Within the pages of Issue 13 you’ll find a section dedicated to introducing the most exciting bands within the UK and abroad, a section that asks these bands to briefly introduce themselves and the music they make. This Introduction has a purpose, to set your mind, fingers and ears to work as you hunt down their sounds. When we spoke to these bands, We dug a little deeper and encouraged answers that simply wouldn’t fit within the pages of the magazine. With one stone and two birds we bring you the full interview with QTY, as well as an introduction to the music they’ve been making.
Hello! Could you tell us about QTY and how you came to be?
We are a lyrical guitar driven rock band with pop sensibilities. The two of us met and started writing and playing music together when we were 17. Our high school bands were kind of naturally dissolving and we were both eager to keep playing and to pursue music as a life. We formed a band that played a lot locally and within the States for years. After that group died of natural causes, we recorded a few tracks through friends we’d made along the road and serendipitously linked up with Dirty Hit. Peter Baumann and Alan Yuch completed the line up on bass and drums, and here we are.
How do you feel about the reception of your music so far? It all seems very positive, did you expect this?
It’s all positive and we like that. Obviously we’re proud of our songs and we really want people to hear them and then preferably enjoy what they hear. It’s been a pretty long road for us, and genuinely the fact that we have anything out there for people to like or dislike feels like a huge accomplishment. With that being said, we’re particularly excited for people to be able to hear what’s to come.
Could you tell us the story behind one of your songs?
It’s a little difficult. A lot of how I got so attached to writing lyrics was that it was therapeutic and the fact I could say what I wanted and didn’t have to necessarily spell it out. I always think what I’m saying is pretty obvious and, in my head at least, think that it’s part of the fun to figure it out as a listener. We were always really into doing that with the music we loved. It’s an emotional rendering of specific events neatly packaged into a song.
Very vaguely, out of the four songs that are out Rodeo is about my relationship with Alex, World Breaker is about me and Alex’s relationship with our surroundings, Dress/Undress is about our relationship with life, and Ornament is about my relationship with myself.
You hail from NYC which is regarded as one of the most creative places to be based. Does the city aid and inspire your music?
It’s pretty tricky. For a lot of bands it seems to be a badge of honor or something. The best thing about being from New York for me personally, is that I met Alex. It’d be impossible to not be exposed to a ton of art and culture and interesting people, but you also get exposed to the dark side of all that. Great music and art in general comes from everywhere, half the time New York just steals it and has a louder speaker or something.
America has been in a pretty crazy time recently, is this something that effects you musically? How do you feel about home right now?
It effects our lives more then our music. The man is a monster and monsters seem to be a growing trend world wide at the moment. My parents run the Marxist education project here in New York, it’s a non profit!
You’ve signed with Dirty Hit, can you tell us about how that relationship formed?
It came naturally through mutual friends. We’ve been playing around and meeting people for our entire adult lives but things changed for us once we came into contact with Jamie, and later with Mark, Ed, Natalie, Chris, and Jack. It truly is a family we’re grateful for. We had really shitty experiences with other labels but I think that Dirty Hit actually breaks the mold as far as them telling you what it is you’re getting and then you consequently getting it. As we stand now we’re genuine friends trying to make a band work which feels pretty natural to us.
What can we be excited for in the next 12 months?
Christmas definitely comes in that time and a good deal of birthdays will too. Our album will be coming out soon so get excited to be given that as a gift when applicable. We’ll have a few more songs out before then as well, so hold your breath for those.