DanDando: how a QTY member from Chinatown took the fear of living out of us all
“Truthfully it’s just such a great feeling to have someone interested in me enough to write a piece“. It is with such humility that Dan Lardner received my request for an interview. Perhaps he has Evan’s generosity to thank, the first to mention Lardner’s name in his interview with me in February. The New Yorker, best known for his alt.country, indie-folk band QTY (pronounced “Cute”) which gave him unlimited access to the underground scene in the United States and even London, is Evan Dando’s guest of honor throughout the American tour on which our Lemonheads friend opens for the legendary Psychedelic Furs.
But not only. In addition to participating in Evan’s solo shows, Lardner can be notice as some sorta of “Tom Morgan”, having written “Fear of Living”, the first track coming from the partnership with the Lemonheads chief. “I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is for me to have him value my songwriting enough to take it and turn it into a Lemonheads song”, says Lardner, who, armed with a laptop, hopes to write many more songs for the supposed new Lemonheads album on the road.
And by the quality of the music (already played to exhaustion by Evan in presentations and videos), it’s not hard to predict that the so called “DanDando” connection has everything to jump on the charts. More than a successful connection between two HUGE artists, the Dandando phenomenon extends to the friendship between two wonderful men who shared the struggle against drugs and self-destruction. According to Lardner: “…working through by writing music has helped, and now that Evan is involved and we’re collaborating it’s starting to feel like I’m coming out on the other side of it all”.
Some fall back on the old cliché that life imitates art. But when it comes to Dan Lardner and Evan Dando friendship, it’s impossible not to quote lyrics from one of the Lemonheads’ biggest hits.
We have to laugh to look at each other.
We have to laugh ’cause we’re not alone.
“My Drug Buddy”
My guess? You don’t have to be afraid anymore, Dan.
And as long you keep writing all these sweet songs, neither do we.
2 5 Things about Dan Lardner
RC- Hi Dan, thanks for talking to Rock Cabeça. How’s the tour with Evan Dando and the Furs going so far?
DL – Hey Marcos, thanks for taking the time to reach out and speak with me. The tour is going pretty damn well, I was a last minute addition and haven’t played live much since my last band stopped touring so it’s all slowly kind of coming back to me and there couldn’t be a better person for me to get back into it with then Evan. He’s always been really supportive of my music and I think we’re mutual fans of one and other so it’s a little bit of a dream scenario for me personally. The fact that the shows have been going so well is just an added bonus.
RC – It’s amazing how the sound of QTY and Lemonheads (“Varshons” phase, mainly) fit together. How did you and Evan meet?
DL – Evan and I met through a mutual friend of ours named Malcolm who was also a musician and lived in NYC. There was always a lot of music being played at his apartment and various people would stop by and pick up an acoustic guitar to share what new song they’d been working on or just play whatever they felt like. I think Evan and I initially just started playing some replacements and Gram Parsons covers on our friends couch and that eventually led to us sharing our own work and just generally bonding over music and song writing. Once my band QTY got signed and ended up being flown out to London to record our album, Evan just happened to be there doing some shows of his own. The entire process was really new and intimidating for us and Evan absolutely had our backs supporting us with our recording choices and just generally being there for us in a lot of ways. It was our first time leaving the USA and Evan the only person we knew that didn’t work for our label or mgmt.
RC – “Fear of Living” seems to be the first song, let’s say, official partnership between you and Evan. What inspired you to write it and what can we expect going forward?
DL – “Fear of living” is a song I wrote and always really liked but just didn’t seem to mesh with the people I was playing with. Once I sent it to Evan he added these very distinctive Dando sounds to what i’d written and absolutely made it his own song. I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is for me to have him value my songwriting enough to take it and turn it into a Lemonheads song. As far as the future goes a big reason for me joining him on the road for these shows was for us to write and work on new songs. I’ve brought along all my notebooks and he’s got an arsenal of really great instrumental foundations ready to go. I really believe we’re going to come through with some incredible tracks and we’ll see where it goes from there. As far as the inspiration for the song it pulls from my personal experiences and the unfortunate struggles I’ve had dealing with addiction and the shell of a person i feel like I’ve been turned into. It’s a hard truth for me to reconcile with but I think by working through by writing music has helped, and now that Evan is involved and we’re collaborating it’s starting to feel like I’m coming out on the other side of it all.
RC – You are a guy who lives and breathes New York. What other places would you like to visit, either for tourism or on a supposed tour with QTY? Brazil, maybe?
DL – (Haha) Yeah, I was born in Chinatown in downtown Manhattan in a hospital that’s no longer there, from there I moved to the east village then to Brooklyn and now back to the East Village. I’ve never had enough money to really travel anywhere but, man, I would really love to see the world. Brazil especially just based off everything I hear from Evan and his partner Antonia. If I had the money I would take my mom to Brazil on a vacation. I think that would be a dream come true.
RC – Life on the road automatically generates many good stories (others not so much). How is living with a guy who lives plugged into 220 volts all day like Evan?
DL – I don’t want this to come off the wrong way because I genuinely love it and love Evan and love touring with him…but I do feel at times that it is literally chaos incarnate. Evan is one of the most full of life people I’ve ever met and he absolutely loves getting to play for fans and just engage with the people and places around us. I’m a little bit more of a reserved person but it’s nice to get to be a part of the world he creates. I don’t get much sleep though.
