my favorite Beefheart record. When Paul and I first started goofing off together 20-plus years ago, the drumming on that record, the sort of broken, angular, jagged drumming was something we really liked, and something we’ve toyed with a lot over the years. We really wanted to play a Beefheart song and “Ashtray Heart” seemed like the one we could do with the instrumentation we had for this album. My dad hasn’t heard it yet, and he’s really been chomping at the bit, like “WHEN’S THAT RECORD COMING OUT?”

Well, Matt’s dad, the album isn’t going to see the light for a couple of weeks, but we can hook you up reeeaaal gooood on the Beefheart tune, after the jump…

 
It’s good to have cool friends, and I can think of few bands who get that like Qui does. In their decade-and-a-half of existence, the duo has morphed from a clamorous noise rock duo to a daring and melodic band making some of the most compelling and enjoyable experimental rock being made today. So it’s both a happy and unfortunate happenstance that many people know them mostly as “that band David Yow was in for awhile.” Unfortunate because they’re so much more than that, but happy because hell, at least more people know who they are.

Qui was formed in L.A. in 2000 by drummer Paul Christensen and guitarist Matt Cronk, and they announced their existence to the world with the album Baby Kisses. It’s a bit throwbacky, developing ideas that largely tap an acutely ‘90s Skin Graft/Touch and Go vein, but they attracted former Scratch Acid/Jesus Lizard singer David Yow, who served as a guest vocalist before becoming a full-blown member of the band in 2007, appearing first on the “Today, Gestation” 7” and then the Love’s Miracle album. (Recommended. I saw the band on that tour and GOD DAMN.) Yow would appear on another single in 2009, but as of a 2013 split 7” with Mike Watt, Qui were a duo again.
 

 
That split 7” reveals what could be an entirely different band. Though the drumming is Shellac-ishly sparse, the noisy guitar is all but gone—in place of the distorted guitar textures, the song is mainly characterized by sunny two-part vocal harmonies. Which they pulled off really well. The openness in their arrangements and those harmonies bouyed their excellent 2014 album Life, Water, Living…, co-produced by Melvins’ drummer Dale Crover and engineer/sometime Big Business guitarist Toshi Kasai. Dale and Toshi kept the gig, producing Qui’s forthcoming new E.P. How to Get Ideas, and guitarist/singer Matt Cronk took the time to answer some questions about it all via an email exchange:

Dangerous Minds: So—you had David Yow in your band for a spell, and now you have Dale Crover guesting on your new E.P. Is it possible that your duo is in fact a frustrated trio? Do you have a strong preference for either configuration? Would you add another full-time member again?

Matt Cronk: We’re certainly not frustrated. Quite the contrary, in fact. There are huge advantages to being small, both artistically and practically. With only two people we are generally sympatico on what we want to do musically. Over the years we’ve gotten really good at collaborating, allowing one another room to try out ideas, etc. That’s not to say it was hard to collaborate with David, not at all. Getting to work with him was a dream come true for us and writing music together was an enormous pleasure. We jelled right away but I doubt that would be the case with just anyone. On the practical end, with only two people, there are fewer schedules to accomodate, fewer people needing hotel rooms and food, fewer girlfriends, and so on. We can tour in a smaller vehicle than we could with more members so our fuel costs are cut nearly in half. All those things add up quickly. I guess to answer your question about a preference, if I had to pick one I would pick the duo. Paul and I have been friends since high school and have been joined at the hip ever since. We get along and can obviously work and travel together for long stretches. I can’t stress enough, however, how much we loved playing with David Yow. He has remained very close to us and I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten to both be his friend and bandmate. Dude’s one of a kind.

We are and have always been open to playing with other people. In fact, we just finished tracking a record with Trevor Dunn. We are talking about doing some dates with him next year, it’s a matter of working it out logistically.

As for taking on another full-time member, it’s not out of the question, depending on who it might be. As of now, we are really digging being able to have these collaborations, yet not be totally beholden to them. We have a couple other things in the works with other people.

I know that before this E.P., Crover co-produced Life, Water, Living…. Did he perform on any tracks on that album?

MC: Yes, in much the same capacity. When we were tracking vocals for Life, Water, Living… Dale had suggested adding a third harmony part to one song. We were both a little hesitant for whatever reason, and he said, in his soft-spoken cadence, “come on, guys, I’m trying to sing on your record!” We, of course, were only too happy to oblige. He ended singing on a few things on that one. Working with him and Toshi Kasai has been yet another incredible blessing. It is not lost on us how lucky we are to get to work with our heroes. We are truly honored.

Is it “key” or “kwee,” and does the name have a specific meaning or was it selected because it doesn’t?

MC: Kwee. We chose it specifically because it doesn’t mean anything. We wanted a name that was oblique and didn’t conjure any kind of image like, say, Goat Master or The Black Things or whatever. We have always tried to be unique in our aesthetic and presentation.

More after the jump…